Do you need to play a game to know its crap?

sometimes yes and sometimes no.

some games looks bad from gameplay footage to try ala anthem and fallout 76.

For the most part. I gave Persona an honest try with P4 golden. It’s shit to me. So when P5 came out and char told me don’t bother I know it’s crap imo.

But if I have no real world experience with the type of game and mechanics then yes I need to experience it myself.

Some games just look like the purest of crap and others look amazing, looks can always be deceiving though.

I think it's something that needs to be played by ear. For example, I was kind of excited for Left Alive a few months ago, based on minimal footage... However, I don't need to play it now because it's provably shite.

Same about Left Alive lol. Yeah sometimes you need to experience yourself sometimes you don't.

Not necessarily. It depends especially on the gamer. There are some obvious tell tale signs of problems in game and other times you simply got to play the game to appreciate its mechanic.

I can already judge many of the core things about a game just by watching video and can tell if it is a good game or not. You still have to play it for certain things... like the feel of the controls, game pacing, overall story, etc..

Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t. Obviously it’s easy to see technical deficiencies by watching a game in action but it’s not so easy to tell how playing the actual game may feel.

i can tell if its a game i want to play or not. thats it

No. It's not a necessity but I do feel that having actually experienced something for yourself will make your opinion more valid. Watching Youtube videos gives you some info but it's no comparison to the real deal.

Kind of hit and miss for me. Just depends. I have thoroughly enjoyed some games with low to mediocre scores. If it's a genre that I already like and I am uncertain, I will rent the game for a few bucks and try it out for myself.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the game and can tell if it will be a hit or a miss based from gameplay.

Most times just watching gameplay videos is enough for me, sometimes enough to even have me take a chance on something others dislike and enough for me to write off something even though everyone praises it.

I think I have gotten to point where I can pick em pretty well for myself at least.

I feel you have to play it to give a fair chance.

Nah, you can infer the degree of enjoyment you will likely to get from a game by recognising the tropes it is employing and how they go about implementing them. Then there are games that are very visibly bad.

I do. But usually if it's not my kind of genre, I don't touch it. Doesn't mean it's bad though.

Only before the internet really took off but now with all the video coverage out there it's very easy to tell. 90's it was alot harder usually you just rent a game from Blockbuster and hope for the best. You could read gaming mags back then of course to get reviews but it was still alot harder.

No. I knew God of War would be mediocre from the videos, but people still had to be pricks to me for criticizing it without playing it. I was right, naturally. The problems were all obvious to see after a lifetime of playing games. Actually, there were problems I didn't see or realize, like the crappy axe puzzles and the depressing lack of music. It's an even worse game than I thought.

I think defining the game as "crap" would be the issue. The game can be a genre you don't enjoy but that doesn't make the game crap or garbage. It's all about personal taste. For example, I find racing games to be rather dull and alot of multiplayer shooters to be shallow. I even got bored and stopped playing Red Dead Redemption 2 by chapter 5. It doesn't mean those games are bad or terrible, I just prefer games that have more of a sense of progression.

Then again, I don't feel the need to go online and bash a game I never played or don't have an interest in, because I don't really care about what others are into or what's popular. I like what I like and I don't care what others opinions are.

@rmiller365: I don't feel the need to go online and bash a game I never played

I do. But only if it's some white guy fantasy about the olden days or walking simulator / cover shooter with muddy graphics and gets game of the year and 9/10's across the board despite being an average at best piece of work and about as deep as, eerrr... a puddle.

I don't care what others opinions are

Exactly. You know you have something when people get upset, because they know they have been kidding themselves and the pain of facing the realisation they have been playing an inferior product and wasting days if not years of their life is too much to contain and they take it out on me.

That is like asking whether a person needs to experience sin activities to know they are sinful.

Well, I haven't play anthem and know it's crap, so no.

Kids have a tendency to measure games by graphics.

As do most critics who praise Sony games.

Mount And Blade looks like garbage, but it's an amazing game once you get a grip of it. It's made by a man and his wife passionate about the vision they are trying to create and it shows through the gameplay mechanics as opposed to the shoddy visuals.

lol

Sometimes, been fooled many times too. last year bought Xenoblade Chronicles 2 because of many JRPG fans hyping it and saying its good, turns out to be one of the worst JRPG ever made. Stay as far away from this game if you can, avoid it even if you see it in the discount bin for $10. Its shit.

I think that's a bit of a loaded question. Example, Deadly Premonition is by almost all criteria, a terrible game. Play it, and it's awesome.

All games you should except for Sony's, as they are easily judged by watching them on YouTube :)

Unless my friends told me not to bother i always judge by myself!!!

Sometimes, i'm lucky, some other time i feel like i've been had but that's how it goes!!!

I'm not into the metascore crap, I always go by the genres i like, and love trying new games!!!

No. Don't need to play with shit to know it stinks. If there's enough of a consensus that something isn't up to snuff, then it should give you an idea of whether it's worth your time or not. That doesn't mean you can't form your own independent opinion from experience though, if you must.

Honestly, I knew going in that Crackdown 3 was trash, but I played it for myself to see what actually didn't work.

You might have a blocked nose. Generally shit that has been sitting for a very long time loses it's smell, as it has no water.

You miss out on many game this way. Today can be very true because review it so much different than year ago. Not much say in describe if it game or more virtual world simulation type game or virtual experience.

O.o

Call me a grammar nazi... but... I didn't really understand any of that. I do usually x_karen_x but not this time. :/

Tough question. When I first saw Dark Souls previews circa 2011 I was like "This looks so boring whats with the hype?" Picked it up day 1 anyway and was amazed from start to finish. Sometimes you just gotta get your hands on it.

No you don't need to play it. These guys are stuck in the old school mentality. I can watch a YouTube video and tell if a game is crap. There are some games that you need to play like some strategy and simulation games but for the most part you don't.

I can absolutely tell which games are trash right away.

There is certain developers who make consistency trash games like Nintendo and Valve.

The vocal minority on the internet worships these guys, but in real life, no one actually likes those games.

You can tell the gameplay element is good from a video, but there is more to a game than that. Watching a video won’t show a lack of endgame content.

The term crap is subjective. What makes a crap game is different for each person. If your criteria for what makes a crap game is the same as some other people then when those same people will be able to determine for you if a game is crap or not.

Me personally there are some things I really enjoy in video games and there are some things that I can overlook. What bothers one person may not bother me as much or at all. Therefore playing a game myself is the most reliable way to tell if i’ll like a game or not. Even if you’re simply watching a gameplay video with no commentary it may skew your perception because you aren’t going to play the game exactly the same way as the person in the video would play it.

An example would be in borderlands games there are many different builds and weapons and if the only videos you watched were someone using assault rifles you might think it’s generic because you’re a more charge in melee type of person.

I can understand what Karen is saying and you couldn't? Lack of grammar isn't something I'm gonna point out but if I can read it, that's all that matters.

Nobodies perfect.

@davillain-: ok then. Explain what she meant.

You can't compare N and V. Valve have one game and multiplayer versions of it.

Nintendo have two games. Mario Bros and also Mario Kart, designed in 1985 and 1992. Both are aimed at the mentally challenged.

Source engine and it's various mods (Portal, CS:GO etc) are aimed at the above 7's age range so it's not fair to compare the two companies really.

I don't count clones from Wacraft 3 mods as an original ip especially when it's not even the most popular clone.

@jackamomo: Karen meant: You can't dodge a book by it's cover aka you can't judge a game by the looks of it without playing it at first hand. "You miss out on many game this way."

In other words, play the game before passing judgment and despite Crackdown 3 was dead on arrival from gamers view before playing it, I personally played it at hand, I did had fun with Crackdown 3 which is supposed to be stupid fun on the same level of Just Cause 3/4 combine.

@davillain-: yeah I got the gist from the first sentence. I see you couldn't figure out the rest of it either. Oh well nm.

PS. did you mean 'dodge' there?

@jackamomo: Not dodge, judge. Really, what's so difficult about karen's post? I knew what she meant and I explain it to you perfectly but if it's not what you expected, oh well, forget about it. Like I said, nobodies perfect.

You need to take your fanboy goggles off

It's was so easy to trash Crackdown 3 when people never gave it a chance.

I think it's harder to known for certain regarding a game's quality without trying it for yourself, but whether a game's preference suits you I think it easier to determine just on previews and reviews., etc.

I think it's easy to know if the game is "for you" from detailed videos. I don't think it makes sense to compare in-depth how well mechanics or design choices are executed between different games when you haven't actually played them.

I just need the first 3 words of a user review.

If I watch some gameplay I can usually decide if its crap or worth spending money on.