Dtoid's review by Jim Sterling was accidentally posted early

They took it down shortly after, here is an image copy of it.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-bureau-xcom-declassified/critic-reviews?sort-by=most-active&num_items=100

This seems like a game that will be twenty dollars within a month.

So the advertising for this game is better then the game. Not surprising.

Dat score.. I was thinking of renting that. Mm..

Eh, it's a Jim Sterling review.

Ouch.

Harsh words, especially at the end. Jim certainly makes his case though...

I was never really interested in the game, but from all the buzz I've been seeing, I can't imagine the fans feeling too good about that review.

tldr: IT FUCKING SUCKS.

Oh I hope it's better than that. I really do.

Jim sterling also gave assassins creed 2 a 4.5, not saying he is wrong but more that its apparent that his views and mine are often at odds so i remain cautiously optimistic about the game, i really liked the look of it in the gameplay videos they put out and when i saw the deal on it through steam i was sold, even if its bad i got enemy unknown and spec ops the line with it, for £26 i could have done far worse for myself.

Wow, what a bummer. Swedish Gamereactor gave it 6/10 and took the review down. I've got i pre-loaded, would be a shame if the game was that bad...

That's a shame but not at all a shock considering the game's development history. With all the games coming out, I'm kind of glad that I can probably safely skip this one, assuming this is the general consensus.

I guess the game is pretty good? Whenever he makes a review like that I usually like the game

ouch... definitely one to wait on (at best)

@dallas_raines said:

Kinda this. Not because I have anything against him at all, I'm actually a fan of the guy but he gave AC2 a 4.5 and even by a scale that uses the entire 10 points, that's waaaay off from my opinion, I loved that game. Pretty clear he an I have differing opinions on games.

@buft: Haha read thread after I posted and you pretty much wrote the exact same thing.

I think i'll wait for a few more people to weigh in before i write this game off

I feel like this might have been better off as that weird, 1940s first person shooter with that goo stuff

Take Jim Sterlings reviews with a pinch of salt

I want to see what Tom Chick thinks of it you know a real journalist.

If it's true that the game isn't very good, I am not surprised. No game can go through that much revision and turn out well.

It's Jim Sterling.

Not to just instantly write it off, but Destructoid reviews tend to skew pretty wildly against other critics. They seem to try and use their full ten point scale. I haven't read it yet though, so who knows. He drops a spoiler about the end a couple of paragraphs in, pretty rude, even if it wasn't explicit and he didn't like the game. Kind of seems that he went into this game with the mindset that he didn't care for it, mostly just because large parts of the review seem to focus on what the game is not, and he spends a decent amount of time talking about the development rather than the game itself. So yeah, idk what to think of this review. I haven't played the game yet, so maybe everything he says is spot on, but at the moment idk if I'd trust it.

1. To everyone saying "it's Jim Sterling," you say that like it's some automatic form of discredit to the guy. Meanwhile, he's actually a damn good writer and just happens to not give a shit half the time because people are whiny entitled fuckholes and he likes to piss them off. Therefore, saying "it's Jim Sterling" means about as much as YOU think Jim Sterling means.

2. The game went through massive delays, revisions, and even a stint of "rumored as cancelled without confirmation from company of one nor the other." It's hard to expect it to come out unscathed from all of that. Shit, look at all of the circumstances around The Bureau:

• XCOM gets announced as reboot with first-person shooter and strategy mixed together. Very little gameplay shown. People dig the aesthetics, but bemoan the shooter part of the game.
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown gets announced. People get stoked about a Firaxis-developed strategy game in the vein of the original.
• No one hears about XCOM for a little while, which leads to rumors starting that it has been put on hiatus, axed, cancelled, etc. 2K Marin does nothing to make comments on it in one way or the other.
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown comes out, sells well, gets strong critical reception, and people fucking love it. 2K realizes that people want their strategy in some XCOM shit.
• XCOM comes back as "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified," moving the XCOM moniker to the back of the title. This implies a link to the XCOM universe, but it is not an "official" XCOM game. Therefore, if it turns out bad or doesn't sell, it's just an "experimental spin-off." The game we see takes out the "-shock" game elements that we originally saw and replaces them with third-person shooter gameplay like Mass Effect, strategy gameplay kind of like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and a load of other gameplay styles that shouts out "we're trying to appeal to everyone, identity crisis, identity crisis." People react in a very mixed manner.
• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified shows up for pre-order for $5 off on digital PC retailer sites. Green Man Gaming runs a special where pre-ordering it will also get you Spec Ops: The Line and XCOM: Enemy Unknown as well as DLC for The Bureau. This is all but a sign that 2K doesn't plan on this game selling once it is out, as those prices are determined by the publishers, not the online stores. I know this because Amazon knows this, and Amazon is the one who directly informed me of such whenever I had bought Tomb Raider from them two days before they dropped the price down by $5.00 and I complained to customer service about it.
• Jim Sterling's review "accidentally" leaks. The review generally sounds like what we would expect to hear: a troubled game that has no identity and tries to be everything (coincidentally, most troubled games try to appeal to many demographics of players with multiple types of genre mechanics in the hopes that one will click with someone). Score is 4.5 out of 10.

While people may not trust Sterling, the guy is someone who loves the shit out of the XCOM franchise. Honestly, in that review, it sounded like he really hated that he wasn't enjoying the game. It almost sounded painful, not from a "I played this game" standpoint, but from a "I really wanted this game to be fucking awesome" standpoint.

So overall...is anyone surprised by the review?

I love how people are dismissing Sterling so nonchalantly.

Not surprising. Slick advertising does not make a good game.

Maybe I have more in common with Sterling than I previously thought.

I've read very and listened to a very small sampling of his work online and it was enough to turn me off on his style of reporting. His review certainly gives me cause to worry about the quality of the game but I just don't put as much weight behind it as I would someone I actually trust like pretty much anyone on staff here.

For the sake of an example of why I don't really take his reviews too seriously, he gave Deadly Premonition a 10/10. I played through that game, and while it was enjoyable, it was very far from what I'd consider a 10/10 so I'm pretty sketchy on his review scales =P Not sayin his opinions are wrong or invalid, they just totally don't line up with mine.

I think it more has to do with a lot of people (myself included) already knowing that their tastes don't line up with his. A lot of his reviews skew pretty wildly away from the majority, which isn't a problem by any stretch, it just means that you have to have a pretty specific taste in games to agree with his reviews.

Though Jim Sterling and myself differ on our video game tastes (save for Deadly Premonition) I feel as though I will agree with his review once I have an opportunity to play the game.

I'd be surprised if this wasn't intentional on Destructoid's part to 'accidentally leak' such an obviously controversial 'critique' of a controversial game so early. EZ PAGE VIEWZ AM I RIGHT GUYZ. Games journalism!

The game sounds really cool, and watching the livestream from 2K last Friday has me onboard. A game having a long development does not mean anything at all anymore - just as many have been great as have been disappointing. FYI :)

Really really happy I canceled my Gamestop preorder.

I'll wait for the Quick Look and Alex's review. I know for sure I can trust him.

The GameStop guy hates you right now.

I like Jim Sterling and I think his reviews are worth reading. Definitely heeding his warning.

@reckless_x said:

Hello Mr. Sterling.

I think I'll wait for Alex's review before I continue to decide that I really am not interested in this game. Jim Sterling is a contrarian and occasionally a troll, but this review doesn't smack of a low score for the sake of a low score.

Seems like a well-reasoned review to me, and the score seems to match. Frankly, The Bureau does sound like a game suffering an identity crisis, and I wouldn't be surprised if the past three-plus years resulted in something less than good.

On the one hand, I never trust reviews outright... but on the other, this also sounds relatively in-line with my expectations for this game.

yeesh, hope that isnt the trend for reviews for that game tommorow, gotta be demoralizing for that team with how much that game went through changes to give this game a proper identity to then after all that the game still sucks.

but Sterling is known to be a bit out there in that his opinions generally differ from the norm, so ill wait to see what other other outlets say and see if that is the consensus.

oh snap.. time to cancel my pre-order on steam

I think I'll wait for more than 1 review before making a purchasing decision on this one.

I was thinking the EXACT same thing and I fucking fell for it. I went to their stupid website. They got me.

It's one review from a reviewer that I don't always agree with, so I'm going to wait for more opinions before jumping to conclusions.

...That being said, it wouldn't exactly be surprising for this game to end up being middling or bad considering the long road it's traveled to make it onto store shelves.

Who even knows what his review score mean? Who cares about the number?

Anyway I read his review. He says it's boring and more or less mediocre and by the numbers in the execution. In my opinion calling a game boring and safe is damning. It almost guarantees I won't touch it. Maybe 4.5 was a little high.

Jim Sterling can be quite divisive, I've definitely loved games that he has hated but this review has given me pause about making a last minute purchase on Steam to get the pre-order bonuses.

I think I will wait on the other reviews and probably end up placing on my wishlist to wait for a good sale. There is too much other good stuff coming out this week.

Heh. After watching his Jimquisitions, I have a lot more respect for his opinion than other journalists. He can definitely be divisive though.

I think we sit and wait for the real reviewers.

Forget the AC2 review, there is no way I'm trusting the opinions of a guy who thinks a Dynasty Warriors game deserves a 9/10 in this day and age.

He also gave The Witcher 2 a 6

I would care except that it's Jim Sterling. His scores rarely make sense.

I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the game.