What puts Greg Kasavin, Jeff Gerstmann, and Ryan Davis above these new guys?

Now, I'm not sure if this is one hundred percent okay to do, but I have no other idea where to talk about reviewers. Sorry to the mods if this gets locked, but I have a burning desire to know the answer to this question.

So what is it? Aside from them being here for more years than these other guys, what makes them better than some of these new guys? Excluding a certain someone I'm not too found of.

I won't state my opinion because I don't want to start anything up. I just want to know the answer to this question because so many people say GameSpot is going downhill when they said the exact thing last year at this time when these guys were still here. "OMGODZ! Mass Effect got 8.5. That's it; I'm leaving. GameSpot has no credibility left!"

I can see why for Alex Navarro, though.

Sorry again if this isn't okay.

Because they were cool. And funny. And cool.

I don't know.

Because they were cool. And funny. And cool.

I don't know.

Not-A-Stalker

Exactly.

Those guys were a freakin' inspiration for me. Every time I sit down to write a review/article/editorial I strive to emulate their writing sty-les and bring my own writing up to that level. Reading their reviews consistently amazes me in the way they can weave the English language in the way they do.

I know I'm making it sound like the newer guys don't have what it takes but that's not my intention. They're all great in their own way but the older guys are legends and continually inspire me to better my writing skills as I move further toward my own goals in the gaming industry.

I have no idea. All three of them provided the same thing these new reviewers provide...which is their own opinions. Reviews are based on personal opinions. What makes Jeff, Ryan, and Greg any better than the new guys is beyond me. All they did was provide their opinions...which is what every reviewer does.sargentbotk

Reviews are more to do with how you present information, and the way in which you provide your own opinion. If you make a sloppy effort to try and back up your points, then people will pick up on it. If your review is badly structured, and leaves the reader confused and bored, then people will pick up on it. If you make a baseless comment in a review, I will find you, and you will be sorry. There is more to reviews than just a quick a score and a couple of words. If it's not presented well, then it's not worth reading.

Because their reviews were consistant. Gamespot used to be OVERLY critical of games (R&C, Mass Effect), and they used to write in their reviews ALL PERTINENT INFORMATION. Once the trio left, reviews become all sorts of all over the place. Now they overrate games (LBP,MGS4,GTAIV, Gears of War 2 which all deserve no more than a 8.5), These overrated reviews all lack style, and are spent doing nothing but fawning the game and not trying to tear it apart. The score tells me it's a good game, the review is supposed to tell me what the hell is wrong with it. For example, no one talked about MGSiV's sloppy control response (as well as scheme) which literally ruined the game for me; LBP's nonexistant replay value; GTAIV just sucking, and Gears of War 2 being Gears of War Expansion Pack.

On the other hand, on underrated games, the reviewers just harp on technical issues.

There is no consistancy in these reviews. And that is the problem.

You should check out Greg Kasavin's +15 minute video review of Metroid Prime. You will probably get your answer. It makes the newer reviews seem so lazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgRcBNe12KY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKb1LPx0dhQ&feature=related

My browser is giving me trouble and I cant link the second video, sorry.

Because their reviews were consistant. Gamespot used to be OVERLY critical of games (R&C, Mass Effect), and they used to write in their reviews ALL PERTINENT INFORMATION. Once the trio left, reviews become all sorts of all over the place. Now they overrate games (LBP,MGS4,GTAIV, Gears of War 2 which all deserve no more than a 8.5), These overrated reviews all lack style, and are spent doing nothing but fawning the game and not trying to tear it apart. The score tells me it's a good game, the review is supposed to tell me what the hell is wrong with it. For example, no one talked about MGSiV's sloppy control response (as well as scheme) which literally ruined the game for me; LBP's nonexistant replay value; GTAIV just sucking, and Gears of War 2 being Gears of War Expansion Pack.

On the other hand, on underrated games, the reviewers just harp on technical issues.

There is no consistancy in these reviews. And that is the problem.

usmcjdk6

wow you finished gears of war 2 already. You must be a pirate

[QUOTE="sargentbotk"]I have no idea. All three of them provided the same thing these new reviewers provide...which is their own opinions. Reviews are based on personal opinions. What makes Jeff, Ryan, and Greg any better than the new guys is beyond me. All they did was provide their opinions...which is what every reviewer does.WasntAvailable

Reviews are more to do with how you present information, and the way in which you provide your own opinion. If you make a sloppy effort to try and back up your points, then people will pick up on it. If your review is badly structured, and leaves the reader confused and bored, then people will pick up on it. If you make a baseless comment in a review, I will find you, and you will be sorry. There is more to reviews than just a quick a score and a couple of words. If it's not presented well, then it's not worth reading.

True. Meh, what do I know? I wasn't here back then lol. But I see where you're getting at.

You should check out Greg Kasavin's +15 minute video review of Metroid Prime. You will probably get your answer. It makes the newer reviews seem so lazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgRcBNe12KY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKb1LPx0dhQ&feature=related

My browser is giving me trouble and I cant link the second video, sorry.

Samurai_Xavier

Anyone seen this yet? Now THAT is a review. THAT is the reason Gamespot was so great back then, and not so great now.

Lol, I REALLY feel like playing Metroid Prime again.

Because they were cool. And funny. And cool.

I don't know.

Not-A-Stalker

Excuse me....Jeff Gerstmann was never cool. Nor was he funny. Nor was he cool.

[QUOTE="Not-A-Stalker"]

Because they were cool. And funny. And cool.

I don't know.

Pariah_001

Excuse me....Jeff Gerstmann was never cool. Nor was he funny. Nor was he cool.

Dude. Do you listen to the Giant Bomb podcast? Gerstmann is hilarious.

Most of GameSpot's reviews these days are full of fluff and no opinion. When you read them, it seems like they just expanded on what was written on the back of the box.

Since all the fun people left, The HotSpot in particular has turned into the most boring piece of crap ever.

Shows now lack energy.

A lot less live content than years past.

And personally, the two remaining people that I've never really liked are still here: Kevin Van Ord and Ricardo.

Dude. Do you listen to the Giant Bomb podcast? Gerstmann is hilarious. Not-A-Stalker

Myabe I could agree that his material was decent if he wasn't such an irritating personality. Just looking at him makes me want to vomit.

Greg was the brains of the operation.

Jeff was the popular vote.

Ryan was the tubby guy.

When combined with Alex Navarro and Brad Shoemaker they unleased Captain Review. He went around the world giving us great reviews on great games and defeated the evils of biasedness, lies, bribery and corruption and talking our of your ass when you've clearly never played the game. They were unstoppable until Josh Larson vowed to destroy them and scatter them to the four corners of the earth, he only achieved the four corners of the US. Anyway, there is a legend that states when gaming journalism is filled with decadence, corruption, bribery, lies, and misinformation and flat out wrong scores they will come together as one and Captain Review will be reformed. The world awaits that day.

there hot!

Those guys were a freakin' inspiration for me. Every time I sit down to write a review/article/editorial I strive to emulate their writing sty-les and bring my own writing up to that level. Reading their reviews consistently amazes me in the way they can weave the English language in the way they do.

The_Game21x

I agree with this a lot. They were so articulate and knowledgable. Kasavin and Gerstamann that is. I also miss Alex Navarro. He was the last good reviewer on gamespot. Greg and Jeff had such a solid and firm writing style and they knew what they were talking about. They're reviews were spot on. If you wanted to know what a game was about, you'd be relieved to know that Kasavin reviewed it or, Gertsmann reviewed it. Navarro was blunt, funny, and spot on.

It's so strange that the three reviewers who were my favourite, left gamespot. Kevin VanOrd is all right. He reveiws a lot of games and has a decent st-yle, but he sounds like just another magazine article or something. He's no Kasavin.

Greg was the brains of the operation.

Jeff was the popular vote.

Ryan was the tubby guy.

When combined with Alex Navarro and Brad Shoemaker they unleased Captain Review. He went around the world giving us great reviews on great games and defeated the evils of biasedness, lies, bribery and corruption and talking our of your ass when you've clearly never played the game. They were unstoppable until Josh Larson vowed to destroy them and scatter them to the four corners of the earth, he only achieved the four corners of the US. Anyway, there is a legend that states when gaming journalism is filled with decadence, corruption, bribery, lies, and misinformation and flat out wrong scores they will come together as one and Captain Review will be reformed. The world awaits that day.

Hoobinator

:lol:

This post is full of win! Win of the Epic variety!

actually its not just them, its the entire team of people that made the old gamespot back in the "golden" days. Rich gallup, Brian, jeff gertmann, greg kasavin, alex navarro, ryan davis etc... I loved gamespot back then and now days its loosing its appeal to me..those guys were the faces of this site and them not bein ghere anymore really puts a hurt to the overall sites appealness.

I wish the site could go back to those golden days

Alex Navarro always seemed to review exactly what I thought of a game after playing it, Jeff too

And Greg's quality in reviewing is unmatched
Toriko42

Kasavin was just a genious

They had personality and were professional about making sure there readers knew everything about the games they had just played, you knew when you read a review around here who wrote it and after reading it you always knew what to expect from a game.

These new guys haven't developed there own styles yet, all they are doing is following formula without putting there own personalities behind there work, its like they are afraid to tell people what they really think of a game, they give you a score and some words but not a impression.

Thats my 2cents.

Because GS sucks now because of gerstmann-gate, and anyone who would stay on staff at this crappy site sucks too. The new guys reviews suck. they aren't funny, or cool. no personality. they are imposters.

/seriousbusiness

Because those 3 (an Alex Navarro on a good day) had one thing that so many reviewers here at GS lack: consistency. Every review they did, you knew regardless of score, they were going to be able to back it up. No matter what the game it was, you knew they were going to come at it from the view of a critic, not a gamer. You knew that instead of glorifying what it had, they were going to attack what it lacked and be honest about it. Not like some reviewers who overrate decent (but not AAA or AAAA-worthy) games and underrate good games (for what, lack of Mii support!? Go to hell reviewer-who-shall-not-be-named-for-his-terrible-reviewing-ability!). I may have disagreed with some of their decisions, but at least they backed it up with undeniably valid points.

Also, Greg K is a Super Robot Taisen fan. ANYONE who can enjoy customizing giant robots and unleashing super attacks that last nearly a minute long is an alright guy to me.

Where's Alex Navarro? epic fail.Vaasman

I can see why for Alex Navarro, though.

DeathScape666

;)

[QUOTE="Samurai_Xavier"]

You should check out Greg Kasavin's +15 minute video review of Metroid Prime. You will probably get your answer. It makes the newer reviews seem so lazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgRcBNe12KY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKb1LPx0dhQ&feature=related

My browser is giving me trouble and I cant link the second video, sorry.

Samurai_Xavier

Anyone seen this yet? Now THAT is a review. THAT is the reason Gamespot was so great back then, and not so great now.

Your absolutly right Kasavin was king of video reviews. I have been saying since he left this site has not been the same. His review of Morrowind was ****c it was long and detailed just like the game. He was always objective and never showed any fanboy bias, (unlike jeff, which i could never stand his gears of war fanboyness) Also back then every system and game got a video review, now only console gaems get them and only the most popular games. Back then you would get pc games, portables cell phone games, and even seperate video reveiws for games on the differnet platfomrs, even if they were the same game. Now get very short video reviews, they come out late and are only there for the top teir games. I really miss the old gamespot before greg left. Once he left they must of put new management run by a commitee that made the site lazy or something.

[QUOTE="Pariah_001"][QUOTE="Not-A-Stalker"]

Because they were cool. And funny. And cool.

I don't know.

Not-A-Stalker

Excuse me....Jeff Gerstmann was never cool. Nor was he funny. Nor was he cool.

Dude. Do you listen to the Giant Bomb podcast? Gerstmann is hilarious.

Hahaha, Jeff lost a once in a life time job, he should of just kept his "big" mouth shut and said what he was paid to do.Englandfc1966

Hahaha, Jeff lost a once in a life time job, he should of just kept his "big" mouth shut and said what he was paid to do.Englandfc1966

Hahaha, Jeff lost a once in a life time job, he should of just kept his "big" mouth shut and said what he was paid to do.Englandfc1966

[QUOTE="Englandfc1966"]Hahaha, Jeff lost a once in a life time job, he should of just kept his "big" mouth shut and said what he was paid to do.Candy-Star