Watching Feedbackula is similar to watching videos on the Cringe Club channel, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but I liked Johnny's explanation at the end. Its true, if reviewers here would just give CoD: Ghosts a 5 for being a CoD, then this would not be much of a unbiased review site anymore.
I am sorry for bringing this up, but may just I say how glad I am that the whole spectrum of the rating system is now being used? I know it is not about the numbers but about the review, and I absolutely agree, but I would say that normally even a mediocre game that looks and sounds good would have gotten a 'Good' rating with a 7, which people would have believed to mean 'mediocre'. In reality, even a game that scored a 5, like this game, can be enjoyable to some degree; the experience just won't be more than mediocre.
As for the game and the actual review itself, thanks for it Kevin! I am not the biggest Bioshock fan but this DLC sounded like a really cool idea, but now I'll be a bit more weary. It was specifically the part about Elizabeth being surprised at the valve turning that you mentioned that gave me a bit of a bad feeling about this... This kind of stuff can really take you out of the experience.
I think reviews like this should become the norm, and I really love Mc Shea's take on this game specifically. Games like Bioshock Infinite and even The Last of Us are well-made and can be engaging, but they are bad games because they don't offer much gameplay, even when some of the mechanics may be interesting. Either that, or the gameplay is just constantly in conflict with the narrative (and loses) as was mentioned in regards to this game.
If one wants to make a story-driven game, I think one should look at certain JRPGs, like Kingdom Hearts, where the story may even be the main reason you play the game, and yet you are playing the game more than you are watching it and actually enjoy the gameplay enough to consider it the focus of the game. Then it doesn't matter whether the story was actually good or just confusing.
Then again, you can't argue the fact that many, MANY players enjoy these types of games. Last of Us is loved by the masses, and so was this game, so players like me must be in the absolute minority. So, now I wonder, what should be the review-norm? Review it in terms of gameplay or just in terms of how well-made and polished it is.
Its interesting to read the many different opinions on this game, as they all seem completely different. For example, I read Jim Sterling's review on this game yesterday over at Destructoid, and he actually said that the parkour controls and the level design are very, VERY good (he even called the latter to be one of Sonic Team's best in years). Mark says almost the complete opposite of that is true, namely that the controls are awkward and that the level design is only rarely good.
Either way, I already have the game ordered and it will arrive soon, and I am not sure yet whether I should be happy about it or not. I suppose I'll have to wait to find out for myself. To be honest, I am pretty optimistic about it after seeing some other gameplay footage of journalists playing the game at press events, and they seemed to have gotten the hang of how it plays quickly and played it very well. I just think perhaps I should have waited for a price drop rather than buying the game on release.
This was a great video, one of my favorite 'Points' you have made so far!
I would love to have more fun socializing online with like-minded people, so I hope we can all try to be more open-minded and empathetic toward one another. I was surprised that you did not mention our tendency to actually hate the games we play rather than liking them. I am absolutely guilty of that myself, me and my friends always talk badly about video games rather than going on about why we love other games so much.
Its quite sad, but maybe we should start there since this sort of aggressive behavior cannot take over in a positive discussion... I think.
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