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Gears of War 4: Review Thread

Eos said:
wow only an 85?
that's it, time to cancel my pre-order. i only buy games that have at least a Metacritic rating of 94, because the higher the score, the better the game is. 85 seems mediocre at best.
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I only play games that have metascores of 100. I actually don't know why I'm even on NeoGAF.
 
I have been kicking around the idea of getting an xbone to play this game and others. Any idea how long it is? I don't want to spoil the game by reading too much of the reviews.
 
xviper said:
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i'm really REALLY surprised that it got above 80+ which is awesome for me, i haven't played an xbox one exclusive single player game since Ori and the blind forest( Tomb Raider doesn't count)

but still, an 85 for a Gears of War game?? that's not good, imagine if Uncharted 4 scored 85 ? that would have been a flop

i feel bad for the people who got all hyped and bought an xbox one for the game, i told you not to get hyped, the game is obviously not a flop like Quantum break The order 1886, but for a Gears of War game ?? that's a flop

be warned, the next one will be The last Guardian, do not get hyped
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How is an 85 not good for a Gears of War game? It's great for a game being made by a new team and shows that the series is in good hands because they got "the base" right. They can now add on to that "base" for the future games and possibly get a 90+ rating. If they don't hit that then so what as long as the games in the series continue on being solid? Really silly.
 
Bgamer90 said:
How is an 85 not good for a Gears of War game? It's great for a game being made by a new team and shows that the series is in good hands because they got "the base" right. They can now add on to that "base" for the future games and possibly get a 90+ rating. If they don't hit that then so what as long as the games in the series continue on being solid? Really silly.
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It's also scary to think that this game was made in less than 2 and a half years.
 
ViewtifulJC said:
I think that's just fuckin' stupid. Just call an Excellent game an Excellent game. Not "oh I'm gonna give this a 7.6 or a 7.2 hmm"
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Its much better than 10 out of 10 where the assumption is that there are no flaws and the sticking points don't actually matter.

That is why review scores and hyperbole are so lopsided as it is right now where anything below an 80 is a failure.

Gears 4 being an 85 meta doesn't mean it is a failure, even compared to the previous games. Having a 85 meta means its a very great game, one of the best this year in terms of critical reception. People should acknowledge that and stop concern trolling this game.
 
Yikes, didn't expect Gears 4 to get raked over the coals like Halo 5. This is the first mainline Gears of War to score below a 90 on Metacritic. What a disappointment.

Series ended with Gears 3 for me.

Inuhanyou said:
Its much better than 10 out of 10 where the assumption is that there are no flaws and the sticking points don't actually matter.
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There is no POINT to a 10 point scale if the 10 never gets used.

What do people not get? 10 doesn't mean flawless, it just means high quality in all areas and genre defining (see: Bayonetta 2).
 
Montresor said:
Forza Horizon 3 is a masterful refinement of the open-world racing genre. It's practically a perfect game. Its 91 metacritic is too low I'd argue. The game is a 10 across-the-board in my opinion. I'm surprised Forza Horizon 3 doesn't have a 97+ metacritic honestly.

This just goes to show you that we need to step back a minute and think about what metacritic really means. It doesn't always tell you the quality of a game, or more importantly, how one person will perceive the quality of the game. It just gives you the consensus on a title. Gears 4 may very well be an incredible game - for me. I'll be playing it tomorrow and I could easily see it cracking my GOTY list.

So far my GOTY list is:

1) Forza Horizon 3 (91 metacritic)
2) Inside (92 metacritic)
3) The Witness (85 metacritic)
4) Quantum Break (77 metacritic)
5) The Turing Test (81 metacritic)

These games are all near perfection for me, despite the wildly varying metacritic. In fact, The Witness is only 85 metacritic on XB1 and yet it's 87 metacritic on PS4. They're the same game! I'll admit I was really really happy that Forza Horizon 3 became MS's first 90+ metacritic title, but at the same time, I've played 100+ games on XB1, and it's been the best gen ever so far. I'm drowning in incredible titles, so I've been enjoying myself immensely, no matter what the games are being rated.
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Horizon 3 is far from perfect. The sense of progression and "campaign" structure isn't good and the AI drivers are generally bad. 90 is about right for that game, at least the Xbone version.
 
Fahzgoolin said:
I thought NeoGaf was above metacritic obsession.

I thought that we were better than this.
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Nothing from previous game review threads should have made you think that Neogaf was above obsession with review scores. If any thing we are MORE obsessed with scores. This one is tame compared to most of them. We haven't even had a ban yet.
 
enigmatic_alex44 said:
Yikes, didn't expect Gears 4 to get raked over the coals like Halo 5. This is the first mainline Gears of War to score below a 90 on Metacritic. What a disappointment.

Series ended with Gears 3 for me.
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how can you say something is a dissappointment without having playing it?

i mean gears 3 has a lower metascore than 2, and it is a FAR FAR FAR better game
 
enigmatic_alex44 said:
Yikes, didn't expect Gears 4 to get raked over the coals like Halo 5. This is the first mainline Gears of War to score below a 90 on Metacritic. What a disappointment.

Series ended with Gears 3 for me.



There is no POINT to a 10 point scale if the 10 never gets used.

What do people not get? 10 doesn't mean flawless, it just means high quality in all areas and genre defining (see: Bayonetta 2).
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Raked over the coals? An 85 should be considered great. Also, what do you mean the series ended at 3 for you? Is it due to the pointless numbers being thrown around?
 
xviper said:
tumblr_nmsf43ikYV1tq4of6o1_500.gif

i'm really REALLY surprised that it got above 80+ which is awesome for me, i haven't played an xbox one exclusive single player game since Ori and the blind forest( Tomb Raider doesn't count)

but still, an 85 for a Gears of War game?? that's not good, imagine if Uncharted 4 scored 85 ? that would have been a flop

i feel bad for the people who got all hyped and bought an xbox one for the game, i told you not to get hyped, the game is obviously not a flop like Quantum break The order 1886, but for a Gears of War game ?? that's a flop

be warned, the next one will be The last Guardian, do not get hyped
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It is Gears man. It does not need to be reviewed.
 
TatorTots said:
Raked over the coals? An 85 should be considered great. Also, what do you mean the series ended at 3 for you? Is it due to the pointless numbers being thrown around?
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Gears of War 3 ended on a pretty definitive note with Marcus
having defeated the Locust Queen and briefly reuniting with his dad.
Judgement already felt like a huge cash in. I've always felt that Gears 4 wasn't necessary and so far the reviewers haven't been blown out of the water.

How is an 85 great when the 3 previous games all hit the 90s? It's a step down and people clearly aren't as enamored with the series as they once were. Funny thing is that didn't happen with Uncharted 4 (as big of a disappointment as that game is to me).
 
It's crazy to me how games reviewing in the 80s on both console are now not considered good enough these days by so many.
 
TalonJH said:
It's crazy to me how games reviewing in the 80s on both console are now not considered good enough these days.
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I'd be extremely interested in someone doing some mass data collection to see if there really is review score deflation this generation. I'd do it, but I don't really have the time nowadays.
 
EightBitNate said:
I'd be extremely interested in someone doing some mass data collection to see if there really is review score deflation this generation. I'd do it, but I don't really have the time nowadays.
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I mean, I'm seriously questioning whether "review score deflation" is happening.
 
enigmatic_alex44 said:
Gears of War 3 ended on a pretty definitive note with Marcus
having defeated the Locust Queen and briefly reuniting with his dad.
Judgement already felt like a huge cash in. I've always felt that Gears 4 wasn't necessary and so far the reviewers haven't been blown out of the water.

How is an 85 great when the 3 previous games all hit the 90s? It's a step down and people clearly aren't as enamored with the series as they once were. Funny thing is that didn't happen with Uncharted 4 (as big of a disappointment as that game is to me).
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Perhaps the Gears formula, which was new back then needs revamping for negative reviews as opposed to the positive reviews that love the traditional Gears approach and the refinements. It's overwhelming assumed this is the best Gears experience you'll get. For now.
 
TalonJH said:
I mean, I'm seriously questioning whether "review score deflation" is happening.
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I gotta admit, there are definitely some games this gen I feel were reviewed unfairly. Even from the very start, it was harsh. Killzone Shadowfall would have done a lot better had it been reviewed last gen.

I think The Last of Us had something to do with it. It was around that time that critics changed.
 
Synth said:
While I think it's quite clearly not a case of "85 today is a 95 of early last gen"... I do think there are plenty of cases where a game early last gen could score within the 95 region, but would score in the realm of 85 if released in exactly the same form (except with modern graphics) today. This makes quite a bit of sense if we assume that newer games build on the knowledge of those that came before, otherwise you'd need to go above 100 in short order.

Forza Motorsport 6 (since you use Forza as an example) has 86 on metacritic, and it honestly beats the breaks off Forza Motorsport 3. The difference is that it doesn't beat other games relative to its time in the same manner as FM3 did in 2009. Forza Horizon 3 despite sharing the Forza brand is a completely different matter and makes nearly anything you directly compare it to look pretty bad, which is why it scores so highly. I haven't played UC4 (not much of an Uncharted fan), but I'd guess its the same with that too, in order to warrant its scores.

It's definitely true that reviewers certainly aren't handing out crazy high scores like they were last gen though. Back then almost anything with a budget was a lock for 90+. The current review curve is far better imo.
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I could not agree more. Plus, 85% is a very good score, regardless. Did The Coalition play it safe? Sure, but they had to be conservative for their first foray into the franchise. I am willing to bet that they will be shaking up the formula for their next installment...
 
xviper said:
tumblr_nmsf43ikYV1tq4of6o1_500.gif

i'm really REALLY surprised that it got above 80+ which is awesome for me, i haven't played an xbox one exclusive single player game since Ori and the blind forest( Tomb Raider doesn't count)

but still, an 85 for a Gears of War game?? that's not good, imagine if Uncharted 4 scored 85 ? that would have been a flop

i feel bad for the people who got all hyped and bought an xbox one for the game, i told you not to get hyped, the game is obviously not a flop like Quantum break\ The order 1886, but for a Gears of War game ?? that's a flop

be warned, the next one will be The last Guardian, do not get hyped
Click to expand...

I thought you said it'd be under 80? 85 is not a flop, especially in today's reviewing world. But, yes, please continue...
 
Inuhanyou said:
Its just one review, the game is good as almost every other reviewer has said
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IMO the Gamespot review's copy doesn't match the score. The campaign is "lacklustre", because it has repetition, but also amazing moments. The "technical issues" are that the pre-release build froze in the menus and once in game. Otherwise the review focuses on arcane details of horde mode like the crate you can carry and deploy, but doesn't really convey much about how Gears 4 plays vis-à-vis the other Gears.

TBH I'm surprised an editor didn't try and get a revision of these points leading to the discrepancy between score and copy, as the score just feels arbitrary and not properly backed up.

And no, 7/10 isn't a bad score, but I don't think the score alone is the reason that the Gamespot review is now sitting at 1k likes AND 1k dislikes.
 
StrongBlackVine said:
We should use both. It doesn't have to be one or the other. But Metacritic is still by far the more influential of the two.
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Sadly a self-fulfilling prophecy, it seems :( Metacritic's the top dog because Metacritic always has been. I'm one of the OpenCritic founders and by far our greatest struggle is establishing legitimacy.

Even last night, we were at least 20 minutes faster getting reviews up. Months ago, we caught Metacritic sourcing from OpenCritic directly and it barely made a dent...

Anyways, don't want to derail this thread: please PM me if you have ideas though. We really are listening. The Contributor Program came out of a gaf PM conversation :-P
 
Personally, I think it is reviewing really well, and this has informed my choice to order. There definitely is a variance in scoring from the previous generation, which I feel is more appropriate in using more of the scale.

People need to read the reviews and not scroll to the score immediately. Confirmation bias is also very strong in these review threads. Be more objective, the review is only someone's opinion.
 
Last minute, please help. I'm about to get the ultimate edition $99 on the microsoft store from the PC. Is that fine, or somewhere else a better way/or deal?
 
Hero_of_the_Day said:
My god, they only liked it, instead of really liked it!
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7/10 is garbage in a lot of misguided people's minds.

This is why I think if you're going to follow reviews, mass reviews like the one in the OP are so important so you can see the whole range of opinions instead of one possibly over enthusiastic or jaded person.
 
I like that journo's have toned it down a notch or so. They are now more in line with how I always rate games. There aren't that many which get 9+ in my book.

It would be nice if to qualify for metacritic, everyone had to use the same scale though. Otherwise it kind of makes a mockery of the whole system. When some use percent, some use 5 stars and others use christ knows what.

Everyone stick to a percentage please!
 
Gamespot's review was pretty polarizing... making me think twice tbh... that said Gears is a load of dumb fun, the reviewer sounded like he was searching for a ton of depth Which Gears is not reallly known for, but I could totally relate with. I look at Gears as fun hollywood blockbuster quality along with the cheese.
 
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