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Polygon Updates Battlefield 4 PS4/XB1 Review Score: 7.5 -> 4

MilkBeard

Member
Out of curiosity have they ever changed a review score due to new content?

I'm just contemplating things like Dota 2, Guild Wars 2, FFXIV, or anything else that gets really frequent updates, which is what I thought this would be most interesting for, but so far it seems to be about changing scores due to bugs.

Now, that's completely valid, but I feel there's a bit of missing potential here.

Agreed, the idea of changing the score has potential but they don't implement it evenly enough across all games.
 
I haven't had any issues with multiplayer, except getting booted out to the xmb after the game ended in conquest.

However I did lose all my progress in the campaign and that's fucking inexcusable. PS+ cloud save didn't save me either. I won't be playing that again until there's a patch, but I feel that deserves a much bigger knock in score than a few multiplayer issues.

Completely agree.
 

JDSN

Banned
Oh, another round of Polygon's "Lets change review scores so we can remain credible while not angering publishers since we are fully aware that the Metacritic score can only be submitted once"

rzuBJS4.jpg
 

TriniTrin

war of titties grampa
In the reviewers defense there is no way for them to test the multiplayer and the the bugs or issues before the game has already achieved a large player base.

There is a way but then they would have to release a MP review a few days after the official launch day for the game. If they have events like this where journalists go to play and review a game, its a game they play for a few hours and then share their impressions of what they played. I don't see why review a game if you didn't invest a good amount of time playing it.

Reviewers need to stop worrying about being first to post the latest review and actually play the games they are reviewing in depth (or as much as possible with the retail releases). This mostly applies to Multiplayer because a single player experience is set usually before the release where as MP has the problems after.
 
The problems were there in the days after launch. The problems were there when their initial review went up. What took so long? Why is it a worse game NOW, after EA has actually somewhat improved things (though not nearly enough) rather than a month ago?

It was broken at the review event, broken on release and it's still broken.

The only variable is Polygon's review score, which changes according to the weather or something.

Well, if it was broken during review, then that's a problem.

That being said, I think a reviewer could score a game highly upon release, knowing it had some significant multiplayer bugs, so long as a big disclaimer was given to readers that the review score is based on what the reviewer expects the game to be after the bugs are fixed.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Out of curiosity have they ever changed a review score due to new content?

I'm just contemplating things like Dota 2, Guild Wars 2, FFXIV, or anything else that gets really frequent updates, which is what I thought this would be most interesting for, but so far it seems to be about changing scores due to bugs.

Now, that's completely valid, but I feel there's a bit of missing potential here.

Eurogamer have a policy regards to MMO's

Eurogamer said:
What about MMO re-reviews?

Sharp eyes on you! I refer you to MMO Editor Oli Welsh's introduction to our first MMO re-review, of World of Warcraft: "Unlike most other games, MMOs change over time. Audiences grow or shrink, features are changed, interfaces are overhauled, game balance is adjusted, new content and play styles are added, communities thrive or die. A review of an MMO can't be set in stone. So, on Eurogamer's new MMO channel, we'll be regularly re-reviewing the games to let you know the current state of play, and to help you decide whether it's time to jump in - or time to leave."

I don't know if Polygon, or anyone else for that matter does but there's a clear precedent there.
 

Mister D

Member
They did wait a bit too long to do this but the game does deserve a reduced score. It's fun as shit... when it works. Too many friggin issues for something I paid $110 for including Premium. This was my reason for getting the PS4 since it was going to be the first time I got to play BF with my console friends at 60fps with all the capture points, huge maps, player count, and vehicles of the PC version. It's pretty damn hard to get into a game and be in the same team as a friend nevermind the same squad despite there being an option to do so in the option menu.

The server browser doesn't work for crap. I don't want to be a fucking commander why the hell won't you let me join the game with 62/64 players when I don't have the commander option selected. Not to mention the fact that if I try to filter to a specific game type no results return but if I check everything off then the game type I previously filtered now shows up. If the game wasn't so damn fun I would seriously be talking to Sony to figure out how to get a refund for the digital version and Premium.

The random chromatic aberration bullshit that pops up and makes me feel like I'm getting eye cancer, the random crashes to XMB, and the sound dropouts and lag just complete the package. DICE needs to unfuck this game pronto. I've played BF:BC2 and BF3 from their betas and expected some DICE wonk but this is ridiculous and I feel all the more stupid for buying Premium before trying out this broken ass game.
 

Nibel

Member
This game had issues at launch and was still recommended by Polygon - it should have gotten a 4 to begin with, and a warning for consumers

I don't think the idea of updating scores is necessarily a bad one, but in this case it came too late
 
Was it broken when the relatively small number of reviewers were playing it? Or did it only become shit when the game was released to the masses?

I believe it was joystik that mentioned the server crashing error on PS4 well before the console launched. Plus conquest didn't work for more than a week so it is unlikely it worked during review period. The game still crashes constantly and has many many game breaking bugs. The score refresh is a nice gesture given that there hasn't been a lot of public attention on this issue however, reviewers should have been doing their jobs in the first place and warned people away from this mess.

As more games become online only, the current review model is shown to be fundamentally incapable of addressing issues appropriately. It doesn't seem like any of the other outlets are revising or informing on this matter, and EA/Dice seem happy to take our money and maybe fix this shit. Shame on me for falling for it again.
 

madmackem

Member
I find this score changing thing really silly, stick with the score you give it at the time of the review and just add updates to it, changing the score flat out means its pointless to give it a number from the off.
 

Jeff-DSA

Member
EA and DICE always struggle to make Battlefield work well at launch and for a while afterwards. It's so frustrating. The games are brilliantly designed, but they take a month or two to even work properly.
 

Bizazedo

Member
PS4 version actually seemed pretty alright last night. Finally.

Been playing 3-4 hours a day for the last four days. Crashes on me on average 2-3 times during that time frame. Conquest all day every day. This is on PS4.

Usually it's after the round ends, although a few times recently it was during the round. It preserved my kills / deaths and unlocks when it did.

That's vastly improved since release, especially as I was able to complete the single player during that time period, too. I crashed three times during single player, but it did not corrupt the saves.

The lowering of the review scores is completely justified, but it took too long to lower it. They and all the review sites should've turned up the heat before Thanksgiving.

That being said, because the game is incredible, I'll be patient.....but it's only because I enjoy the game so much, especially over Ghosts MP, that I am patient. I feel kind of bad about it, but eh..
 
Huh? Why did they update the ps4 score now - when it's mostly stable - instead of two weeks ago when it actually wasn't working? The game in no way warrants a 4 in it's current state. It runs fine now and 64 player matches run totally fine.
Umm no it doesn't, still crashes towards the end of every single game of conquest.
and conquest is a huge lagfest.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Ah, ok. So the game has been constantly improved from where it was at launch and they decide it should now be scored lower?

This should have gone the other way around.

'Barely playable' is an exaggeration of the current state of things as well.

Polygon is an exaggeration of journalism.
 

tokkun

Member
Thanks for waiting until after plenty of people already bought it. Maybe you shouldn't have issued out that original review score to begin with.

Don't you think there is a legitimate dilemma here? Lots of games nowadays receive Day 1 patches, and review code is commonly buggy, but PR people promise the reviewers that certain things will be fixed. It seems that there are 3 options:

1. Ignore the potential for bugfixes and just review the code you have. The problem with this approach is that if the Day 1 patch does fix the bugs, your review will be misleading. Companies may also stop sending you review copies (and for a legitimate reason).

2. Trust that the bugs will be fixed in the patch. The problem with this approach is what you see in this thread. If the bugs aren't actually fixed, then your review is misleading.

3. Wait a suitable amount of time (say, 2-4 weeks) for quick bugfix patches to be released. Then review the game at that time. The problem here is that your (non-existent) review is useless to people who want to buy the game at launch, and by the time you release it few people will be interested in reading it because they have already read your competitors' reviews or even bought the game themselves.

I find it hard to really fault Polygon here, as they are choosing one of several imperfect solutions. At least they are going back and re-reviewing the game, which is probably more than most outlets will do.
 
Ah, ok. So the game has been constantly improved from where it was at launch and they decide it should now be scored lower?

This should have gone the other way around.

'Barely playable' is an exaggeration of the current state of things as well.
Not at all. My experience with BF this weekend was nothing short of broken. Crashes galore, falling through geometry, failing to load maps. And trying to group up just made things worse, which shouldn't be possible.

Its working for some people, some of the time, yes.

But this game needs a lot more time in the oven. Its no joke to say this game is in beta right now, because it sure as hell isn't ready for prime-time $60 full retail price with $50 DLC. Not without pissing off a great number of their customers.
 

Bizazedo

Member
The random chromatic aberration bullshit that pops up and makes me feel like I'm getting eye cancer,

I thought that was intentional? It was to indicate the enemy commander EMP'd you?

I love being commander and EMP'ng dozens of enemy players.
 
Great! Now we'll just go ahead and fix that Metacritic score and... well... oh... nevermind, I guess.

How is a game they describe as barely playable a 4?

The 10 point scale really makes no sense when a game doesn't work. 1/10, this game doesn't work, turns into 4/10 when this game works it's great, to 7/10, this game would be awesome if it worked. In all 3 cases, the game doesn't work, but it gets three different scores because...?

Except it's not fluid, their score adjustments move at the pace of a glacier.

Their attempts are futile when Metacritic score is not adjustable. The publishers get their shining badge and the authority to say "9/10 - POLYGON."
 

sflufan

Banned
By this logic, the PC version's score should have been revised to -3.5 for the first three weeks of its release.
 
and therein lies the problem. But sites are in a rush to post reviews for launch, and us as the consumers are in a rush to consume those reviews at or before launch so it's just a shitty cycle. But if Polygon really wants some credibility after SimCity and this, maybe they should refrain from reviewing online games (or EA games?) until lengthy real-world playtesting of at least a few days. But they won't. They'll continue to try and put themselves over as having "Standards" by releasing relatively worthless update-reviews weeks after launch.

Absolutely, it's a bad cycle, but what can you do about it? Publishers want reviews out before or on release (assuming the reviews are good), so they have to provide the game to the reviewers early. The reviewers want to get their reviews up as soon as the embargo is lifted so they can get more clicks.

Honestly, with multiplayer-focused games like Battlefield and CoD, smart gamers just need to wait a few weeks after launch to see how the community is reacting to the game. I'd much rather get GAF's opinion on the multiplayer play a few weeks after launch than get the opinion of a reviewer who isn't heavily invested in the multiplayer.
 

tfur

Member
Now add the MP part of Killzone Shadow Fall to its review.
It was clearly not part of the review.
 

Bizazedo

Member
Umm no it doesn't, still crashes towards the end of every single game of conquest.
and conquest is a huge lagfest.

As I said above, it barely crashes for me and it's NOT a huge lagfest. I play Conquest exclusively and I've had one game over the past few days that was lagging really badly.

It's weird that there's such variation, though.
 
Don't you think there is a legitimate dilemma here? Lots of games nowadays receive Day 1 patches, and review code is commonly buggy, but PR people promise the reviewers that certain things will be fixed. It seems that there are 3 options:

1. Ignore the potential for bugfixes and just review the code you have. The problem with this approach is that if the Day 1 patch does fix the bugs, your review will be misleading. Companies may also stop sending you review copies (and for a legitimate reason).

2. Trust that the bugs will be fixed in the patch. The problem with this approach is what you see in this thread. If the bugs aren't actually fixed, then your review is misleading.

3. Wait a suitable amount of time (say, 2-4 weeks) for quick bugfix patches to be released. Then review the game at that time. The problem here is that your (non-existent) review is useless to people who want to buy the game at launch, and by the time you release it few people will be interested in reading it because they have already read your competitors' reviews or even bought the game themselves.

I find it hard to really fault Polygon here, as they are choosing one of several imperfect solutions. At least they are going back and re-reviewing the game, which is probably more than most outlets will do.

Did EA PR assure them that Sim City would be fine? Did EA PR assure them that BF4 would be fine? It becomes a matter of "Fool me once...". Polygon would really gain credibility if they said "EA has a problem. Until it's fixed we will not review their online games until we test them out in the real world". But unfortunately that would piss off EA and likely lead to restricted access. Realistically, Polygon should be worried that EA PR and their promises are hurting their credibility as a news/review site, but unfortunately in games media credibility doesn't seem to matter so things will just keep going on as they have been.
 
a 4/10 would have put me off buying the game until it was patched, No good doing it now when everyone already bought a copy. Also a review with 2 updates speaks volumes of what a rushed game is.
 

Quasar

Member
This just reinforces my view that for online focused games reviewers should be waiting till its all live and public before finalising their reviews. Or reviewing the online portion separately.
 

Into

Member
How does a game get a worse score now that, by most accounts, it is more stable?

Did they take EA's word/promise at launch that they would improve it, and when that did not materialize, they decided to deduct the points?

BF4 now is not perfect but it is better than it was at launch. The scores, if anything should switch.


There are 2 possible explanations:

a) Polygon has not experienced what ive experienced, and the game runs worse for them now than it did at launch. Fiar enough i suppose, my anecdotal experience is not 100% fact how everyone experienced the game.
b) Polygon has experienced the same problems i experienced at launch but simply inflated the score of BF4 on some promise/hope EA would fix the issues.
 

Fox_Mulder

Rockefellers. Skull and Bones. Microsoft. Al Qaeda. A Cabal of Bankers. The melting point of steel. What do these things have in common? Wake up sheeple, the landfill wasn't even REAL!
just before the PS4 patch.
good timing Gies
 

Lakitu

st5fu
It's the best multiplayer game I've played since BF 3 but there are just so many technical issues, especially it's stability. So much damn rubberbanding and lag for me, it's unbearable at times. I'm pretty sure I was stuck in the ocean at one point because of some horrible lag.
 
I believe it was based on preview events and playing the game before launch. They were assured (and they felt assured since this was supposedly honed on the PC version since BF3) that that experience was indicative of the launch one.

And that is BS. Most of Polygon staff are veterans, they should now that was BS (That's why GB takes the wait and see approach)
 

frequency

Member
I don't understand.

Did the game get worse since release? Or were these issues there since the beginning?

The way I read the update was that it's getting a lower score now because it's still not fixed. But if it's worth a 4/10 now and this is how the game was at release, why did it get a 7.5 to begin with instead of the 4? Am I misunderstanding?
 
I don't understand.

Did the game get worse since release? Or were these issues there since the beginning?

The way I read the update was that it's getting a lower score now because it's still not fixed. But if it's worth a 4/10 now and this is how the game was at release, why did it get a 7.5 to begin with instead of the 4? Am I misunderstanding?

You're understanding. What polygon is doing just doesn't make much sense.
 
D

Deleted member 20415

Unconfirmed Member
EA and DICE always struggle to make Battlefield work well at launch and for a while afterwards. It's so frustrating. The games are brilliantly designed, but they take a month or two to even work properly.

Which is totally unacceptable and asinine - I can't believe I got suckered into buying another damn Battlefield game that I can't even play. Every single launch is just a mess... but this is it for me, not buying them again. I can understand a couple days of instability, but not this.

I'm against class action lawsuits, but sign me up for this one.
 
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