Game reviews need to mature more. They are getting less and less relevant.

[The Ghost of RubangB]

Kantor said:

MontanaHatchet said:

The gaming industry is fucked up in general. I mean, without Vgchartz, there would be pretty much no sales data for videogames that's available to the public. It's pathetic. As for reviewers, they're just giving the gamers what they want. "Gamers" are really just big babies. No one really wants integrity from reviewers. They just want to see their favorite games get high scores. Just look at how much hate Gerstmann got for giving Twilight Princess an 8.8. Yes, an 8.8. A perfectly good score.

When gamers stop sucking, I'm sure the reviewers will follow suit. We also need to stop thinking of game reviews as being a percentage of 100, and rather as "positive" or "negative" (similar to what Rotten Tomatoes does). 

The Rotten Tomatoes system is thoroughly useless. I loved Big Momma's House 2 (5%) and was almost bored to death by Another Year (100%). No review will be agreed with by everyone.

That's not the point though. RT doesn't allow for a middle ground. Either you liked the movie, or disliked it. Opinions aren't that simple. You will probably have liked some parts of the movie, and not liked others. You may have disliked the movie, but appreciated that others will like it, or vice versa. You may be recommending the movie to people who like a certain type of film.

It just about works with film, because you sit in a hall for two hours and watch. There isn't a lot of scope for subjectivity, really. What makes a good film? Good writing. Good acting. Good special effects. Good cinematography. With a game, it's different. Shadow of the Colossus looked like crap, had useless controls, was thoroughly incomprehensible, and involved climbing on giants and stabbing them until they died...sixteen times. And yet it's one of the greatest games ever made. Why? Because it just is.

I bolded the part that felt like a thousand knives of fire stabbing into my heart and twisting slowly.

First of all, so much more than that goes into a good film.  You've got almost every art form in there, with music, fashion, photography, theater, architecture, and storytelling, and any one of those parts can ruin an otherwise great film.  And every one of those is reviewed subjectively.

With games, it's pretty much the same criteria, but you turn photography into graphics, theater into gameplay, and architecture into level design.  Any one of those can ruin an otherwise great game.  And every one of those is reviewed subjectively.

The difference is that good film reviewers generally write for everybody and they take art criticism seriously.  Game reviewers usually write for a niche audience and don't take art criticism seriously.

I love the reviews here though.  I only read those and user reviews.  Most other reviews feel like they're trying too hard to sell me something.