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[StreetsofBeige]

User reviews are only useful if holistically the gamers rate the game without some kind of bias or review bombing. The issues can also have nothing to do with many gamers so it's moot.

For example, COD games will get grilled because people will bring up mtx and loot crates. Anyone who rates the game a bad score due to this makes no difference to me since I dont buy them and dont care about paying mtx in any game. The last mtx I bought was a Modern Warfare 3 map pack 10 years ago. Yet I can still enjoy the series since then.

 

[Wildebeest]

I looked at the user reviews for Fallout 76 on the windows store, and there are many positive ones from people who claim to like it. Shocking stuff, they should just shut the user reviews down. These people have no knowledge of gaming and just mindless consume any trashy multiplayer GaaS title they can get at.

 

[Raonak]

User Reviews are generally a mess

 

[BeardGawd]

I don't know what it is, but recently I find myself looking at user reviews and I think what an absolute idiot.

Looking at Recent Reviews:
Guilty Gear Strive:
2.8/5
Lots of 1 star reviews moaning that half the roster is locked behind dlc, I feel as Xbox users we are very lucky to even have this series return to the platform and part of a sub too, I purchased the ultimate edition as I'm super pumped about the series returning to Xbox, why do people expect dlc content free?

Wo Long:
2.9/5
Lots of 1 star reviews as the first boss is apparently too hard, got a retail copy sat on the shelf, can't wait to dive into this after wild hearts, really enjoyed the beta.

Atomic Hearts:
3.1/5
Lots of 1 star reviews due to being a Russian game. (Also some valid review complaints about poor performance etc) I don't think I'll ever have the time to start this game sadly.

Plus if you look at reviews for any 2D game, no matter how good it is, you will sadly see a lot of fools saying they are sick of megadrive looking games coming to Xbox.

I just feel like game pass user base is incredible entitled & full off fools.

They have a genuinely great service with great additions constantly added and you get stupid user reviews, crapping on stuff for trivial reasons or crapping on something they have no interest in.

I think the review system needs a serious overhaul with maybe X amount of playtime before you're allowed to leave a review.

If I was a publisher and saw people crapping on my game due to some of the stupid reasons I read in the reviews, I'd seriously reconsider putting my games on the service.

I understand everyone has different tastes, but I wouldn't go out my way to play or crap on something I have no interest in.

Sorry for rambling on, but it just really irks me.

I just think the user reviews can be detrimental to some truly excellent titles, that people might skip on from looking at user scores.

Edit: after seeing GHG's comment about steam reviews that show time played & whether they got the game free or paid, I think Xbox should adopt a similar review method, so it's easier to tell which reviews are fluff.

Game Pass should probably have their own Reviews seperate from purchased games.

One set of Reviews in yhe Game Pass app. The other set in the Microsoft Store where games are purchased.

 

[Batiman]

To be fair Guilty Gear could have a couple more characters. Feels very lacking compared to other games. I’m playing it again on series X but had that same complaint when I bought it on ps4.

 

[Punished Miku]

User reviews get a bad rep. I miss star ratings on Netflix. Xbox store has a star rating and then you can read comments about the games. Its massively better than the other stores where you have zero input from consumers in rating or comments. Yes some people troll. But its not that different from just using a forum. You read through it and learn more about the game and then make up your own mind. Its better than having nothing but a marketing page and zero rating from consumers.

 

[Banjo64]

You think that's bad ? 90% of the user reviews on the Italian MS/Xbox store are :
"1/10
No ITA ! "

Apparently, there's still people in 2023 that can't read , speak nor write English and for them, the lack of a proper localization translates to "bad game", 'cause that will show the devs , amirite ?
Fucking developers man, why didn't they think about Nunzio, Luigi and all the others that at 20+/30+ years of age can only speak their native tongue ?

I assume that the same thing goes on the Spanish/French stores...

What a shit take.

Imagine buying a product sold in your country and expecting proper localisation.

 

[AJUMP23]

I never read reviews on consoles.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

What a shit take.

Imagine buying a product sold in your country and expecting proper localisation.

What a shit take.

Imagine living in 2023 and expecting the rest of the world to conform to your egotistical standards (everything getting translated/dubbed in your language).

You know what ? I'm not an English native speaker either, thing is, I never expect any art form to conform to my lack of general knowledge - be that linguistically, culturally or what have you.
It's the same thing with when I read user "reviews" from English only speaking ones that trash a film 'cause the dubbing is bad and can't be arsed to even read subtitles, does that also fall into the "imagine people expecting a proper localization? "

Besides, this topic has to do with user reviews and how wrong they are from an objective point of view, the OP rightfully mentions that - for example - you should be able to do so only after an X amount of play time otherwise you're doing a disservice to the developers because of your own petty reasons , so , I ask you, isn't it the same (i.e : shitting on a game) when you put a 1-star review after playing the thing for 2 minutes just because you can't grasp the fact that it's not available in your language ? Isn't that doing a disservice to the people that worked on it ?

It'd be like saying, Goodfellas/Stalker/Stellaris/The Godfather/The deer hunter/insert.your.favourite.film.here are cack/1 out of 10 films because...they weren't dubbed in the only language you can speak.It'd be incredibly redundant, wouldn't it ?

 

[Dr. Claus]

What a shit take.

Imagine buying a product sold in your country and expecting proper localisation.

Mate, we don't even get proper localization in the States for half the japanese games that come out. If it isn't Sony putting pointless censorship in the releases on their platform (hypocritically I might add), it is Nintendo Treehouse trying its damnedest to ruin their franchises.

 

[IndianaJack]

You have to have a really privileged life to complain about video games in 2023.

 

[Fuz]

You think that's bad ? 90% of the user reviews on the Italian MS/Xbox store are :
"1/10
No ITA ! "

Apparently, there's still people in 2023 that can't read , speak nor write English and for them, the lack of a proper localization translates to "bad game", 'cause that will show the devs , amirite ?
Fucking developers man, why didn't they think about Nunzio, Luigi and all the others that at 20+/30+ years of age can only speak their native tongue ?

I assume that the same thing goes on the Spanish/French stores...

Especially considering that Italian localization is always embarassing.

 

[mxbison]

I bet some of those just hate Game Pass.

You think they got a pc/xbox and GamePass sub just to leave some bad reviews? Come on...

In general satisfied customers are far less likely to bother leaving a review than angry customers. Since there aren't many reviews there in the first place you pretty much mostly get bad ones.

I still think the general hate for user reviews is silly though. Steam reviews often seem more reliable than "professional" reviews by critics.

 

[Beechos]

Umm ain't this pretty much par for the course with our society nowdays on how we review everything. It's either love it or hate it.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I’m a big supporter of user reviews.

The problem with Xbox is Game Pass allows every schmuck who didn’t buy the game, to play it for five minutes and then write a shitty review.

I agree that it should be like Steam and show how much time was played at the time of review. Maybe even break it down further and note whether it was a paid copy or Game Pass user.

Like with any review system, you have to weed out the good from the bad. At least Xbox players have a voice though, and not just some shitty star ratings.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Reviews are generally a mess

FTFY

 

[NeverYouMind]

You think they got a pc/xbox and GamePass sub just to leave some bad reviews? Come on...

In general satisfied customers are far less likely to bother leaving a review than angry customers. Since there aren't many reviews there in the first place you pretty much mostly get bad ones.

I still think the general hate for user reviews is silly though. Steam reviews often seem more reliable than "professional" reviews by critics.

I tend to leave a review if a game blows me away. If it is not my cup of tea, I generally don't waste any more time on it.

I rarely take the grade given by a review on an entertainment product seriously and instead try to find a middle of the road review that goes into what annoys a reviewer about it. If it touches on something that I could also find vexxing, I avoid it. Works pretty well for me. Aggregate scores are never representative of the experience provided by an entertainment product. They are indicative of the quality of the service provided by a supplier.

 

[Kacho]

User reviews on Xbox are really bad for some reason. I’ve noticed that most games have a ton of 1 star reviews for no apparent reason and the few real reviews have 20 users saying it wasn’t helpful. It doesn’t make any sense.

 

[Satansblade]

I thought Outriders suffered because people didn’t like it?

I think Forza Horizon 5 has done well with the Hot Wheels expansion and the Rally expansion is possibly my most wanted release right now after Starfield.
Just look at this thing!

I loved Forza, but I have no interest, ever again, in playing a racing game without VR.

My most anticipated are FF16, D4, Starfield, and Zelda, in that order.

 

[Fredrik]

I loved Forza, but I have no interest, ever again, in playing a racing game without VR.

My most anticipated are FF16, D4, Starfield, and Zelda, in that order.

Wow you’re going to miss out big, FH5 isn’t a sim, VR would be cool but this is very much an arcade racer, just play it with chase cam and enjoy! This expansion is giving me flashbacks from playing Sega Rally, it’s going to be awesome!

 

[Satansblade]

Wow you’re going to miss out big, FH5 isn’t a sim, VR would be cool but this is very much an arcade racer, just play it with chase cam and enjoy! This expansion is giving me flashbacks from playing Sega Rally, it’s going to be awesome!

I've played plenty of Horizon 5.
Again, I have no interest in playing another racing game that isn't in VR.

 

[Warablo]

I'd give Wo Long a 2.5 just for the connection issues in 3 player co-op and no reconnect system.

Okay game otherwise

 

[Fredrik]

I've played plenty of Horizon 5.
Again, I have no interest in playing another racing game that isn't in VR.

Seems like a weird opinion if you really like racing, VR won’t be the norm for a long long time.
I used to play FH3 on a triple screen setup though, wasn’t like VR but with bonnet cam it was really something else compared to the usual single-screen setup.

 

[pasterpl]

I feel the same on product reviews on amazon. People leave negative review for shipping Issues….

Some are leaving reviews without purchasing item on Amazon.

 

[pasterpl]

I've played plenty of Horizon 5.
Again, I have no interest in playing another racing game that isn't in VR.

So you are pure pc gamer then?

 

[Roberts]

What a shit take.

Imagine living in 2023 and expecting the rest of the world to conform to your egotistical standards (everything getting translated/dubbed in your language).

You know what ? I'm not an English native speaker either, thing is, I never expect any art form to conform to my lack of general knowledge - be that linguistically, culturally or what have you.
It's the same thing with when I read user "reviews" from English only speaking ones that trash a film 'cause the dubbing is bad and can't be arsed to even read subtitles, does that also fall into the "imagine people expecting a proper localization? "

Besides, this topic has to do with user reviews and how wrong they are from an objective point of view, the OP rightfully mentions that - for example - you should be able to do so only after an X amount of play time otherwise you're doing a disservice to the developers because of your own petty reasons , so , I ask you, isn't it the same (i.e : shitting on a game) when you put a 1-star review after playing the thing for 2 minutes just because you can't grasp the fact that it's not available in your language ? Isn't that doing a disservice to the people that worked on it ?

It'd be like saying, Goodfellas/Stalker/Stellaris/The Godfather/The deer hunter/insert.your.favourite.film.here are cack/1 out of 10 films because...they weren't dubbed in the only language you can speak.It'd be incredibly redundant, wouldn't it ?

The thing is that there are way too many languages to be able to localise all of them or even the biggest ones. Somebody will always be left out. I might sound like a dick, but if you want to consume western pop-culture, learn English. My native language is spoken by 2 million people, so it is obvious that games will never be localised into our language so we all learn English. Every kid aged 4 or 5 already speaks English pretty much flawlessly these days and nobody complains.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Grim Beard made an entire gimmick out of making fun of stupid online reviews. It's just inevitable when you give that option to the general public. Some are just not that good at articulating their opinions. Some are just dumb or don't understand it, and I guess it's all valid in some way because it's based on someone's experience.

Unless they're review bombing for some stupid arbitrary reason, like in the case that you mentioned where people are bombing Atomic Heart because it was made by Russians. Those kinds of reviews are just dumb and useless.

 

[systemr123]

Especially considering that Italian localization is always embarassing.

I once hear Italian Bruce Willis in Armageddon and I still can’t sleep at night. Sh*t still gives me nightmares even decades later.

 

[mxbison]

User Reviews are generally a mess

What makes media reviews better? Having a bachelors degree in journalism?

Steam user reviews show hours played, if they bought the game or got it for free, what other games the person reviewed, how people rated his reviews etc.

Better in every way.

 

[Hendrick's]

The Wo Long one is a clear example that subscriptions will just have a lot of casual consumers, who just want to play through something without hitting too many skill based roadblocks.

Or it is an example of how Game Pass allows people to try games they would have otherwise never bought.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Or it is an example of how Game Pass allows people to try games they would have otherwise never bought.

Same difference

 

[Hendrick's]

Same difference

Not really. Game Pass essentially allows people to demo games they would otherwise have no interest in. This is why we see the completion percent so low on the first boss. I see this as a positive for the Xbox ecosystem.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

This is why we see the completion percent so low on the first boss.

Same difference, they managed to get all the way up to the boss and then quit, clearly they hit a wall there, there's no reason to stop playing otherwise.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

If I was a publisher and saw people crapping on my game due to some of the stupid reasons I read in the reviews, I'd seriously reconsider putting my games on the service.

Can't pay the rent with user reviews!