The Disconnect Between Game Reviews And Gamers

Kinsaras said:
I like Yathzee but his reviews are more satire to me than real reviews.
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Yup, I just watched his reviews for the lolz. He also tended to give away a lot of spoilers in his reviews so I just watched them for games I already played.
 
Why is it comedy gold? We all have different values and beliefs, so I guess I fail to find the humor in a site that provides not only good game reviews but also a moral perspective based on their beliefs as well.
 
Damn, I didn't know Stewie did commentaries

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I watched this video a few days ago...pretty much agree with TB on this one. He makes some pretty solid content and I agree with a lot of what he has to say.

It almost seems to be more of an issue with open-world games specifically. If having a LOT of generic activities versus much fewer but more focused activities appeals to someone, then of course they're going to rate the game a lot higher.

I like Mad Max, and other games like Far Cry 3/4 and Dying Light, but I still do have to admit I get burned out on the generic little side objectives fairly quickly.
 
I agree with this. We as consumers go in with real money being spent on this, and there's many players that just want some big dumb game as that's "value for money." The reviewers go into this with their commercial interests and no real consideration to the cost vs entertainment when they rate the games that they review.

Yep. TB didn't need to ramble that much to get to the point here, but I do agree with what TB is getting at.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041856937 said:
What I assumed.

I never really watch video commentary, video reviews, or video guides, unless there is something very specific that requires a visual component.

Anything video is usually more time consuming, more difficult to navigate, and less useful than anything written.
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a lot of TB stuff is basically pod casts with some background video
you could download it as an MP3 and would be just a good
 
Game reviews are nearly meaningless, save for eye-candy of screenshots and videos of gameplay.

The reviewer isn't me, doesn't know what appeals to me (though, truthfully, they might have a close idea), and thus their review is basically on the level of a complete stranger going "YOU SHOULD PLAY "BLAMSPLATTER MAN" DUDE!! IT'S DA BOMB!"

Then again, if some doofus comes up to me and uses "It's da bomb!", that automatically is 13 checks in the negative column (one for each character or space). It's a sign of toolhood (or incipient toolhood).
 
Chas said:
Game reviews are nearly meaningless, save for eye-candy of screenshots and videos of gameplay.

The reviewer isn't me, doesn't know what appeals to me (though, truthfully, they might have a close idea), and thus their review is basically on the level of a complete stranger going "YOU SHOULD PLAY "BLAMSPLATTER MAN" DUDE!! IT'S DA BOMB!"

Then again, if some doofus comes up to me and uses "It's da bomb!", that automatically is 13 checks in the negative column (one for each character or space). It's a sign of toolhood (or incipient toolhood).
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So do you just buy games blindly and hope they're good?

I think reviews have their place if they're as objectively presented as possible. You can also watch/read a specific reviewer's content and get an overall picture of their tastes and if they align with your own.
 
I hit the mute button really quick. I was thinking- how the fuck does this guy go on and on for 40 minutes nonstop.

And as I watched the gameplay, I thought meh. Batman /borderlands mod. pass. I'm sick of that shit.
 
MavericK96 said:
So do you just buy games blindly and hope they're good?

I think reviews have their place if they're as objectively presented as possible. You can also watch/read a specific reviewer's content and get an overall picture of their tastes and if they align with your own.
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Since I happened to directly mention that two of the saving graces of online reviews were:

  1. Pictures
  2. Videos of gameplay

That sorta, y'know, prevents buying "blind".

What I do NOT do is watch some spastic spending 30 minutes bouncing around in-game trying to evoke a vertigo reaction.

I have friends show me games and let me crash around for a bit. And I use all of these data points, and the fact that my free time is limited, to make smart purchase decisions FOR MYSELF.Got exposed to Quake 2 way the fuck back when. Wound up building a brand new machine to feed my need.

Unreal (and spinoffs) were in the same vein.

WoW was "meh", I couldn't justify the ongoing sub cost, and I sure as fuck couldn't support a raid guild schedule. Weird, as much of an antisocial shut-in as I am, I still have too much of a life for WoW...
 
I usually only focus on technical aspects of game reviews. Gameplay and plot reviews? They are far too subjective. I make up my own mind about gameplay and plot usually.

Sometimes though, I cannot but help shake the feeling that a lot of game reviews are not actually reviewed by actual gamers (as in they play games on their off time as well).
 
Even playing video games is more productive than whatever that was.
 
I honestly miss magazines to collect. I know our future is here in online crap and ads for quick updates and convenience, but at the same time having old mags of PC Accelerator and PC Gamer is awesome. I honestly haven't really paid attention to any reviews in a long time. Since youtube has been around game reviews have been obsolete with game play videos being available for games I'm on the fence about.
 
bboynitrous said:
I honestly miss magazines to collect. I know our future is here in online crap and ads for quick updates and convenience, but at the same time having old mags of PC Accelerator and PC Gamer is awesome. I honestly haven't really paid attention to any reviews in a long time. Since youtube has been around game reviews have been obsolete with game play videos being available for games I'm on the fence about.
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I remember back in the 80's when PC Magzine was 3/4" thick every month, and when they did tests/reviews on something like monitors, they tested DOZENS of them and provided thorough reports.

And MacWorld. Hard to get for free, expensive to pay for, but man. What a great Magazine.
 
TechLarry said:
I remember back in the 80's when PC Magzine was 3/4" thick every month, and when they did tests/reviews on something like monitors, they tested DOZENS of them and provided thorough reports.
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...and often came with shareware floppies stuck to the front of it :p
 
I use to read reviews then find a demo if it stood out to me. Then all reviews became good, and the demos went away.
 
"Gone Home" received near universal glowing reviews. So . . . yeah.
 
pothb said:
Why? He seems to be a ++++ just like the rest of em.

I do have a biased against him though. So maybe I'm overlooking something.
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when he left mainstream TV and went to Rev3 Games, he had much less of a PR filter and spoke his mind. he's openly said in longer google hangout discussions that it was a huge, (though welcome) adjustment for him

nobody should judge Adam Sessler off his x-play/G4TV material. Go check out Rev3 Game's youtube channel (which is now dead, D3 killed it off)

Tara Longest and Anthony Carboni was cool too. Now youtube gaming-wise is boring and just a bunch of fanboyism
 
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