Things That Bother You About Gaming

[talonmalon333]

I think Famitsu had the best way of doing it. For a game they'd have several columns with different people giving their own scores.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Famitsu USED to be a very prestigious and renowned source of video game journalism in Japan, and were once known for having some of the strictest but most unbiased reviewers.

However....over the past several years....well, you do know that it's a proven fact that they can be bought, right? They've been a terrible source for reviews ever since last generation. Keep in mind, these are the people who gave games like Final Fantasy XIII a 39/40 and Metroid: Other M a 36/40, among other ridiculously high scores for games that clearly didn't deserve them.

[talonmalon333]

Famitsu USED to be a very prestigious and renowned source of video game journalism in Japan, and were once known for having some of the strictest but most unbiased reviewers.

However....over the past several years....well, you do know that it's a proven fact that they can be bought, right? They've been a terrible source for reviews ever since last generation. Keep in mind, these are the people who gave games like Final Fantasy XIII a 39/40 and Metroid: Other M a 36/40, among other ridiculously high scores for games that clearly didn't deserve them.

Yeah, I had actually forgotten that fact when I made my post. I just remembered how Famitsu used to be.

Modern video game journalism, man...

[Foggle]

I think Famitsu had the best way of doing it. For a game they'd have several columns with different people giving their own scores.

That's also how old EGM was. They were pretty damn good, for the most part.
New EGM, on the other hand...

[talonmalon333]

By the way Foggle, as someone who played RE6, what do you think of GameSpot's review of it?

[Foggle]

By the way Foggle, as someone who played RE6, what do you think of GameSpot's review of it?

Overly harsh in some ways, spot on in others. The game is not good, but not all that bad either. It's about as mediocre as games come.

[talonmalon333]

What do you rate RE6?

Also, what's funny is that they gave Resident Evil 5 an 8.5...

Resident Evil 5... An 8.5...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Another sign of bad journalism is when reviewers give games a higher score than they deserve just because they are afraid of massive fan back-lash. For example, Game Trailers (which I'd argue is one of the very few sites that actually has some credible game journalists left) gave Skyward Sword a 9.1/10, but if you actually watch their review they have a lot of complaints about it and you could tell that the reviewer obviously felt pressured to still appease fans by giving the game a high score, even if he was honest with most of his problems with it.

Another example that applies to many game journalists is with the Halo games (and I say this as someone who actually likes the series). I thought Halo 3 had god multiplayer and a very mixed single player experience, and could understand it getting decent review scores, but getting so many 9's and 10's? It just wasn't nearly that good, and it's spin-off title, ODST, was way too short to be full price, yet it got 9's and 10's across the board, which is just fucking ridiculous, and was only done because of the community's huge, blind fan-base.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Don't forget Call of Duty. I'm sorry, but not every game in the series can be a 10/10 despite not changing anything substantial. Other series get dogged all the time, but COD always gets a pass because of the big bucks in marketing.

I also really don't like that it's okay to knock a game for having no online multiplayer but not for having no couch co-op. They're ignoring a whole group of people with doing that.

[Foggle]

Don't forget Call of Duty. I'm sorry, but not every game in the series can be a 10/10 despite not changing anything substantial. Other series get dogged all the time, but COD always gets a pass because of the big bucks in marketing.

Ghosts generally received mediocre/negative reviews, actually.

What do you rate RE6?

A straight 5.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Don't forget Call of Duty. I'm sorry, but not every game in the series can be a 10/10 despite not changing anything substantial. Other series get dogged all the time, but COD always gets a pass because of the big bucks in marketing.

Ghosts generally received mediocre/negative reviews, actually.

About six games later. Meanwhile IGN were writing articles about NSMBWii as if it was some diabolical scam of Nintendo to dare release a 2D platformer for a console. And that was only the second 2D Mario game in like 15 years.

[gunswordfist]

GamePro was my favorite. I love their multiple scores for different aspects of games system.

[talonmalon333]

Another sign of bad journalism is when reviewers give games a higher score than they deserve just because they are afraid of massive fan back-lash. For example, Game Trailers (which I'd argue is one of the very few sites that actually has some credible game journalists left) gave Skyward Sword a 9.1/10, but if you actually watch their review they have a lot of complaints about it and you could tell that the reviewer obviously felt pressured to still appease fans by giving the game a high score, even if he was honest with most of his problems with it.

Another example that applies to many game journalists is with the Halo games (and I say this as someone who actually likes the series). I thought Halo 3 had god multiplayer and a very mixed single player experience, and could understand it getting decent review scores, but getting so many 9's and 10's? It just wasn't nearly that good, and it's spin-off title, ODST, was way too short to be full price, yet it got 9's and 10's across the board, which is just fucking ridiculous, and was only done because of the community's huge, blind fan-base.

Yeah, I actually do sort of enjoy listening to what GameTrailers has to say, but that Skyward Sword review kind of surprised me when they gave it a 9.1 despite giving a fairly mixed review, especially when they flat out called certain parts of it "boring". I wouldn't expect them to have given it much more than a solid 8.0.

What do you rate RE6?

A straight 5.

And how about RE5?

[Foggle]

About six games later. Meanwhile IGN were writing articles about NSMBWii as if it was some diabolical scam of Nintendo to dare release a 2D platformer for a console. And that was only the second 2D Mario game in like 15 years.

True. I'm just saying, the CoD ship seems to have finally sailed.

And how about RE5?

About a 6. It's technically a better game than RE6, but I'd rather play 6 over 5 any day.

[Rynnec]

About six games later. Meanwhile IGN were writing articles about NSMBWii as if it was some diabolical scam of Nintendo to dare release a 2D platformer for a console. And that was only the second 2D Mario game in like 15 years.

True. I'm just saying, the CoD ship seems to have finally sailed.

Question is, what genre is going to take its place this gen? 6th gen had GTA and its clones, while last gen was CoD and Battlefield.

I think Famitsu had the best way of doing it. For a game they'd have several columns with different people giving their own scores.

That's also how old EGM was. They were pretty damn good, for the most part.
New EGM, on the other hand...

New EGM still does it, I think, but the magazine has otherwise lost all of the charm the old EGM had.

GamePro was my favorite. I love their multiple scores for different aspects of games system.

I also liked how each reviewer had their own nickname.

As long as we're talking old gaming mags, I'll take this time to say that I miss the days of Tips & Tricks, and when magazines had mini-strategy guides in them, even for otherwise obscure games.