One of the unions around here posted a little a blog about how a certain game site is now "unbiased" and trustworthy in its reviews. The reason? Ultimately it was the perfect 10 the site gave MGS4.
I'm going to have to disagree. Not over MGS4's score, but over his assessment of the game site with that review being the sole given reason. This seems to happen whenever a big-name game gets reviewed. Such and such a site is completely-biased or is totally trustworthy. Anyhow:
1. This is one review and one review only. As the saying goes, even a stopped watch is right twice a day. A single review is simply not enough to evaluate the site's editorial staff. The writer said they always unfairly reviewed PS3 games; does this include every game up to MGS4? If so and all those games were unfairly rated, why are they suddenly "unbiased" with MGS4?
2. Everyone is expecting rave reviews for MGS4, simple fact. Some of the people who have accused the site of being biased in the past decried their high ratings of Halo 3, using it as an example for said bias. "They're biased! They're giving into the hype!" Supporters of Halo 3 dismissed these claims, naturally. The simple fact is gamers will accuse any site that goes against their own personal biases and expectations as being biased, especially when a review is lower than they want. As a result, bumping a review up so it meets what gamers are expecting is a way to maintain "credibility" with the hardcore niche that regular gaming sites. Appeasing the people who want high ratings is safer than satisfying those who want to see a game with lower ratings. Famitsu has been accused of this practice in the past.
3. Major game sites are ad supported. By having appearing "unbiased" in highly rating a major title that people want to see rock the charts, their credibility is boosted and they can expect to see benefits from that in terms of traffic/readership, which in turn benefits their advertising revenue. This is a clear financial incentive to rate a game well. Not so obvious is that game companies reward postive reviews (deserved or not) and coverage with more exclusives, previews, etc.; all the things people come to game sites for. Bad reviews have been punished with pulled advertising, no advance coverage or advance copies to review, etc.
Further reading:
http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2008/04/exclusive-revie.html
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/06/02/egm-metal-gears-solid-4-review-isnt
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/05/28/video-game-company-to-wii-reviewer/
So, all this doom and gloom - what to do next? How do you trust again knowing the deck is very possibly stacked? Its easy, but is also an ongoing process.
1. Look for consistancy. Not just with big-name games, but ones from small companies with no marketing to back them up. Are they fair? Are their complaints legitimate? Are their praises glossing over faults? If you can trust a site with small reviews, chances are you can trust them for big ones.
2. Look for perspective, both on your part and theirs. A 10 is a fantastic rating. But so is a 9. A rating of 8 is excellent. 7? That's still doing well. As a fan of some niche stuff, I don't expect all my favorites to get 8's, 9's or 10's. But 7? Perfectly fine. Very buyable. Just because your game "only" got a 9 isn't the end of the world or indicate a review site is utterly incompetant. Honest.
3. Remember that the product game sites have is their content. While no site will every be 100% "on it" in terms of reviews (and that's subjective!), they have to do their best to give a honest review otherwise their overall credibility erodes. If you find you're disagreeing with a site more often than not, go somewhere else for reviews. But this is the key; find a place that has biases/tastes similar to yours and recognize the fact. "I go here because their tastes are the same as mine, their biases are the same as mine." Do not declare them as being unbiased! I hate to say it, but your tastes do not dictate the "norm" anymore than mine do. You cannot argue that if enough people like something it must be right - that's so full of holes and flaws its not even funny.
4. Learn and account for a site's biases and, for a lack of better term, "specialties", and how they relate to you. If a particular site is always gung-ho or not into a certain genre, consider that when reading their reviews. If a review seems very in-depth about a game's mechanics and how they relate to the genre, they might well be affectionados of that genre, meaning their level of expectation might be notably different (and higher) than another site that keeps things more basic. As a result, the genre-gourmets and genre-casuals might have review the exact same game differently. Which site matches you better?
5. And above all, do not let base your decision on a single review!
Anyhow, for all you PS3 owners, go out and enjoy Metal Gear Solid 4. I hear its quite excellent ;)