The crew talks about the recent decision by Joystiq to ditch review scores (note: this episode was recorded BEFORE the unfortunate announcement of Joystiq’s closure), plus we tackle an old question: how long should one give a game to get good, i.e. the “hook” moment? Featuring Sinan Kubba, Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Richard Naik, and Anne Lee.
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Latest posts by Sinan Kubba (see all)
- GameCritics.com Podcast Episode 128: Chocobos covered in Bloodborne - April 21, 2015
- GameCritics.com Podcast Episode 126: Chi’s Big Bag of Amiibos - March 24, 2015
- GameCritics.com Podcast Episode 124: Review Scores and The Hook - January 30, 2015
Tom, you know the only values in that spreadsheet that matter are the scores you’ve given Dark Souls, Dead Island and Marvel Puzzle Quest. We need to know! 😉 Sorry, that joke has probably run its course by now. Commiserations to Sinan if he’s lost his job; hopefully he can find another soon. Congratulations to Chi and family, my favourite recent heroine is Jodie from Beyond Two Souls, but we don’t want to go down the David Cage route, I am sure. I guess Nilin from Remember Me and Tripitaka from Enslaved are out of the question… I love scores,… Read more »
Good 2 topics this episode guys. I love Metacritic. I love going to the bottom of every reviews list, and seeing a more accurate score right at the bottom of the page. And like Crofto said, It’s where you’ll find the Galloway’s and Sterlings. Tom Chick while more critical, too frequently doesn’t address the overall game and picks 1 or a couple of aspects to criticise and derive his score from, which is unreliable and inaccurate. Metacritic is also accessible and remarkably consistent in it’s scores. Obviously the Meta score is always too high, but I can take 30-40% off… Read more »
It is fair to say that game creator’s cannot rely on people having patience or decent length attention spans in 2015. As such, slow paced single player games that gradually build up, or that do not have immediate payoffs, or rely entirely on the player getting good (i.e. purely skill based games with no easy mode) have pretty much disappeared. Or rather, the only non-indie ones being made are anachronistic and based on old old IP, eg Monster Hunter. So what is made are games with samey controls (who has time to learn and practice), samey objectives (who has time… Read more »
Nice debate over the issue of gaming reviews and scores. I have personally had many strong feelings on this topic for as long as I can remember, but in recent years have tended to just accept that gaming is forever stuck in a timewarp. What do I mean by ‘timewarp’? Well, game reviewers are, by and large, young and underpaid, but also highly lacking in research, impartiality and writing skills. Contrast that with the film critiquing sector, where there are many experienced and well-respected reviewers. When Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian writes a review many within the field acknowledge and… Read more »