PixyJunket

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." - Anton Ego

Here's a brilliant article on one things that annoys the piss out of me, game reviews:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...rselves-Review

Here's a disturbing quote:
Fucking creepy.

I love this quote.

I don't care for Penny Arcade, but he speaks the truth.

shumway

Agree w/ what Gabe is saying, though, I think you can find a magazine or couple of reviewers that have similar tastes as yourself and start to trust them.

RichC2

Thats the thing though, Reviews have slants. While the relationship w/ the publishers thing certainly happens, I've found reviews to be fairly accurate, at least to the sites I visit.

I mean yeah, I take issue with one trick ponies like Katamari Damacy receiving rave reviews, but at the same time, its understandable since it played fine, looked fine and sounded fine, totally a reviewers slant in that case.

Plus, more often than not, game critics tend to be on the same pages, it isn't like movies where one person will give it a 10/10 and another will give it a 1.5/10.

PixyJunket

That is a huge problem, in my opinion. As stated above.. "Game reviewers want every game to be Zelda." Game reviewers have far too a mainstream slant.. there's no (or very little) niche representation.

spainlinx0

I don't care about game scores. If I want to know about a game I will read an actual long review, and also compare it to opinions here. I feel reviews have their place, for games especially, since they are so pricy. I wouldn't go and dismiss them all out of hand.

KurrptSenate

Obviously a reviewer is going to use his personal opinion of the game. I have no problem with that.

I do find it questionable that developers can question a reviewed game, considering its purely based on subjectivity.

I can understand why it is like that, considering higher reviewed games score well. If all games were given inflated scores, I'm sure that could stimulate the market... a little.

I think people just need to discern between subjectivity (i don't like RPGs, so I rate RPGs poorly) and really just try to boil it down to basic facts.

I've said before I don't care about reviews. I've been buying games for plenty of years to know what I'll like, and what won't catch my fancy.

DodgingCars

Really. So if there was a franchise you really liked that had historically been well reviewed came out with a new game that was universally panned, you'd still shell out your $50-60 without blinking an eye?

I'm poor. I rely on reviews. I don't listen to them as Gospel, but I do pay attention to them. If I'm really interested in a game that got bad reviews, I'll rent it, but I'd almost certainly not buy it without playing it first. On the other hand, I'd likely buy a game I'm interested in without question if it go good reviews.

I think this is especially true as a system ages. The PS2 has like 1000 games. Review scores (especially metareviews) allow me to sift through the games to find the gems. If I want to pick up so $10 used games, this helps me make better decisions.

KurrptSenate

Well, I'm not sure what exact example you were referring to...


but I know games like soul caliber and ninja gaiden, I'll buy every iteration of the game without blinking an eye. for those titles, the developers have proven to me that they can make quality titles that I know I'll love, regardless of what others might think.

for games I know absolutely nothing about, I try to boil the reviews down to objectivity, and see if it interests me.

I'm sure plenty of people here can think of games they loved that were rated well, and others they loved that are rated poorly.

PixyJunket

I sure will, screw reviews. A good recent example was Tales of Legendia, I bought it as a Tales fan and loved it. Most Tales fans on forums hated it. Most people and reviewers seem to focus far too much on what a game ISN'T rather than what it is. My favorite PS1 game got a 2 in EGM.

KurrptSenate

Granted, I'm probably the biggest hater of Zelda : TP I'll ever meet

But yea, I'm the same way with the GTA series as well (love that one)

xmiyux

I think it is more important to find reviewers who share your slant. For instance i swear by the guys on the 1upyours podcast for most games. If i want a quirky Japanese game i would see what pixy on here thinks. I hate driving sims so no matter how praised Forza is i won't be snagging it.

xmiyux

What game was that?

I also adore CCG style games - so i will drop cash on even mediocre games that have a card battling element. I find them ridiculously replayable.

KurrptSenate

i think you and I are just helplessly searching for that M:TG equivalent without having to spend top dollar to be in the "arms race", so to speak

DRG

I think like every type of review, you need to be able to read between the lines a bit. Like when the reviews would slam the pre-RE4 Resident Evil games for sticking too close to the formula... well, I still liked that formula so I was able to see a positive in that. Also, for something like DDR... mainstream reviewers concentrate too much on the new features and innovation, that most die hard players would care less about. Most hardcore players are concerned with the new song lists and the quality/difficulty of the step patterns. So the best place to find reviews on those games is a dedicated DDR site.

On the other hand, if a review is praising something I know is unappealing to me, I'll read it the other way.

Michael Corvin

Funny choice of words for the game you chose. Ninja Gaiden had 3 games on the NES then sat dormant for 15 years on consoles. Then the Xbox version came out. Since then they've had two iterations of the same game. And soon the DS game. Granted they are good(well reviewed, I haven't played since the NES), but that is hardly a record I would stand by for $60 without a review.

At the age demo we have going here, I would assume most go for the written word review over the number score.

KurrptSenate

well, we are currently on the 3rd iteration of the "newer" ninja gaiden series.


honestly, if I still owned a PS3, I'd probably have the collector's edition already

PixyJunket

Torneko: The Last Hope

Silt

I rarely read "professional" reviews and when I do I don't put much faith in them. The real reviews come from reading forums and newsgroups devoted to the game/genre. Reading what a few hundred (or thousand) other gamers think of a game will tell me if a title is worth purchasing.

xmiyux

Yep. Phantom Dust on the Xbox was the closest i ever came to achieving that.

I have hopes that the Fullmetal Alchemist DS game next week will hit that sweet spot. It is getting good previews.

The Mageknight DS game came close (with the whole "Clix" miniatures thing as opposed to cards).

KurrptSenate

you ever try that game for game cube that is somewhat similar? Can't remember the name, but you walked around live-action style and had a deck of cards. When you encounter enemies, you start playing those cards from your deck.

summoned monsters would actually appear on screen and battle.



Mageknight DS? Damn, how have I not heard of that before?

taffer

There are several games from the 80s/early 90s that were niche titles at best, but then were revitalized in the Playstation era and become much more popular. Metal Gear and Prince of Persia are two other examples of this. The first two GTA games were niche titles too. Heck, even Final Fantasy was not very popular until FF VII.

darkside

The important thing is to read the reviews and see why they liked or disliked a game. Many things that bug the reviewer may be fine for you. I find that the reviews at IGN, GameSpot and 1up are now detailed enough so I can read beyond the score and see if its a game I will play.

For instance Pokemon Battle Revolution got well deserved low scores, but in the detail of the reviews it was clear that it got right things I would have fun with and I picked it up. Mario Party 8 is another example. Bad scores, but the reviews all point out the upside that can easily tell you if the game will be fun for you specifically to play.

Michael Corvin

That wasn't my point. My point is they had 3 original games over a dozen years ago and one original game in the past few years that they keep remaking. I'm not even talking sequels like PoP or MGS, we are talking actual remakes of the same game. Hardly a track record that warrants avoiding reviews for a blind buy.

KurrptSenate

depends how much you like the title I assume


I mean, the way you're spelling it out, sounds too much like those Madden-type people

Canis Firebrand

Yeah, I haven't heard of mageknight either.

I'm very interested in the Full Metal Alchemist game when it comes out.