Ooooo-kay, this one is a biggie. My extrapolated title bears no real malice toward anyone reading this blog, it's just a casual observation from my favorite home away from home, GS video review comments sections. As many of you may know, GS has been very diligent in making a bevy of video reviews for almost every game released in this month, and I applaud them for that. Great job. Unfortunately, the flipside of this is that the GS community then gets the privilege of commenting on the review itself. This results in massive flocks of sensitive teenagers that can't get their head wrapped around the fact that someone can have a different opinion than they do. There have been several cases of this in the last month, from both positive and negative reviews. Examples are Super Meat Boy, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Fable III, Fallout: New Vegas and The Force Unleashed 2. There, a large amount of annoying people commented on how "the review sucks" with the only logic behind their words being "I don't agree with 'em". Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's how the world works. Deal with it. You're bound to disagree with reviewers at some point, I do that most certainly. GS gave my favorite game about 8.2, but I bear no ill will there because that's what they think and that's that. There's no wrong or right opinion, as I've said a hundred times before, but it's far more convenient to think there are.
The video review comments section that pushed me over the proverbial edge, so to speak, and drove me to write this relatively futile blog is the just-released God of War: Ghost of Sparta review. What a load of furious rubbish that is. Fanboy after fanboy harping on and on about how Tom McShea's wrong about his appraisal, a worthless reviewer etc. As a fellow officer of the GRU, I would like to harshly reprimand those claims. Tom has ALWAYS been fair in his reviews, he speaks from his point of view and does so far better than I could ever hope to do, and than most other users here on GS for that matter. That comes from years of experience, of course, not some sort of pre-destined born ability. What's even more shocking to this is that the score for GoW: GoS is not 5.0, 6.0 or the "dreaded" 7.0, but a great 8.0! Now, I'm confused. Is no game ever allowed to score under 9.0 as long as it's in some way good? That logic is not logic at all, to be honest, but let's analyze this a bit. An 8.0 (to 8.5), according to GS protocol, is explained thusly:
"This range refers to great games that are excellent in almost every way and whose few setbacks probably aren't too important. We highly recommend games in the upper half of this range, since they tend to be good enough to provide an enjoyable experience to fans of the particular genre and to new players alike."
To the best of my knowledge, this is a really good rating range indeed. This is doubly relevant for those that are overall fans of the genre, since it means that you pretty much NEED this game. To be blunt, complaining about an 8.0 score is stupid, since it's basically complaining about something that's inherently a good thing.
What makes all of this hullabaloo even more silly is that the game isn't even officially released yet. Yes, some have gotten it through sneaky retailers, but the majority will not have played the game at this moment in time. Stating something is right/wrong before even testing it is even more ridiculous, and is a childish way of thinking. I'd partially understand complaints if they had played and loved the game, but this isn't the general case at all. This is a nice segue into the discussion of what a review basically is. There should only be TWO reasons you watch or read a review:
1. You are interested in seeing the reviewer's opinion of a certain game and want to use it to gauge how much you want that certain game.
2. You are interested in the writing of reviews, their structure etc. and would like to evaluate it on its own terms.
Most fit in 1., some people (including me) fit in both. The complainers, on the other hand, fit in neither. If you already have a set opinion of a game and want to go to a review for the sole purpose of checking whether or not that reviewer agrees with you and bashing him/her if they don't, I can't imagine the amount of free time you have to waste. A review is a recommendation tool, not an essay of a game's final quality, yet so many people think it's the latter and get in a fit when it doesn't conform to their own views. If everyone were to become so sensitive about a score, then shouldn't we just put down the review system altogether? That would serve no purpose other than making it harder for people to choose a game they see in the store one day. After all, Youtube video sometimes just aren't enough. This is why I don't get the people that come to video reviews complaining, if they don't like that certain site's reviews, then they're free to walk (or click, to be more precise) out of here and never have to return. Yet they cling on like parasites on a feeding frenzy, feasting on all ratiional thought and etiquette.
The most desperate of dissenters may claim that I'm just being a GS fanboy myself. Hoho, that is so wrong. Even though I'm not a fan of reviewers like IGN, Gametrailers and EDGE (just examples, nothing specific), I'd defend their opinion just as ardently. Even the 10 IGN gave the Zombie DLC of RDR, though one of my eyebrows is lifting up suspicioulsy at that score. The sanctity of opinion is important, and should never be breached for the simple reason that someone doesn't agree with what was said.
These fanboys/children/annoying people, whatever, that frequently go into some sort of rage over a review are what I like to call GS user whiners. And despite the fact that the world is generally built up on logic and reason, these people are far more common than they should ever be. Luckily, I know few people that well that are of this nature, so it doesn't really affect me so far as my mental sanity is concerned. However, even if this blog will not have the slightest influence on how people will think, I still won't abstain from pointing out the fanatic fanboyism. Something that's wrong should not go unnoticed, and I will not stand for reasoning such as "you can't do anything about it, better to just let it lie". I will not let it lie, I'll shoot it up into the stratosphere if need be and hope that it stays there to kingdom come. Even though this will only translate to some comments in my own little comments section, never forget your privilege to speak up against injustice. Never forget, people, that in the end, only logic can prevail.
-Calvinsora