http://www.gamesradar.com/metal-gear-solid-5-phantom-pain-review-progress/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...pc-review-code-and-news-of-microtransactions/
Controlled review events and journos bingeing video games like they're working shifts at a coal mine are nothing new, but they really aren't suited to sprawling open-world games like this.
This isn't going to 180 MGSV's impressions. As the Gamesradar guy says, of course it's going to score high, but it informs the consumer how aspects of the reviews can be inaccurate or missing entirely. The cassette tapes are MGSV's replacement for the CODEC convos, and you can imagine how skipping those would have changed your view of past MGS games.
This also isn't a reason to discount every negative factoid about MGSV because it's your beloved. Whilst reviewers skipping Mother Base management may mean that most player won't even run into the instance of not being able to progress because they need to develop some item, it also means they might be unaware of just how much grind is spent micromanaging it.
For fear of spoilers, Konami invited journalists to review the game at five-day 'boot camps' tied to strict NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). We played between 9am to 5pm, with no unsupervised play outside these hours. That's a maximum play time of 40 hours, assuming no stoppages for eating, drinking, stretching… or reality. So you're trying to complete a 35-50 hour game (or longer, depending on your play style and the nature of your 'completion'… I can't say more), that you've been anticipating for five years, in a realistic window of 30-35 hours. On one hand, you're finally immersed in one of the deepest, most experimental, open-worlds in history – overwhelmed by side-missions, upgrades and secrets – on the other, haunted by a tick-tock race to reach the 'end' without knowing when that is.
Konami's conundrum is clear. Sending out retail review copies would lead to ruinous spoilers, but the alternative is no pre-release reviews. Extended access under duress is better than none but, twinned to our NDA, makes this a 'review' of what I can't and won't say. So with some fairly major caveats laid bare – is MGS5 everything we were all hoping for?
Based on the UK boot camp, I know of only one reviewer (who was able to play for six days) who has seen enough of the game to deliver a meaningful perspective… and I can't even explain why for fear of spoilers. In my boot camp, reviewers were charging through missions wearing the chicken hat (which makes you invisible) almost completely ignoring Mother Base and all the side-ops in a race for the 'end'. Will it score high? I mean, duh, but I don't feel the boot camp was sufficient basis to offer my views on Kojima's intentions and MGS5's abiding legacy.
At times, the boot camp felt like being gifted a bottle of Macallan 1946 whiskey in a frat house and being told to chug, chug, chug.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...pc-review-code-and-news-of-microtransactions/
Many (if not all) of the reviews that are already online were written by journalists who were forced to play MGS V for eight hours every day, in regimented timeslots, while under instructions to share only the information that was deemed necessary by Konami higher-ups. Far from being a work experience course, this was a four-day review event, in which writers attempted to complete a sprawling open-world stealth game within a strict time limit.
Controlled review events and journos bingeing video games like they're working shifts at a coal mine are nothing new, but they really aren't suited to sprawling open-world games like this.
This isn't going to 180 MGSV's impressions. As the Gamesradar guy says, of course it's going to score high, but it informs the consumer how aspects of the reviews can be inaccurate or missing entirely. The cassette tapes are MGSV's replacement for the CODEC convos, and you can imagine how skipping those would have changed your view of past MGS games.
This also isn't a reason to discount every negative factoid about MGSV because it's your beloved. Whilst reviewers skipping Mother Base management may mean that most player won't even run into the instance of not being able to progress because they need to develop some item, it also means they might be unaware of just how much grind is spent micromanaging it.