SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Molyneux asks for non-gamer review

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

http://kotaku.com/5060373/molyneux-begs-for-non+gamer-game-review

I think I understand where Peter's coming from. Against the wishes of some a decent number of reviewers, I bought Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and it's my favorite game I've bought since the Orange Box. Reviewers nowadays sound so bored and jaded, it feels like it's hard to draw more people into the video game world.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Greg the White wrote:

http://kotaku.com/5060373/molyneux-begs-for-non+gamer-game-review

I think I understand where Peter's coming from. Against the wishes of some a decent number of reviewers, I bought Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and it's my favorite game I've bought since the Orange Box. Reviewers nowadays sound so bored and jaded, it feels like it's hard to draw more people into the video game world.

In all fairness though, the Orange Box is one of the highest rated games of all time.

I think that in general reviewers are jaded and it takes a lot to wow them. However, I think that many developers have been lazy and deserve it.

Joined: Sep 02 2007 Posts: 79

What is that even supposed to mean? These developers have an entirely retarded idea of what a "casual" gamer is. Fable 2 is not Wii Sports; Nobody's grandma is going to play it. Besides, people who don't play games certainly aren't going to read game reviews either.

I have this game pre-ordered on Amazon and comments like this make me very nervous about that. Developers need to shut-up, put the product they've made out there and stand behind it. If it's a good game, it'll do fine. The Dyacks and Cliffy Bs and the Molyneuxs need to get out of the way and not put up these smoke screens in front of their games before they are even released. This makes me very concerned about the quality of Fable 2.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

I think what he's doing is pointing out the flaw in crunch-reviewing an open-world game. I always wonder how many people enjoy games like GTA and Elder Scrolls, but how many of them try to fly through the main quest in a weekend like a typical reviewer. It'd be interesting to see a reviewer who spent their time exploring and playing around with the mechanics of such a game. I'm just saying it's an interesting thing to consider, that's all.

Posted: Oct 08 2008 02:46 pm

Scott wrote:

[...] If it's a good game, it'll do fine. [...]

Good... or worse.

I can understand reviewers being bored, and it's because there are a lot of boring games out there. Most of it has been done already, and developers seem to lack the initiative to trying something new and different for fear of losing money. I think it's also a matter of defining a game to a genre. Developers say, "I want [these characters] in [this universe] and I want it to be a [insert genre]." Bam, game gets churned out. I think of FPS and BEU games in general. BEU games like Incredible Hulk, Conan, Ninja Gaiden, and even Force Unleashed are essentially repolished versions of Fighting Force.. which was a 3D version of games like Final Fight, Golden Axe, and Double Dragon. Some of those stand out amongst the others, like God of War and probably Force Unleashed, to name some examples. They stand out enough and get the credit they deserve, and then you get games like Halo which become popular mainly because of a multiplayer feature, which all FPS games have now. I don't even want to get into rehashed [insert American war] games.

Granted, it is harder to be original and innovative because a lot of ground has been covered in gaming the last 20 years, but that gives people who have the ideas even more opportunity to make success on them, or so I would hope.