| Bodhesatva said: I don't agree here. I certainly don't take reviewers as Gospel, but if a game gets near perfect scores everywhere I look, I can feel fairly safe that it will be pretty good. |
Well I completely disgree with that statement. Big Name Franchises and heavily promoted games tend to have thier reviews written for them in stone before the reviewer ever gets a copy. Famitsu even admitted they give "courtsey" reviews for fans of the game, and they used to be known for very strict scores.
I remember after I got Super Mario Sunshine, was finding it pretty disappointing, and one day I was watching TechTV (Back before they were called G4) and whatever show it was that did games back then, they had thier guy reviewing Mario Sunshine, and at the very end he says "Is it as good as the other Mario games? Who Cares, it's another Mario game, 5/5.) And that just pissed me off, struck me right then and there how horrid most game reviewers are. And I'm a diehard Mario fan, but Sunshine was a dud. It's not nostigila either, I tried to replay Sunshine, and just got to bored to go on. Super Mario World or 64 I can still replay and enjoy to this day. But sunshine got near perfect reviewers from almost every major gaming source.
And that's not the only one. Metal Gear Solid 2. That looked good, loved the first one, gets incredible reviews.
Horrid game in my opinion, WAY too much dialogue and cutscenes. The first one was pretty talky too, but the
sequeal just wouldn't just the hell up you tpically just sneak from cutscene to cutscene. And of course the whole Snake/Raiden thing. I think they went as far to insert Snake into Raiden's scene for some of the commericals and even pushed the game's release date so they can use the tag line "The Year of the Snake". Yet he's a minor side character. Inane and idiotic story, and what's with the message? Aliens may kill us all some day, but we should leave behind ruins to bore thier offspring in history class? As opposed to message in MGS1, which was "...just live.". MGS3 (Which also hated the reviews for) seemed to sell a decent chunk less than MGS2 on the PS2, despite the larger instal base at the time. I wonder why that is?
Or what about Grand Theft Auto? Now going on rampages and driving over freeways with a tank is a LOT of fun. But the games typically have very redudant and tiring missions, graphics are usually sub-par, they tend to be VERY glitchy. With San Andreas they indulge in some convulted and pointless story as opposed to one thug killing his way to top. They add in a ton of annoying mini-game-esqe that are inserted into the main missions, so you need to do them to progress, like the dull "Girlfriend" missions which you had to repeat several times to get that damn Casino Keycard, or those terrible RC Plane missions where you have David Cross whining in your ear about how low on fuel you are. And none of this phases reviewers for thier scores, just about everyone gives it over 100.
I could probably go on for another ten paragraphs but I think I ranted enough. And I'm not saying every high rated game is only rated high because of coporate pressure and fan influence, or that even if it is, still doesn't mean it couldn't be great. I'm saying those scores and letter grades are meaningless and often misleading, and they only way to get useful information is to read thier entire review, and look for issues or sentiments you can relate to. You might hate hard games, but a reviewer might say something like "It's very hard, but completely
worth it." but that'd just be worth it for him, because he probably likes hard games.
Sorry to stray so far off topic, but "Professional" reviewers tend to just annoy the hell out of me. About you point, them not being ready to review Wii games, yes. Depending on the game, a long time hard core gamer could feel like a complete noob due to the controls, and thier ego may be too stubborn to try and learn them. And it is why Wii games tend to get very mixed reviews. Look at SSX Blur, 1UP and GamePro said they hated it, controls were horrible, only sadisitic freaks would enjoy this game. Gamespot said it was okay, and the controls worked well enough. IGN and ArtsTechnica loved it, with Bozon saying the ubertrick control system will "seperate the men from the boys". I thought Blur was great, it's problem, like most EA Wii Games, is it has horrid instructions, and you're left guessing the many different variables to pull of complicated tricks. Something I don't think any reviewer bothered to mention. But once you get them down, they feel great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLRxXmPQxek
