I'm beginning to think game reviews are biased/skewed (or I have issues)

[Bodhesatva]

ckmlb said:

kn said:

ckmlb said:

I wasn't tyring to justify wii games getting low scores... reread my post. I'm just making a point that reviews seem to be heavily skewed at times and completely contrary to the "overall fun" I've experienced from playing the same game. I used Mario Kart/Crash Nitro Kart as an example because it's just one recent experience where they are rated the same but clearly Crash is crap in comparison... I'm quite confident that most of the crap reviews the Wii has received are deserved...

I understand this completely, but the Wii people jumped on your badnwagon and started bashing reviewers as being biased and whatnot...

I have fun with Wii Sports trust me, I understand the appeal to play against other people especially when you're drunk lol but I will never ever say this game is above other games that I hold in very high regard. Even if it is funner than some in some cases.

I just don't like this new thing of bashing reviews as biased because they are scoring Wii games low in some cases.

I do agree with some of this: the problem isn't inherent to the Wii, although it is most glaring with that system, because the "Casual" crowd seems to be flocking there, and casual style games are those that seems to be throwing reviewers for a loop.

I'm going to repeat what Dan Hsu, the editor in chief of EGM, said about Wii Play in his review, because I think it distills the precise problem reviewers are having: "Play is for people who don't really play games, and as someone who really does, that's a problem."

So my opinion is this: anyone who thinks reviewers specifically downgrade the scores on Wii games because they're on the Wii is a tin foil hat wearer. However, anyone who thinks reviewers give lower scores to games that are more casual is probably right on: Dan Hsu has said just that, right here, in this quotation. Hsu, at least, does have trouble with such reviews. Other reviewers have said the same. Those casual gamers are the ones not receiving the reviews they may deserve; the phenomenon isn't inherently tied to the Wii, but I think we can largely agree that the Wii has more casual friendly games than PS3/360 does.

As a counter example, anyone who feels the reviewers short changed Zelda:TP is nuts. It's clearly a game that appeals to hardcore gamers, and I suspect Metroid Prime and Galaxy will recieve their due as well.