I should give this game a 10 right? No? But you enjoyed it..errr..thought it was going to be great before it came out..right? Right?!
I have to give a shout out to my boy (well I don't know him, but he's cool) Jim Sterling at Dtoid for writing an editorial about people who whine and complain about video game scores. If I may, I'll add my two cents. Go read the blog post he wrote, he's absolutely right in every facet of the word.
It is amazing to me how people want their cake and eat it too. Although this idiom doesn't make sense to me, because I love cake, and if I have it, I want to eat some, but that's besides the point. People always want both sides of what they aren't sure they even want. Gamers want honest reviews. They don't want people getting fired from Gamespot for an honest Kane and Lynch review But at the same time, gamers want to be included, and they want to be right. I know what gamers feel because, hey, I'm a gamer. When a game is coming out that I highly anticipate and it doesn't get a good score, I get let down. But not because I think the reviewers are butt-holes. On the contrary, I get let down because I think the developers are butt-holes.
See here's the thing, just like Sterling said, one man's opinion is just that, it's his opinion. The problem with gamers (and I can say this because I'm in this community so don't start calling me Jack Thompson here) is that you all think you know what makes a good video game. You play a game, you like it or don't like it, and suddenly you are an expert on it. Do you honestly think the people who review games like Sterling, Shoe, and all the other people who are employed are just casual gamers that just so happened to wake up one morning and say, "I think I'll write about games today."
No, they decided they wanted to write about something they loved. And let me tell you folks, there is a huge difference between liking a game and being able to communicated clearly why you like a game. Most people can tell you a game is good or bad, but can you break it down for me? Can you tell me why you thought it was good or bad. I'm this way with books, I don't know what makes a good book, or even necessarily a good movie. If I enjoy it, that's the point of me reading it, or watching it (The Bank Job, not that enjoyable by my standards, I still need to see Horton Hears a Who). When I play games however, yes I look for the fun factor, but there is a lot more that goes into reviewing a game than just the "fun" factor, a lot more.
And here's where I'm with Sterling 100%, the 1-10 system does not mean that any game that isn't an 8 is horrible. There are scales for a reason. The problem is we've been taught that anything that isn't perfect has huge flaws. That's not true. I gave Brawl a 9 and I thought it was a fantastic game, but there were some things about it that didn't strike me as perfect, or complete if you will. A game that is a 6 can be fun, a game that is 5 can be even funner, and if you get the right people, a 4 game can be hilarious, it all depends on who you are. But to reviewers we have to look beyond the aforementioned "fun" factor and stick to everything that makes a good video game. We have to give you the ins, outs, ups, and YES the downs. If we didn't give you the whole story we wouldn't be very good at our practice.
Who ever heard of a doctor only telling his patient what he wants to hear? Who ever heard of a mechanic telling you everything is alright with your car when your tire is flat? Who EVER heard of a computer technician tell you that your computer should be up and running fine without any kind of fixing when you know you just dropped it into a swimming pool? Who ever heard of a police officer letting you go and saying, "Oh you weren't REALLY going 75, my clocker is broke, have a nice day." When you play sports, do you do EVERY thing right? When a carpenter makes a bad chair and someone sits in it and it's uncomfortable do they lie about it and say it's the best thing since the invention of door stops?
I mean really, no other respected profession just tells people what they want to hear. They tell people the truth and the people want to hear the truth; even if they don't like it. And when it comes to video games everyone's truth can be different depending on what they see as a pro or con. But for the most part, cons are universally accepted as cons even if they are rated higher or lower than one another (as far as gaming goes). You (and I mean the people who want 8.0's on all their favorite games) can't expect us as gaming writers to satiate your ineffable appetite for great scores on all the games you just, "know are going to be awesome!".
Think about this for a minute, why would we purposely review a game badly? If it's a good game do we have an agenda in which we want no one to buy the game? Do we hate our jobs that badly because it's so tiresome reviewing games (please). Seriously, let me know because it's ludicrous. So throw that idea out the window.
And if you really want us to lie and say that all games are good think about what you are saying to us. You want us, to tell you, to go waste your money on what we say is a good game, but then what if you spent your hard earned money and YOU don't even like the game, but we said we did, and you disagree with us. Well now I guess we've just viced the versa and are back to square one.
Adridius aka Jeremy
For kicks here's my 1-10 explanation
10: Perfect, flawless, get the game, won't regret it.
9: Excellent game, will entertain, few bugs here and there, not perfect.
8: Great game, enjoyable, a few more bugs than nine, but definitely still worth your money.
7: High average, good game, fun game, may not last you long, or may be incomplete in a big area
6: Above average, can get some hours out of this game, may not be worth buying maybe rental
5: Average, run of the mill video game, not too inventive, but not a piece of crap
4: Below average, seemed to just be put out just to get money, highly incomplete
3: Did they even try? (the game developers)
2: Why is this on the shelf, maybe a 1.99 bin might be a good buy for a few kicks
1: Not worth the DVD it came on, good to use as a frisbee
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