Rich Stanton on Future's dodgy dealings - GTA4's [10] bought

Cuttooth wrote:
$ilva $hadow wrote:While Cutty was trying to be pedantic, I should clarify that I don't for a second believe not only the 10/10 reviews, but also the 9/10 reviews.

I'm just surprised you've jumped on Dishonored as being the obviously dodgy game with the inflated reviews for getting high scores across the board. Would have thought XCOM getting high scores across the board would have been the thing to get you going.

I haven't really decided to jump on Dishonored, it's pretty much decided to jump on me what with being all in my face with the media campaign behind it. If it wasn't for Dishonered, I was going to single out Borderlands 2.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/borderlands-2

A metacritic rating of 90? A 100/100 score from The Guardian? Really?

I'm not interested in Xcom, I've already written it off as being a budget purchase if I want to play some console games on my PC, but if that's been getting 10/10 and 9/10 scores across the board, then I'm still suspicious of those scores. I have read on RPS that it's a good game, but like I've mentioned before, release hype tends to colour anyone's impressions of a game, but in defence of RPS, they only write text for a game, no scores and it gives them way more credibility.

Is there any other games I've omitted that you'd like to mention?

KKLEIN wrote: The amount of times the 'demo not representative of final code, you can't criticise the review' has been thrown back in readers faces, & in most cases that's true enough.

Just had to quote that. It happens far too often, where the reviewer will just lie about the game and then lie further and say it was an unfinished piece of code they reviewed.

Like strawberry float are you going to get an unfinished piece of trash to review when the game is already finished and awaiting release.

Right, I'm going to be writing a strongly-worded email to Edwin tonight, telling him to take back that "as ever" because people can't understand that a recommendation to try the demo if you're able to test out the controls for a notoriously divisive piece of tech is not actually undermining the review.

Well has anyone actually tried this demo to see how it tallies with the final game? Testing out the controls on an unfinished demo that is presumably dependant on the level would be a complete waste of time. Which is funnily enough where the reviewers are supposed to come in. And Edwin is in no position to comment as he's only played a couple of hours, therefore committing another cardinal sin that also annoys many a reviewer. A reviewer we can't ask because they're anonymous.

KKLEIN wrote:Well has anyone actually tried this demo to see how it tallies with the final game? Testing out the controls on an unfinished demo that is presumably dependant on the level would be a complete waste of time.

Why would testing the controls of a game at its most action-intensive be a waste of time?

Which is funnily enough where the reviewers are supposed to come in.

And the review does. It does, however, offer a second-hand opinion. The demo allows you to experience the controls and a brief section of the game first-hand. It is therefore useful in gleaning whether the controls work FOR YOU.

So the demo in this case is representative of the final product?

To me unfinished demo is just another way of saying "here is the game only we haven't ironed it yet so the finished thing will be a bit better".

KKLEIN wrote:So the demo in this case is representative of the final product?

Yes.

Great!

C&VG have also got their review up...

6.1/10.

Downers

It's entirely on-rails

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/37 ... top_banner

Hang on a minute...

Peter Molyneux wrote:I'll just state on record now that Fable: The Journey is definitely not on rails.

http://www.oxm.co.uk/30071/molyneux-fab ... s-mistake/

Someone else in the videogames industry who is completely full of gooseberry fool.

I've stopped judging games on demos since Test Drive Unlimited. That was by far the worst demo ever. Which is shocking as the game itself is amaze.

If anyone can be bothered to sit through it, Eurogamer have posted Settling the Score: The Truth About Game Reviews on YouTube today:

Eurogamer: Ellie Gibson
Eurogamer Features Editor: Martin Robinson
RockPaperShotgun: John Walker
PCGamesN's: James Binns
PR professional: Stefano Petrullo
David Miliband.

Dunno if it's full of 'Nah, we ain't corrupt mate' bollocks, but it could be interesting.

At that stage (ie when Molyneux made those comments) you could negotiate the environments using your body as the controller. They had a prototype of it up and running but found it just too awkward.

rudderless wrote:At that stage (ie when Molyneux made those comments) you could negotiate the environments using your body as the controller. They had a prototype of it up and running but found it just too awkward.

I get the impression that it happens a lot with Molyneux. He talks about features before they're completed, then they are found to be difficult or impossible to implement in time, are dropped, then Molyneux gets called a liar.

He gets a bit excited and talkative, really.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:
rudderless wrote:At that stage (ie when Molyneux made those comments) you could negotiate the environments using your body as the controller. They had a prototype of it up and running but found it just too awkward.

I get the impression that it happens a lot with Molyneux. He talks about features before they're completed, then they are found to be difficult or impossible to implement in time, are dropped, then Molyneux gets called a liar.

He gets a bit excited and talkative, really.

Best bit is when afterwards he comes out all apologetic and says he will never do it again.

I never had any issues with it, I want to hear from people making games and I want them to be passionate about what they are making. Sure it means you might end up being disappointed sometimes but so what. When people start ranting about it like its the end of the world, you do have to question their sanity a little.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:
rudderless wrote:At that stage (ie when Molyneux made those comments) you could negotiate the environments using your body as the controller. They had a prototype of it up and running but found it just too awkward.

I get the impression that it happens a lot with Molyneux. He talks about features before they're completed, then they are found to be difficult or impossible to implement in time, are dropped, then Molyneux gets called a liar.

He gets a bit excited and talkative, really.

Yeah. This is exactly it. He has ambitious plans that can't always be realised. Remember the thing about the spells getting more powerful depending on the tone of your voice? That's not there either.

KKLEIN wrote:If anyone can be bothered to sit through it, Eurogamer have posted Settling the Score: The Truth About Game Reviews on YouTube today:

Eurogamer: Ellie Gibson
Eurogamer Features Editor: Martin Robinson
RockPaperShotgun: John Walker
PCGamesN's: James Binns
PR professional: Stefano Petrullo
David Miliband.

Dunno if it's full of 'Nah, we ain't corrupt mate' bollocks, but it could be interesting.

Well, that was a waste of 43 minutes of my life...

Games media.

$ilva $hadow wrote:http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/borderlands-2

A metacritic rating of 90? A 100/100 score from The Guardian? Really?

To be fair, that Guardian score is probably five out of five stars, which is a bit more sensible and a case of Metacritic being dumb. In my opinion, Borderlands 2 is probably not quite that good (the intro section is duff, for example) but I think it's a pretty solid eight out of ten. Very good game, not exceptional but worth the money I paid for it (which was admittedly eight quid, so that's probably a factor).

The thing is, xCom is slightly more than just a game. It's kind of a representative of an entire genre that we just don't see much of these days.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editoria ... its-succes

Pretty sure it's just a game.

Rich Stanton on Future's dodgy dealings - GTA4's [10] bought

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