[QUOTE="JohnFifteen12"][QUOTE="Cwagmire21"]
I find an "exclusive" review from anyone hard to trust.
KHAndAnime
One of the problems with the incredibly high cost of game development these days is the potential for payoffs and arm twisting when it comes to reviews. There are MASSIVE amounts of money involved with today's games, and it is very hard to believe that at least some of it is not going to the handful of people that can make or break a game with one simple review.
We all know that politicians are bought and paid for all of the time, so it is not that much of a stretch to assume that it is also taking place in the video game world, as well.
There are also those rare times when a reviewer has gone public about a threat that was made from a publisher or developer concerning review scores (I believe that Ubisoft was the last one to be called out for that when they demanded a certain score or else the reviewer would not receive future copies of games to review).
Now, having said that, I'm not saying that a payoff/threat was made in this case, and Bioshock Infinite may indeed deserve a score of 9.4/"Amazing", but it certainly makes one wonder if there is more going on behind the scenes.
There is too much money at stake to assume otherwise.
It doesn't even have to result to a payoff/threat situation. Even if we look at the situation in the most simple way - if IGN consistently gives exclusively reviewed games great scores (typically the case), then they're more likely to receive more exclusive reviews. IGN wins and the so does the game's marketing team. I'll start taking game reviews more seriously when they do away with the scoring systems. It's a contrived system set up for nothing other than to sell games. There's not a single good reason why a completely superficial number needs to be attached to any of these reviews. The scores aren't formulated from any system or rules, nor do all reviewers have the same standards. It's inconsistent, nonsensical, and doesn't actually serve a purpose for consumers. I do see what you mean, but scores/stars/whatever rating system used, give at least some sort of indication what the game could be like. It all boils down to whether you can trust the person who reviewed the game or not. Professional reviewers, although needing to give somewhat accurate ratings, are like this topic shows, really unreliable source for proper, unbiased reviews. Yes, games that get 9.0, 9.5 and maybe even 10, might deserve those, but then again, all the factors behind high ratings can influence them a bit too much. Money, coverage etc.
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