I think you all need to take a step back for a minute. Stop, breathe through the nose, and exhale out the mouth. And do it slowly.... slowly.... Good. Now let's talk.
I especially want to talk to everyone getting all bent out of shape about the current Halo 4 reviews. Or as I've seen, anyone who doesn't give the game the glowing review they feel it deserves. Now because of this, we actually have people who are calling the very idea of game reviews themselves into question. What I want to know is why now, and why Halo 4?
Look, you're gonna have to get over yourselves. People like different things. What I consider good may not be seen in the same positive point of view as others. Hell, I don't care about the game myself, but why should my opinion matter to you? I don't have to like the same things you do.That's a fact of life. But it doesn't end with one opinion that differs from yours. There's a broad *** **** spectrum of opinions out there. There's that word again, opinion, but we'll get back to that in a second. They're not going to all be the same. And if someone points out significant flaws, they may very well be able to justify a lower score. But that's the key word... IF. Now if they're all, "Halo 4 sucks 'cause I say it sucks..." then yeah. Feel free to disregard them. After all, criticism without validation isn't really worth consideration anyway. But the same can be said about positive praise. It goes both ways.
Lastly, reviews shouldn't be the last word on games. Look at them the way I do. Insightful(sometimes) opinions backed up with examples of why the reviewer liked or disliked the games. The key word is opinion. You don't have to like or dislike the same things they do. Coincidentally, if a reviewer is pretty much spot on with his opinions of games in your eye, then by all means listen to them. But don't jump all over them just because they don't like something you love. And don't jump on a bandwagon just because everybody else does. Just remember, good reviews or bad, in the end YOU'RE buying the game. And no matter what anyone else says, it's you who decides if the game is worth it.
... what, the pic of Jeff? Just adding a bit of sexay to the post. Problem? Explain in a review...
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Um, the problem isn't just the score. It isn't just that it's someone's "opinion" (even though they are PAID to give an above-average "opinion", at least we would hope).
It's that reviews seem to deliberately omit problems with a game, and/or they deliberately omit good things about a game, and/or they deliberately judge Game A harshly on a certain aspect when a few months earlier they gave Game B a free pass on the very same thing. You may call it an "opinion", but there is a long and dirty history of these so-called "opinions" being used by journalists to unfairly bash a game, or to inaccurately praise a game. It's why people are getting sick of reviews: there isn't a scrap of integrity. An opinion (a paid opinion, at that) isn't worth a dime if there's no integrity in it, and saying "it's just their opinion" is no excuse.
It's not nitpicking. It's not whining. It's not "letting someone have their own opinion". It's a matter of the journalism in this industry being a crock of **** and gamers would ENJOY being accurately and fairly informed as to the value of a certain game.
The mistake most people make is taking just the score and not whats been said about the game. I tend to trust Gametrailers video reviews, more often than not whats been said about the game and the score it gets don't always tally up. They gave Binary Domain a 6.8/10 but learning that the Yakuza creator had a hand in it peaked my interest to go out and buy it. Turns out to be one of the best games i've played this gen, I can see where they were coming from on many points in the review but different people have a higher level of tolerance for certain aspects of games.
What i'm not really understanding in this gen of consoles is the vast gap in scores for releases of certain games and their sequels.
RE5 was generally well received with good scores, then RE6 comes about and gets beaten to death for stepping away from the concept of the original games. Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't RE5 do that first? Its almost like reviewers said 'Capcom...we'll let you get away with this for RE5 because you're Capcom and we love you but don't do it again'. The inevitable sequel comes about and you know what happens next.
Seeing a score for 9/10 for one game then a 4/10 for the sequel which improves on the previous game is suspect at best. As long as you're intelligent enough to find multiple sources crap reviews are easily spotted. Its just a shame that most people give these dodgy reviews undeserved attention by screaming about it on every forum they can find.
Yeah...when people think so little about themselves and their opinion to get worked up about these trifling issues....
You know how the sentence ends. The point is, reviews are these days a form of advertisement. If you put that in your head and trust yourself a little more, these reviews wont bother you.
I play demos when the game has one, i try to watch gameplay videos (the ones that try to be unspoilerific as possible) even if that means not buying on day one.
Ive bought and enjoyed shitty-rated games, bought and hated high-rated games.
Bottom line, think for yourself for one instead of giving that decision to someone else.
Reviews drive sales. Bad reviews = Bad sales.
I will stop getting annoyed by bad reviews, when 100% gamers make an opinion for themselves and dont care about reviews.
But sadly that wont happen soon enough, so I will continue to get pissed at bad scores on reviews because, there are times I want a game to get a sequel, because for me that game is great, but because of bad reviews it gets crappy sales (people wont be even bothered to try it for themselves), and the publishers will ditch the possibility of continuing the franchise.
Example:
God Hand = Great game => shitty reviews => shitty sales => no sequel.
Shadow of the Damned = Great Game => mediocre reviews => mediocre sales => no publisher wants to touch the franchise => no sequel.
I never look at the score.
All I do is look at the pros & cons in a game review and decide based on that if I want that game or not.
Most of the time the games I do buy are from developers I'm a fan of their work but if it's a game I'm not sure about I look for the following things I just mentioned.
People take gaming which is a hobby way too seriously.
At the end of the day business comes before pleasure.