Last week in this column I wrote about my growing distaste for fantasy MMOs. From a lot of the responses I received it sounds like some of you share my sentiments but more of you feel that the fantasy setting is still valid as long as the mechanics of the game are strong. It's a good point. A good developer can take the most tired setting and do something amazing with it. I guess the problem is that no one has done anything to amaze me in a fantasy MMO for a while. But I want to be amazed so I'll keep giving the fantasy MMOs their chance.
This week we're talking about game reviews and the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV.
As we approach the April 29th release date of Grand Theft Auto IV you're going to start to see some early reviews; even some "exclusive" reviews. Call my precognitive abilities into question if you want but after peering through the ether I have foreseen that GTA IV will score a few 10s. I have not played it and I'm not a raving GTA fanatic but sometimes you can just tell about a game. I knew it was going to happen to Halo 3 and I know it's going to happen with GTA IV. All game reviewers, one would hope, started their careers as children playing games. We got lucky and found our way into a position to review games for a living but that doesn't make us immune to hype and fandom. As reviewers we're supposed to give unbiased opinions of these products but it can be difficult and the hype can get the most of us resulting in scores that skew higher.
Sometimes these scores aren't the product of overexcited reviewers however. The thing that's important to remember with exclusive reviews is the process that creates them. If a magazine or a website can get an exclusive review on a game like GTA IV or Halo 3 - something with a lot of steam behind it - that will almost certainly translate into bigger sales or bigger traffic. That means the magazine / website benefits from the exclusive. In order for the magazine / website to get an exclusive they have to deal with the game's publisher.
Now the publisher can benefit from this deal by getting strong buzz going for their game prior to its release, but only if the review is a positive one. So the magazine wants the exclusive and the publisher wants a positive review. I don't think I need to tell you where this is headed. Let's just say that in the end everyone benefits from an "exclusive" review... except maybe the readers. I'm not saying that the game industry is full of charlatans and that all game journalists are corrupt, but exclusive reviews with perfect scores should be viewed with at least mild skepticism.
Grand Theft Auto IV comes out for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 29th.
That's not to take anything away from GTA IV. I expect it to be very good, but I wonder if it's what I would consider a 10. This has been a long-running debate in the industry and it always comes up when games start to get "perfect" scores. What's a 10 game? For me a 10 game will have the best graphics on the platform, innovative gameplay, a strong multiplayer component, an engrossing story, exceptional sound and voice acting, very few bugs, cutting-edge A.I. and it will leave me with no complaints. It's not that I refuse to give any game a 10 it's just that very few games leave me with that elated feeling that I've just experienced something incredible.
I know what you're saying, "No game is perfect so why bother having a scale that goes to 10 if you're never going to give it out?" Reviewers who give out 10s will ask, "What are you saving the 10s for?" I'm not saying a game has to be perfect to get a 10, but the point of a scale is not to make sure you use all the numbers. This isn't little-league basketball where everyone has to play. There are plenty of reviewers out there who give out 10s, but are those same people giving out any 1s? Well why not? What are they saving the 1s for? If you start adjusting your scale to the average quality of the games and give the 10s to the best games then you have to give the 1s to the worst games. I see the 10s out there but where are the 1s?
The thing about those early 10s - that may or may not come from agreements from publishers and press - is that they set the precedent for all the reviews that follow. When a game starts scoring 10s from early reviews and some poor bastard out there dares to give it a 9, the fanboys come out of the woodwork with a taste for blood. It's unfortunate really because a 9 is still an excellent score but since it isn't a 10 it reads as a negative review. Titles that score 8s and 9s should be considered good to very good games.
Ask game players what they like best about videogames and you'll get an enormous variety of answers. Some like single-player while others prefer the competition that only another person can provide. Some like to get straight to the action while others like an emotional journey. Game reviewers are no different. We have our preferences and those are going to show through in a review but only in the writing. Not in the score. This may be a strange thing to say but it is important to read a review before you get upset over the score.
I look forward to reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV and I hope it's everything the hype claims it to be. In the end the most important thing to remember about game reviews is that it's just one person's opinion; a person you've probably never met. You shouldn't let a single review, good or bad, decide whether or not you will like a game. Only you can decide that.
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