The only reviews I even trust anymore are X-Play's and Judgement Day's. And it's more for the fact that I can see the game being played rather than just look at screenshots or take the reviewer's word for it. I still don't always agree with them.
ratings though. I've heard the dumb one go(paraphrased): Well, I hate <genre> and obv. everyone else must, so I give it a 5/10.Judgement Day is good, though, because it has two people who generally like completely different stuff giving their views on the same game, so you're not just getting fanboy reviews or hater reviews. Densetsu fucked around with this message on 12-06-2005 at 03:47 PM.
It's not something people hear about.
The only scores of that sort you can rely on are at the extreme ends of the scale. If a game recieves a score of, say, 18% or 95%, there's a very good chance that it really is a bad or good game, respectively.
Furthermore, there are few media outlets which could be dependable in any case. Local media, like newspapers and TV stations, typically have an amateur journalist who may play games only infrequently working on their reviews; that's not really an informed opinion.
Many magazines and internet sources recieve funding from game advertisements, leading the reader to question whether a certain score is based on financial obligation to an advertiser.
Finally, reviewer and reader bias plays a huge factor. If you get someone who hates racing games to review Gran Turismo, he's going to give it a low or mediocre score which a player who likes racers won't agree with. Conversely, if a total MGS fanboy reviews MGS4 when it comes along, he'll likely gloss over its flaws and give it a score higher than it may deserve. The players will then, of course, find it flawed, preventing the game from living up to their expectations. And that doesn't even cover people who may buy games from a genre they don't like just because it got a good score.
Never accept a review, especially a video game review, as the word of god. Consider the opinions of both you and the reviewer on the genre and franchise, and don't trust any outlet which gives high ratings to the vast majority of the games it covers.
EDIT: Profredding. Sentow, Maybe fucked around with this message on 12-06-2005 at 03:58 PM.
We don't use a number score at all. Numbers suck and a percentage cannot describe a game. We simply have a nice block of text broken up by pictures of the game.
Also, many sites have video reviews now and free videos of the game you can watch -- no excuse to have to watch a crappy show to see the game in action.
And Zephy: reviews are humans, just like you and dens and alaan. They may not like a game that you love while you may hate a game they love. That doesn't make em stupid or wrong -- reviews are just an opinion. In the end, you have to formulate your own opinion about something.
Sentow hit on it best, though: a 6 generally doesn't mean "this game sucks". It means that is is average and quite possibly fun to play. a high score means it iether appeals to a wider audience or is something that is just absofuckinglutely awesome. Or, is supposed to.
But like I started with -- that's why numbers suck in reviews. As for the funding thing: yes, game companies do advertise on media sites. Thing is, the reviewers are not the ones that take care of the ads -- those are generally two separate departments that don't discuss shit. While it may be percieved as the buying of a good review, it is nothing more than ads that are sold to a captive audience. If you notice, most any magazine you read has ads tailored to its audience -- same way with a game website. Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 12-06-2005 at 04:10 PM.
quote:
Falaanla Marr attempted to be funny by writing:
Also, many sites have video reviews now and free videos of the game you can watch -- no excuse to have to watch a crappy show to see the game in action.
Sure there is. It's called dial-up. You don't have to bring your biases against Adam Sessler into it.
And Zephy: reviews are humans, just like you and dens and alaan. They may not like a game that you love while you may hate a game they love. That doesn't make em stupid or wrong -- reviews are just an opinion. In the end, you have to formulate your own opinion about something.
I don't think anyone said anything like that, either.
Tommy Tallarico tries too hard to be the bull-headed gamer.
I rarely enjoy games that receive low ratings, simply because games earn low ratings due to serious flaws, and I am not willing to play through or around serious flaws simply because one aspect of a game succeeds.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
quote:
Mr. Parcelan had this to say about Robocop:
Tommy Tallarico tries too hard to be the bull-headed gamer.
It would be a great RPG if it wasn't for all this story getting in the way. Also, magic? What's up with that.
I loved it when he and Tommy disagreed about the sequel to what was it, Dead to Rights? Tommy loved it just because it was a sequel to one of his favorite games and Victor flat out stated it was ass.
Was just amusing.
Lyinar Ka`Bael, Piney Fresh Druidess - Luclin
1) I could give a shit less who is doing X-Play. Get rid of Adam Sessler and I'd still think it sucks. But hey, way to go on bringing up something completely unrelated in an attempt to make my statement meaningless! You could throw two naked women on the show and show them having sex for 30 minutes straight with video games in the background and I still wouldn't watch it. Well, I might then, but that's because it wouldn't really be X-Play anymore.
I still think it is a crappy show. I don't like the idea of reviews on TV -- I'm of the opinion that you can't get nearly as much out there in a TV review as you could in a 5-minute video review accompanied by text. And if you're on dial-up? I can understand it somewhat then. Even then, however, I'd be willing to bet that a large majority of people have some sort of broadband access, be it at home, at a friend's house or at some sort of public computer.
2) No, noone said they were stupid -- the text used, however, implies that they are thought of as wrong. Why else would Zephy say that the review was horrible but the game was good? Obviously, it isn't because he feels the review was right.
But fuck, I am just saying this because I think Adam Sessler is a dick Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 12-07-2005 at 04:51 PM.
