"User reviews" are no longer reliable for PC games, now it's just agenda bullshit - Games

[QUOTE=KorJax;28772696]TBH sounds like the PC gamer equivalent of an ultra conservative[/QUOTE] Having no graphical settings is absolutely inexcusable for a platform with a wide range of hardware. Radial Menus are dumb for the PC, sure they work, but would you give up a nice 23"+ monitor for a 12" monitor? And if complaining about poorly made PC games makes me a conservative then I'd gladly be called a conservative.

One of the best ways to judge a game is to go to its forums after launch. What you want to look for are experienced gamers who either can't get the game to play right/at all (due to bugs) or who have spotted glaring balance issues. Ignore the volume of threads and instead look at the quality of the posts. Ask these people very specific questions and don't accept anything less than specific answers. I find this method has not failed me yet, whereas reviews, videos, and even demos have failed to give an accurate picture of gameplay. I wouldn't be so anal about buying games if I could return them, but PC games are not returnable. You can't even trade them most of the time, especially with services like Steam. It's fucking bullshit.

I don't think bugs really should count against a game because they will get fixed probably soon after. But if weeks after the game is out and it is still buggy and runs poorly or whatever, then I'd say it's safe to judge it based on the bugs. [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=FlakAttack;28772917]One of the best ways to judge a game is to go to its forums after launch. What you want to look for are experienced gamers who either can't get the game to play right/at all (due to bugs) or who have spotted glaring balance issues. Ignore the volume of threads and instead look at the quality of the posts. Ask these people very specific questions and don't accept anything less than specific answers. I find this method has not failed me yet, whereas reviews, videos, and even demos have failed to give an accurate picture of gameplay. I wouldn't be so anal about buying games if I could return them, but PC games are not returnable. You can't even trade them most of the time, especially with services like Steam. It's fucking bullshit.[/QUOTE] Your post sounds like you did some lurking at the Bioware forums Post-Dragon Age II

[QUOTE=Take_Opal;28773017]I don't think bugs really should count against a game because they will get fixed probably soon after. But if weeks after the game is out and it is still buggy and runs poorly or whatever, then I'd say it's safe to judge it based on the bugs. [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] Your post sounds like you did some lurking at the Bioware forums Post-Dragon Age II[/QUOTE] I haven't even looked at Dragon Age 2, haven't played the first one yet. Probably should. Anyway, to judge how good a game is by launch bugs is not a great idea, but, I'm not going to buy a game that simply doesn't work. Say a new Battlefield game comes out and almost no one can play it due the Punkbuster being even more of a douche than normal; I'm not going to touch the game until they fix it. No point paying for something I probably won't be able to play.

user reviews are opinions. i kinda use both official reviews (ign and whatever) and the user ratings to decide. i am kinda suspicious that devs pay people like IGN to give good ratings. call me paranoid.

Reviews these days are now nothing more than paid advertising, there's very few reputable sources to get an actual objective review anymore

I think Kevin VanOrd on gamespot is a great reviewer.

[QUOTE=FlakAttack;28773086]I haven't even looked at Dragon Age 2, haven't played the first one yet. Probably should. Anyway, to judge how good a game is by launch bugs is not a great idea, but, I'm not going to buy a game that simply doesn't work. Say a new Battlefield game comes out and almost no one can play it due the Punkbuster being even more of a douche than normal; I'm not going to touch the game until they fix it. No point paying for something I probably won't be able to play.[/QUOTE] The experience you detailed was basically exactly what happened over at the Bioware forums. And I do agree about the launch game bugs. If they're that awful then I'll wait. Especially if it's Punkbuster related... [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] Giantbomb is really one of the few reviewers I respect . Jeff, Ryan and Brad are well reasoned reviewers.

Sadly, the customer is always right.

It's often the Publisher's fault. In Dragon Age 2's case. It was obviously that some reviews were bribed. If you don't believe it, play DA2, then read the PC gamer review. Or the Bioware employee who wrote a user review at meta critic. So if the journalists are being extremely unreasonable positive, it will backlash onto the community, and they will be extremely unreasonable negative. Anyway, ratings are subjective. My B might be your A. You should always look for the arguments and see if you agree with them. My favorite site is Eurogamer, they seem fair and I really get a feel of how the game is like just by reading that review.

Yeah except Crysis is an actual shit game. Pretty, but devoid of substance. I won't comment on Crysis 2 because I'm yet to play it. I hear good things. [editline]23rd March 2011[/editline] Also lol DA2 not a bad game, christ are you serious?

[QUOTE=JaegerMonster;28773803]OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION OPINION CHRIST MY OPINION OPINION[/QUOTE]' :downs:

I really enjoy the 7-10 rating system modern videogame critics have adapted, because no matter what games I like, they agree with me!!!!

Yea too bad Crysis 2 is a consonlized piece of junk. Looks like Halo 3, which is probably what was intended.

I pretty much stopped reading professional reviews, I almost always entirely disagree with them. The few I read are more PC-elitist geared like RPS. As long as you take them with a grain of salt they're usually pretty informative and brutally honest

lol my video card is not good enuf 4 dis so i hate it shit game wow why do u even sell this gaym 1/10 :downs:

Didnt a person from Gamespot actually get fired for getting payed to talk positive about a certain game, yet still said the game was shit? Or did i just dream that one day.

[QUOTE=Yukinari;28780424]Didnt a person from Gamespot actually get fired for getting payed to talk positive about a certain game, yet still said the game was shit? Or did i just dream that one day.[/QUOTE] Yeah that was the first Kane and Lynch.

[QUOTE=JaegerMonster;28773803]Yeah except Crysis is an actual shit game. Pretty, but devoid of substance.[/QUOTE] I honestly can't believe that anyone who says this has actually played the game. The graphics are great, and although it's not much in the way of storyline I've got more enjoyment out of the $30 crysis warhead than many premium priced games combined :colbert: All that aside, I was surprised to see crysis 2 got a positive score from IGN, I expected a load of 'hurp derp COD copy' garbage. But I too will reserve my opinion on it till I've played it.

It's fanboys and idiots, what do you expect? They've been doing that forever.

can i talk about how dragon age 2 doesn't work because hawke is such a smarmy prick? [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=seano12;28774138]Yea too bad Crysis 2 is a consonlized piece of junk. Looks like Halo 3, which is probably what was intended.[/QUOTE] Crysis 2 was really fun, I'm just never ever going to play it again because it was linear as hell. Nothing wrong with that. But there's no real reason to replay it.

Crysis 2 and Dragon Age 2 sucked dick. This is my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;28780622]can i talk about how dragon age 2 doesn't work because hawke is such a smarmy prick? [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] Crysis 2 was really fun, I'm just never ever going to play it again because it was linear as hell. Nothing wrong with that. But there's no real reason to replay it.[/QUOTE] 'Linear as hell'? What games do you play?

I never read reviews from official or non-official sources. Most of it is just paid reviews, and there's a picture where a DA2 dev went on metacritic and rated his own game 10/10. The most reliable source is to watch gameplay videos and decide myself if it looks fun.

[QUOTE=Take_Opal;28772540]You'd think if PC gamers love older games like Half-life, X-COM, Unreal, Quake, C&C and the like it'd be easier to make games just as good with the same standards like graphical settings, non-radial menus (putting items in a list format is a whole lot easier than making a radial menu, it's just lazy) and decent performance. But PC gamers are apparently asking for too much.[/QUOTE] Sure console gamers are easier to please, which while making it easier to develop, also ruins innovation. But for PC gamers, if you make a game too similar, people will cry out that you're just copying (ex. CoD, MoH, BF, etc.) for other games, if you try to change one thing pc gamers will tear it apart (DA2, DX: HR, Fallout, etc.) Its a ridiculous double standard that no game company will ever be able to avoid when developing for the PC market. While the constant nitpicking by the PC community does help make better games, I just hate the self-entitled attitude that most of them have.

[QUOTE=JaegerMonster;28773803]Yeah except Crysis is an actual shit game. Pretty, but devoid of substance. I won't comment on Crysis 2 because I'm yet to play it. I hear good things. [editline]23rd March 2011[/editline] Also lol DA2 not a bad game, christ are you serious?[/QUOTE] Crysis ain't shit. It's not a masterpiece, but it ain't shit. The problem is that you have to want a certain thing from the game to enjoy it. Really, it's a [I]Predator[/I] game. You stalk your human prey, hide in the shadows, and when the moment comes you come up behind them and snap their necks while simultaneously detonating the C4 you have planted at all nearby sniper towers and machine gun emplacements. If you go all Rambo it's still sorta fun but not as fun as a game designed for you to go all Rambo like COD or Halo.

Also the number system is stupid. How can you give a game a 10/10? There's no such thing as perfect. I don't understand why so many people use it.

[QUOTE=Mr. Scorpio;28780668]Crysis ain't shit. It's not a masterpiece, but it ain't shit. The problem is that you have to want a certain thing from the game to enjoy it. Really, it's a [I]Predator[/I] game. You stalk your human prey, hide in the shadows, and when the moment comes you come up behind them and snap their necks while simultaneously detonating the C4 you have planted at all nearby sniper towers and machine gun emplacements. If you go all Rambo it's still sorta fun but not as fun as a game designed for you to go all Rambo like COD or Halo.[/QUOTE] Or you swim out into the water, and the retarded AI follows you and drowns. That always works.

[QUOTE=strata8;28780652]'Linear as hell'? What games do you play?[/QUOTE] A lot of RPGs and RTSs. But that's besides the point. The problem is that there's nothing to explore, no huge landscape to use to your advantage. In Crysis you have a big fucking Island with seven ways to access any given point, and from there it was a matter of taking out our targets one by one. In Crysis 2 you're in a series of medium sized boxes. There will be a couple of vantage points, some machine guns stashed away in a couple of cubby holes, and the rest is cover and open ground. The combat mechanics work fine, but because not only does it lack that sense of exploration from the first game, but it is so intent on explaining where all the weapons caches and vantage points are, you really just stop looking at your surroundings as a city. Everything just becomes, cover, high ground, open ground, ammo cache etc. . . Which is fine for the purposes of the game. It was a really fucking fun game. I just won't be replaying it. [editline]24th March 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Gayry;28780686]Or you swim out into the water, and the retarded AI follows you and drowns. That always works.[/QUOTE] Like I said, you have to want a certain thing from the game.

I used to read reviews on metacritic before buying any game, but these days it's not worth it since the reviews tend to range from 'perfect' to 'DO NOT BUY' and tend to be comepletely unjustified. These days I just check out a game's FP thread to see how FP members find the game.