Game reviews and how people reads them

This is something I noticed a while ago, but now that I have two perfect examples I thought I should blog about it. 
 
As everyone knows, a review is an opinion. And in most cases it's an educated opinion. And we who read reviews, that's all we want. But justifying your opinion to the always so hard audience is tougher than it looks. And I'm not talking only about the reviewers. But what is the most disturbing thing, is that people are more willing to accept a review where the score is higher than it should be. And this thing has been coming obviously clear in past few years.
 
We all have high hopes on some of the games we love. We like to see them get perfect ten's from all the reviewers. And when that doesn't happen people get angry. Why I bring this up now is because, like I said, I now have two perfect examples with lots of source material available.
 
First we go through those who didn't get the review they hoped for.
 
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is only days away from it's release. And the game has got extremely positive reviews and holding a second place on metacritic with staggering 97 points. Even with the given fact that by the reviews the game seems nearly perfect. But it obviously isn't perfect. So what happens when the game gets reviewed with a score of 9 out on 10? Lots of people get upset. Why? Because they dissagree with the review? No. Because the number isn't what they hoped for. And most of those whom Demand that perfect ten hasn't even played the game. So is the Uncharted 2's 9 out of 10 unjustified? No. Definently not. Could it be a perfect ten game? Maybe. But after all the griefing and demanding that perfect ten, everyone of them will buy the game. It's not like they wouldn't just because it didn't get the score they hoped for.
 
But now we get to the real issue.
 
Like I pointed out, it's a big thing for a gamer when the review doesn't meet up with your expectations. But what strikes me most is that the reader is much more willing to accept a higher score than the game deserves. Nobody griefs about it and everybody accept that. And in my opinion, even knowing the fact that review is just an opinion, I think scoring higher than the game deserves is the most irresponsible thing a reviewer can do.
 
And as a example I will use Halo 3: ODST. Not so that I could flame the console wars. It's only because they both have recently made reviews.
 
In case of ODST I've noticed that the game has got it's fair share of 9 out of 10's. And in my opinion, not the most educated one but still, the game is solid 8 out of 10. Not 9 out of 10. Why? Because in my opinion the game is a good first person shooter, which offers good value to your money and has something new to the francise so that it can justify it's existence. Nothing more, nothing less. I've noticed that many of the reviews are in the same line with my opinion. But why the higher score? Some of these reviews point out that even without Master Chief, ODST is pure Halo game. So is the one extra point justified with the fact that the game is something that the last game of series was couple of years ago? In some cases probably.
 
The reason why I bring this up, is because giving a higher score to a game than it deserves is much more bigger issue, than giving it lower than some of us hoped for. And unfortunately it's rare to see someone point out they're opinion if the scoring is higher than it should. Because in some cases, probably not in ODST, these reviews might sell the game to someone who will in the end be dissapointed.
 
So here. My first blog and some of my thoughts.
 
If someone actually reads this. Please give me your opinion.
 
And like I said. I'm not trying to flame console wars. I love good games no matter what platform.
 
PS. My native language isn't english, so apologies for all the misspelling and incorrect punctuation.

This is something I noticed a while ago, but now that I have two perfect examples I thought I should blog about it. 
 
As everyone knows, a review is an opinion. And in most cases it's an educated opinion. And we who read reviews, that's all we want. But justifying your opinion to the always so hard audience is tougher than it looks. And I'm not talking only about the reviewers. But what is the most disturbing thing, is that people are more willing to accept a review where the score is higher than it should be. And this thing has been coming obviously clear in past few years.
 
We all have high hopes on some of the games we love. We like to see them get perfect ten's from all the reviewers. And when that doesn't happen people get angry. Why I bring this up now is because, like I said, I now have two perfect examples with lots of source material available.
 
First we go through those who didn't get the review they hoped for.
 
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is only days away from it's release. And the game has got extremely positive reviews and holding a second place on metacritic with staggering 97 points. Even with the given fact that by the reviews the game seems nearly perfect. But it obviously isn't perfect. So what happens when the game gets reviewed with a score of 9 out on 10? Lots of people get upset. Why? Because they dissagree with the review? No. Because the number isn't what they hoped for. And most of those whom Demand that perfect ten hasn't even played the game. So is the Uncharted 2's 9 out of 10 unjustified? No. Definently not. Could it be a perfect ten game? Maybe. But after all the griefing and demanding that perfect ten, everyone of them will buy the game. It's not like they wouldn't just because it didn't get the score they hoped for.
 
But now we get to the real issue.
 
Like I pointed out, it's a big thing for a gamer when the review doesn't meet up with your expectations. But what strikes me most is that the reader is much more willing to accept a higher score than the game deserves. Nobody griefs about it and everybody accept that. And in my opinion, even knowing the fact that review is just an opinion, I think scoring higher than the game deserves is the most irresponsible thing a reviewer can do.
 
And as a example I will use Halo 3: ODST. Not so that I could flame the console wars. It's only because they both have recently made reviews.
 
In case of ODST I've noticed that the game has got it's fair share of 9 out of 10's. And in my opinion, not the most educated one but still, the game is solid 8 out of 10. Not 9 out of 10. Why? Because in my opinion the game is a good first person shooter, which offers good value to your money and has something new to the francise so that it can justify it's existence. Nothing more, nothing less. I've noticed that many of the reviews are in the same line with my opinion. But why the higher score? Some of these reviews point out that even without Master Chief, ODST is pure Halo game. So is the one extra point justified with the fact that the game is something that the last game of series was couple of years ago? In some cases probably.
 
The reason why I bring this up, is because giving a higher score to a game than it deserves is much more bigger issue, than giving it lower than some of us hoped for. And unfortunately it's rare to see someone point out they're opinion if the scoring is higher than it should. Because in some cases, probably not in ODST, these reviews might sell the game to someone who will in the end be dissapointed.
 
So here. My first blog and some of my thoughts.
 
If someone actually reads this. Please give me your opinion.
 
And like I said. I'm not trying to flame console wars. I love good games no matter what platform.
 
PS. My native language isn't english, so apologies for all the misspelling and incorrect punctuation.

Are you arguing that more people should give grief to reviewers for giving them a higher score than they should?

Personally, I don't think that games should be reviewed with numbers. A complex opinion is sincerely hard to put into the context of numbers.

Don't have such high expectations. That way, you're never disappointed!
 
I do agree with you on every point. I find that perfect scores mean nothing to me. A high score is good but 10/10 seems silly. I've played a few games that got the highest scores adn I still find them to be either excellent or mediocre, but certainly not perfect. In the end it's all about personal tastes. There's no "right" answer.
 
That aside, good blog and don't worry, your English is excellent!

Pretty good first blog. My take on it is this: most of the people who complain about the scores are fanboys, so of course they'll be content with an overly laudatory score. The exception is when an opposing fanboy tries to write off the entire review as "biased" or something, but they're the same in that both sides don't justify their opinion too well. How can they? Often times, the review is released long before the game is (for good reason), and these idiots still manage to think it's justified/unjustified. To end this, let me post a relevenat video that holds several good points, but will garner a lot of criticism for some reason:
 
 

To everyone: Thank you for your comments.
 
@Video_Game_King:
 
I agree. And fanboys are part of the problem I pointed out. There is no way in hell that a PS3 or 360 fanboy would say that "this game isn't 9 out of 10. It's only 8 out 10." And sometimes it's hard to see a honest opinion through all the fanboy stuff...
 
@TheMustacheHero:
 
No, not really. As a consumer I just find it disturbing that it's more likely for me to find a comment stating that the score is too low than someone elses honest opinion about the game. And not only about the scoring.
 
One great example that just came to my mind. Earlier this year I made two mistakes. First one was that I bought Silent Hill Homecoming. The second one was that I didn't read enough about it. I read one review about it. It wasn't like it praised the game or anything, but I thought I should give it a change. Neather did the review or no one on the comments state that you can't invert the camera. And for someone like me, who has always played as invert, it totally kills the game. It's unplayable. And yes. Most of the comments was about the scoring of the game. Which, in they're opinion, should have been higher.