Sooo Kallie Plagge. Not the worst games journo in history after all?

About a month ago, the whole internet was ready to string her up for giving Cyberpunk a 7 and suggesting it was not the life changing masterpiece we all knew for sure it was. Comment section had a bunch of people all quoting the same line about inconsistent representation of cultures, and calling her an SJW hack for even mentioning it, and saying it was all they needed to see to know they could write off the whole review.

And then the game came out...

Ironically the userscore on Metacritic for the PC version sits at 71% right now, which I'd say is fairly similar to the 7 she rated it. People cite issues like frequent bugs, bad AI, half baked gameplay systems, a lack of freedom to roleplay in the main campaign, all things some of you may have noticed Kalie mentioned in her review.

So I've got to ask, now that the dust has settled, is Kalie better at her job than we've given her credit for?

Not even wading into this cesspool, and I like to talk politics...

Is that you, Kalie? 😄 jk

Isn't she the "too much water" person?

Frankly, I thought the Serious Sam 4 review was way worse in terms of SJW nonsense.

idc either way. If you believe video games are art, you need to accept that people will criticize them for whatever dumbass reason they want.

I already disregarded her reviews well before the CP77 one. She's great for content though, really brings in the clicks and crazies. You spelt her name wrong btw.

Yeah it’s definitely hilarious how that all turned out. Fanboys going all crazy with their impotent nerd rage over a game that they themselves hadn’t even played yet. 😅

@lundy86_4: Ha! I don't blame you. Thought about creating this topic a few weeks back but decided against it. Guess I just felt like starting a fight today.

@fedor: Oops. Fixed.

I agreed with her.

She called it right on Cyberpunk, and she's kinda cute at some angles:

As with any title, getting mad about a game getting a number you don't like before you even play is both embarrassing and pathetic.

Kallie Plagge is one of the few decent game critics around these days. Most other game critics today are trash.

It's legitimate to criticise points that looked out of place or seemed to have missed the intention of the developers. However, I did think the criticisms towards what was a small part of the review was overblown, probably by the internet obsessive types, which overshadowed much of the legitimate parts of her review.

I don't think she's comparatively any better or worse than the average game journalist. I just think the quality of gaming discourse in general has deteriorated.

The whole thing was embarrassing, but expected as gamers tend to dial everything to 11 before experiencing things for themselves.

As I said back then, she wasn't the right reviewer for the game. I don't think she is a bad reviewer, and listening to her speak and write about video games, she is clearly very knowledgeable about the material.

Her problems with the game were, well, very personal. It's like someone drinking a beer and docking it points for being bitter, or watching a horror movie and complaining that it was too scary...you're criticizing something because it doesn't suit your tastes, not because it is an inherently bad product.

A 7 is not a bad score, either, and entirely appropriate for Cyberpunk. It was a buggy mess with a handful of flaws, but there is a really fun game in there. A 7 means it's a great game for some people, just not everyone.

The reaction was overblown to be sure. A lot of it was Youtube grifters who rely on bottom scraping outrage videos with their little incel following.

Still think she comes across as one of those activist game journos who think their an anime hero fighting Shinra.

Can't be doing with em'.

I dont believe it was the score people had issue with

No she's still a joke, was way before the Cyberpunk review came out.

lol no you don't.

@judaspete: She said Death Stranding was and i quote "the game humanity needs right now" and gave it a 9, so she's among the worst.

@i_p_daily: I love that game, but ya, that's pure trash haha

Oh, I do... Just not on GS, as PG is somewhat of a cesspit.

Thankfully, SW is a classy place.

Like the house wine at your shitty corner pub. I post in the cesspit that doesn't run over into my wellies.

Gaming is important. We must defeat the Trump.

He baWad.

She sucks pretty bad.

Yeah she still sucks. Most game journalists suck, but my vote for the worst would go to anyone and everyone at Kotaku.

Nah, that title should belong to Dean Takahashi.

Dunno about worst ever, but still pretty terrible.

Cyberpunk got the correct numeric score, its how she arrived at it that I disagree with.

Frequently talks about things only a small vocal minority cares about, no clue as to what contributed to her score. Glosses over things that are actually important.

Whats the point of a review if you're still left with no real idea if the game is for you or not?

@uninspiredcup: lol The Quartering is making a killing from rage bait. When his channel was a lot smaller a couple of years ago his videos where actually good.

Yeah I was thinking about that recently, after watching a few Cyberpunk glitches compilation videos. Even if the game was finished the amount of backlash she got was over the top.

Whenever a heavily hyped-up game doesn't get anything more than a 9 or 10, there's always going to be fan backlash from hordes of fanboys who haven't even played the game yet. It's almost a GameSpot tradition now. Remember what happened before with games like Twilight Princess, GTA5, Last of Us, etc. And those games got scores between 7.5 and 9.

Is she the "too much water" in pokemon girl?

Dean Takahashi Vs Pigeon 😁

I really do not understand why some gamers are worked up over a reviewer who wrote a review they did not like and do not have to agree with. This is silly and trivial.

Not exactly a fan of hers but her CP review score does seem right based on what I've heard about the game.

I agree, but hey, I come here for debates and alternative points of view. Even if they are dumb and petty.

Doesn't matter. Gaming is about pseudo-intellectual word salad.

Redirect it about something that makes you feel important.

Kellie Plagge low key a good journalist who called out cyberpunk when everyone else gave it a 9/10

still she did say a pokemon game had too much water or something and gave it a 7 too

She may have been right about most of her points and even the score she gave, but when I read user reviews mentioning negatives about the game, I don't hear any complaining about a lack of trans people or culture misrepresentation.

Your comment reminded me of the argument about how Roger Ebert would score a film. He basically states that it is impossible to compare films of different genres by numerical score.

There is no objective measurement to compare, for example, a 4 star Disney animation film for children and a 3 star sci-fi adventure film for young adult, and determine which is the better film. These scores are determined by comparing with movies of the same genre and cannot be compared with other genres.

I'm not sure if she scores the games on such a basis, but common sense says you shouldn't directly compare a "9/10 Pokemon game" to a "7/10 AAA open-world RPG." Because it's like comparing a 9/10 snack to a 7/10 steak. It is impossible to determine which is better just like Ebert said. Of course, as long as the score is given, I understand the feeling of comparing games of different genres, but I think the readers should improve their literacy.

Probably the best review of the game between the biggest game websites thanks to the score it got. Still not a good actual review though. My opinion of her not being a great reviewer stands.

So yeah, somewhat vindicated, I say somewhat because it appears her review was actually too generous. But she certainly shouldn't be accused of being an uber-woke feminists attacking an 11/10 masterpiece like she was, or should I say, she still is by people who still think CP2077 is a perfect masterpiece being unfairly attacked. Sadly, it appears, she was one of the few reviewers that didn't bend the knee to the hype, she should be recognized for that.

Seems about like your average reviewer. Not that good at it. Flowery hyperbolic nonsense, conclusions without the why, overly scrutinize some unimportant shit while glossing over core elements of a game.

People have their own criteria, aspects of games that they value over others, that's fine. Nothing wrong with some of that coming through in your review either, just not at the expense of thoroughly describing what the game has to offer, how its mechanics and systems work, what it does right and wrong, and WHY you came to those conclusions. And if you're the game story type, or if the game is story driven, be well equipped to critique that too if you're gonna go that route.

Having not read her CP review btw, just based on some of her previous reviews. Seen a few short clips of her CP gripes, seems she was spot on about some aspects of the game.

But yeah, obviously not the worst lol. Just your average reviewer who got caught in the shit storm of hype, victim of nerd rage.

No fucking video game review deserves that kind of reaction lmao. Especially not from a bunch of people who haven't even played the game. Gamers put far too much weight on that shit, especially the score. Just play the game. Feel free to disagree with a review. Move on.

Some of the best content I've seen in recent years.

Is there also a video for the Polygon dude that done did DOOM 2016?

@R4gn4r0k:

😂

Perfect choices for music.

@hardwenzen: lol, that's pretty gold