Gran Turismo 5 is the fifth edition in the long running racing game series by Polyphony Digital. The game sports over 1000 vehicles, damage modeling on race cars, a dedicated television channel, lots of races, 16 player online multiplayer, and active weather.
Anyone else finding all the websites bragging about not putting out a review until they have fully tested it odd? Are we meant to appluade them for doing their job?
Sure, say we wont have a release day review due to time contraists. DONE. Dont go on to say that we felt that "it is our duty to review the game to its fullest" or "It took 6 years to make, so we wont rush out a review."
What do they do normally? Just put out a half arsed review if they havent had much time?
I believe it's more a kind of show to the consumers and site visiters that they are not joining the 'first out the door' race that may compromise the integrity of a review.
Gt5 is a bit of a special game, you dont often get less than 2 days tor review a game 6 years in the making - and i have already posted this link once today, but this is an article by a reviewer stating exactly his reasons for holding fire on a review and exactly what his problems are with people pushing reviews out the door now.
I think it's just letting people know that their review is coming soon, but in the most PR friendly way. I don't think they meant much else by it, and I'm glad they are taking their time.
Yes, many sites to push out half assed reviews just to get them out first. What some sites are saying is that they want to do the game justice by not reviewing something they are only a third done with. They are doing their job. Just seems no one else is.
There are a number of sites pushing out their reviews very early and sites need a way of showing why they're not doing the same thing in a way that the rabid fanboys can understand.
I think a game like GT5 doesn't need a full play through to get a review, and I think waiting to "beat" it is kind of stupid. In story based games or movies things can change up drastically, but in a racing game what is going to happen in the back half of the game that hasn't happened already? You know how the game plays, you know what the AI is like, you know how it looks, is lapping the Nurburgring reversed in a Zonda really going to change how you felt about it the game from when you did it in a Civic?
I've seen it in a magazine but I had to agree with them. Rather then give the multiplayer of a game an instant bad or good score, they prefer to wait another issue and test it out in the wild with real players online.
@LazyPiranha: Its not so much about score as it is about being able to provide information. People who care about GT5 want to know that things in the back end are going to feel different from things in the front end, so reviewers need to play the whole game so that they can discuss those distinctions. It may not change their overall opinion, but it will change the text of the review. Its also possible that the last 10 hours of the game are about fishing, so they have to make sure the designers didn't pull a fast one like that.
I think that this is mostly a dig at IGN and other larger sites' rush to be the first one to get a review up at the expense of a high-quality, thorough review. GTA IV is the big standout title in my mind... perfect 10s all over the internet, then a bunch of followup articles saying "well, maybe it wasn't quite 10.0 quality, but it's still a great game".
@nintendoeats: If you've every played a simulation racer, you already know what changes are in store for you. The cars get faster. You also know that no sim racer has ever had a last minute game changer, because that's not what they do. I'm not saying that people shouldn't dabble in all of the modes and experience some of everything, but if I'm talking to someone about GT5, and they haven't finished every single endurance race on the disc, I'm not going to think their opinion is invalid.
As for waiting for the online community, that's impossible. It's a constantly evolving group of people, you would have to wait until the day the server shut down to come up with a relevant opinion.
@LazyPiranha: My point is not that they WILL do something crazy, its that they MIGHT. For anybody engaged in any journalistic activity, those types of contingencies have to be taken into account because a journalist's integrity is pretty much the only commodity they have. You simply cannot allow for the possibility that something unusual is going to slip you by.
@nintendoeats: That's a risk you have to be willing to take, and my guess is most people will take it gladly. Besides, if there's a monumental game changer it will probably reflect much worse on PD than any reviewer who missed it. Besides, I want you to think about what you're saying. By your definition, no GT5 reviews is complete until someone does every race, with every available car, because it's entirely possible that a Black Mini Cooper S will somehow have perfect traction on Laguna Seca's fifth turn, and they should have that information. A game review to me is like a restaurant review. I don't expect someone to sit down and fully consume everything on the menu just like I don't expect anyone to fully complete every inch of a game. I expect enough to gather an informed opinion. In a story based game, that means beating it to the credits, but in games that have no ending I expect them to play enough to know what's happening. In a GT game, that point comes far before 100%
@LazyPiranha: Yes, Ideally you would do that, but its also virtually impossible. We are talking about the difference between something that will take maybe a week or two and something that would take months.
@nintendoeats: Again, why should it take a week or two? Do you really think that week two of GT5 is going to be any different than the first few hours? I played the shit out of Forza 3 when it came out, and the beginning of the game was just a slower version of the end. I enjoyed my time, but it never changed. Hell if 5 is like other GT games, you can actually see what's coming up even if you can't do it yet. Here's the track, here's the kind of cars you can use, here's the number of laps. Unless the game is flat out lying to you, you know what's going to happen once you press start.
Don't get me wrong, if you are giving your friends buying advice than you stance is totally reasonable. Professional reviewers are held to a higher standard. That's why they are professionals.
@nintendoeats:@LazyPiranha: I think you both raise valid points. Your contrasting arguments show precisely why the review process is limited in it's usefulness, and loaded with gray areas.
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