| Reasonable said: It's an interesting point. In videogames I kind of feel 50/50 about it. If the developer is trying something new or at least new'ish then it is going to be that much harder to get perfect vs producing a polished game based on very tried and tested mechanics. But... so long as criticism is constructive then it's fine, as ideally you do want any rough edges in something new to be well polished next time around (although, sadly, in the videogame industry one rough title can end things pretty quick). I think reviewers/gamers do probably need to be a little more accepting of some rough edges when something is new... to be too demanding is what stiffles inovation and makes developers scared to try anything remotely new. I mean, take Mirror's Edge - what are the odds, no matter how talented the team, of making a FPS parkour title with melle combat and minimal focus on shooting and getting the difficulty and flow perfect first time around? Well, perhaps understandably they didn't, but they came close enough I'd love to see the developer encouraged to refine it and improve it... but that may never happen now due to aspects of reviews and sales. Instead, we'll probably see two standard FPS. So I think flaws should be noted constructively, but the market should be more able to differentiate poor execution of something that should have been very good (I mean really, these days how can you mess up any of the core genres and not expect to be called out harshly) vs something that is different enough that there would be almost no way to get it right first time around. I think Uncharted is another good example - albeit not because of one specific thing. With that title ND produced a good but not great title and the flaws in pacing, gunplay, platforming, etc. were clear and in particular how the game wasn't perhaps that well balanced. But look at Uncharted 2... boy did ND learn well. The bottom line is, making something with very well defined processes and mechanics is easier than making something that doesn't. Although, even the easy stuff ain't that easy. I'm still amazed at mid level developers and how they can produce average titles despite the wealth of knowledge around making it clear what is better. |
It's a good point really, and I see where your coming from
Bottom line is, as long as developers are pushing the boat out, and it's pretty good, I'll support them. Because then, next time, they can make it even better 
