Do you think if a game wasnt popular it would get a lower score?

Say gear of war,halo 3 and god of war 3wasnt popular would professional game reviewers give it a lower score ? I think they would get a lower score.

Popularity does not dictate higher scores. Look at Haze for example, or C&C4.

Fact is that everyone is susceptible to hype.

It is very possible that a game can score higher based purely on the hype factor because the reviewer is so excited to play it themselves.

I believe it effects scores. Look at halo ODSTjoel_c17

Yes. Reviews are slowly becoming a popularity contest. How else can you explain STALKER Call of Pripyat getting a lower score than MW2?SF_KiLLaMaN

if halo wasn't popular ODST wouldn't have gotten a 9. that 9 is utter bull

[QUOTE="joel_c17"]I believe it effects scores. Look at halo ODSTTheEroica

Yeah...MGS4 is great and all...but not 10 great.

if anything, MGS3 was more deserving of a 10

Popularity does not dictate higher scores. Look at Haze for example, or C&C4.

msoftburney

[QUOTE="SF_KiLLaMaN"]Yes. Reviews are slowly becoming a popularity contest. How else can you explain STALKER Call of Pripyat getting a lower score than MW2?BattleTurtles

[QUOTE="BattleTurtles"][QUOTE="SF_KiLLaMaN"]Yes. Reviews are slowly becoming a popularity contest. How else can you explain STALKER Call of Pripyat getting a lower score than MW2?DragonfireXZ95

Well hype for sure does help raise a games score. I still don't understand how Killzone 2 managed to get a 9.0.

Demons Souls

It's not hard to tell if the game is going to be good or notpre release.SMG2 is going to be the best Wii game of 2010. I can predict that with a high certainty without even having played the game.

Hype starts because you know that the probabillity of the game being awesome is high.

Good game => Hype, not the other way around.

There are plenty of 8.5'ers out there that nobody is talking about.

Popularity does not dictate higher scores. msoftburney

Yes. I don't think they would be MUCH lower (like only .5 to 1.0 lower), but they would be lower. I think the reviewers' personal hype makes them overlook certain flaws in a game.

Sometimes, reviewers are people, and they are susceptible to hype as well. I think the lack of certain features being in their full fledged form warps reviews more, like servers for online games being slammed on release day, or the unlocks and what kind of balance is maintained. For this reason I feel that follow-up comments on reviews would be nice, a few weeks after release or so.

Yes, that bothers me.

Yes. Hype does influence reviews.

Take a look at Halo 2 or MW2.

There's absolutely no way those games would score 9 and 9.4 if they had not been part of their respective franchise. Truth is, both games should have been rated around a 7.0, but unfortunately, hype and popularity plays a huge role on how a game is rated.

It's not hard to tell if the game is going to be good or notpre release.SMG2 is going to be the best Wii game of 2010. I can predict that with a high certainty without even having played the game.

Hype starts because you know that the probabillity of the game being awesome is high.

Good game => Hype, not the other way around.

There are plenty of 8.5'ers out there that nobody is talking about.

kontejner44

Well, I would counter that often when games are exclusives hype increases arbitrarily.

Ask Famitsu, as it tends to score games that are not popular harshly, while for well-known franchises (e.g. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc.) or games from major publishers (Equare-Enix, Konami, etc.) it tends to give them 33+/40 scores.

At least respectable Western review outlets do not do what the CEO of Enterbrain (Famitsu's publisher) did. This shows the conflict-in-interest Famitsu has with its cozy relationships with major publishers.

Take a look at Halo 2 or MW2.

There's absolutely no way those games would score 9 and 9.4 if they had not been part of their respective franchise. Truth is, both games should have been rated around a 7.0, but unfortunately, hype and popularity plays a huge role on how a game is rated.

35th_shields

Halo 2 deserved that score without a shadow of a doubt, maybe evena 9.5/6..

I was young when I got stumbled upon Halo 1 and was completely oblivious to all the hype etc. surrounding it..

And by God was that game incredible....I then fell in love and eagerly awaited Halo 2..then the hype train started rolling for me...But I was blown away once more and to this day I still think that 2 is the best of the Halos, certainly the one I've put the most hours into...

And to all you MW2 haters out there - Shut Up, you know its a quality game and was well made by a bunch of talented people who poured their heart and soul into it...Fantastic (although shortish) campaign and the MP speaks for itself in terms of hours clocked..Im no MW fan but I'm not gonna try and deny it a score of 9.0..

I think a lot of people don't like it because of the hype...

Without a doubt, GTAIV Halo:ODST and God of War 3 all fall into this category. None of them deserved what they got all were 8.5 games.

Grand Theft Auto IV wasn't in any way deserving of a 10.

On some sites/in some magazines, yes.

I think most are pretty good at keeping popularity out of the score.

I think it is other way around, popular games can get lower score because it not live up to the high expectations.

I would not necessarily say popularity can boost scores, but hype can (GTA4)

If might work both ways, if the game is not popular at all (low expectations) and it turns out to be a solid game, then the reviewer might give it a high score, example: Chronicles of Riddick on the Xbox.

When reviewers expect a lot from a game, for example: Alan Wake, I'm quoting GameTrailers here, "Aland Wake has been over 6 years in development" it might hurt the score, because they might expect a lot from a game that has been a long time in development.

When there is a lot of hype, they might also get caught up in it, just like when GTA 4 was released, a 9.5 or 9.0 should have been fine.

If might work both ways, if the game is not popular at all (low expectations) and it turns out to be a solid game, then the reviewer might give it a high score, example: Chronicles of Riddick on the Xbox.

When reviewers expect a lot from a game, for example: Alan Wake, I'm quoting GameTrailers here, "Aland Wake has been over 6 years in development" it might hurt the score, because they might expect a lot from a game that has been a long time in development.

When there is a lot of hype, they might also get caught up in it, just like when GTA 4 was released, a 9.5 or 9.0 should have been fine.

BenGenio

yup yup

Say gear of war,halo 3 and god of war 3wasnt popular would professional game reviewers give it a lower score ? I think they would get a lower score.

slipknot0129