Reviews are not Opinions..!! Why do you all say it is?

Where in most reviews do reviewers say "I like this game! it was funner than (insert other game here)!"

In legit reviews(if you're looking in the right places), reviewers usually pick and point out the strong concepts/aspects or points in a game.. like aesthetics, feel.. etc. They also point out its flaws such as bugs, repetetiveness, texture popins etc.

I'm sure if you guys think about it, you'll see what I'm trying to say.

And most of the time, reviewers are right.

An example is Brink.

I saw the horrid reviews.. like a 6/10 for that game.

But I already had it so I played it. I enjoyed it.. for about 2 days. Then realized the reviews did point out many flaws, and without even thinking about it, I noticed the game lacked a lot. So I thought about the reviews after I shut it off.. and what do you know? Most of the reviews were indeed spot-on.

If I am wrong, please elaborate.

In legit reviews(if you're looking in the right places), reviewers usually pick and point out the strong concepts/aspects or points in a game.. like aesthetics, feel.. etc. They also point out its flaws such as bugs, repetetiveness, texture popins etc.

Kocelot

Of course it's an opinion. The score is a numerical way of stating an ultimate opinion on a game and all the judgments the reviewer makes are opinion. Whether one thinks the visuals, pacing, controls, etc. are good or bad amounts to an opinion. They can use facts (like if a game has texture pop-in or not) to support their opinion, but they are still making a judgment and judgments are inherently subjective and thus opinion.

[QUOTE="Kocelot"]

In legit reviews(if you're looking in the right places), reviewers usually pick and point out the strong concepts/aspects or points in a game.. like aesthetics, feel.. etc. They also point out its flaws such as bugs, repetetiveness, texture popins etc.

Teufelhuhn

Reviews are Opinion. Lets say I reviewed... Duke Nukem. I didn't like it at all, so I give the reasons I didn't like it and the things I liked about it. Slap on a score and done.Plain out Opinion, but its the communitys choice to go by it.

I see. that makes more sense now.

Pointing out flaws-facts.

Complaining/praising game features, story, etc.-opinion.

Reviews often have more of the latter, and thus are more opinion than fact.

Yes, but the concepts they take from the game they have an opinion on. For example, someone uses a morality system (InFAMOUS 2). The reviewer would then point out whether or not they liked the morality system, which would be an opinion.BadNewsBen

"Strong" is an opinion. "Flaw" is an opinion. "Repetitiveness" is an opinion.

A review with no opinions would not be a very interesting or useful review.

Teufelhuhn

If a flaw is a bug, then it is not an opinion, it is a fact.

Bugs can vary only by degree, that is, how much it affects gameplay. For example, take the PS3 GotY disc for Oblivion. It has a quest-breaker bug where if you contract vampirism you are not allowed to complete the cure quest. That cannot be opinion.

Because they are, and that's a fact:P

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

"Strong" is an opinion. "Flaw" is an opinion. "Repetitiveness" is an opinion.

A review with no opinions would not be a very interesting or useful review.

topsemag55

If a flaw is a bug, then it is not an opinion, it is a fact.

Bugs can vary only by degree, that is, how much it affects gameplay. For example, take the PS3 GotY disc for Oblivion. It has a quest-breaker bug where if you contract vampirism you are not allowed to complete the cure quest. That cannot be opinion.

The only fact is that there is a bug present. Whether one chooses to interpret that as a flaw (which most people do), that is subjective process.

A review should be a mix of subjectiveness and objectiveness. A review that is pure opinion or pure objectivenesss is not a good review, IMO.

becouse people are idiots and think

"hey this one guy is saying stuff ona website anyone could make in a afternoon. IT MUST BE FACT"

Good grief, have you ever played a game that got a great review that you really didn't care for? Or one that got average reviews that you really liked? Obviously reviews are opinions and not facts. The main criteria for rating a game is how fun it is, and how can that possibly be objectively rated?

Whatever. Go and buy games based on review scores and see how happy you are. I wasn't very happy at all when I used to do that.

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

"Strong" is an opinion. "Flaw" is an opinion. "Repetitiveness" is an opinion.

A review with no opinions would not be a very interesting or useful review.

topsemag55

If a flaw is a bug, then it is not an opinion, it is a fact.

Bugs can vary only by degree, that is, how much it affects gameplay. For example, take the PS3 GotY disc for Oblivion. It has a quest-breaker bug where if you contract vampirism you are not allowed to complete the cure quest. That cannot be opinion.

How much it affects gameplay is surely an opinion as long as it isn't game breaking. Since when do reviewers call bugs flaws? It makes no sense, please find me one where it is used in that context.

Reviewers should try to be as objective as possible, but there is no way to write a review without opinion, as reviews are totally based on "good" and "bad" and both of those terms are based on opinion.

I think Professional Reviews like gamespot, ign and gametrailers are opinons, but sometimes there are facts about a game. Let's say we get the review of Final Fantasy XIII where there is a fact that its graphics are beautiful and I didn't find even one critic who said the graphics suck. This is a fact. But when the game was reviewed as whole from stroy, gameplay, to characters .. etc. The reviewers' opinions differed and some liked it some hated as much as the fans.

Hell, I even saw a site giving MGS4 a 7/10. Where both gamespot and IGN gave it a perfect score, 10/10

overall, the reviews give me good taste of what I would buy, I will buy Infamous 2.

I think Professional Reviews like gamespot, ign and gametrailers are opinons, but sometimes there are facts about a game. Let's say we get the review of Final Fantasy XIII where there is a fact that its graphics are beautiful and I didn't find even one critic who said the graphics suck. This is a fact. But when the game was reviewed as whole from stroy, gameplay, to characters .. etc. The reviewers' opinions differed and some liked it some hated as much as the fans.

Hell, I even saw a site giving MGS4 a 7/10. Where both gamespot and IGN gave it a perfect score, 10/10

overall, the reviews give me good taste of what I would buy, I will buy Infamous 2.

Jack_240

Just beause no critic says the graphics are not beautiful doesn't make it a fact that the graphics are beautiful.

Whether something is beautiful or not is still an opinion as facts are facts regardless of what anybody thinks.

This is a fact: Final Fantasy 13 got an 8.5 on GameSpot.

This is an opinion: Final Fantasy 13's graphics are beautiful.

One requires no judgment, it just is. The second is a value judgment.

All reviews contain opinions... it would be impossible for a review to not have opinions. The score given to a game is already an opinion, on its own. My advice would be for people to use reviews as a guideline, but don't look into it so much. Make your own judgement call. Believing a review so much could cause you to miss a good-great game.

Reviews are opinions. They're simply expert opinions, which weigh more than most regular gamers. If they weren't opinons, games wouldn't get different scores from different reviewers. Every reviewer would give each game the same exact score as the next person.

Yes, reviews are oppinions

Where in most reviews do reviewers say "I like this game! it was funner than (insert other game here)!"

Kocelot

In legit reviews(if you're looking in the right places), reviewers usually pick and point out the strong concepts/aspects or points in a game.. like aesthetics, feel.. etc. They also point out its flaws such as bugs, repetetiveness, texture popins etc.

I'm sure if you guys think about it, you'll see what I'm trying to say.

Kocelot

And no, I do not feel that reviews often get it right. I rarely agree with reviewers.

[QUOTE="topsemag55"]

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]

"Strong" is an opinion. "Flaw" is an opinion. "Repetitiveness" is an opinion.

A review with no opinions would not be a very interesting or useful review.

GreySeal9

If a flaw is a bug, then it is not an opinion, it is a fact.

Bugs can vary only by degree, that is, how much it affects gameplay. For example, take the PS3 GotY disc for Oblivion. It has a quest-breaker bug where if you contract vampirism you are not allowed to complete the cure quest. That cannot be opinion.

The only fact is that there is a bug present. Whether one chooses to interpret that as a flaw (which most people do), that is subjective process.

Shmups and other arcade-style games are generally always poorly-received-- especially when they're an on-disc retail release-- because the reviewer is too casual or just doesn't dig old-school gameplay. They then either complain about it being too hard, or if it has infinite credits, they do it ENTIRELY WRONG and credit-feed the game, claim it's too easy, and too short. Never mind the fact that they'd never reach the end on a single credit and/or give a damn about scoring mechanics. It's like they go out of the way to find someone who doesn't appreciate a certain game's genre to review it. IMO, Greg Kasavin was the last truly great reviewer on GameSpot.

Just because the reviewer does not inject themselves personally into the review doens't mean that the review is NOT an opinion. It is an opinion and you can tell that it is when words such as strong or boring are used in the writing.

Well, maybe not opinions in the sense of 'I like this game because I said so', but they are subjective judgments. Sure, you can analyse a game based on objective realities, but at the end of the day, the final judgment still depends heavily on a reviewer's point of view; how much value he attaches to certain aspects, what he personally thinks is important in a game, etc.

So you're correct that a video game review should not be a pure opinion, but it is still very subjective and far from being factual.

Shmups and other arcade-style games are generally always poorly-received-- especially when they're an on-disc retail release-- because the reviewer is too casual or just doesn't dig old-school gameplay. They then either complain about it being too hard, or if it has infinite credits, they do it ENTIRELY WRONG and credit-feed the game, claim it's too easy, and too short. Never mind the fact that they'd never reach the end on a single credit and/or give a damn about scoring mechanics. It's like they go out of the way to find someone who doesn't appreciate a certain game's genre to review it. IMO, Greg Kasavin was the last truly great reviewer on GameSpot.

pills4louis

[QUOTE="pills4louis"]

Shmups and other arcade-style games are generally always poorly-received-- especially when they're an on-disc retail release-- because the reviewer is too casual or just doesn't dig old-school gameplay. They then either complain about it being too hard, or if it has infinite credits, they do it ENTIRELY WRONG and credit-feed the game, claim it's too easy, and too short. Never mind the fact that they'd never reach the end on a single credit and/or give a damn about scoring mechanics. It's like they go out of the way to find someone who doesn't appreciate a certain game's genre to review it. IMO, Greg Kasavin was the last truly great reviewer on GameSpot.

JonathanL

Reviews are based on opinions. If a reviewer says that a certain game is bad, I may end up enjoying it regardless of the score.

Where in most reviews do reviewers say "I like this game! it was funner than (insert other game here)!"

In legit reviews(if you're looking in the right places), reviewers usually pick and point out the strong concepts/aspects or points in a game.. like aesthetics, feel.. etc. They also point out its flaws such as bugs, repetetiveness, texture popins etc.

I'm sure if you guys think about it, you'll see what I'm trying to say.

And most of the time, reviewers are right.

An example is Brink.

I saw the horrid reviews.. like a 6/10 for that game.

But I already had it so I played it. I enjoyed it.. for about 2 days. Then realized the reviews did point out many flaws, and without even thinking about it, I noticed the game lacked a lot. So I thought about the reviews after I shut it off.. and what do you know? Most of the reviews were indeed spot-on.

If I am wrong, please elaborate.

And if the reviews are by someone who isn't even partial to the genre, then they're written by the wrong people. Again, Greg Kasavin. Last truly good reviewer for niche games on GameSpot. Gave excellent, well-deserved reviews for Panzer Dragoon Orta, Gradius V, Ikaruga, and both the Otogi games, to name a few. And if you'd feel cheated for paying an adequate price. Considering how much replay value the games generally have, importing a game for $70-80 (thus paying for 70 or 80 credits up front) for the ability to play for hundreds upon hundreds of times is a small price to pay, IMO. The only times I ever felt ripped off for shmups were when I imported Thunder Force 6 and Homura for $60 a pop when they each felt like $40 games. If anything, they could at least give a "second opinion" review, made by someone who actually enjoys utilizing the oftentimes deep scoring mechanics of a modern shmup and chasing those high scores. Reviewers who gave anything below an 8.0 for Raiden IV-- the longest and most refined Raiden ever-- are part of the carcinogen that's killing the credibility of reviewers from "big name" sites like this one and IGN. (At least GameSpot isn't a total joke, like IGN is.)pills4louis

Kasavin was one of the great reviewers, absolutely. No question there. What's important here is udnerstanding both the reviewer and the game. You have to decide who speaks with a voice most similar to yours. As much as I respected Kasavin, he and I didn't always see eye to eye. He had more of a classic gamer's taste than I did, so I knew I had to accept that he was more willing to accept a difficult challenge and the simple joy of repetition and finesse than I did.

Still, reviews aren't there to validate your decision. They're to help people make decisions. The reviewer should appreciate the genre they're reviewing, but they should also be honest about who the game is and isn't for.

A review without opinion would just be a list of facts. For example the game is based in a city would be a fact. The city felt empty would be an opinion relating to the fact.