Not surprising since this is IGN, but it's incredibly disappointing because, unfortunately, many, many gamers take IGNs word as the God's Truth.
As soon as a new game hits, a handful of my co-workers rush to IGN to see what the score is. If it's low, they're like, "Aww, that's too bad. I guess I'll pass on this game."
No matter how many times I point out that reviews this generation are shit, because the scoring system is no longer about objective observation and evaluation, but about what side of the "console war" you rest on, and reviewers being put on reviews for games that they just aren't a fan of the genre (it'd be like putting me to review Madden; I hate sports in general, let alone video games about sports. How worthless would my review be to sports fans? Here's a hint: pretty fricking worthless).
I haven't read a review for actual purchasing decisions since the PS2 era. The best reviewer of a game for me is myself. If I can't play the game beforehand, but if I'm really interested in the theme/genre of the game, I'll sometimes bite the bullet and buy it. But I try my hardest to play the game for myself. Like Alice: Madness Returns. I had heard just poor things about the game, but rented it from Game Fly, really, really enjoyed it, and bought it.
It's a shame that too many gamers out there rely on other people's opinions to help them decide what they purchase, then quite a few of them get up on their soap boxes and complain about the lack of quality gaming out there. In truth, there has been an amazing amount of quality games this generation, if you bother to form your own opinions. Reviewers are individuals as well, despite it being their job to be objective and informative. This scenario is totally different, however, as the guy just shows no integrity after being called out. I'm so glad I stopped going to IGN years and years ago, for any type of gaming "news." I still can't convince my co-workers to do the same, though...
As soon as a new game hits, a handful of my co-workers rush to IGN to see what the score is. If it's low, they're like, "Aww, that's too bad. I guess I'll pass on this game."
No matter how many times I point out that reviews this generation are shit, because the scoring system is no longer about objective observation and evaluation, but about what side of the "console war" you rest on, and reviewers being put on reviews for games that they just aren't a fan of the genre (it'd be like putting me to review Madden; I hate sports in general, let alone video games about sports. How worthless would my review be to sports fans? Here's a hint: pretty fricking worthless).
I haven't read a review for actual purchasing decisions since the PS2 era. The best reviewer of a game for me is myself. If I can't play the game beforehand, but if I'm really interested in the theme/genre of the game, I'll sometimes bite the bullet and buy it. But I try my hardest to play the game for myself. Like Alice: Madness Returns. I had heard just poor things about the game, but rented it from Game Fly, really, really enjoyed it, and bought it.
It's a shame that too many gamers out there rely on other people's opinions to help them decide what they purchase, then quite a few of them get up on their soap boxes and complain about the lack of quality gaming out there. In truth, there has been an amazing amount of quality games this generation, if you bother to form your own opinions. Reviewers are individuals as well, despite it being their job to be objective and informative. This scenario is totally different, however, as the guy just shows no integrity after being called out. I'm so glad I stopped going to IGN years and years ago, for any type of gaming "news." I still can't convince my co-workers to do the same, though...