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Massa · Nov 18, 2011

a quick examination of the Jurassic Park: The Game Metacritic page on Wednesday morning brought up a number of "Telltale" indicators that something was fishy. By mid-afternoon, Jurassic Park had no critic reviews, but it had four user reviews, each with a gushing write-up of the game's numerous virtues and a 10 out of 10 grade.

it probably should have occurred to them at some point that Metacritic users might want to know that the guy describing the Jurassic Park game as "if Steven Spielberg decided to direct Heavy Rain" might be a little too close to the project to offer an objective assessment. The same goes for the guy who called it a "lovingly crafted game" with "top notch" writing that "truly delivers that iconic Jurassic Park vibe."

When asked about a company policy on posting user reviews without disclosure of their work on the game, a Telltale representative passed along the following statement: "Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee. In this instance, two people who were proud of the game they worked on, posted positively on Metacritic under recognizable online forum and XBLA account names."

Reasonable as it is for these developers to be able to voice their own opinions, the suggestion that posting the reviews under Telltale online forum names and Xbox Live handles is somehow transparent enough is insulting.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/jurassic-park-user-reviews-abused-6346288/

Dabanton · Nov 18, 2011

lol

Why do they always think they'll get away with it?

Messi · Nov 18, 2011

Are they not users though?

Brazil · Nov 18, 2011

Telltale's on a roll.

Shitty games, jeep ruining...

But these guys could be... I don't know, friends of employees, for all we know.

Zeal · Nov 18, 2011

These guys are becoming increasingly lame as hell.

Nora Kisaragi · Nov 18, 2011

First they wreck jurrassic park jeeps, and now they wreck jurrasic park review scores? Great. Can TellTale screw this up any harder?

Ezalc · Nov 18, 2011

Jesus Telltale what the fuck are you doing?

markot · Nov 18, 2011

Why do they even care about the user score >.>... no one looks at that do they?

Hylian7 · Nov 18, 2011

Dammit Telltale, I used to respect you.

Aselith · Nov 18, 2011

Are the convinced that if they make their company look bad enough that it will wrap around and make it look good or what?

EmCeeGramr · Nov 18, 2011

In true Telltale form this company decided to take on the task of adding new stories onto a beloved franchise that first came out almost 20 years ago. I'm happy to say, I'm glad they did! The best way I can describe this game is if Steven Spielberg decided to direct Heavy Rain. It has the same motivated cinematic feel, while keeping true to the shots and pacing the original Jurassic Park had. While this game is based off of QTE's to navigate and propel the action forward, this is one rare occurrence I don't find that to be a "dirty word." The events feel motivated, the action feels purposed, and the story is a great addition to the original movie (in my humble opinion). There is one dark side however I wasn't expecting. While you get rewarded for making it through the game without dieing, without missing a beat, I found myself letting my characters die at times. Why you may ask? Simply put, the "deaths" in this game are brutal, sometimes hilarious, and typically make you wince while smiling an evil smile. If you're into story driven games, I would highly recommend for you to give this a try! (Just make sure to say the "magic word" when picking up a copy)

Jurassic Park: The Game is a true Telltale "point-and-click". The company that championed the adventure game genre delivers yet another solid game based on a beloved "nostalgic" franchise. This is not your regular movie tie-in game, where you play out the same old events you've seen on the big screen. Jurassic Park is a lovingly crafted game which follows it's own story-line and characters, branching off from the point where Dennis Nedry drops the can of Barbasol. One of the biggest loose ends in Jurassic Park (the movie) is finally wrapped up in a 4 part adventure game. There is much to love about Jurassic Park: The Game. The writing is top notch, all of the dinosaurs you love from the film (and more) are there in full-force, and it truly delivers that iconic Jurassic Park vibe that we all had when we saw the film for the first time in 1992. Did I mention that the deaths in the game are amazing?? Yeah, there are hundreds of unique ways to see your characters die-by-dino; truly a sight to behold

oh my god

DaBuddaDa · Nov 18, 2011

Everything coming out of that studio recently reeks of desperation.

GavinGT · Nov 18, 2011

Are Telltale the ones that were affected by that recent wave of poor Metacritic user reviews?

scitek · Nov 18, 2011

Brazil said:
Telltale's on a roll.

Shitty games, jeep ruining...

But these guys could be... I don't know, friends of employees, for all we know.

Nope, they admit to it.

Gamespot said:
a Telltale representative passed along the following statement: "Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee. In this instance, two people who were proud of the game they worked on, posted positively on Metacritic under recognizable online forum and XBLA account names."

inky · Nov 18, 2011

GavinGT said:
Are Telltale the ones that were affected by that recent wave of poor Metacritic user reviews?

I don't think so. I remember one of those games was Bastion(?) but I don't recall the other one.

EmCeeGramr said:
oh my god

This is sad.

Raitosaito · Nov 18, 2011

3.4 Modern Warfare 3 user score.

They can live with it, no one reads those. Move on TT, move on.

markot · Nov 18, 2011

Reviewing a game you worked on is kinda... well completely not the reason for reviews >.<;

DaBuddaDa · Nov 18, 2011

Jurassic Park came out on Steam Tuesday. It's not even in the "Top 100" Steam stats page, where the lowest hovers around 200 users.

Branduil · Nov 18, 2011

What a jeepwreck.

Hot Coldman · Nov 18, 2011

scitek said:
Nope, they admit to it.

So in a roundabout way, they're asking not to be tarred with the same brush. Makes sense.

butter_stick · Nov 18, 2011

EmCeeGramr said:
oh my god

Did I mention that the deaths in the game are amazing??

SapientWolf · Nov 18, 2011

I'd be willing to forgive this but only if they offer Samuel L Jackson's hand as a DLC character for Poker Night.

Jackson · Nov 18, 2011

User Reviews on Metacritic mean nothing... Why even do it as a game company employee to boost your user review score? It only can cause harm to your brand. Makes no sense.

Erekiddo · Nov 18, 2011

I do not understand how they're missing the point that:

Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet

-does not equal-

Reviewing your own fucking game.

hey_it's_that_dog · Nov 18, 2011

markot said:
Why do they even care about the user score >.>... no one looks at that do they?

Some misguided souls have such a deep mistrust of professional reviewers that they want to believe that the far less regulated user score is the real measure of "truth" about a game.

SapientWolf · Nov 18, 2011

I also like that the reviewer adds "(in my humble opinion)" while heaping praise on his own game.

markot · Nov 18, 2011

Raitosaito said:
3.4 Modern Warfare 3 user score.

They can live with it, no one reads those. Move on TT, move on.

Heh, one of the devs tried to get users to 'fix' the user meta critic score cause it was too low for that game too.

Weird >.<

gabbo · Nov 18, 2011

Was

one of the offending user reviewers?

Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew · Nov 18, 2011

Jackson said:
User Reviews on Metacritic mean nothing... Why even do it as a game company employee to boost your user review score? It only can cause harm to your brand. Makes no sense.

For some people: User Review > Marketing moneyhatted bullshit review.

In this case, however, it's the opposite.

Live Free or Die · Nov 18, 2011

i dont see a problem with it. its their game they can review it.

Criminal Upper said:
Metacritic is one of the worst things that's happened to this industry,

Agreed.

Criminal Upper · Nov 18, 2011

Metacritic is one of the worst things that's happened to this industry,

Takao · Nov 18, 2011

Gotta keep the jeep riding

into a bigger pile of shit for Ellie to stick her hand it.

vanty · Nov 18, 2011

Nora Kisaragi said:
First they wreck jurrassic park jeeps, and now they wreck jurrasic park review scores? Great. Can TellTale screw this up any harder?

That thing with the jeep was mostly lies by the owner.

EmCeeGramr · Nov 18, 2011

butter_stick said:
Did I mention that the deaths in the game are amazing??

Just make sure to say "the magic word" while picking up your copy today for only $39.99 from your local GameStop or other retailer. *wink*

ghostmind · Nov 18, 2011

Telltale has gone from hero to zero in less than a week. Have some class, FFS.

pakkit · Nov 18, 2011

Metacritic is a joke, the industry needs to move on FFS.

Jackson · Nov 18, 2011

shagg_187 said:
For some people: User Review > Marketing moneyhatted bullshit review.

In this case, however, it's the opposite.

I can understand this... like if there's some indie reviewer youtube guy or blog, but actual user reviews on Metacritic.com? No.

pakkit said:
Metacritic is a joke, the industry needs to move on FFS.

To what?

a Master Ninja · Nov 18, 2011

Get your shit together Jake "Video Games" Rodkin and Sean "Famous" Vanaman, before the internet turns on Idle Thumbs' legacy!

Kagari · Nov 18, 2011

Brazil · Nov 18, 2011

scitek said:
Nope, they admit to it.

Oh, well.

Strike three, Telltale.

Draft · Nov 18, 2011

I'm sure there are some classified emails that will clear this whole thing right up.

scitek · Nov 18, 2011

Gamespot said:
Between the reviewers' constant lionizing of Telltale Games, complete sentences, proper punctuation, and paucity of spelling errors

In true Telltale form this company decided to take on the task of adding new stories onto a beloved franchise that first came out almost 20 years ago. I'm happy to say, I'm glad they did! The best way I can describe this game is if Steven Spielberg decided to direct Heavy Rain. It has the same motivated cinematic feel, while keeping true to the shots and pacing the original Jurassic Park had. While this game is based off of QTE's to navigate and propel the action forward, this is one rare occurrence I don't find that to be a "dirty word." The events feel motivated, the action feels purposed, and the story is a great addition to the original movie (in my humble opinion). There is one dark side however I wasn't expecting. While you get rewarded for making it through the game without dieing, without missing a beat, I found myself letting my characters die at times. Why you may ask? Simply put, the "deaths" in this game are brutal, sometimes hilarious, and typically make you wince while smiling an evil smile. If you're into story driven games, I would highly recommend for you to give this a try! (Just make sure to say the "magic word" when picking up a copy)

ugh

Ninja Scooter · Nov 18, 2011

I don't blame them considering the ridiculous fascination this industry has with metacritic and review scores in general (both publishers AND fans)

Branduil · Nov 18, 2011

vanty said:
That thing with the jeep was mostly lies by the owner.

It wasn't a lie that they were legally responsible for the damages and tried to weasel out of it.

Mungular · Nov 18, 2011

wow. why do companies and/or people care about user reviews on metacritic? they're a joke

Hot Coldman · Nov 18, 2011

vanty said:
That thing with the jeep was mostly lies by the owner.

I don't know who to believe anymore

frozzted · Nov 18, 2011

Ninja Scooter said:
I don't blame them considering the ridiculous fascination this industry has with metacritic and review scores in general (both publishers AND fans)

This is why review scores suck. Also, I hate when game websites say "we don't hand out that score often!"

Vamphuntr · Nov 18, 2011

Live Free or Die said:
i dont see a problem with it. its their game they can review it.

Well it feels unethical to me. How can you have an objective view on the project if you worked on it? I mean we can laugh at the true purpose of Metacritic all year long but in the end it's supposed to inform consumers about products. It doesn't feel right to me if their own employees review a game since they obviously want you to buy it. It's pretty clear they will not be objective.

But yeah, Metacritic's user reviews are full of fanboys anyway and I'm pretty sure some professional reviewers are bribed sometimes but I still think it's unethical to do it.

Utako · Nov 18, 2011

This isn't scandalous. Everyone does it.

Get over it.

Wario64 · Nov 18, 2011

Utako said:
This isn't scandalous. Everyone does it.

Get over it.

I'm sorry you had to work on Jurassic Park

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