Lo’ ye children of the ‘Axe! It’s time to collectively Cry Havoc and Let Our Voices Be Heard on yet another important issue facing the gaming industry today. As discussed on Skirmish 083 of EpicBattleCry, this week we’re gathering YOUR input pertaining to the state of video game reviews. That’s right, the highly-controversial topic is invading the ‘Axe with one purpose in mind; TO GET SOME RESULTS! You see, it appears that basically everyone has a slightly different opinion on game reviews. Should scores matter as much as they do? Should scores be included at all? What about the tone of the review? How often do you find reviews to be truly helpful in making a purchasing decision?
There are A LOT of questions surrounding this important industry topic and the goal here this week is to constructively generate feedback from REAL gamers that we hope to pass on and ultimately influence how things get done. So, with that in mind, please take a moment to answer this week’s Member BattleCry Topic Starter:
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF GAME REVIEWS AND HOW DO REVIEWS INFLUENCE YOUR PURCHASING DECISIONS?
As a reminder, everyone is free to state their own personal opinion. There is no right or wrong, just suggestions. Keep the conversation constructive and DO NOT bash anyone else’s idea or opinion. If you’ve got a counter point then make it – but don’t disrupt the conversation by being a jerk. Simple as that. Of course, we’ll be checking the Member BattleCries all week long and then selecting one Member BattleCry of the Week that will be showcased on the next skirmish of EpicBattleCry.
Oh, and we’re also asking you to cast your vote in the EpicBattleAxe.com poll this week regarding your perception of game reviews. Between the poll and your MBCs, we hope to generate some great feedback for the decision makers in our industry! Have fun and thanks in advance for your participation!!!
Cheers,
DK
The only time I use a review to help me decide whether or not I want to buy a game is when I’m already on the fence about the IP in question. War for Cybertron would be a good example…wasn’t gonna pick it up until I saw that it was getting a nice score on Metacritic.
Metacritic is great for consumers, but dangerous for the industry. There are a lot of polarizing games that find small but loyal fanbases outside the “mainstream,” and chances are that the Metacritic score for such a game could fluctuate wildly. If the publisher looks simply at score (as has been widely reported by many developers) in deciding on whether an IP is a worthwhile investment, chances are a lot of very cool ideas are going to be canned for not being commercially viable enough.
I usually look at about 5 or so sources when trying to develop a general sense of what the strong points of a game truly are. Some sites (not EBA by any means)feature lack luster discussions and rather banal criticisms based on personal opinion rather than professional judgment.
Demos, game-play videos, and industry pod-casts give me more than any “traditional” review can hope to achieve.
I often use reviews to determine which games I’m going to play. I don’t make a lot of money, and I don’t want to waste money playing POS games. There’s no excuse for a developer to release a POS game for 60$, yet they somehow get away with it repeatedly.
But I don’t always agree with reviews. The general consensus of the original FEAR was that it was amazing, and yet I personally found it rather lackluster. The ambiance was good, but there was very little variety in the levels and I spent most of my time killing the same 3 enemies over and over again. These weren’t important to the reviewers who agreed that it was great, but it was important to me.
So the thrifty gamer has a quandary: rely on reviews before buying games, or take a wild stab in the dark. The thrifty gamer is going to rely on reviews because that stacks the odds in their favor.
Whats up my fellow Axeheads! (I’m too lazy to do a Brent-esque introduction right now, I’ll leave those to him since he’s best at it)
My Battle Cry goes out to gamers who actually read/listen to the ‘content’ in a review and don’t just quickly scroll through to the score at the end. When it comes to me and purchasing games, I generally already have a good idea whether or not I’m buying a game weeks before it comes out. The review just serves to reinforce my decision to buy a game or not. Most review sites do well to point out bugs and bad things to look forward to as well as pointing out the enjoyable aspects of a game.
I also make it a point to watch reviews for games I’ve made the decision not to buy, seeing enough praise for a game that didn’t look too appealing to me in its earlier stages might actually change my mind about a purchasing decision.
So read what they have to say and listen to the flaws and such in reviews, don’t just speed-dash to the score and have that be the ultimate judgment on whether to purchase a game or not.
What’s up guys
My battlecry goes out to all those with money issues and a love for buying video games. I never take reviews to heart. I see about two movies a week at theaters whether or not the critics reviews for it are bad. Just because a critic is paid for their review doesn’t mean it’s right. A review is just a persons opinion and you should never make judgement till you try it yourself. Reviews can be really good in the sense that they can give you a good synopsis of a game, what it’s about, and how long it is. Most gamers generally have a great idea of what a game is gonna be like and if they are interested in it enough to get it. I check EBA and gametrailers every day for new info on stuff like this and neither disappoint. Though I would like to point out that some reviews like gametrailers reviews seem fairly biased when it comes to games.
If you’re someone who has a tight budget when it comes to video games then rent it before you buy it. I know I keep repeating myself but I love video games and I buy a ton, a lot without even knowing what they are about, and I always find personal gems in some of them. I personally think that if you’re going to mainly base your opinion off a critic then you will miss out on a lot.
My battle cry goes out to the publishers that tries to push magazines, video game web sites and journalists to give a game a good score by threatening to pull advertisement from their magazines/websites etc. I dont know how often this happens, but I know that it happens. Game reviews are supposed to help consumers make a decision whether to buy a game or not.
For me personally, I have picked a few sites that I trust can give me a decently accurate review of a game (the score doesnt matter to me). I read the text/watch the review and I listen to what is being said. Sometimes I disagree with the person who reviewed the game that a specific feature is a bad thing or not.
But why do some video game review companies assign, lets say a RPG to a journalist who hates RPGs, the game will almost always get a worse review than from a guy who plays a lot of RPGs and knows the genre.
I personally don’t religiously follow reviews, I actually just use them to see more coverage on a game I enjoy.
That being said, my battlecry goes out to gaming podcasts, like this one and G4s feedback. When you follow a podcast you definitely get a feel for the opinions and personalities of the people involved, and that makes their opinions far more easily related to than a game reviewers opinion. A game review will tackle all the technical aspects of a game, like graphics, presentation, audio or w/e. When the people in a podcast talk about a game, it is almost always solely about the experience and how much they enjoyed the game. That is far more important to me that the technical aspects. People’s opinions wont always match up, but like I said, its not hard to get a feel for who has similar opinions to you when you consistently follow their podcast.
My battle cry is all about how I have saved money thanks to reviews. When Too Human came out I played the demo and thought it interesting. Then after reading/watching a few reviews I noticed the short campaign and myriad of glitches and decided to pass. A friend who purchased the game confirmed this as he traded it back in less than a week later. For some of us gamers where money is tight, reviews can be a godsend. Yes demos are nice but companies usually put some of their best parts in demos so they can at times be deceiving . When I question a game I look for reviews to get more info from a perspective I trust (I choose reviewers that seem to have my same taste.) All in all reviews are a double edged Axe
they can be used for good or for evil and we the gamers have to decide. If you don’t like a reviewer don’t go to their site speak with your clicks.
my battlecry this week would have to go out to the magazines and websites like metacritic or gamestop that actually use other peoples opinion i read reviews before i get games depending on who wrote it if its one journalist im like screw you buddy but when people, websites, or magazines take other peoples opinions im listening like if i want a game i might go to metacrtic and listen to what the people the hardcore gamers have to say. And magazines that have at least 4 or 5 people opinion when i get my gameinformer i like to look that the main review but then ill go on their website to so i can see user reviews and the difference in the peoples say and the guys say. I also like to see peoples reviews because it saves me tons of money on video games so overall its the peoples opinion.
My Epic Battle Cry* goes out to the game reviewer “Yahtzee” at Zero Punctuation. He refuses to give a score to the games in his reviews. He simple reviews them, pointing out the things that are right with it AND the things that are wrong with the game. He then he depends you, as the gamer, to figure out for yourself if you want to get the game.
*Epic-ness of this Battle Cry is subject to review using the following scale: 0 to “I’m Henry the 8th I am”
Greetings, my Hunters of Havoc, my Elites of Evisceration, HOW ART THOU?
My BattleCry goes out to…game reviews. I think they can be an effective tool, but only when the reviewer explains how he came to that final score. A final number doesn’t always accurately represent the true worth of the game. I’m more concerned in why a game got the score it did and how the reviewer came about with that score. I’m more concerned with how the reviewer’s views come in line with my own. Games are subjective, and some people are going to love it, some are going to hate it. I’ve met people who think Vampire Rain is the greatest game ever and I’ve met people who think anything by BioWare is complete drivel. Personally, I usually find a reviewer whose game reviews I generally agree with and stick with them.
My Battle Cry goes out to the “Half Ass Gaming” who is putting up user reviews on GT. I generally watch reviews on alot of different sites and the only time I give them any weight is if they are across the board really bad…like 5 sources all giving a game less than 6.5 (a good example would be Naughty Bear). That said I watch alot of reviews where the reviewer has nothing but great things to say about a game and then scores something far lower than what one would have guessed from watching the review (or vice versa).
I’ve been watching Half Ass Gaming reviews because he’s not doing it as a job but just as something he wants to do. This leads to my point about reviews that when it’s something someone does as a job they often take the review (or themselves) far to seriously ,which quite often leads them to either being overly cynical of new IPs or to hand out great reviews to mediocre installments in long running franchises. Half Ass Gaming has nothing to gain or loose from his reviews and therefore he is very honest with himself about what he is playing and I’ve found his reviews to more accurately coincide with my thoughts on alot of the games I have played which he has reviewed. The other thing I like about his reviews is instead of scoring a game on a 1 to 10 scale he gives them a grade. It may seem like something insignificant but the numerical system we are accustomed to seeing tends to come across as the reviewer isn’t just sharing his opinion but passing judgement on a game like some sort of self righteous jackass. With a grade system is seems much more like a subjective view of the reviewers opinion and comes across more palatable.
I have to say I give Half Ass Gaming’s reviews much more weight than I do any other gaming website or magazines reviews. I feel that game reviewers who make a living off of their reviews have become overly self important and way too commercial and that’s where I’ll end my rant.
My Battle Cry goes out to the gamers that use reviews as just a way to just see what certain sites say about the game. But they dont take any real validation in what the site is saying about the game because the gamer themselves has already done enough research by themselves to find out if the game is worth buying.
I find reviews just a way to hear what others think and i would never buy or not buy a game based on a review. Just as our Axe Lords were saying about it being mostly opinion based and so they shouldn’t in anyway have an influence in your choice of purchasing.
We had a forum thread about your highest and lowest Metacritc scores in your gaming library and i came to find out that Legend Of Dragoons, one of the best Jrpgs, was rated only a 74 which completely blew my mind. That alone just enforced my feelings in not listening to reviews as a deciding factor.
First of all I want to encourage DK not to succumb to those two bashers. Your puns rock!! Hell YEAH!!
But seriously, my battle cry goes out to all those who are lead by their own gaming senses which, as we know, can sniff out a bad-ass game from miles away. Reviews are certainly a great way to find out more about a game which has been released for some time now and can be very helpful when deciding whether to buy it or not. However games which I am looking forward to persuade me by trailers and information known prior to the release and no review can hinder it e.g. Starcraft 2 is obviously gonna earn Blizzard a long long holiday regardless whether some reviewer tries to spit on it or not.
First I just want to say that review scores are bullshit. 7/10 is the new average ‘not great but not bad’ score, when it should be 5. But anyway, I don’t let a score define whether a game is good or not, I go by what is actually said in the review, and what the pros and cons of a game are, and my battle cry goes out to all gamers who agree with this. In answer to how much reviews influence my purchases: reviews do have some effect on whether or not I’ll buy a game, but demos are much more effective.
sad to say i do check reviews to find out if i want a game or not but only partly.
i use multiple sites
and read the best and worst scores on metacritics.
most of the times i go to gamespot because they have an awesome plus and minus part though still biased
(really, everything is)
i just decide if the points made
are truly negative or positive for me
to be honest though to be able to use reviews you have to like all genres atleast a bit
I don’t believe people should make their decisions based entirely on reviews, but I do think that they serve a purpose.
While it’s true that reviews are largely centered around the reviewers own opinion, many reviews also cover the games technical aspects, or reference things that should have been caught in the testing stage and fixed.
Also, I think it’s important to consider what kind of reviews we’re discussing here. While it’s true that in order to get a lot of info from a written review, you have to know a little about the writer and how his views compare to yours, video reviews can be very helpful, since they let you see how the game plays, let you witness set pieces and game breakers, introduce you to the games atmosphere in a way that pictures and words can’t, and most importantly, they let you hear the reviewers voice and tone, which goes a long way to identifying how well you relate to the reviewer.
So I don’t think reviews are entirely useless. I think it’s really up to the gamer to have a sense of what they really like and don’t like, and use the reviews as a tool. Most importantly, if you’re going to use reviews, use the whole damn thing. The number at the end is the LEAST important part of the review. If reviews are important to you, try to figure out HOW they got that number, and IF you agree with it. Otherwise, you’re not using the review as much as it’s using you, since you’re basically handing all your decision making power to someone else.
Believe me, I’ve had a lot of fun with games that scored in the 50′s and 60′s, and been bored to tears with games that are in the 80′s and 90′s. Numbers don’t mean shit if you don’t know where they’re coming from.
I do enjoy reviews because I like hearing what others think of a game but I only use reviews as a deciding point if I’m on the border on buy it or not. Alpha protocol is a prime example. After seeing some pretty bad reviews of the game I did not get it and boy was I happy. I played the game and it was unfinished in my opinion.
But my battle cry this week goes out to my fear of reviews. My fear with reviews is cases like Kane & Lynch dispute where Gerstmann was fired because the review he gave was 6/10 but gamespot wanted a higher review for the game. How many of these reviews are really just companies just paying for good reviews? You guys said it that reviews can make or break a game and it worries me to think that reviewers could be bought out for good reviews and in the end the gamer is being screwed over $60 for trusting the review. I hope nothing like this is truly going on but it fears me to think that this type of thing is happening because of situations like the Kane & Lynch review on gamespot.
Reviews are a nice way to get a more complete idea of the game (hopefully spoiler free). Sometimes you just don’t get that from still shots or misleading trailers or even false promises. Of course, this doesn’t mean to take the reviewer’s word as law, the final decision should always be the consumer’s.
I think Dante’s Inferno’s review (especially GT) spent more time on GOW than on the game itself. In my opinion, Chaos Legion has to be the best 5.1 (Gamespot) I ever played . I did not see it as a “DMC with stripped-down mechanics”, but I do blame Capcom for making that comparison in the 1st place (on the DAMN box!!!). I find it misleading that Mario could score perfect ratings, based on their standard areas of scrore, but leave the story portion unrated. If it were any other game to come out, with little to no story, it would get butchered even if it played well. And finally, I loved the Penny Arcade review …. of a review given by Cameron Lewis of Games Radar. While Cameron seemed happy that the 360 finally got a traditional turn-based JRPG, he bashed on Enchanted Arms for being such a traditional turn based JRPG. They even illustrated it quit nicely:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/9/6/
My BattleCry goes out to Video Reviews. With the advent of the internet, high bandwidths, and sites like youtube, Video Reviews have become my prominent source for opinions on the games that I am interested in. Back in the day you needed a magazine subscription to get the info you needed on whether a game was good or not. It was fine and good but it was hard to take it seriously about the gameplay since all you had were the writer’s words and a screenshot or two. Now, with video reviews, you not only have an opinion but the video proof to go with it. You now get to see for yourself certain game issues like multiplayer lag or serious game-breaking glitches and flaws.
Some sites like IGN still primarily use Essays to give a review on a game, with pretty much all of their Video Reviews being really short and almost always ending the phrase “Check out the Full Written Review at IGN.com.” Then we have sites like GameTrailers that give Full Video Reviews. And I have to say, when it comes to Video Reviews GT does it pretty damn well. They don’t show those useless numbers until the very end and they show Editor’s Notes to point out that they are in fact owned by the same company as Harmonix and such. Whether or not it still effects the review or not, I have no idea, but it makes me feel better.
My battlecry of the week goes out to the principle “think for yourself”. Despite what everyone says in reviews, you can only adress that to a certain extent. It always depends on what the reviewer things of the genre, and the game, if he/her played previous titles etc. That means that the reviewer can only tell you how he/she experienced it. People can only tell you what is flawed in a game and if they found that annoying or not. For example, Alpha Protocol, a lot of people thought it was a bad game because of all the bugs, but a review I read said that he liked the depth, despite the bugs. You can off course use reviews as an advice. But even games that are rated high, for example God of War, still have to be games that you like. I am totally not interested in it (you can thumb me down for it, but that is my opinion) . Its gore just to be gore. (sorry Brent). The game has to simply resonate with you from the get go. Reviews can only give you a hint if the game has flaws and what the good or bad sides are.
Except the problem offcourse always remains that we cannot afford every single game that is out there (not unless you have the money that Bill Gates has :p )
My battle cry this week goes out to user reviews. For the longest time I ignored the extremely helpful tool that is user reviews. I only trusted major review sites and magazines like IGN, GameInformer, Gametrailers, etc. Recently I have been reading more and more user reviews, which are FAR more varied in ratings and opinions than you’ll ever see on Metacritic. With user reviews you get a much wider look at how different gamers feel about certain games.
I also find user reviews to be much more honest. If they’re biased, they will often tell you so. User reviews are a great way of looking at video games from many different perspectives. I’m glad so many websites are pushing them more and more.
For me reviews are important since I can’t just go and buy games that could be good. I just don’t have the money for that and I think most people have that problem. But I don’t base my decision if I’m gonna buy a game just on reviews. Before I buy a game I also get as much information as I can about it, I watch gameplay videos and play the game if someone I know already owns it.
But the problem is that most sites still have outdated review systems. I’m not talking about numeric review systems but about the lack of focus on the reviewers.
Despite what Jim Sterling says it’s possible to write an objective review but we don’t really need them. Actually subjective reviews could be more helpful than objective ones but for that the review sites with multiple reviewers like Destructoid and 1UP would have to change their sites a little bit so that you can filter reviews by their reviewers. Now you can see which reviewer likes which games and if you find one that has the same or a similar taste as you in games it’s easier to trust that persons opinion and it’s more likely that you’re gonna like the same games in the future.
Whats up my mages of monstrosity, my minions of mayhem! How art thou?
My Battlecry this week is about how many brilliant games are just tossed aside by stupid review, I love video games and enjoy the build up to buying them, seeing the trailers, the preview gameplay and the predictions about the game. But then i get really p***d off stupid review. As a gamer, if i was thinking about buying a game from amazon, i would do a lot of research into it, check out gametrailer video reviews which are brilliant. But then out of the many brilliant reviews about the game, you see the odd few which say the game is terrible as the person lists the bad things about it. In general I don’t mind but sometimes even though the majority of the review are good, you are put completely off by the one or two negative reviews, which you take into consideration and start to worrying. Am i wasting money? Should i buy it second hand? and these little reviews are in the corner of your mind and can change a whole aspect of a game.
I generally don’t think reviews are that bad right now, because i don’t really rely on one persons opinion, in general i tend to go to gametrailers and check it out there. Reviews are good but you cant tell what game you will like unless you play it, so in general opinionated reviews are a load of S**T!, the only ones you can trust are the reviews from gametrailers, discussions on epicbattleaxe and very few more. So to sum up i think there are a ever-decreasing trustworthy sources for reviews, in a time where money matters more to the gamer than it ever has.
My battle cry goes out to Geoff Keighly (or however u spell it) and gametrailers, for doing the best reviews. They’re done in such a way as to break down games into story, gameplay, presentation etc, with his opinion on each. I often don’t even look at the end score, because I’ve seen what i wanted to know about the game already and I either agree with Mr Keighly’s assessment or I’ve made up my own mind. It’s also handy to look at a list of games and see numbers beside them, because games i may have overlooked stand out with a big old 9.1 beside them (even Brent agreed that he may have underestimated Bayonetta when it got a 10)
But I don’t think ANY gamer takes them too seriously. If it’s a game they want, they ALWAYS do more research, not just buy games that get a 9 or higher. Look at AVP, which gotta pretty bad review and sold through the roof!
Cheers Axelords!
Howdy, my soldiers of future, my knights of past (hurray for originality). How art thou?
My battlecry goes out to Angry Video Game Nerd. Yeah sure, his only stating his opinion on very, very old and simple games, but he does it with love and passion to the gaming, unlike most of the other ‘big’ gaming sites out there. And exactly that is one of the things that is missing here. If critics would have that much personality , gamers would know what does some critic enjoy, what not, and they would always have a ‘friend’ who would give his opinion on a certain game. Yeah sure it would be just his opinion, but they would now, what kind of opinion he has. They would now him that well.
AVGN FTW!
I use game reviews, but if a game looks awesome, then I don’t care what a reviewer says. I’m getting it.
That said, Amazon have a cool product review system where the highest and lowest reviews for the product are shown with short comments from the customers review. If this were employed in metacritic or gamerankings then gamers would have slightly more information and more access to both ends of the spectrum.
Afternoon.
I recently was in discussion with my fellow gamers and, as it is a current title, Alien Swarm popped up. Now me and my Steam buddies quickly got talking about tactics and organized a midnight campaign fest. Meanwhile, in the land of consoles, my friends went away on his fancy schmancy iPhone and looked it up on Metacritic. Immediately a large yellow colored box with 71 flashed up and he went “HA”.
Startled at what was going on he went on to explain how the game we were playing was bad as it had barely reached 7/10. I died a little inside and after stabbing him repeatedly, I asked him to look at the user score, and as expected it was high, a 9.
At this point he said those people do not know what they are talking about, but the reviewers are professionals. After my ears stopped bleeding, I felt compelled to visit the Axe only to find this battle cry discussion topic.
The harsh moral of the story is that these so called gaming professionals found at IGN or wherever are no different to you and I. They play a game and if they like it, they like it. They cant play a game better than us or have a perfectly balanced mind. They have personal preferences and will be biased towards them. It’s a real shame people are missing out on awesome, free titles because some asshole who they don’t even know said they didn’t like it.
My brothers of dispare, my allies of carnage how are thou.
My battle cry goes to those who don’t take the reviews to heart.A example of a game I didn’t like that was reviewed pretty high up was mw2. The reviewer might of liked it but they praised it for being a good game.But the one problem I see with mw2 that the reviewers never had to face was damn little kids spamming on there mics complains.Here is another example of a review I didn’t take to heart was alpha protocol it was said to be bad by many reviewers like ign or gametrailers. I think it was a fun game but hard ass boss fights I am guessing many reviewers raged quit during a hard boss battle and never finished the game but yes I know that the gun aiming system was difficult but to the point don’t place all your bets on reviews and try it your self (demos or renting it) but I use gamefly so it may be different for those people who just buy the games but I suggest you should try it first before buying
Hm, regarding both reviews and the thing you guys talked about bringing games to a gaming generation who havent been able to play em, ex Final Fantasy games on PSN, it made me think about when I really didnt know anything about reviews. I remember my first game evar was Final Fantasy IX on the Playstation. I got it as a Christmas present, knowing nothing about the game or the series whatsoever. And the game blew me away. It was what got me into gaming – it was, in a sense,what helped me learn the english language. I wonder how I would’ve experienced the game, if I knew about it before i played it.
My point is, i think with all the advertising and reviews this kind of surprise and sensation is kinda ruined. When was the last time you just spontaniously grabbed a game at the store, knowing nothing about it – only to be blewn away by the experience? But I guess it’s just the trend right now. And I think some people might regard scores as some sort of quality seal, you know. We expect that our hard earned money is well spent.
But honestly, what about a “Buy random game”-button at stores? Think about it. Peace out
Hey EBC Team. I am constantly Moved by your Kinection to your Wii little audience and our opinions. =P
My feeling with reviews are the same with Demo’s. I don’t bother checking out the reviews across any of the sites, unless its a game I was already curious about. Even then I take what they all say and show, with a grain of salt. Whenever I’m talking to a friend about a game, I personally use the “ranking” system of Buy, Rent, Pass. It’s really the only options that the consumers have; not 6.3, 4 stars or 17 thumbs up. There’s no confusion and if anything you just offer clarification. Are you a huge God of War fan? Then yes, you’ll want to play/buy Ghost of Sparta. Are you just a passing fan and don’t have the funds? Rent it.
The flip side however, is if there is a game I know I want to play, regardless of what others think (Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, Uncharted, etc) I do everything I can to IGNORE reviews and demo’s. Reviews are filled with spoilers, even when you’re not aware you saw a spoiler until you get to certain moments in the game and that can always sour the experience.
Ultimately, there will never be a right way to review games, aside from just talking to friends and just deciding your OWN PERSONAL OPINION. Because anything on the internet will be swung one way or another dependent on the fan base. The reviews out there written by the various publications and blogs will always be biased or one sided based on whoever is the one who wrote the review (or the person who gets the final say).
Oh and PS. I -HATE- Gamestop’s slogan “Power to the Players” F*** You. You give us zero power, your pre-ordering wh*reish ways have in my honest opinion set us back.
Stay Classy Axeheads!
I’m just a 19 year old kid without a job (I like to relax in the summer) so I try to spend my little money wisely. Whenever I buy a new game I do tons of research which includes looking up reviews. I prefer video reviews because then I actually get to see gameplay when also learning about the games mechanics. The actual critic is a big deal for me when deciding as well. I used to use gamespot but after the went down the crapper after their entire staff switched I moved over to Game Trailers and the all seem to be good with only a few iffy reviews. The numbered score gets the job done but is not perfect. I personally think that the Siskel and Ebert thumbs system would work great for games. A review would talk about the game, highlights, low lights, etc then at the end the critic says if the would recommend it to buy or rent, or to just stay away, with no number given and a lack of over 9000 comments getting angry at the score.
Another note: People argue one has to buy a bunch of stuff to make your Wii effective such as wii motes and nunchucks so Kinect is the better buy. But don’t you have to buy a 360 console in order to use Kinect? Wii motes or an entire console? Right.
My mother fucking battle cry goes out to EXTREME sides of reviews. Yep, fucking weird tittle. Anyway, about the whole score issue, I have a lot of respect for the Kotaku review style. For those who don’t know, when someone from kotaku reviews a game, first of all, a score is not given (which I totally agree) and then they proceed to list what they loved and what they hated about the game. THEY, they are very forthcoming and review from their own personal point of view and don’t give a shit about masking it. The other case is GT. I love the GT guys, I’m always lurking there, but sometimes I seriously notice some bullshit and fanboyism on some games. I’m about to bring an example that will generate a clusterfuck towards me but I don’t really care. Modern Warfare 2. Yeah, THAT game. I know that is amazing and one of the highest level FPS in the market. My thing is: did it really had to win ALL the awards for game of the year? ALL of them. It even won the DS tittle. I don’t think it’s worth THAT much, since there were a lot of amazing games in all platforms for MW2 to take it all home.
I remember years ago either EGM or GamePro did their reviews in the magazines and one of the things they reviewed on was fun factor. I think that’s missing in a lot of reviews. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that a lot of the reviews that come out have a lot to do with the technical side of the game, being the graphics, sound, and presentation. Gameplay is briefly touched on to describe the mechanics of the game and whether or not they work. The big thing that a lot of reviews seem to be missing is just how fun is the game. Just Cause 2 wasn’t the best game in terms of a story and voice acting, but was tons of fun to blow everything up. Meanwhile, Assassin’s Creed II was given high marks for how technically good it was, but I found the game to be a bit boring. I think reviews should focus more on that than the technical aspect of what makes a game.
I usually already know about the games I want before the review hits so reviews almost never give me sudden interest in a title. I only look to reviews for factual information regarding the game’s characteristics that couldn’t be seen in the controlled previews. I use Assassin’s Creed 1 for my point. In the previews and interviews for the game it looked visually stunning, the way you navigated the game world looked innovative, and the story looked solid. However, reviews revealed the game was repetitive, the AI was dimwitted, and their wasn’t much replay value. These are things that, in most cases, can’t be argued with and make or break a game sale for me. In controlled previews, you can’t see problems like repetitive gameplay or bugs and have to wait until someone plays the game as a whole. Far Cry 2 and the PS3 version of Fallout 3 are a couple other examples where we couldn’t see a game’s faults until the review revealed them.
The rest of reviews from score to subjective opinion can simply be thrown out. I saw scores for AC1 ranging all the way from 7 to 9 out of 10. What’s the difference between giving one game a 9.2 and another a 9.3? Bragging rights for fanboys during flame wars, that’s what. I think sites like GT have such intricate systems to throw fuel on the fire because it creates more interest in the reviews.
Hay guys, I just wanted to say i love my DLC and I love my blacklight: tango down and that’s what this is connected to. Well anyways…
My battle cry goes out to gametrailers for having some of the most retarded reviews I’ve ever seen. First I wanna start with their review of Modern Warfare 2 which made me vomit because I felt like I was watching a review made by a fanboy who cant help but suck up to a company. It complimented the game and completely ignored the huge amount of issues with the game, and there were a LOT!!!
Then a little while back I watched the review of Blacklight: tango (I already like the game, but I just enjoy watching reviews) which made me wanna rip my ears off. The review, like you guys said in your previous EBA, completely ignored the fact that it is a $15 downloadable game and they just kept comparing it to MW2. The second I herd them compare it, I said WHAT THE FUCK!!! They’re comparing a full price game to a downloadable game just because they seem a bit similar, it’s just total bullshit. BL: TG is a fun DLC game which they had treated as if it was attempting to rip off MW2. It’s not like all the idea’s in MW2 came from IW, why did they not mention that? IW wasn’t the first developer to have a separate campaign like game mode which you could play with friends. They did mention the price, but that doesn’t change the fact that they compared a game with a fairly small team to a game which had a huge team working on it. I cannot stand reviews like this and they must go.
Hey guys, my EBC goes out to those rare reviews that can make you change your mind for the better.
Recently, I had doubts about Alpha Protocol after reading some terrible reviews when I found one in a french magazine (a very funny, old school, hardcore PC magazine, filled with major trolls when it comes to consoles) that changed my mind and – with the additional advice of a friend who loved the game – made me try it. Result : I love it.
The reviewer did not try to hide the many flaws of the game, but it also perfectly adressed the streghts of the title. The writer managed to combine his personal experience, a more concrete description of the game features and considered the ratio value/price. And he was also able to point out the right audience for such an unusual game.
Without this small piece of journalism, I might have missed what happened to be a very cool experience. So, sometimes, a specific review can still have an impact, even on a gamer who spends too much time on the videogame websites (instead of actually playing games damn it !)
Whats up, my ninjas of nightmares, my pirates of pilfering, how art thou?!
My battle cry goes out to the inconsistency and flawed system of gaming reviews. When it comes to a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is “this sucks”, 5 is “this is ok”, and 10 is “this is f***ing awesome!” Yet almost no review site follows this (Gametrailers included). Look at Iron Man 2. it got a 4.8. Why? It sucked ass. People knew how much the first one sucked, so they were ready to tear it down. But a 4.8? thats almost a 5. Which should be average. Which Iron Man 2 was clearly not.
Then you have reviewers who are fanboys, who will overlook major flaws in a game because they like the franchise. Case in point, MW2. Gametrailers gave it almost every Game of the Year award they could. Was it a good game? Sure. Was it better than the first? A little. Was it deserving of all those awards? No. Hell it even got the DS award. And there were much better games than that.
When it comes down to it, if you’re interested in a game, buy or rent it. Daniel could say “Mass Effect 3 is a massive failure” and all I will say is **** you and your puns, I like Mass Effect, so im going to buy it.
My final verdict? **** scored reviews.
Whats up my whores of havoc, my deputy’s of decimation! How art thou?
First time crier, long time listener.
When I read/watch a review it is usually after i have made my decision about getting the game. Most of the time the only reason I even look at a review is to reassure myself that i’m not wasting my hard earned money(but according to my GF its all a waste of money). For example I have heard nothing but mediocre to bad things about singularity. On average, I think the score was around 7(I could be wrong). But from what I had seen in trailers and videos, it looked incredible. So I decided to go for it and I had a blast. Rarely have I been swayed by reviews. The reviews are all either too bias or don’t represent the people who would actually play the game. It’s almost like someone from Nintendo is reviewing the Xbox games. Personally, I think the rating system should be switched with something else. E.g. another website I frequent rates movies from “some ole bulls**t!” to “better then sex!”. I know thats a bad comparison for some of the more “avid” gamers but something like that would work a lot better.
Oh and what s0liddante said is wrong. If you already have a 360, kinect will work with it. The new xboxes just make it so you don’t require a separate power bar for kinect:
Reviews reviews….I guess, to me, it’s different from game to game. I’m a Final fantasy-fan and no matter what reviewers say about those games I couldn’t care less, still buying it. Every reviewer seemed to hate FFXIII but I loved it(listened to some reviews after i played the game out of curiosity). On the other hand, if there’s a new game I’ve never seen or heard anything about in beforehand, I’m probably going to check out some reviews, along with gameplay-vids etc. to help me make up mind. But ultimately I think they are of no use since I really do not trust them. It’s all about personal taste really. So….DEMOS FTW! XD
Ive got a great site that I go to for reviews.
Although it is a Japanese site, it is the most reliable in my opinion.
Here is one of the pages for the category Action
http://www.psmk2.net/list.php?genre=36
Anyway the reason that this site is so good is:
1.It is completely user reviews.
2.All of the reviews are “reviewed” by the admins so there are generally no blatant bashing or needless praising for fanboyish reasons.
3.The way that they are “reviewed” is basically there are multiple categories with ratings of 0-5, but if someone gives a rating of 0 or 5 then they need to justify their reason with specific game examples. If you just write “The game is beautiful!” or the “The game is boring!” then they will reject your review and ask you to edit it.
4.The overall scoring is not a dirrect average of all the reviews, and basically if the game has a high rating, it basically means that almost everyone that bougt it thought it was a good game and vice-versa.
But what I would really like to see is a site like this for the US.
Sure there are a lot of sites where users can leave reviews but none of them seem to screen the reviews, which usually ends up to people just giving random 10′s or 0′s to try and scew the overall ratings.
EBA should MAKE IT!
My battlecry goes out to CLASSICGAMEROOM reviews, they don’t use a scoring system, instead he just expresses his opinion, and even if he doesn’t like a game he will say that someone who likes that kind of game should check it out. Not only that but games that fly under the radar are reviewed by him, and influence my purchases more than any other review does. If you want to see reviews done right, check out classicgameroom on youtube.
I watch review’s for 4 purpouses
1: information
if theres a game i havnt been following a bit the year or the few months before it comes out i usually watch a review, pretty much just to see some gameplay footage, and hear of eventual problems (be them balancing issues, glitches or whatever)witch was the case with lost planet 2. i slightly liked the 1st one, but the second one just looked more samey. this will also be the case with mafia 2 in… a month or something. scores dont really mean jack sh*t
2. watching up on games that might have passed me by:
this has been the case with many games, for example lost planet (1) and bioshock (1). if theres a game that is pretty cheap at my local game store I also might just make an impulse buy.
3. entertainment:
for example some time ago i statred looking up the lowest rated games om gametrailers.com, its just fun in a tragic way.
4. reasurance:
I knew mass effect 2 would be good before the reviews got up. I mostly do this just to get some last minute information (see point 1)and a little like that.
I think review’s, in the state that they are now are tricky buissnis. it comes down to the bias or fanboyism of the review (not that all reviewers are biast or fanboys)it also sometimes worries me with the review of for exhample Ben Yahtzee Crosshaw, whose reviews dont show gamefootage and only vaugeley describes stuff sutch as story and gameplay, and topples it with pitch black cynacism. though i am rather sure that most people watch him because of his funny nature and recognice his (reel or fake who knows) cynacism.
I think there is a problem with the current review system in the fact there are 2 different systems of rating a game a 10 point or a 5 point and neither really work. It’s a number and numbers really in the end don’t mean anything it’s just a random number assigned to a game. I think there needs to be a constant review system that all reviewers use and should explain what they mean. Or better yet just a 3 system of reviewing pass, rent,or buy that’s simply just go to the end and there you go the critics recommendation because there are people who just care about the score and want to get through the large paragraphs of text that for people like me are hard to read because of the background I just want to know what they think. But in the end I don’t care if I’m interested in a game I’ll rent it from gamefly, or blockbuster because there is still a retail market and people have got to remember that because the only way your going to know if you like it is to play it and the cheep way to do that is to rent it.
I basically stopped being a drone of the gameindustry many years back…. My purchases today are mainly build on hands on time with whatever i´m planing to buy. This is one of the few reasons i like the internet connectivity of pc´s and consoles….
I no longer put any value on game reviews because ivé been burned so many times before in the past….
The amount of PR (MONEY) used on games these days is ridiculous and most of the time all that money,tv-time, Magazine commercials and speciel previews (EXCLUSIVES) in magazines and gamesite pre/reviews is wasted on a crappy game or “at best” a game that´s just like “all the others”….
This i why i rarely buy a game just when it comes out because if i can get a demo of it or some playtime at a store and “play before i pay” 9 out of 10 times i´m really dissapointed and end up not bying a crappy game that does nothing to captivate the gamer these titles were/are/and should be made for….
Now i do realise that i´m proberly one of a few who actually does it this way but i really don´t care what my friends or all the fanboys say like i said earlier i have a mind of my own and have no intension of being a mindless drone who will buy just about anything that has god of war, halo, resident evil, Mortal Kombat or mario written on it….
You really have to give this gamer what he want´s….
Sadly that doesn´t happen very often….
Hello!
First time posting, been watching for ages. Reviews for me tend to differ per title. I refuse to let any of them influance me for triple-A titles. Lets face it, games like Zelda and Mario will get retarded scores for the most simple of things. Like a 9-10 for story, or flat out ignoring it, because they will have to give it a low score.. And how detailed is the story of ‘Save the Princess’ again, compared to RPG’s, or something which attempt to tell a beautiful story, and end up around a 8.
For things like new IP’s, or something I am on the fence about, I will watch some reviews, and then look over media for them before I decide to buy them or not. A title like Dead Space would be a prime example. I wasn’t too keen on that at first, coming from Resident Evil. But after reviews, media, etc that pushed me to buy it, I was happy with the choice. Same can be said over War for Cybertron, etc.
i personally, watch every video review of games that get at least some of my attention, on all the sites i know, but i pay more attention to what they say about the game rather than the score they give to the game which i mostly never care, but in the end the finally the decision is mine, there been, and still there are some cases where the reviews tend to murder absolutely the game and, for some reason i still maintain my interest on it, it just depends how it was presented to my in first place i think,
i think reviews are important, but there are some sites that you can’t trust in their reviews very much, others seems to trash almost every game that comes out(although they may be right, there is a lot of crap out there), and not the most common but still present they review the worst version of the game(i understand there are many versions, but why do an individual review, why not comment or compare all of the versions in the review), it happened to a game i really love(and most people seem to dislike) Universe at War, the only reviews i could found where de 360 ones, and lets be honest, it’s an rts, if you are doing one only review, it should be on pc, cause most people would buy it there, not on the 360.
anyways, reviews are important, they should help the consumer get an idea of what he could be buying or not, the quality of a game, but people should pay more attention to what the review says not just the scores, that is just a number and i simply cannot sum up a hole review comment.
i agree though with what you said on latest epic battleaxe, of including, or adding some kind of peoples score to the game, like people could rate the game, and doing some percentage of it you could get a generals people score.
good luck, and good bye.
I’m with most of the other Axe Heads on this one. A review is not my sole deciding factor, nor is it my primary one. I read and watch reviews to see what members of the industry think of the games I’ve already got opinions on. I let reviews confirm, deny, and supplement my thoughts on games, but never define them.
I’m a college student and always short on money. The only way a game makes its way onto my shelf is if it’s extraordinary and I simply can’t wait to play it. Reviews are mostly for me to get an idea of one person’s opinion and experience with the game who is (supposed to be) well versed in games and giving me their professional opinion.
Scores, stars, and numbers are a double edged sword I think. Sure, it’s nifty to be able to turn your opinion into a stat to be tracked and compared, but we’ve let that number hold too much weight. That and I think we’ve strayed FAR away from what a 1-5 (stars) or 1-10 ranking scale should be. A game with a score of 5 should be absolutely middle ground mediocre. Fun but not great, workable but not uber polished. Today, a score of 5 is wretched, shouldn’t even have been published. I kind of like the Buy, Try, Rent, or Pass idea, though I think numerical scores can be a good thing, but not when they get out of hand. That and these stories of people getting fired over bad reviews or companies giving incentives for good reviews and punishments for bad ones. Absolute bullshit. We have ranks and reviews for Books and Movies however, so I think our industry just needs to find it’s groove and not take them so seriously. Just because Roger Ebert gives me his opinion on a movie… doesn’t mean that’s what I’ll get out of it.
My BattleCry goes out to the popular 1-10 rating scale that is used by many websites. The truth of the matter is that websites use this scale for the purpose of gaining more viewers. Numerical scores are popular and attract attention. They are also recognized by websites like metacritic. I suggest a more simpler system- buy it, rent it, skip it. Its straight to point, less confusing (what’s the difference between an 8.7 and an 8.8?) and bias-free (hopefully). I feel reviews have become corrupt tools for grabbing more viewers.
“Did you see what IGN gave so-and-so, or what about Destructoid? 7.0?”
As much as I hate to admit this, but I agree with the review system they have on X-Play. A 1-5 score system, as they themselves have explained, makes much sense. Since on a scale of 1-10, no one will get 10s and no one will want to play a game lower than 4. The 1-5 scale broadens the spectrum of what a 5 game could be, and many 3 games could still be good, it merely depends on the players taste.
I believe it was Play Magazine got rid of a number score, and just reviews the game, which is a very good idea because it forces the interested party in reading the whole article, learning the good or bad things about the game they might like to purchase.
I am a lazy person, so I read many user reviews on Amazon.com, many on these reviewers post bad vs good bullets at the end of their reviews, those little snippets are very useful because they point out what flaws the game might have. Besides, on Amazon you have a lot of non-professional reviewers that have no contact with devs or publishers. I like read some of the most praising reviews and some of the most hateful reviews to get a middle ground on the good or bad things I can expect on the game I am interested in buying. It is extremely easy to spot fanboy reviews on Amazon.
PS I mentioned this on the comments for Skirmish 83. But it seems no one on the Axe watches Mr Show, Brent’s comment about derailing a train and eating it piece by piece for charity was from one of their skits about a lie detector test.
I generally watch a couple of video-reviews if I’m interested in a game and sometimes a written review if I’m looking for answered regarding a specific part of the game. I’m not sure why i watch/read these things ’cause the reviewers all sound like they are about bore themselves to death. I mean the lack of enthusiasme… I never let a reviewer tell me wether or not to buy a game. For me it’s more about getting a short glimps of the final product and not a trailer that’s been boosted in the back and front to make it look better. I guess it’s more about getting the technical information about the game than getting some bored pessimistic nerds opinion on the game. Plus there’s definetly some entertainment factor in it… If I don’t have then money for a game that I’m really excited about you know I’m gonna find every single video out there about that game. It might not be a showcase of self-disciplin but I don’t give a shit. When I’m excited about something, I can’t control myself.
Well now, reviews are definitely a slippery slope. Although most sites work hard to avoid bias and deliver a balanced review you cant avoid the ideas and feelings of the reviewer entering the article. Further, some of the larger commercial review sites will have 3 categories of games, 9+ 6-8 or 1′s when you look at these reviews you can tell they are trying to avoid stepping on to many toes and give every game a chance but that skews the scores because the difference between a 7 and an 8 may be huge but the guy skimming the review might not get that picture.
Now some sites like metacritic try their best to erase these issues by calculating the scores of many major review sites together to try and get an overall picture. This generally does a good job of weeding out the bad apples from the jems but its still not a perfect system. Take Black Light tango down for instance, i personally thought it was an awesome experience and for a 15$ price tag you cant go wrong with it. The issue lies in the fact that it got a measly 63 on metacritic, I heard in the show that this number turned away multiple gamers from purchasing the game and thats just a shame. I’m sure this has happened to many gamers. This goes both ways, you might buy a game that had an awesome review score and end up going… really? this is a 10? and then feel like a fool as you sell it back at gamestop in a attempt to earn back some of your cash. Now this happens less often then the opposite, you pick up a game you’ve been watching for a time and absolutely love it, but it ends up getting a 6 in a review score.
So heres my strategy and of course its not perfect. Generally how you can judge if you’ll like a game is by the feel of the game, what kind of atmosphere does it have, what emotions do you feel in the trailer. One example for me was metro2033, I loved the look of the game and the end of the world feel. Many people complained about this aspect pointing at perhaps another fallout clone but i like that kind of game. So I rented it, played as much as I could and realized this is one of the coolest games ive played this year… for me. Now thats the key, everyone has their personal tastes and need to make decisions on games for themselves.
So, in a perfect world gamers would be able to surround themselves with people who enjoy the same types of games as they do, or different sites would offer different perspectives but as a people we are so diverse that that scenario is near impossible to achieve. Even within my circle of friends we have extremely different gaming tastes. We do share common interests on some grounds however on others we differ. One friend in particular loves MMO’s and swears by World of Warcraft. Well i gave the game a try and made an account and got a character to level 30 and just got bored of it. On the other side of the issue I love Starcraft and the strategy elements behind that game but he cant stand the micromanagement of building a base and manging long term plans.
However we both waste hours of our time on Cod, Gears and Halo. So each of us have our own tastes so we cant always rely on each other as barometers for which games to buy. You really need to make those decisions on your own. Now Game reviews can help steer you towards that decision but should never be your be all end all decision.
Almost all well written reviews will cover the good and bad of a game as well as go in depth as to what the game is about as well as the feel of the environment. Besides readers and watchers of EBA are generally fairly knowledgeable and devout gamers so watching a reviews is also pretty entertaining. So after watching different reviews from across the web as well as checking out trailers, if I’m not yet convinced of purchasing a game I will rent it then make my decision.
Its a bit harder with DLC and Im very frustrated with the treatment of BlackLight and I appreciate the efforts of you guys defending the title in the latest skirmish because it got a mixed bag of reviews which ended in a pretty bad rap on metacrititc. Which is why metacritic cant be your only source, go thorugh and watch some of the better reviews and some of the poorer one and the disconnect seems to be on amount of content in the game but what people dont seem to realize is that its a steal for 15$.
But of course I digress and regress old territory, at the end of the day use reviews for what they are, one person or a group of peoples opinion on a given title, but remember everyone has their own opinion on the quality of entertainment and the games they play. Keep up the good work guys I love EBA and watching the skirmishes and reading your articles… and the idea of Ureview just might be the best way to do things, allow gamers, the life blood of this industry, to allow their two cents to be heard and to let fellow gamers make up their own minds. Well in the words of Micheal pachter, “ill see you later fellow babies”, Hopefully be gettin some sweet…. asss…. gogg action haha. Yall are the best keep doin what you do and ill keep listening. Holy crap, just hit preview and this beast is longg heh…
Long time reader, first time poster.
I agree that game scores have lost a lot of their weight over the years mainly due to the internet and being able to watch videos of the game play to see first hand what is going on. But, I think that a numerical score (even a thumbs up/down) are still important and they help me decide if I should buy a game if I’m considering getting one. It all comes down to if the reviewer has a consistent track record. You don’t even have to agree with the score given, as long as you understand his/her preferences and why they rated the game the way they did. This of course requires you to read some of their reviews, but after you grasp what they usually consider good or bad you can usually just look at the score.
My battle cry is dedicated to a request for more review sites that present unique perspectives that may be more in tune with an alienated audience. Sure, there are people that may relate to Bloodworth on GT or Adam Sessler on Xplay, but not everyone shares their opinion. The most viable option that I can think of is a new review system that has the personality of the reviewer, and is compared with to the reader to determine the validity of the review itself, as a way to streamline the process. Or you could just rely on your friends, as they are probably the people that know you the most.
An unrelated, but very important point I would like to make is that not only reviews seem to help out game sales themselves, but on a personal level they seem to make games either more enjoyable or less fun for me, depending on what the review made out of that game. For example, after I played Pathologic, thinking it was a great game despite the translation, I go to metacritic and see it gets a 63. I can’t help but dislike the game because of those reviews. But then I found the review by Rock Paper Shotgun and all of the sudden I fell back in love with the game, ready to play it a second time.
Assuming that there are other people like me, I just want the reviewers to know that they are making a much bigger impact than the potential sales of a game, but the potential enjoyment that a consumer may have with it as well.
Im not defending reviews or anything but they are necessary… for me at least. I only get about 3-5 games a year, so I use all the resources i can to figure out which ones to get. that includes interviews, videos website articles and reviews. I dont usually look at the numerical scoring but i read written reviews or watch video reviews to see what aspects are good about a game and which are bad. That way, i can tell if i would like it or not. Fragile Dreams has a 67 on metacritic and it turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time. I don’t want to sound like i think im better than everybody else but maybe if more people chose their games like this, they would get more of what they like rather than just games that have high scores.
al-i-dan
al as in alimony
i as in game developer ID
and dan as in… dan
i believe reviews are still important and relevant. however i believe number scores can go FUCK themselves. i believe in letter grades. and only a few
F – complete failure to be a game
d – MAJOR flaws but playable
c – you have to like the genre
b – something to like for everyone
a- – great game with little holding it back
a – the game delivers on all fronts
a+ – in 10 years you will still be talking about this game
this should be the rating system, and this alone. it takes numbers out of the equation so you ant go and nit pick, this is a 6.3 or this is a 96
and i also believe that there should be a reviewer accreditation board, this would be necessary for sites like metacritic to allow a review in the rankings. this way only respectable journalists can effect the over all score. and with the threat that you accreditation could be striped, it may give people more reason you judge the game on its merits and not a reaction bullshit review.
but what i look for in reviews are people or places that tell me the truth. and i don’t give a flying fuck about there numbers, i only care about the written review. you ever read review that makes the game sound orgasmic, but its number is only in the mid 80′s than a game thats generic ad fuck gets a 96+ when i realized that shit happens is when i stopped caring about the numbers.
With limited time/patience to “fuck around” researching what various sources think about a game, I tend to place a lot of stock in GameTrailers.com and their reviewers’ opinions. The reason why I value GT’s reviews so highly is because they are informative, require little to no reading, feature intelligent analysis, and are narrated by a dude with a sweet voice. I have never bought a “next gen” game with a GT rating of less than 8.7 and consequently have never been unhappy with a purchase.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF GAME REVIEWS AND HOW DO REVIEWS INFLUENCE YOUR PURCHASING DECISIONS?
Greetings Other Shouters of Mayhem and Destruction. That’s all I got for an opener. I’d have to say I really like to use reviews as a kind of litmus of games. As a gamer of nearly 20 years (Yeah, I’m old) I’ve been lured by fancy boxes and big names.
The most atrocious of these crimes I’ve committed onto myself was Superman 64. I think it’s safe to say that even with differing opinions on games, no human being on earth can defend that game… I was fooled by 2 things, the appeal of the Animated Series on which the game was “based” on and the game advertised Multiplayer. Yes, that’s right, the game had 4 player multiplayer… which was just a kind of Forsaken knock off. Which was awful. Truly something that has stuck in my side for about 11 years now.
But I do agree with what you had mentioned on Skirmish 83 that game reviews are opinions. And I do find it very disturbing that game reviews do not use a full scale, which is why I generally like the reviews (like those done on Joystiq) that go to a kind of alternate review style. It should be a system not with a score but rather a system just saying what you liked/disliked about the game and if the reviewer would recommend it. All the emphasis put on metacritic has made it nearly impossible for people to find those guilty pleasure titles that we all I think at one point to explore and find out for themselves. yes they’re not truly 90+ scoring games, but they entertain us and make us happy to be gamers. My guilty pleasure title? I’m not ashamed to admit it: Dynasty Warriors.
This is my first official post on this site so let me start off by saying good stuff you guys got going on here.
Now to my opinion for me the problem with reviews is that you never know when someone is being sincere or if they are just being a puppet. Yeah, yeah people will swear there giving you their honest opinion but when they receive a couple thousand dollars worth of free crap (or less depending on how much they held out for) and its sitting in the background of their review its hard to take them seriously.
I mean come on its human nature to be a selfish prick and who wouldn’t sell their soul to have everything in the world that they have ever wanted.(Shut up you self righteous pricks you know you’ve contemplated it) I mean come on were talking about gamers here we get screwed on a daily basis. We pay more now than ever before for cheap gimmicks and so called limited edition content, as well as one of my personal favorite DLC aka downloadable content, which was probably part of the game but was taken out to milk us for even more money, I mean seriously this sh*t used to be packaged up nicely in expansion packs but now is sliced up into more expensive smaller portioned downloadable crap, then there’s pre ordering to get special limited pre order content, and not to mention the waiting in line over night to buy a premium console on launch date just to have a platinum one release 1 month later, forcing us diehard, have to have it all bastards to trade our premium console in for less than half of what you paid for it in order to get the new platinum one. It’s horrible we get nickel and dimed to death on a daily basis just to trade it all in for less than a fraction of the price when the new sh*t drops,(damn I got so far off topic)
Sorry about that back to reviews to be fair there are some reviews that do try to be as fair as possible, and others that enlighten us with just the facts, but opinions are like A-holes everyone has one yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the rest.
The biggest problem is not everyone likes the same things. What one person might consider good another might consider horrible. So how do we shift through the sh*t. We rent, we try demos, we join betas, we watch videos, we talk to friends who have the game, we borrow the game and if its good sometimes we don’t give it back(you know who you are), and if your friend is the guy you always borrow stuff from and never return it to, then chances are you probably have to go to his house to play it before you decide to buy it, but truth be told in the end if you really want something it doesn’t matter if the reviews say its crap your gonna buy it anyways, and find out for yourself if it really is crap, or if you can swallow the awful parts in order to enjoy the good aspects of it, and lastly there’s always the chance you’ll completely love it and think the reviewer is a sellout piece of sh*t who has no idea what makes a good product. All in all I think reviews affect us differently I saw one on gametrailers about Dante’s Inferno which was funny as hell to me, the way the reviewer ripped the game to shreds seemed a little personal but at the same time he brought up some good points about gameplay mechanics that sucked in the game, although I enjoyed the demo, in the end I didn’t buy the game because GOW3 was right around the corner, and to me the demo wasn’t that impressive it just didn’t seem to bring anything new to the table, and in this case some of the points the reviewer made also affected my decision.
For me I think the worst part is when a game doesn’t live up to the hype of reviews and videos or just the developers reputation. FFXIII in my opinion wasn’t worth the 65 bucks I paid for it. You could make it through most of the game spamming the x key and auto attacking, the levels were very linear and lackluster, the story was ok, the dialog if you can call moaning and groaning dialog was ridiculous, but atleast the graphics were amazing. Still some sick fan boys will defend it to their dying breath, as far as reviews on the game go, they lead me to believe it was a great game, but did I buy it because of reviews. No I bought it because I’m a FF freak. The reviews could of said it was the worst game in history and I still would of bought it. Sadly now I dream of how I can get even with SquareEnix for this crap.
I am a diehard gamer and I have been playing since the pong days and love that games have become a mainstream form of entertainment but it comes with a price you have to listen to critics who think they know it all, a few who do actually make sense, the government blaming games for violence, crappy games, hiked up prices aka being robbed, the ESRB need I say more. But when it comes down to it, It’s your time if you’re on a long train ride to bumble f— Egypt and you want to catch up on your favorite form of entertainment be it via magazine, laptop, smart phone then watching or reading reviews is entertainment in itself. You can learn what others think about products and sometimes get some key buying points pointed out to you, honestly if more reviews paid more attention to the product rather than personal experiences with the product then they could better help you in choosing whether or not to buy. Sadly in this industry it’s about entertainment and everyone is different in what kind of entertainment they like, so I say screw it choose a side to verbally abuse and jump in with your opinion but don’t forget to point out the facts before you point out your personal feeling about the game, lastly have fun because there are far worst things you could be doing with your time.
my battle cry goes to a game review show called reviews on the run. i like this show because they use the whole 10 point scale so its not like 6= a terrible game 6 would = an avrage game. there are also two people reviewing the games so you get two opinions. the only problem is they dont go into very mutch detail, but it is good it get a general opinion of the game and if its not enough you could find out more about the game from the internet.
Personally, I feel like all game reviews should go the route of gametrailers and just do video reviews. I find that video reviews give the gamer a better visual detail of the game you are thinking of purchasing. I gather most of my reviews from sites like Gametrailers, IGN, and Gamespot. I think the gamer themselves have to gather as much information from different sources on whether they should purchase a particular game.
Well to be honest nobody wants to spend 60$ on a game that got bad reviews. what im trying to say is reviews affect us more than ever cause of the 60$ price point for games on ps3 and 360. i mean when u look at it the wii games dnt do so well critically but they sell quite well eg just dance. so reviews matter cause of the high price point for games. Oh and if you guys go to psn blog share vote for my idea. ( my idea was for PSP2 to have 4g or 3g network)
What’s up guys.
I personally prefer game opinion or satire shows over reviews. To me, the thing that is the most disappointing about game reviews is the fact that barely any reviewer will straight up tell you if a game is fun to play or not. After all, isn’t that what gaming is all about once it boils down to it?
Also, I have become very cynical about the state of game reviews, as I tend to notice a lot of biased opinions in some of the bigger gaming websites like IGN or even Gametrailers. This could have to do with corperate sponsors or something similar, but regardless of where it’s coming from, it isn’t the right path.
While I do not rely solely on game reviews, and what so-called reviewers may say about a game, when deciding if to purchase a game, I do like to read what certain reviewers have to say about the title.
I will admit the main reviewer that I check is x-play. If I’m really interested I would check gametrailers and/or ign. The main reasons I always end up falling back on x-play’s views are:
a) They’re on TV. So when I sit at my pc to play some games, my TV turns on, and most of the times lands on G4 and stays there. And anyway, who wouldn’t want to watch cops for the entire day while on their pc playing games, and maybe catch some game reviews in between.
b) I prefer their game rating system. 1-5 is small enough to still not be too decisive. Cause when a game gets a 3 out of 5 (as the majority of games do) that doesn’t tell me it’s a completely shitty game, nor does it tell me that it’s the next coming of christ. It’s ambiguous enough to leave me with the feeling that I probably need to check this game out myself. And that is where what they SAY in their review comes into play. They aren’t idiots by any means over there at G4. They know their shit, and make mostly sensible points. So I’d listen to what they have to say about the game, take it all with a grain of salt, and then research the game myself. Check out online trailers, gameplay footage and whatever else I could get my eyes on.
After all that, I either take the plunge, or wait for The Coming of Christ part 2: Crosses to bear.
Plus, Morgan Webb ain’t too hard on the eyes either.
CRY HAVOC!
greetings fellow axe heads,
my battle cry goes out the reviewers of games in the popular game magazines/sites.
I always struggled with the fact that most of this mediums are sponsered by gamecompanies. how am i to believe that the score they give to a game is not influenced by a sack of green paper or a blank check with the signature of the director of activision (dont call his name everytime you do a axehead dies)
for example I am from holland and a popular game magazine there (called Power Unlimited) has given the first assasins creed a freaking 100 (on a scale from 0-100)
I was still naive in those days and I thought hey that should be a fucking awesomesauce game.
well we all know now that game isnt awesome its a shallow image of what it could be. but still it got a 100. and people buy games based on the opinions of self-claimed specialists.
as for Star craft 2 yes they want us to believe that it is awesome… but come on there are fucking with you.
do you really believe that they had too much content and that it wouldnt fit… wouldnt fit… thats bullshit
either A) the game isnt finished yet, B) they want more money from you or C) Bobby kottick (shit everybody hold your breath) is really the devil and wants to harvest more souls this way. I believe there are people here… well not here but somewhere in the game world who would sell there soul for SC2 even though it would probably crush your dreams and innocence, and makes you play twin caliber for eternity in hell. (search this game up its the worst game I ever played)
I bit you farewell,
till the Next Battle Cry.
Sup everyone. I just wanted to give my 2 cents about the last topic on this weeks EBC. About standing up for ourselfs and “speaking with our wallets” As i think that sounds all well and good its not likely to happen that way. Its easy to think like that Wolf “Person” haha and not shop at game stop or Not by the Halo Reach bundle but we forget somepeople just dont care, Or have no choice..Or when it comes to a game youve been waiting for or want really bad u just will do anything to have it and bend over and take it just for the joy of having that beloved game..Like for example. I love Street Fighter! when SF4 came out i was day one purchase! i played the crap outta that game and had a blast..Then i heard that they were Making SuperSF4 and i was like everyone else..WTF CAPCOM! Yes they made it at a discount and added alot of content but come on…My point is I ended up spending 90 dollars on essentially the same game with a few add ons. I still own SF4 cause again id get screwed by Game Stop and get 2 dollar for a trade in. But i loved the game sooooo much that i just had to have it and so I bent over and let Capcom F me so i can play the game i love. So in that sense i cant speak with my wallet cause then i would be depriving my self of a game I love…Its like if I was paying 1 dollar for my supply of water and then had to pay 20 bucks..I would still buy it cause i wanted it and needed it! Also like i said some people dont have a choice..I know some people who live in areas that only have a gamestop or what ever and thats the only place to buy games..So they have to deal with their terms. I think the only way to turn this around is to put together some kind of official org. and speak our minds…but itll probably still not work..lol Good thing my Dads Cliffy B! haha
(jk)
What’s up my mystical mentors of madness, my cursed caliphs of crime, how art thou!
My Battle Cry goes out to the guys at screw attack, not because they have the best reviews in terms of content. Actually they are often very subjective if not fanboyish. But they have got the best, most useful rating system out there. For those who don’t know it, they rate in 3 categories, buy it, rent it and f*** it. They often season this with some comment about who should do one or the other based on other preferences. Now that is a recommendation that can help me!
Review scores MATTER, that is a simple fact. How much they matter depends on the gamer, but they also matter to the INDUSTRY. Why do you think publishers invest so much time trying to buy favour with the press in order to get their average game a higher score? It’s proven that higher rated games sell more copies. Most of you will be more willing to take a chance on an unknown, but above average rated game for the right price. I’ve definitely been influenced by Magazine reviews in the past e.g. I wouldn’t have picked up Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion when I did without first seeing PC Zone’s great review.
Some magazines use a simple system alongside the review score comparing the game to other titles you may have played. I find this is much more helpful than a score.
The film industry press generally use a 5 star system, and I think this works MUCH better. I’ll still go and see a 3 or even 2 star rated film if it’s in a genre I like, would I do the same for a game rated 3.0 – 6.0 on Metacritic? Probably not sadly, particularly if it’s a full price title. I either rent it, or wait until it’s bargain basement price.
Just finished hearing the new skirmish and have to say I shared my feelings on this subject and now I’d like to send out a battlecry on how to better reviews. Reviews are infamous for sharing the reviewers passions and disappointment on the subject in this case games and like most people will agree this is a matter of preference and opinion not only for the reviewer but for the readers and listeners we all have reviewers we tend to side with and agree with adamantly and others we wish we could kill with our harsh words but in the long haul these reviewers add flavor to our reviews we need their character to help entertain as well as educate us. Most people don’t learn from a teacher who puts them to sleep with their boring speeches, and I’m sure most people would agree that removing this aspect from reviews would diminish the quality of the review so I have a suggestion rather than remove why not separate the key elements of the reviews from factual to opinionated. Most game take years to develop and I think that reviews should be as intimate as the development process rather than scoring the overall game let break it down to fundamental elements that all gamers can agree on.
This is a list of fundamental elements i believe are crucial to a good game and of course this is but a starting point I’m sure other members would be happy to share their opinion on key elements for review.
Presentation – graphically how does the game stack up VS new cutting age games in its genre.
Audio – how does the music, voice acting, as well as sound FX stack up.
Gameplay Mechanics – controls the complexity and learning curve as well as hiccups in the scheme.
Options – what options are available from control settings, to audio and video.
Gameplay Value – how much playtime can gamers hope to get out of the game, what bonus Easter Eggs keep the gamers coming back for more and appreciating that extra care developers put in.
Unique Features – what makes this game stand out from the rest.
Story – how well does the game engross the player in its fantasy.
Extras – all extra features that make the game worth your money from DVD extras to included content and materials.
Lastly the piece de resistance Reviewers After Thoughts – where there should be at least 3 reviewers sharing their perspective and feelings on the game, and hopefully have some fun agreeing to disagree in order to satisfy everyone’s appetite for information and entertainment.
Of course some sites and reviewers already address some of these points and some use screenshots others videos and some only audio in order to better serve the gaming community I think reviewers should offer all of these elements to their public and allow them to choose which better suits them, not to mention some space for users to comment and post their own thoughts on the game. Also I think links with the review to the games official site and heads up on demo release dates and betas announcements would be beneficial as well, so that gamers have more resources easily available to them.
I think games today are too much of an investment to just let reviews be relied upon for a purchase. Reviews are done by so many sites, magazines and other media that they should be seen as part of the whole and not just the whole. There may be a site or magazine that you agree with more than others, but they are just a tool to help you, and along with other tools like videos, demos and word of mouth, all of these together should give you a much better picture when it comes to your purchase. It’s like buying a car or house….you get info about it, have a test drive/view it and make your decision off of several pieces of info and not because one person said buy this car or house. In the end though, it all comes down to your own tastes and no one knows what you like better than yourself.
For the most part, I use game reviews to confirm my suspicions about a game before buying or renting it. I don’t like the idea of spending money to buy a game solely on the word of a reviewer or two. The chances of a reviewer having the exact same taste I do in games are probably next to impossible and had I taken any reviewers word for absolute truth I would have undoubtedly missed out on several games I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing because a certain person didn’t happen to like it.
As far as scoring games goes well I think like most people I find scores to be really pointless. Especially sites that use decimal point scorings, you end up with douchebags arguing over a game getting a 9.3 instead of 9.5+. I prefer the idea of stating whether a game is worth buying, worth renting first or that it should be avoided. Again, not perfect but it doesn’t have the issue of people whinging about a game not being rated at least 0.2 points higher.
I watch alot of reviews but i play extremly few games. The ones i do buy i consider for a long time. I’m not poor i just have another very expensive hobby
Anyway, these days the internet i overflowing with media about every single game so, as you said, reviews don’t matter that much any more. That’s why i don’t understand why so many is running around with their arms in the air about reviews. Cool the fuck down! It’s just opinions – a bit more qualified opinions but still opinions like yours. You don’t have to rely on them so why all the screaming and kicking about them?
Peace,
Erik
I think this is a great discussion because it relates to more then just game reviews in particular. I believe that it was Tony who mentioned the “news” as an example of being more entertainment than information – and that is precisely the point here.
Bottom line, we all must be able to think for ourselves regardless of what the “authorities” (in this case game reviewers) in the matter say.
That is the one and only exercise of true freedom we have left to learn – I feel this discussion could go far beyond games, but that’ enough rambling for now.
Read as much as you can on the game, try the demo if there is one, read and see the reviews (sure why not) – but in the end you must pass your own judgment on whether it’s worth the investment or not.
My member battle cry goes out to Metacritic because I think they do a great job giving well rounded ratings to games, movies, etc. rather than relying on one guy or girl to give their opinion and score. The truth is a lot of numbered rating systems (especially for games) are flawed and reviewers suffer from bias at times depending on the genre (There are very few gamers that play and love every genre – but I’m sure reviewers have to play them). However, by just giving the average score of all these things out there, Metacritic is at least taking all these factors into account and giving you rough idea where these games are falling in terms of the mass opinion out there. There are always my go to when checking out reviews and I always read the highest and lowest reviews to see the best picture I can about the pro’s and con’s of a game.
Although flawed, game reviews in general are indeed necessary. I was really intrigued by Naught Bear and loved everything I saw about it. But, as you know, this game clearly was not worthy the money being that it was torn apart by an overwhelming majority of reviews out there. I never take reviews as the definitive final word on whether or not I buy something, but they are always worth considering.
What’s up…my members of metacritication, my cries of callous instigation…how art though.
I think it’s important to know if the journalist shares the same view as you do on the game in question. For example I loved the old AvP games and had massive expectations for the new one so I want to read a review where the journalist feels the same I do, that way I feel the criticisms made will ultimately be the same I make if I play it later. (and they did because I feel totally let down by AvP).
As for numbers, if it’s from a journalist that suits your taste in that game, then they’re a pretty handy indication.
Reviews do aid my buying decision, for example some games I would never have thought of purchasing get so much praise I give up and get it…ie Demon’s Souls (which is sick!). Apart from in a very few cases I’ll never buy anything simply based on reviews. But generally when I get then chance I’ll try a demo and go from there.
DK, nice Batman costume. Love you guys.
Video game reviews are interesting, because while music and movies are more about opinion and taste there are certain things that you have to have in a game to make it playable, if a game is filled with bugs and has poor controls, it doesn’t matter what the game content is, you can’t play and enjoy it. (I thought that actor did a poor job vs the game always crashes after the 3rd level)
I do believe there are a lot of good review sites that do a good job, and that I trust, when they give a good score/writeup for a game I know that I will enjoy it. When people trust a review site, build up a relationship, that is when it makes a difference.
One of my favorite review sites is GameTrailers, simply because they explain why they gave that score to the game and I believe its very justified. Not only that they judge games based on innovation, game play and value for money, putting themselves in the position of the poor gamer who needs to buy a game and get a fix for months or years because its impossible to buy 5 $60, 10 hour games.
Admittedly I do put a lot of weight on game reviews, although its not like I turn my nose up at anything less than a 9, but I listen to what the reviewer is saying, its more to find out if the game mechanics work, how long it is, how innovative it is. Too many people just look at the score and make a judgment, but you have to read the review and make a choice based on the words, not the number, one reviewers 6 could be the same as an others 4 but say similar things in the review.
sup my Axeheads!! got to love the Kayser-nator his puns are awesome!! just like Arnie’s one liners the Kayser has his puns! LOL but yeah my epic battle cry goes out to Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw who does game reviews, his game reviews are Legen…..wait for it DARY!! his reviews are funny as “High guitar sound” he goes where no other game reviewer’s dares to go !! the truth and what really gamers want to hear, his reviews are very entertaining and because he speaks about his experience while playing the game and how if they remind him of any other games, he is very honest and very brutal, he reviews games with a passion and a sense of humour, for me, as a hardcore gamer this is the kind of review I would want to hear!! and I think “Viking” Brent Adams would love his reviews!! http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation
thanks
Good game reviews are educated suggestions and opinions based on the game itself. I feel that game reviews allow casual gamers to make educated purchases. Hardcore gamers will try a game of interest regardless of a review. How effective are reviews? probably minimal, but nevertheless, the option is available. Personally, I enjoy reading reviews prior to the release of a title, because they alter my expectations. However, reviews alone do not sway my purchasing decisions.
Hvordan går det! (How Arth Thou) Hello from Denmark one of the Viking Lands, you have my respect for making gaming news entertaining
my battlecry goes out to the Reveiws of your friends Gametrailers.com it is my personal openion that those guys actually look at the game from both sides they say the bad and the good, and even if they dont personally like it they tell people to give it a chance if you like the type of game (as they did with black light tango down). that is the only real way to make a reveiw to not trash a game just because you dont like the type of game for an example is stupid. and another thing gametrailers.com does well is to show the faults and the goods that they are talking about in video, prooving that they aren’t just trashing for the heck of it. tho the scores as you guys mentioned never really hit the 1′s and 2′s so the point system should be looked at for sure.
Best Regards to the magnificent Axe Wielders of this place,
from the SpookyGoose of Denmark
My battle cry this week goes out to DK and his lack of fondness towards the PS3 iteration of Dragon Age. I thought it was worth mentioning that it took me the best part of three weeks to actually get to a point where I was properly enjoying it, but when you get there (despite its shortcomings) it becomes truly engaging, deep and enjoyable. (That’s what she said – have that one for free.) As a big fan of Mass Effect I think DK should give it another go as the similarities between these two titles become more apparent over time and the PS3 copes with the strain of such a massive game better than I thought it would. Love the show guys.
the review of too human :
first: Make it actually about the game. When too human came out, they spent HALF the time saying that it was in development for 10 years and that it was involved in a lawsuit. only those who follow it from day one care about that and they already know it. Review the game, not the company!!!
and my second remark is investment.
if you give a reviewer 10 games to review in a month, he’s going to play the highly expected more than the small ones. and if those small ones need more then one playthrough to really get then they are f*cked. (also the case of too human)
yes too human got hammered by the reviews and yes it is one of my favorite games
What’s up my ravagers of reviews, my… nevermind… … how art’ thou…
I use reviews quite a lot to choose games to buy, but I’ve always taken reviews with a large pinch of salt – video reviews help because from the footage you can partly make up your own mind. My main problem with reviews, especially those on GT, is that they don’t always answer my questions and are intended for a different type of gamer. I typically play games single-player or split-screen co-op, occasionally I dabble with online MW2 and others, but I’m an offline player by main. Reviews of single-player games (i.e. Mass Effect) are fine, but when a game has multiplayer & single-player modes reviews often concentrate too much on the online multiplayer for my liking. Take for example Halo 3 (the last Halo I bought), now I know most people bought it for the multiplayer, but there was a single player campaign – and it was terrible, which was something that did not come across in most reviews.
Scores are fine but there needs to be a clear and open criteria for each range of scores (i.e. 0-10% = a game that is…, 11-20% = …). There should be just an overall score (as a game is often more than the sum of its parts), but there could be scores for different types of gamers (i.e. single-player score -vs- multiplayer score).
I think that game reviews are helpful but I think that the scores need to be reworked. Why the hell are reviews on a 10 point scale? And what’s worse is a 10 point scale with a decimal point! There really isn’t a huge difference between and 8.5 & a 9 and it’s stupid to put these scores up this way. I think that GiantBomb is leading the way for future game reviews. They use an old school 5 star scale with no half stars because half stars are bullshit and they also do not review games unless they feel comfortable doing so. You will never get a guy who hates JRPGs reviewing JRPGs and that’s the way it should be. Often times, a reviewer will say “this game isn’t fun” & diminish the score and say “if you’re into these types of games you will probably like it” while they tell every gamer that Halo 3 is an absolute “must-buy”. Despite what many game reviewers think, no game is universal and games that are the best in their category should get A scores, not B scores.
What’s up guys. My BattleCry goes out to X Play and how they handle their reviews. They try to steer away from the reviewers who use scores. X Play hates giving out scores for games because it just doesn’t seem fair. I hear over and over that people should read the review and not just look at the score. Also Adam Sessler for me is very influential in gaming, if he is doing the review I truly want to know what he thinks about the game I might get.
By the way, what the hell is the difference between two games that got lets say an 8.2 and an 8.3 Sorry DK and Game Trailers that system should be gone from all review sites.
When purchasing games, I usually am swayed the most into buying a game by playing a demo or hearing my friends reactions. In addition, I use metacritic as a general consensus as to critcs’ perceptions of the games. However, a lot of reviewers seem to forget that the most important thing about a game is its fun factor. That is mainly why I use giantbomb, gametrailers, and especially noobtoob for information. I have found the noobtoob community to best fit my tastes for games and they recommend games for the right reasons. Their weekly podcast is really entertaining and is a really great source from gamers for gamers.
Hey there Axeheads!
I have been a long time follower of EBC and this is the first time for me to go in on the action and write a member battlecry.
For me reviews are a bit influencial, but never in a bad way. If I am interested a game I have almost always deciced to buy it or not before I watch or read a review.
But in some cases I’ll buy a game after a positive review, as for instance with Fallout 3. When I first heard of Fallout I thought it was not my game, but then the all the positive reviews started pooring in and I asked myself: If this game is so great, can I like? and there is only one way to find out and that is to buy it (I know you could also rent it, but sadly enough that is forbidden in The Netherlands). Once I bought it I played the hell out of the game and now are really looking forward to Fallout New Vegas.
As for the state of (videogame)reviews, let me say this… There is a difference between a reviewer and a critic. A reviewer writes for the public and understands that games and other creative properties are created not to be hated, but to be enjoyed. Critics however write for themeselves to feel better and like all the attention and ‘power they think to have’. I like reviews as they are informative and/or entertaining and for me bashing creativity is non of those. Screw the fucking critics.
Also I like to urge everyone on the Axe, to go see a documentary called ‘Heckler’ that goes deeper into critizing creative products like stand-up comedy and movies.
P.S. As you already may know I am from the Netherlands so no jokes about my spelling and PUNctuation!
What’s Up, my Dominators of Dumbasses, my Slayers of S.A.R.Fs(Stupid Ass Retarded F**Kers), how art thou……?
My Battle Cry goes out to how much we allow reviews to influence our decisions in buying games. I think that people rely TOO much on reviews to tell them if a game will be to their liking. I think companies need to release more demos and/or find an easier way for gamers to try out bits of games for themselves so the gamers can try it out for themselves and make their own decisions. They rely too much on reviews and they’re forgetting that reviewers are people and therefore, they have their own opinions and it is in our nature to pass off our own opinions as real fact.
Great Show guys, keep it up.
my battle cry(or mild complint) is that one thing that annoys me is when the reviewer adds his/her own opinions that effect their score of the game when other people might think opposite of what the reviewer thinks(but i suppose you still need some opinion other wise the review would be useless,just not much opinion),so i think that reviews should just include the good and bad points of the game with minimal opinon of the reviewer
I find reviews entertaining and somewhat informative. If I find the reviews causes the game to spark my interest, I’ll research and decide if I want to buy, if the review does spark my interest I won’t bother. This system works well for me because my group of gaming friends do the same thing and we often trade games to play and try out before we want to buy, which is why I trust reffered games ‘in person’ apposed to reviews.
When it comes to people buying completely based on mainstream reviews, I find this rediculous, because most main stream reviewed games are terrible(not all of course), and almost every game I’ve had someone suggest I play in person has been an amazing game and one of the more underground or non-mainstream titles.
My BattleCry goes out to Bungie who ,from what I have seen, give their fans what those gamers really want. I have NEVER played a Halo game in my entire life but am considering purchasing Halo: Reach due to the fact that from what i have seen from the game is everything i want from an FPS.I have also watched the Bungie panel at Comic-con, on the internet(yes DK, I share your pain)and from the reaction of the fans when Bungie presented the game as well as a lot of interviews I have watched in the past, really believe Bungie is a rolemodel company for any developer out there.
Bottom line… BUNGIE. GETS. GAMERS.
The land is littered with those who we have Axed down.
In general, I think a Review can save you from a bad experience, or at least get you to take a second look before you spend your hard earned cash. But there is no excuse for relying on just a numeric value for a review. There are plenty of web-sites that do video reviews. The information you get from a video review can by far outweigh a numeric value.
I don’t think the numeric values will go away. DK has said that marketing needs a number to put on the front of the box. But gamers are clever and resourceful. So why would we just look at a number with so much more information out there for us to consume?
Hey guys. My battlecry goes out to reviews aiding the ex-game developer and the time poor.
Being a redundant game designer I no longer work in the industry and don’t have the same opportunities to discuss my or other people’s gaming experiences. I am surrounded by fashion minded men and women who’s knowledge of Starcraft is nonexistent and cannot compare the multiplayer aspects of MW2 and BFBC2. I’ve come to realize that reviews are a great portal for discussion and an alternative to chatting with gamer friends. As with any opinion piece you have to take a broad selection to get the best idea of a product’s performance but that is no different to asking what each friend thinks of a game.
One thing that does irk me however is how reviewers can be influenced by hype which I feel was indicative of the backlash shortly after the release of Assasin’s Creed.
It is on this little big planet that my call of duty leads me to summon my Creed of Assassins and my Gods of War for it is time we took a red redemption to our death and became infamous. For we are now in uncharted waters where land has no boarders and the ocean is but a killzone. We must take control; speed is needed to make the shift before we lose this gaming planet. Resistance must be made for this just cause, life if not admired as a singularity will be a blur and our medals of honour that were given to us for defeating the souls of demons will be laid to waste on the darker side of the Battlefield. Heavy rain falls but it must not deter our final fantasy. It is in reach, but this must affect the masses for if the gears of this gaming war do not start to change, our efforts will become fables and not truth. It is time for our patriots to bare their guns and counter strike while the iron is hot. We are in crisis..a crisis that will shock any biological man from the age of dragons to present day. The age of empires must fall so that the dead shall cease to rise. For if we do not…. the bombs shall fall and we will be left for dead in a mortal combat until there is nothing left but fallout…… yeah I don’t trust game reviews
My battle cry goes out to professional gaming experts not really understanding why reviews matter so much to some gamers. Take me for example. I am a college student and thus my game purchases have to last a while on my tight budget. Thus, I check out game reviews to not only get a trusted, in my opinion, professionals opinion on if a game is good, but what I also look for is if they go into how good the replay value is. Sure a game might be 9.0+ but if it’s eight hours long and no multiplayer then I probably won’t check it out due to a great experience being over in a flash and no extras to warrant a replay. On the other hand if there is a game that is an 8.5 but much more replay value than the first game, I will go with the latter despite the small gap in quality.
I don’t really pay much attention to game reviews because all they are, are OTHER PEOPLE’S opinions about a game. My opinions are rarely linear with a game reviewer. Hell, some of my favorite games have received some poor Metacritic scores, such as Call of Duty 3, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Twisted Metal Small Brawl, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing (ok, ok, I’m kidding about big rigs) I have heard tons of reviewers bash the fuck out of these three games, but I still enjoy them.
I would rather base my decision to buy the game on hands on experience so I can judge the game based on MY opinion. I never preorder anything, I wait until the demo is released on XBLA and I experiment with the gameplay. Game reviews mean absolutely nothing to me.
That was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever read. Thumbs up to you good sir!!!
My battlecry goes out to using reviews as well as other mediums for seeing how good a game is. Sure, reviews are just people’s opinions, but people’s opinions matter. Being perpetually low on cash, I consult many different reviews, as well as my friends’ opinions, to see if a game is worth the money it costs to buy it. By looking at different review scores, I’m able to get a general idea of what people think about the game in question.
Don’t really care much for game reviews anymore since they gave Metal Gear Solid 4 a 10/10, I occasionally check out a few reviews for entertainment and for a bit more information on the title I’m interested in but ultimately, they don’t have a great impact on whether or not I’m going to buy the title, Lost Planet 2 for example had a ton of bad reviews but I bought it anyway after playing the demo and seeing the game for myself, and despite the negative reviews, I love the game, so I think reviews aren’t to be completely trusted as the general fact about the game, they are all opinions.
Anyway, my battlecry goes out to Uncharted 2; one of the best games ever made in my opinion and continuing to be the best with its online community who just doesn’t stop playing it, Naughty Dog has truly proven themselves as some of the greatest developers of our time, keeping a game replayable and fun, its not an easy task.
My battle cry goes out to kotaku, for not having scores at the end of their reviews. The reason being that most if not all reviewers use an inconsistent scale when they review games, or inconsistent criteria eg Gametrailers do not rate Super mario Galaxy for its story, but they do for crackdown 2, a game which only has a context..not a story. Kotaku are one of the only sites that go through positives and negatives of all aspects of a game. At the end of the day a review, and a lot of people struggle with this, is opinion. Kotaku recognize this and feel it isnt fair to rate a game as they know not everyone will agree with them. And this is why I think people who get upset at reviews are fucktards because someone doesnt agree with their opinion. One person can think MGS4 is a 10/10 game where as someone could think its a 1/10 games, its purely subjective. Reviews are still relevant and I find the best way to judge a game by reviews, is to look at 5 or so, and see the common points highlighted.
I also want to quickly say that metacritic while good…has major flaws as theres always one review…whether it be great movies like inception or great games like heavy rain, with a stupidly low score that ruins a game, or movie’s average.
Hail My Fellow Axions of this, turbulent maelstrom that is GAMING, I know this has nothing to do with the current hot-topic, but i would LOVE to heare the great and influential SALVIA, (look it up) have an axehead “debate” on… D, F***ing(Guitar Chord) RM, and all the other Hillbilly contrived ways that distribution/publishing companies try to “prevent piracey” i.e. F***ing (Long Guitar SOLO) mollest the low-middle income PLEBs of the gaming world. I just spent a fortune on upgrading my PC (took a F#$%ing Loan), sothat i can play my games in GLORIUS 1920 x 1080 HD with all the graphics, how would DK put it? TILT to Nuts? so i install Farcry 2, (Sorry STUPID CONSUMER THAT ACTUALY PAID FOR THIS TITLE, you have reached your install limmit and need to PAY US MORE!!! if you want to play (UBISOFT)). fine, i thought, i saw it on special, whats another $10, as i enjoy FARCRY. So i install Mass Effect, and as i click on PLAY, (HAHA you’r an idiot, you have reached your 3 instalation limit, and now you must PAY US MORE if you want to play (EAGAMES)), at this point i got a little angry and to put a long story short, i tried C&C Red Alert 3 (SAME PROBLEM), I even tried frigging old games like Spliter Cell 3 (Chaos Theory) and the F*&$ing SecureROM doesnt work on a 64bit OS!!! sooo, WHAT THE …. are these companies doing? Imagine you went out and got a DVD, went home, watched it and thought is was awsome, called all your mates over to get Shitfaced and watch movies, and as you put the DVD in the machine, a nice message pops up saying “Dear Valued customer, We are sorry but you have reached your viwing limmit of this DVD. Please buy another copy”… any thoughts?
Why thank you sir/ madame.. it took f*****g ages
I hope you weren’t referring to me with that biligerent tone, I didn’t agree with the reviews on MGS4 but I didn’t get upset at them, I was just disappointed because of the hype that they put out on a title and I was expecting it to live up to expectations only that it just didn’t meet my own individual taste, YES, it is all subjective, that is another thing I was saying either way.
Hey guys, my BattleCry goes to the 4-point review scale they employed at the much maligned Daily Radar website!
Any of you still remember that site from the beginning of the century? You can say what you want about the site itself (and probably have), but in my opinion they had the absolute best ratings system (directly from their website, courtesy of the WayBack Machine):
Direct Hit – An unmistakably brilliant game. Unless you absolutely hate the genre — and usually even if you do — a Direct Hit is the best of the best. A must-have.
Hit – A solid game that serious gamers should pick up — particularly fans of the genre. If you only play one game a year, this ain’t it. But if you’re looking for a good time, this title delivers.
Miss – A near miss. A game that for some reason doesn’t demand your attention. While it may even have a number of good points, it just doesn’t stand out in the crowd.
Dud – A festering sore on the hairy ass of games. This decaying mass of rotting filth is an embarrassment. Avoid at all costs.
Honestly, in the face of that, what the hell more do you want from a review system? I cannot, personally, think of a single game that does not fall into one of those four categories. Sure some publishers / developers won’t like that their over-hyped, overly expensive game ends up in the “Hit” category (or “Miss” for that matter), together with any number of other, less hyped, less budgeted games, but it does give a better overview for the consumer.
Mind you, this has nothing to do with the review content, only with the rating itself. For comprehensive and overall excellent reviews, I watch GameTrailer’s video reviews, and read EuroGamer’s text reviews.
In the end no rating system is perfect, and it still relies on the integrity and common sense of the individual reviewer and your own taste in games. So that’s my BattleCry, hope somebody hears it and does something about it..
MY fellow Axe Heads!!!! my battle cry goes out not to the reviewers or the gamers but sony. i hate the fact that because i am on ps3 i do not get axesses (sp
) to a demo because sony refuse to pay for the demo. Microsoft as we know have plenty of cash to splash and as does sony, i like to think sony are putting it to good use for some insane PS3 4 HD3D Hologram gaming…. but i fear its sony being stingy cunts…..can i say cunts… if not replace the last word with assholes.
Love your show and watch it every week, keep up the good work. I think reviews are sometimes helpful and are somethimes the opposite. If a game is coming out that I’m not really excited for then I go to reviews and listen what they have to say to determine if I should buy it or not. If its a game that I’m really excited for I could give two flying fu-guitar sound about the reviews I play the demo and go and buy the game and decide myself if its a good game. But the one thing you all missed was the word of mouth I dont know how many times that played more of a role then any review ever did on a game.
Hello Lords of gaming, Nobles of the axe, how are thou?
My EBC goes to the gamers that dont hear the arguments of the review, people that just see the numbers, wake up…
This is a video game, not the stock market, even if the game got a low score you can still like that game, i love alpha protocol…serius… its not because the game get some review with scores like 5 or 6 that i gona stop playing it.
If you cant buy the game, at least rent it and give a try, reviews today are used only as a market tool by the publisher, dont trust a game just because it gets a 10 on a review, you can hate the game and “lost” 60 bucks for nothing.
These days I think most people have made up their mind by the time the review has come out whether or not to buy a new release, this is surely a product of hype created by the publishers marketing like you mentioned. For those still left undecided there should hopefully be a freakin demo! Reviews i take with a pinch of salt, like most journalism, as a reader you will gravitate towards those sources who you agree with anyway and this tends to cement what i already know. With this in mind i never let a bad review put me off buying a game which i am already excited about.
To be honest I don’t really put to much weight on reviews on the net. In most cases I know what games I really want to buy months in advance, I start my research then so by launch I know if I want them or not. In some cases I talk to either my friends (real life ones) and get their two cents or even the guys (and gals) at Gamestop, Bestbuy or neighborhood store. I only really watch reviews on games for more gameplay footage and the random cases where there is some HUGE problems in the game out right, that I might have missed.
although this is not related but I thought i need to bring up this issue..my account was deactivated to comment on gamtrailers because me being a gamer and speaking up my mind when I was commenting on a pach attack episode (#125) where he talks about gamers to get used to monthly subscription for online games from activision and ea. My comment was as follows,”!PACHTER!!..ACCEPT MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION????? SUCK THE BIGGEST PART OF MY BALLS!!!! U CLAIM U SPEAK FOR THE GAMERS AND YET U DONT EVEN KNOW WAT GAMERS WANT!! FIRST OF ALL I’D LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT NOT EVERYONE IS RICH LIKE U!! SO U CAN NEVER SPEAK FOR GAMERS WHO HAS TO BUY THEIR GAMES USED UNLIKE U WHO PROBABLY BUY LEGENDARY EDITION OF EVERYTHING!!! JUST KNOW THAT THE GAMERS ARE THE REASON WHY ALL PUBLISHERS AND DEVELOPERS HAVE THEIR JOBS..INCLUDING YOU!!!! SO FOR SOMEONE LIKE U WHO DOESN’T EVEN SPEAK FOR THE AVERAGE GAMERS, SAYING WE AS GAMERS HAVE TO ACCEPT MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION SHOULD BE GANGRAPED!! (BET U PROBABLY HOPE FOR THAT) U SHOULD BE AGAINST SUCH RETARTED ACTIONS TO CHARGE PPL FOR NO REASONS!! DID U FORGET THAT WE ALREADY PAY SUBSCRIPTION FEE ONLINE?? OH U DID CUZ UR TOO BUSY SWALLOWING CASH BY REPORTING ABOUT GAMERS WHO ARE ABOUT TO GET THEIR ASSESFUCKED AND U SUPPORTING IT!!(now i no wat pach attack cash sign is for) SO QUIT BEING A LITTLE POSER AND GET UR FUKIN ACT TOGETHER!! WAKE UP!! PUBLISHERS ARE NOT DOING THIS B/C THEYRE LOSING PROFIT! THEY’RE DOING THIS B/C GAMESTOP IS CUTTING IN THEIR GREEDY ASS PROFIT AND ULTIMATELY MAKING THE GAMERS SUFFER! SOMEONE WHO DOES THIS FOR A LIVING SHOULD HAVE A BETTER COMMON SENSE FOR REALIZING THIS! STOP PISSING GAMERS OFF!!TELL US IF U REPRESENT GAMERS OR NOT B/C SO FAR WE HAVENT SEEN ANY SIGNS OF THAT!! SHOUTOUT TO ALL PPL IN EPIC BATTLE CRY!!”
So i ask u..shouldn’t gamers be allowed to speak their mind?? It’s like we’re living in the world where if one stands up, they get terminated
While I find your use of caps extremely irritating I must admit it was innappropriate for GT/pachter to include the segment where he talked about his Porsche and I think he mentioned his wife had an expensive car too. It’s not relevant and makes him look like a rich, pompous individual
My BattleCry goes out to trolls, for fucking up the poles and user reviews on the web, and yes even here on the Axe. Some people have no business partaking in it having not played the game, or for being bias.
Specifically, haters. I understand fans who love certain franchises having fond memories of playing them. There’s legit reason behind that. But on what basis do haters troll the web, besides the fact that of course haters got to hate.
I’ll use Halo as an example, it’s got it’s fans of course, it’s got people who think, “yeah it’s halo, whatever”. Then you got people that can’t stand the sight of it, why? Cause it’s popular, cause critics gave it 3 points higher than you think it’s worth, did the Halo killer get to your parents too? Ultimately haters go through a lot watching videos and downplaying everything they hate about a particular franchise. When they could simply ignore all news about it.
Game reviews are only as “wrong” as movie, music, theatre or any other “art” related reviews (Are games art? Oh wait, that’s another discussion). Simply put, it’s a form of entertainment, and that’s the very nature of “entertainment”. Burning a cat, then skinning it alive might be entertaining to some people, but it disgusts me. Similarly, playing video games is my ‘entertainment’. My girlfriend though, thinks it’s an unholy waste of time.
I could go on with examples of Lady Gaga vs Pavarotti, Wayne’s World vs The Hurt Locker, and so on. But you catch my drift.
Are game reviews good?
As long as they follow a few universal rules – kept mainly spoiler-free, reviewers actually bother to finish the games they’re reviewing (BIG problem with some sites/publications – and yes, we gamers CAN TELL), and reviewers who sell good scores for cash – they’re good.
As a consumer, if I’m on the fence, I generally read/watch a variety of game reviews before making a decision. Look to the general psyche of the reviewer, get a feel of whether your tastes match his, and make your decision. It won’t always be right. But it sure beats a world where the only influencers we have regarding game purchases are advertisements and other promotional materials put out by game publishers.
Now, gimme some sweet ass GOG action.
*background –-> sweet……….. ass……….. GOG……… action…….*
(you can tell I watch waaaaay too much EpicBattleCry)
I wanted to cry in the form of battlement about the way Star craft 2 is being released. I havent actually bought the game but when I heard that it was being released in three installments I almost ripped out my own testicles. It is obvious that they have completed all three instalments ( hence why they are being released in such close proximity to one another) so why not release it as one big package(thats what she said). Charge the consumer $120 (australian) for the whole series instead of three installments of $100. I cant help thinking Bobby K had something to do with this… And also apparently there was a 10 gig patch first day, you know what i am gonna rip my testes off.
I think that Reviews do serve certain purposes. For example they do inform you of the length of a game or the difficulty. Something you can`t get out of trailers or gameplay vids. Like singularity, which looked pretty good on paper but then I played it and it sucked. I think the marketing of a game and especially the trailers aim to let every game these days look like the secound coming of Jesus so you need reviews or at least some voices on games. Buying games blindly results in disappointments like with alpha protocol which seemed awesome untill it was released. First day purchase, first day hatred.
I actually think reviews are pretty important, even more now that the economy is unstable and publishers expect gamers to spent $60+ for a new game. If I have the money, I want to be damn sure it’s a good game. The first new-release-full-price games I paid with my own money were “Marvel Nemesis – Rise of The Imperfects” and “Shadow the Hedgehog” for de PS2, so I know what’s like to feel ripped off. That’s when I started paying attetion to reviews, but now it has gotten to a point where reviewers let their personal feelings get too much in the way and the reviews turn out biased. The most recent example I can come up with is “Transformers – War for Cybertron” which I thought it was a good game (as most people did) but was bashed on GameSpot (the site I go to read the reviews).
And I totally agree with the score system that goes from 1 to 10 not being used well. They give forgiving scores to really bad games (give them a 5 or 6 when they deserve a 2 or 3) and are extremely harsh on games that enter the spectrum of “good” games. The result is games extremely different quality being compared just because one had a 5 and the other a 6. And there’s also the occacional score that has no sense whatsoever, that seemed randomly thrown to make the publishers happy.
Hey guys,
This is my first post here on EBA and I thought I’d share my opinions on videogame reviews.
My Member Battle Cry goes to smart consumers and gamers who play a variety of games not just franchises. Reviews are obviously one person’s opinion about a specific title. Smart consumers are those who read multiple reviews and only take them for what they are for – an opinion!
The problem with reviews these days is a couple of things. First, is the numbered score. With a numbered score, many people will skip the entire review (what do you mean I have to read?) and look only at the score as if determines the value of a game.
Secondly is the reviewer. Many times reviewers will make the review about themselves instead of the game or state unnecessary praise or bashing with no evidence to back it up. To an extent reviews are opinions, but they should also be informative. (This is another reason I don’t particularly like user reviews. I will filter through a few and read the good ones, but a review on Halo 3 with fanboys telling me the game is “EPIC” or haters saying it’s “A waste of money” is not helpful).
I do look at reviews because I am interested in how the game was received. But I also make my own decisions based the opinions of others and my own. Whether the game deserved a 7 or not is why I read a review. I want to know what it struggles with but also what it achieves. Did it get a 7 because the reviewer doesn’t like the genre or the difficulty was too easy/hard? Or was the review legitimate and the game received a 7 because voice acting was bad, gameplay wasn’t varied, or the story was lacking?
Those are the questions reviews should answer and if they don’t, smart consumers will rent a game they’re interested in (despite the score) and decide for themselves. I would encourage gamers to be adventurous – look up reviews on games that are maybe “under your radar,” or read reviews to strengthen your decision, and then go rent the title, or hell, buy it! As they say variety is the spice of life.
My battlecry goes out to the reviewing system for games. I basically watch reviews for two reasons, 1. Entertainment value and 2. to see whether or not a new IP is worth my money. On a general scale with regards to a new IP the reviews will be helpful but at times they are not. An example is of MW2, Yes i know Cod is not a new Ip but for me it was since i never played the Cods on the newest generation. I know everyone loves this game but for me it just didn’t cut it. And i only bought the game based on several reviews sites and on a couple of referrals by my friends who all said it was a brilliant game. I’m not saying it was a bad game just that the hype build up for this game didn’t deliver it for me.
On the other hand another new IP back in the day was uncharted and all the hype that it managed to generate was delivered, and Uncharted 2 built on that to gave a better, bigger experience. I sometimes believe that the people who review these games are taken into the hype build around these games and at times fail to give an objective view of the subject at hand.
My battlecry goes out to ways game reviews can be handled other than just giving the score.
Of course stating talking about a game during a review is fine, but I am referring more to the end of a review. For instance, IGN not only gives a score, but also gives simplified lists of Pros and Cons. Better yet, the sometimes let the game sit for a little while after it comes out and give an entire article of “second opinions” I particularity like second opinions because not only does it let them sit and think about it for a while, but also becuase it has multiple peoples opinions as opposed to one persons review.
I also like how some sites like GT separate the review categories such as story, presentaion, gameplay (which is honestly a better thing to look at than a general number for everything since it breaks down the basics of most games)
i really do care about reviewers any more after alan wake, this game was awesome and deserve more than 83 i don’t know whats up with they’re mind i started to think that they put the score randomly.
and metacritc score is all about fresh idead. seriously i don’t think alan wake is a clone for silent hill they definitely different from each ather sillet hill is a horror and alan wake physiology thriller
don’t take my english so seriously
Hello Epic Battle Lords, im from uk and love your show.
My BattleCry goes out on this topic of game reviews.
Game reviews are great and terrible at the same time, you can tell if someone does a review and is passionate about the game that it give a good impression to people or if they not then you can also tell.
I think games review do influence some people but in the end the individual them self will decide if it worth buying a game or not.
One example would be i love sonic games but know sonic and black knight sucks because its not the sonic i grew up with in the 90s yet it was still my choice to go out get the game and ironicaly havent played it yet but who knows it might have some good things to it.
I know the general view on the game so game reviews do good job get this across to people so they can make there own minds up.
i also dont think game reviews are same in age of internet, i can rember buying playstation magazine to find out the latest review of final fantasy 9 but by that point i was fan of the series and was going buy it either way.
Im a bit older, so i think for a young kid who dont get alot of money it can be good thing because they can stop them self from buying sonic and black knight but for me im hopeless.
game reviews are one person view so gamers make your own minds up and the people who do the reviews remember why you love gaming, i think this will help reviews.
Hail, my Eviscerators of Eternity, my Battery of the Battlements, how art thou!
My battle cry puts forward that video game reviews do serve one direct purpose, to give the game consumer the tools they require in order to make THEIR OWN well-informed decision on whether they or going to buy, rent, or opt out of playing a game. If people can keep this in mind they can get the most out of game reviews.
The good points of a review, especially video reviews (Such as those provided by our friends at Gametrailers) are that they do often give the tools needed as I mentioned, such as a summary of what the game is, what you’ll be doing if you play the game, and the quirks you can expect outside of what they want to advertise on the back of the box.
The bad points of a review come during those last few sentences or the last few seconds of a video when the scoring comes in, and like a giant zit it’s the glaring problem with reviews. The 1-10, 5 star, or 100 scale scores serve nothing but to fuel arguing rage-fests between what game or console is better and isn’t constructive. The scoring is about 25% merit based (performance and execution etc etc) and 75% strictly opinion based, and thus can hugely vary from person to person.
In short, ignore the scoring, and pay attention to what the reviews say you can aspects EXPECT in a game, and not what they THINK about a game, and then use that information to come to your own decision and enjoy this great hobby to the fullest extent. For my Fellow Axe-Heads I am TanjuJunaut and remember to Cry Havoc and…. seriously I can make up my own rules about the intro, so there, mine works!
WHATS UP MY OVERLORDS OF ONSLAUGHT, MY DIETIES OF DISCORD! HOW ART THOU?
I can personally say that I too have a problem with many review sources out there. I don’t always agree with the reviewers opinions. GTA4 isn’t my cup of tea(metacritic score 98), yet I found Alone in the Dark Inferno to be a lot of fun despite its issues(metacritic 39). Sometimes they take down the score for stuff that doesn’t bother me such as a poor online multiplayer experience, or if it doesn’t have perfect graphics. Recently I played the first Phoenix Wright game via wiiware(I don’t own a ds) and I fell in love with it, but metacritic only gave it a 67 because it didn’t offer anything new over from the ds. And as you guys said on the axe they rarely ever use the full scale. As far as I’m concerned score systems blow.
The only reviews I usually use are video reviews; that way I get an idea of the highs and lows while being able to see gameplay footage. Seeing the gameplay is probably more influential to me. If the gameplay looks at least decent then I’ll look into the game more. I can simply borrow the game from a friend or even rent it to see if it’s worth buying. Plus there’s the option to play demos on xbox live and psnetwork. And the popularity of sites like youtube or the great EpicBattleAxe make it easy to research a game (finding gameplay footage, seeing the average consumer’s thoughts on a game, etc). Although many review sources might suck these days there are a number of developments in the industry that have really helped to improve how the gamer can be informed.
With that said I would also like to send out a battle cry to amateur style reviews. Being an average consumer I often agree with what other average consumers have to say about a game. Youtube is full of some great reviewers such as Classic Game Room, wiiviewr, and TvandLust. These kinds of reviews are often much more laid back and they often don’t use scores. They don’t nit pick the game and instead focus on the overall experience, whether or not they had fun with it.
personally i think the best reviews out there come from Yahtzee Croshaw’s Zero Punctuation. These reviews make it clear for the first moment that their intent is to express the view of their author, not to give the definitive quality of the title. The reviews he makes are intended to be entertainment, and make no attempt to hide that fact.
Yahtzee does not use a scoring system, and does not openly recommend any title. he does everything in his power to hate a game, which may sound harsh, but when i can only buy one game every couple of months i need that kind of scrutiny from those whose opinion i value.
I realise this is a little late to the game but my Battle Cry goes out to downloadable games. My xbox’s disk drive reccently decided to stop reading the games i put in the tray. I wouldnt class myself as a poor person but im certainly not in the finacial situation where i can just go out and buy a replacment xbox, i swiflty rejected the quoted £80-90 from microsoft to fix it aswell. This left me rather stumped, and if it hadnt been for the reccent arcade realse ‘Blacklight Tango Down’ i wouldnt be able to continue playing games. I know a couple of episodes back you guyes mentioned how the problem with having soley downloadable media is that hard drives could corrupt and we could lose everything, but from my experience, a hard drive corruption is certainly not the main thing i worry about with the current xbox set-up. My xbox has broken twice; first a ‘catacolismic motherboard melt’ and now just reccently, the disk drive faileur, meaning that there are just as many problems and margins for error with the current disk formated games as there could be with downloadable tittles. Now to finish of, if we do swap to 100% downloadable media and low behold our hard drive fails, how easy is an external hard drive to replace?? None of this stupid system where we have to ship it of to Germany to get it fixed! Nip down to your local electrical store and buy a replacement!!! DOWNLOADABLE MEDIA FOR THE FREAKING WIN!!!!!!
Whats up ! my Canibal corpses of conquest, my Mastodons of Mayhem, How are Thou !! little metal themed war cry for you guys.
My battlecry goes to everyone that uses review sites like gametrailers, Giant bomb, metacritics and other wisely. What i mean by that is that you cant follow the words of 1 individual blindly without consulting other ppl’s point of view. and at the end of the day, make up your own mind, there’s a lot of game that got bad reviews that i ended up loving. Soo my final verdict is that review sites can be a good guide but nothing is better than investigating for yourself and try some games and make up your own mind.
to be honest, reviews don’t fully influence me. it’s always good to see what others are thinking about it, but if i really want the game, i will go and get it. although not made out of money, i will get something if it strikes my attention. of course, if it’s completely rated with a poor score all around, maybe i’ll just think twice about buying it right away, and go rent it. i do feel buyers remorse sometimes especially if the newly purchased full retail priced game is just full of teh sucxz. my area has 5 local gamestops (everywhere else closed down), and you cant return a game for a full refund unless it is originally bought used used or still unopened.
The only reviews I’ve ever used are from GameTrailers, but even then I greatly prefer to judge for myself by playing a demo, watching a video or just taking a chance. I wish there were more demos available though, but I understand why they don’t do it.
I think the worst reviews ever are/were on G4, but that’s more like entertainment than real journalism anyway. “Another WWII game…1 star out of 5.” Really Morgan? I hide that channel on my cable box now.