| arcelonious said: I think that the written portion of the review is ok, although it's pretty obvious how much the reviewer hated XIII and wanted to hate XIII-2. Regardless, the problem is how the reviewer adheres (or does not adhere) to their review system methodology. Beyond the score, it's also important to note that while reviews are opinions, they are supposed to reflect how the reviewer believes other gamers would recieve a particular game, which is evident in the methodology (in the methodology, terms like "most people" are used). Thus, even if the reviewer hates a particular game, they have to review a game based on how he or she perceives others would recieve it. Generability is one of the major factors that separate a well-written review from a mere opinion piece, and if you can't write a review under that notion, then you really shouldn't be writing an official review. I have no problem with a heavily-biased individual reviewing a game that he or she hates, as long as that reviewer abides by the methodology given by their review system. When reviewers don't follow their site's own methodology, it's hard to take those reviewers seriously.
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That hit the nail on the head for me. I dont have an issue with the review or even the score, but its the meaning that the VGChartz review metric gives to the score, which has most people thinking WTF.
5.0-5.9 – Mediocre. These games are bland and ordinary. They barely make adequate status, and will likely not be particularly enjoyable if at all. Note that we do not expect the “average” game to fall into this range. Ideally most people are making games that are at least good, and the majority of games do not need to be scored in this range or below.
Sorry to highlight the exact same line as you arcelonious but its such an important point. Based on the review id say this is an average game, the reviewer might have used a lot of harsh words, but its stil reads as average with redeeming factors. Not to forget that this is in fact a JRPG with a dedicated fanbase, it is also a sequel to quite a popular game. So this needs to be noted as well.
I would say that the review fits perfectly in the above score range...
6.0-6.9 – Decent. These games are usually not particularly memorable, and only have a couple of redeeming features that keep them from being truly mediocre. Some people may enjoy them, but they don’t excel in any way.
Most important point there is that some people may enjoy them (most probably the few million people that like ff13. Based on the score and the explanation the runa gave the game, he is basically saying no1 should be buying this game, not even ff13 fans, let alone ff fans. Which cant be right.
You cant review a game in complete isolation of external factors and you definately need to adhere to the review metric outlined by the site. Which i think is the issue here. And this is what people mean by uniformity...at the very least mark to the same metric.
