The gaming review scene can go f--- itself

Seriously, the gaming review scene cannot be considered relevant any longer. Not for the past few years. Have a look at these ME3 scores:

IGN 9.5/10
Eurogamer 10/10
GamerZines 98/100

Are you fucking kidding me? 10/10? 98/100, meaning it's 2% away from being perfect? Fuck off. I have no doubt that the game will be excellent, but seriously?

And what's worse? I didn't even have to see the scores to know that that's what the game is going to be getting. It's a highly anticipated game to a critically acclaimed series. How can it not get a high-score based on that criteria alone? Go have a look, every single highly anticipated game that doesn't have glaring issues right off the bat will have similar scores. It might even turn out to be a step down from previous games and it will still get an amazing score.

It's like games are no longer rated according to how good the game is, but instead how much people like the franchise it is set in.

I remember a time when a game received a score based on the sum of its parts and a game had to be really amazing to receive a score above 80%. Nowadays people consider everything under 80% to be a waste of time.

I use reviews as a baseline and prefer friend or community recommendations or my own "spidey sense" for a game being worth it. If I am unsure I wait or try out a demo.

Also IGN is the Fox News of the Gaming world their review carry about as much weight as a piece of wood. I tend to trust Edge, Gametrailers a bit more but the final judgement is in playing it.

We're keeping it real here at MyGaming :cool:

Same here, I don't let inflated scores influence my purchase decision. Anyway regardless of score I already have this game pre-ordered, so I will decide for myself how good or bad the game is once I play it.

Gametrailers review. I don't know the score...

Gamespot review. 9/10

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graal

/snip

Nowadays people consider everything under 80% to be a waste of time.

---

Funnily enough, the games I've enjoyed the most weigh in on the 7 - 8 scale.
It is without a doubt a popularity contest, especially with IGN.

What would remedy the situation is doing away with the score system. The pure fact that ratings aren't standardised, and subjective, should be sending off alarm bells for any gamer looking for good critic.

I've been watching Zero Punctuation reviews for some time, and sure it's full of fun stuff and overly critical nonsense, but what he does well is discern 'the bad' very well, which is what a lot of reviewers forego these days.
Also, I just love it how there is no scores - just critical analysis, and at the end of it, you can tell if he liked it or not.

Maybe not exactly what everyone else should be doing, but at least he's doing some things right. Just my two cents.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by James

We're keeping it real here at MyGaming :cool:

---

True, but for a sec I thought this was a column by tyran :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pr⊕phet

True, but for a sec I thought this was a column by tyran :D

---

Probably due to the rampant use of the word "Fuck" :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Coheed

What would remedy the situation is doing away with the score system.

---

That would actually be a really good start. It would force reviewers to actually focus on aspects of the game which are good and bad in their reviews, instead of just rambling a few lines so they can justify their over-inflated score.

The Perfect Score Myth

It's all about page views, people want their views reinforced so they will go read reviews to support this. So a popular franchise will obviously have a lot of people who 'know' the game is going to be great before they even touch it and all they want is for people to tell them how great the game is.

Sure some places are worse than others when it comes to this pandering but it's largely the reason why review scores in general have risen over the last 10 years. It used to be a mediocre game would get a 4-6, and a good/great game would get and 8 or 9. Now mediocre is 7-8 with good, great being 9-10.

Just look at the whole Uncharted 3 story where people went ape shit because someone gave the game an 8, instead of 9 or 10. It boggles the mind.

tldr; scores are stupid.

Zero Punctuation is amateur, immature bullshit, as bad as these 'reviewers' who get told to give certain games high scores. I miss the days when an actual review (written in more detail than the shit these days) meant something. These days you will get by better in the gaming life if you rely on word of mouth and demo's rather than entertain the stupids.

The media generally has a way of completely destroying the true appearance of things though. Even if a fair reviewer or review system comes along, the moment it becomes accepted or popular the sooner it will implode on itself and become unfair... So in other words, believing any game review is a bad idea... Recommendations ftw

http://www.youtube.com/user/ZeitgeistReview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C43R...7&feature=plcp

Thats Why I don't read commens anymore way too many spoilers in them I would rather if I am unsure check out what my friends say here on mygaming/steam and these 2 reviewers. So far I have found there opionion on games more or less the same as mine.

On the other side of the spectrum, have you guys seen the movie review scene yet? It's like a minefield. Some consider it to be overly harsh at times. Movies I often consider good might get a 7, maybe an 8 in seldom cases. A stark contrast to the gaming review scene which sees how high they can score everything.

And Zero Punctuation on The Escapist?.. wow.. his reviews made me question games i have been playing for years :/ Waaay too overly harsh

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graal

On the other side of the spectrum, have you guys seen the movie review scene yet? It's like a minefield. Some consider it to be overly harsh at times. Movies I often consider good might get a 7, maybe an 8 in seldom cases. A stark contrast to the gaming review scene which sees how high they can score everything.

---

Aye that is one hella weird scene too, now that you mention it. The problem lies with the caliber of reviewer that exists, the kind that is only interested in 1 type of movie and therefore rates everything else outside of that, utter shit. I'm glad I have never taken a movie reviewers view into account because if I had, I would have missed out on a lot by now.

Anyone who takes Zero Punctuation seriously needs to have their head examined as their brains may be missing.

Its a satire/parody review. Its purpose is to be entertaining, not informative.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graal

Are you fucking kidding me? 10/10? 98/100, meaning it's 2% away from being perfect? Fuck off.

---

Hahaha, awesome rant brother :D

I agree, you can't just give everything almost perfect scores all the time, its ridiculous. How is a person meant to get anything out of the review if its always perfect. They've lost their credibility, and now they're cocked, they've set the "standard". If they put their foot down and give a game a proper review and give it 75% or something, then it would be detrimental for the game.

Edge gave ME3 - 8/10 (http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ffect-3-review)

Please be aware I didn't read the review for fear of Spoilers only checked the score.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

Edge gave ME3 - 8/10 (http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ffect-3-review)

Please be aware I didn't read the review for fear of Spoilers only checked the score.

---

Best thing to do right now. It looks like IGN is on a spoiler spree atm...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

Edge gave ME3 - 8/10 (http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ffect-3-review)

Please be aware I didn't read the review for fear of Spoilers only checked the score.

---

omg, so not buying ME3 now...only 8/10. Pfft, must suck sooo much!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Isengard

Best thing to do right now. It looks like IGN is on a spoiler spree atm...

---

IGN is a spoiler fest most day, from Game guide's to reviews that basically explain the whole narrative. I steer clear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by markface

omg, so not buying ME3 now...only 8/10. Pfft, must suck sooo much!

---

Well who ever does skip it due to a review score or because of what user post its missing out of an epic game.

Biased reviews are nothing new, they're just another cog in the money-making media machine.

Personally when I review I give my personal impression of the game (even if I get crucified for it ala Dante's Inferno) and whether or not I think you should buy it. Essentially, I go through my experience as if I were trying to persuade or dissuade a friend who's contemplating a purchase.

If you're not into written reviews at all though you can't beat watching some unbiased, comment-free gameplay footage on YouTube.

I like that RPS writes up what they think of the game but don't assign any numbers to it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by czc

I like that RPS writes up what they think of the game but don't assign any numbers to it.

---

Yeah, I also like how Kotaku does it by only giving the game a "Should you play this game?" verdict.

Here is a funny bit of Info.

I am Alive was released today for Xbox live and as I am interested in it I went online and checked 3 major Publications and IGN for reviews here is what I found:

GameInformer - 8.50

Eurogamer - 8.0

EDGE - 7

IGN - 4

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OmegaFenix

Here is a funny bit of Info.

I am Alive was released today for Xbox live and as I am interested in it I went online and checked 3 major Publications and IGN for reviews here is what I found:

GameInformer - 8.50

Eurogamer - 8.0

EDGE - 7

IGN - 4

---

Thing is we should be able to look at that and see nothing wrong. People should be able to like and dislike a game, as long as their reasons are valid then I don't see a problem.

I read Ars Technica reviews. They don't review much, only the major games that interest them. They give a nice detailed analysis and their scores basically end up as either "Buy" or "Rent", which is fine by me.
Also if a game truely is a paradigm shifting, groundbreaking gaming experience then why can't a reviewer give it full marks?

I would like to read some old magazine reviews again, just for interest sake.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by warr10r

Also if a game truely is a paradigm shifting, groundbreaking gaming experience then why can't a reviewer give it full marks?

---

Because two out of every three games are getting full marks or very, very close to it. It wouldn't be an issue if every 2/3 games were actually paradigm shifting, groundbreaking gaming experiences, but I can't remember the last time a game actually was.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hideinlight

I would like to read some old magazine reviews again, just for interest sake.

---

I paged through a couple of old Nags a while back before I threw them out, and back up until about 2007/8 it was pretty rare for a game to score in the 80s, nevermind the 90s.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graal

Because two out of every three games are getting full marks or very, very close to it. It wouldn't be an issue if every 2/3 games were actually paradigm shifting, groundbreaking gaming experiences, but I can't remember the last time a game actually was.

I paged through a couple of old Nags a while back before I threw them out, and back up until about 2007/8 it was pretty rare for a game to score in the 80s, nevermind the 90s.

---

I don't much care for scores, as for the review itself. It's rare to see a detailed, bit more technical less spoilerish review.

Yeah, often nowadays a lot of reviews read more like adverts than an actual critical analysis of the game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graal

Yeah, often nowadays a lot of reviews read more like adverts than an actual critical analysis of the game.

---

A bit like Telecom/It news.

One to add which I don't like is the over use of pictures in articles, taken away it's like 5cm long. Double rating sometimes just doesn't make sense, it's a review your opinion. How can you give a score and then another score on top of it?

I'd like to know about the game, like what it is and how you'd find it. Then obviously some form of media. I do find that some factors tends to be overwhored, like longevity. I don't have more than 24hrs in a day, I certainly don't have the free time any more I use to have.

So it's not really applicable to myself any more, I'd hardly reply a game at all looking at my current play list split between my various platforms. I think one of the most important things I look for is... can this be a story that takes me out of the mundane in such a way that I want to return to the rabbit hole.

It's ME3, I would expect a 7 since it's all been done twice already and all they could have done was: Complete the story, add better graphics (not much) and refine their combat system. They did, and it still got 80%+

Nowadays I ask myself when looking at PC Gamer reviews, is that a Dragon Age II 80/100 or a plain 80/100 ?

Can't trust reviews,NAG rated MW3 higher then BF3.have they no shame?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DCBloodHound

Can't trust reviews,NAG rated MW3 higher then BF3.have they no shame?

---

The reviewer of BF3 said there was nothing between them, which is still wrong imo, but points to the fact that scores can't really be used to compare games.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by judgefredd_za

The reviewer of BF3 said there was nothing between them, which is still wrong imo, but points to the fact that scores can't really be used to compare games.

---

That's bullshit. They should use a checklist like MyGaming uses for things like Gameplay, Fun, Sounds, graphics etc, and deduce the score according to the average of all those factors.

Component scores are even worse than overall. How do you score something on gameplay or fun? What does it mean to have a fun score of 6 or 7? Even if they were meaningful, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts so something things just fit while other may be technically good but overall just lack cohesion.

For pretty awesome game (p)reviews I check out the Angry Joe show and Cynical Brit on Youtube.