Gamespot: Arkham Knight Review: 7/10

I'm having trouble with this thread. I really am.

I am struggling to understand, that why, in 2015, are people still THIS invested in one guys opinion? I've been on System Wars for years, I've seen all the infamous meltdowns and ''flops'', i understand the metagame on here(even if I've always thought it was moronic) and i just figured that we've moved past investing so much energy into single reviews? We have two camps, one acting like his opinion is some sort of authoritative fact on the quality of the game and not totally subjective and in the minority related to every other critical review, and the other acting like they have been personally insulted. It's just...bizarre to me. Is it lack of maturity and intelligence mixed in with people just trolling? It was the same with IGN's Alien review.

Why are people on the internet so fucking illogical? Gah.

Anyway, can't wait for the game.

I'll look them over, but they're definitely not a necessarily deciding factor

^

Exactly.

Thank you for understanding.

My post wasn't even metagame related. I agree, without a HYPE thread the score is pretty irrelevant.

Some people here might be worried about the quality of the new Rocksteady Batman game and I wanted to offer a different perspective.

I just don't understand his issue. *shrugs*

I kinda do. I cancelled my preorder earlier today. Not gonna get ripped off like this.

Just so you know, I've adblocked your sig and will continue doing so until you go back to the sexy girls.

Well, Gamespot blocked those, so Anita it is.

I called this review score ages ago. There was a movie clip on here with the devs talking about their game and showing parts of it and it was just batmobiles driving around really bland looking environments. I nearly died of boredom just watching the interview and game segments.

I'm going to skip the game in case I actually die properly of boredom.

Kevin called this right. And anyway, if they wanted a higher score from Kevin they should have downgraded the graphics to 8 bit and claimed it was made by a small indie team in their bedrooms. 9.5 from Mr Van Ord guaranteed.

It is true that people do say they can't trust X or Y, but I didn't do that. I follow people, the reviewers themselves, not the outlets. In my life, there are particular reviewers that I identify with at select sites, not the outlet.

I am not the biggest Metacritic fan to be honest because it's not about the people I trust, but in a discussion about a particular game's quality, I would take metacritic as flawed as it is over just IGN's score, Game Informer's score, EGM's score, or in this case GS's score.

It's the same about RottenTomatoes, it just gives me an idea of how a movie is being received by the critics. The person I ultimately trust has always been myself. Until the game is here, I just know I'm a fan of Rocksteady and so far they haven't let me down and I hope I enjoy the game, but I may find it's a 5/10 experience. Until I play it, I won't know.

I honestly don't care about GS's scores or pointing that I trust any outlet because I don't. I do trust particular reviewers at some outlets though (just not the outlet itself), but sometimes my fave reviewer that I identify with doesn't review a game and I don't automatically trust some other person from the outlet just because he works at said outlet.

I think the idea of trusting an outlet is more of a hive-mind problem, to be honest. People get fired and quit and get replaced, but people just keep trusting an outlet's scores? I don't get it.

I don't and I never have.

Maybe it was just too difficult for him to have done a proper review on top of all his E3 coverage and he rushed it out there. Maybe it's WBIE's fault for bad timing on review copy releasing, after all releases less than a week after E3, they should have released it earlier so a review was ready prior to E3. Maybe he's pissed about doing a rushed review.

And/Or, maybe he's bitter he couldn't partake in all the E3 hotel room after hour parties because he was locked down in his room getting the review out, then in the morning as he's partaking in his shitty continental breakfast (and continental breakfasts are always shitty) the guys are telling him how he missed out on all the fun and they were snorting coke off cosplay hotties' tits and he's like "shut up" and then as Kevin is poking at his food trying not to make eye contact with anybody Danny O'Dwyer sticks his stinky finger under Kevin's nose while everybody laughs and Kevin is furious, internally he's thinking "Arrrgh, Arkham Knight is so not getting my praise! **** you WBIE for ruining E3 for me!!".

Yup, that's gotta be it. It makes total sense.

I'm still distrustful of VanOrd after he tried to use someone's suicide to slander GamerGate. He has permanently lost all credibility.

That being said, I wouldn't go so far as to pin the dreaded "McShea" tail on him--although he is jackass. These sound like valid criticisms. The dialogue issue rings especially true since that's been a major problem for every Batman game. Oft times, Batman sounds like a 90s soap opera-ish version of the Super Friends.

And I was afraid they'd force me to use the Batmo-tank. Dammit to hell.

I'm looking forward to the PC version with the extra frames per second.

Kidding. Had to go there. :-P

Meh I'm still buying it... but I had a feeling the Batmobile sections might be forced on you a bit.

I think VanOrd is a tad too harsh as well.

@HalcyonScarlet said:

@SolidTy said:

Batman AK is a 91 at metacritic.

I'm looking forward to the PS4 version with extra Scarecrow content.

I have the Limited Edition reserved. Should be grand.

I'm looking forward to the PC version with the extra frames per second.

Kidding. Had to go there. :-P

Haha, it's all good. As a big Batman fan I gotta have my limited edition! Is there a L.E. version for PC?

I love my PC horsepower for sure, but having no DRM is critical as I'm a collector, but I wish I could enjoy the frames with you amigo. :P

I do buy exclusives for the PC (Starcraft II, Star Citizen, etc) and super cheap multiplats that are usually doubles I got physical copies of.

I'll probably pick it up for PC a year or two from now in a humble bundle or something though as that's how I got the others for PC way after I already beat them on console.

Another plebeian who doesn't understand basic Math.

They choose a random number of reviews from various websites and assign each review a numerical value based on unethical procedures. For example, if Metacritic wanted to spike a review to satisfy business partners (which they have been caught doing before) they will make lets say Gamespot review score worth 20% of the total score while IGN could be worth 70% of the total score. Additionally, if a review from well-known website is bad, they could bolster the amount of positive reviews from uncredible sources to include in the aggregate score thus, presenting a misleading number. What's even more jarring is that they do not assign their values based on pedigree or web traffic which means they consciously assign valuation based on bias. The fact that they didn't fully publicly disclose their use of weights until 2013 shows their shadiness. Do you still not see the problem and why much of the gaming community claim it to be a joke? Need another example lets use Batman Arkham Knight:

In a fair and perfect world each score would have equal value. However Metacrtic once again boosted the score to give a misleading representation about the quality of the game. Out of the 16 scores given, 4 scores are lower than 81. That means as of now the game should be nowhere near 91 which according to Metactitc means Universal Critical Acclaim. In their current pool, 25% believe the game was average at best or good. Yet, Metacritic, with a score of 91 gives the misleading impression that everyone likes the game and it is AAA. What they did is assign lower values to people who ranked the game low and higher values to people who ranked the game high. Moreover, you can guarantee they will omit reviews since not every website meets Metacritic's criteria or they will omit just because they can.

Its an inappropriate way to review games especially when the numerical values for many websites do not have a the same meaning. To be honest, nowadays they kinda do, but in previous years absolutely not. Also, it is ethically wrong to omit scores simply because it may lower the rating or they deem a particular website's review to be worthless.

I am not surprised with the bat mobile critique.. From everything I have seen it, it just feels unnecessary.. When you have free roam vehicles, the devs are basically obligated to expand things and spread things out to actually make it feel necessary to it's use.. The problem with this is it means there is a lot of EMPTY space of nothing between the points..

@SolidTy said:

As a big Batman fan I gotta have my limited edition! Is there a L.E. version for PC?

I love my PC horsepower for sure, but having no DRM is critical as I'm a collector, but I wish I could enjoy the frames with you amigo. :P

I do buy exclusives for the PC and super cheap multiplats that are usually doubles I got physical copies of.

I'll probably pick it up for PC a year or two from now in a humble bundle or something though as that's how I got the others for PC way after I already beat them on console.

i am picking that baby up next week

Haven't bothered reading the thread. I imagine it goes something like though: "He's wrong because he doesn't follow the majority opinion, hive mind hurrah".

I couldn't care less as to how Metacritic evaluates and assigns the scores from certain publications. This has nothing to do with the mathematics, but how gamers tend to use and discredit Metacritic whenever it's to their advantage.

I will not argue that they've been shady in their practices, but I wasn't really alluding to them at all.

They sound like proper criticisms to me - i still think arkum asylum was the best of the series. I will pick this up at a later date

They force you to use the batmobile now? You can't do the grapple and glide across the city anymore?

This thread is a perfect representation of the current state of overly inflated game scores.

A 7 is a good score for a game. It literally even says "good". It is SUPPOSED to mean that it is better than the solid majority of other games on the market.

What it ACTUALLY means, in 2015, is that it is crap.

Our criteria goes as follows:

9-10: good

8: acceptable

1-7: bad

This is asinine, and statistically disingenuous.

Is there a single major review outlet in which 50% of their reviewed games score 5 (or whatever a 50% is depending on their scale) or below? This is what is supposed to happen given a standard bell curve.

@soulitane: yep, no synopsis needed

LOL that's pretty funny of the score. I honestly don't care for this game for all the ripoff dlcs that WB is trying to shove to people. And anyways if the person gave it a 7 then that's his opinion. Why get angry over this?

@SolidTy: The only limited one I liked was the one with the Batmobile. The thing with the statue, is that I'm not loving his Batsuit right now. Could change once I play it.

I think whoever passes on this game based on one man's review then they are being silly.

Is it only since Metacritic that people have been throwing hissy fits when all reviews aren't identical? A 7 is pretty good. Read around a bit if you're not sure and make your own mind up.

Definitely still buying it. It's scoring pretty well out there. It's a Batman game, so count me in.

I haven't trusted GS reviews in a long time. They seem to be almost random; they nitpick weird things not caring about whether it's actully fun.

So Kevin didn't like it. He's one guy with his own opinions. Nothing wrong with that. It's scoring fine everywhere else, he just didn't enjoy it as much. This is why you never hinge your entire purchase of a game on a single source.

Also read the words, don't just gloss over the score and the pros and cons. Kevin is a good writer who makes his feelings known. Read the whole review and you'll get an understanding of his opinion.

The nice thing about an opinion is you don't need to agree with it.

It's been getting good reviews all over; Kevin gave it a low score because he was butthurt about the vehicle sections. Why should we care?

Shitty review from a shitty site. This is why I don't pay attention to reviews on this site.

This game is doing well if we are going by MC standards at least.

I haven't read any reviews to see if its true or not, but I have a feeling that the vehicle stuff might drag the game down a bit. Overall it still looks like a good game anyways but this plus maybe some open world fatigue might not put this game above.

Also Deadlinezero/Mirko, did I not say that buttmobile fucking lame as hell? because it's not even just van ord, the 8s, the 9s, the 10s even mention that the buttmobile is lame. Now I'm not saying critics can't be wrong, them idiots like plenty of shitty things, but know that when you end up thinking the buttmobile will be the weakest part of this game and totally fucking tacked on nonsense. Because you will say those words out loud or internally, know that I fucking told you so.

Kevin Van Ord gave Dragon Age inqusition a 9/10 i bought at release for 60 it didn't feel like a 60 dollar 9/10 game though

I don't trust ORD period I think he was paid off for dragon age and not paid for this one so he dumped on it.

>hasn't played game
>10/10

Okay

That's really not how it works at any major publication man, if the NY Times sends you to review something, you don't need a background in production or anything. You're a paid critic, a review is a critique, it can range from hyperbole to nitpicky to positive to extremely positive to negative, the only thing a real critical source will care about is

A: is the person a good writer
B: is the person knowledgeable about the subject and can he/she comprehend what they are critiquing
C: can this person articulate their thoughts and argue their points if necessary.

Some of that other stuff is anecdotal at best.

I'm just going by what I have learned in studying theater. That was the distinction between the two. With the advent of film, reviewers became called critics and I am sure that has followed suit since for major publications. As is usual in our society things have changed. I guess I am old school and believe in the old distinction. All you need do is take an introduction to theater course at a college or study acting for 3 years. It will be brought up.

Ah I see what you mean. Yeah my bad, you are correct the title has evolved and changed over time.

It happens every where dude. Look at the gaming press using the name "journalist" some times. I doubt many people my age call them journalists.

Seems like just about everyone is complaining about the tank combat on some level. The fact Polygon gave the game a 10 generally makes me think there's definitely flaws with it, lol.

@jg4xchamp: I didn't mean it literally , don't condescend me

lol yeah i get annoyed when a critic gets called a journalist. Especially on sports websites...they aren't journalists, they are columnists.

@FrozenLiquid: Unless it's Toy Story 3.

All I'm going to say is-------the Butthurt is Real!!!!!

and to say: Can't wait to finish the Batman trilogy this upcoming Tuesday irregardless. Good review Kevin-very informative.

Because one of their reviewers doesn't like the games you like?

Are you upset my child?

Hey Char I heard you and remember. Recognize!

"More of the same" and Batmobile seems to be the main issues. For the first, hey, I want more Batman. When ever this contributes to a lower score of a game I'm looking forward to in a series that the reviewer expects to be a reinvention and lays negatives at its feet because it's not, I find it to be almost an always vacant criticism bereft of much merit. As for the Batmobile, tbd in 3 days. We'll see, but from the videos it looks fun.

I've no doubt I'm going to love this game anyway. Rocksteady would have to do a hell of a lot to screw up Arkham's formula for me, and the introduction of the Batmobile I don't see doing it.

thank god for this game that no one really cares what gamespot thinks!

Batman: AK is mcshea'd, it's a shame really that gamespot stands out again with a opposite opinion vs the rest!

obv gamespot need some clicks