@Enigma777 said:

@alternate said:

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

This site needs an "ignore posts from this user" button.

It also needs a "Thumbs Up" button cause Oracle hit the nail on the head.

No, just an ignore button so you and Oracle can be unheard of by 90% of users. I do enjoy reading garbage from time to time tho...quite amusing.

I can honestly say I don't care about any review anyone has ever written.

A review never convinced me to buy a game I was not already going to buy.

A review has never stopped me from buying a game was going to buy anyways.

I play more games that pretty much anyone, and I haven't actually been disappointed in a game in like 4 or 5 years.

I'm interested in what Giantbomb's goal is when they provide game reviews. Are GB reviews consumer buying guides (i.e. is this game worth my $60) or are they more like a movie review that is adressing, regardless of price, is this game worth playing? Does GB have some sort of vision statement where this is outlined? I often think about this when a review claims that a game is too short and maybe the score is negatively impacted because it's a new release, $60 game, or a higher priced downloadable title. What if I get this game for $5 two years from now, or I borrow it from a friend for free? If I look back at a review I just want to know if it's worth playing, and I want a score based around how good the game is, not the overall value of the initial asking price.

This is an amazing article. Thanks for speaking up, Patrick.

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

This site needs an "ignore posts from this user" button.

Reviews are so full of shit. Don't ever-ever use them to base a purchasing decision. Several GiantBomb reviews have convinced me to buy several shit games.

Normally I know what I am going to purchase long before a review goes live. There are a couple of things that I look at a review for, mainly it is to justify the purchase that I already know I am going to make, another is to see if there are any major problems with the way the game plays. I tend to like to know what I'm getting into before hand. I know the kinds of games that I like and I know which developers I like. I actually prefer for a reviewer to tell me what went wrong with a game so it'll give me some balance of what I know that I'm going to like.

@patrickklepek said:

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

I'm happy to hear how any of these additions to Giant Bomb are impacting the overall quality of the website, and I'm not being sarcastic whatsoever. If you have an actual grievance, feel fee to PM me with details. No one is forcing you to read every article on this website, and part of what I'm trying to do is expand the editorial coverage of the site overall.

@patrickklepek: Patrick, you're asking people on the internet to "take a deep breath, and think before you comment." Of course that's going to stir up some of the scummy sentiment at the bottom of the forums. I'm totally interested to see if this guy constructive criticism to contribute (he doesn't).

This is why I only score games on my scale of .213 to 16.78432

@Cyrisaurus:

A couple of your previous posts about Uncharted 3:

"I would bet my life that this game that this game becomes the crown jewel of this generation."

"This will be the best game of all time. I don't care what anyone says. I would marry this game if I could."

And you created the topic: "I FUCKING TOLD YOU ITS GOING TO BE THE BEST GAME OF ALL TIME."

I didn't check but I wonder what game that could be in reference to...

So, before you go insinuating that people who think you're a bit biased towards liking a game are akin to racists, make sure you're not EXTREMELY BIASED towards liking it.

Nothing will ever be praised unanimously, someone will want to be different and stand out and give something a lower rating then it deserves, and getting mad about a 8/10 rather then a 9 or 10/10 is crazy.

@mfpantst: Nice to chat with another 26 year old.

My little rant has more to do with the fact that this article is nothing new. It is starting to feel like every game website takes turns writing about reviews and it is really hard to be surprised with them. Of course an Uncharted review is going to get crazy comments. That review could have been a cut and paste of an Uncharted 2 review and 90% of the comments would have been the same.

I personally stopped reading reviews. The snapshot opinion of someone's pre-release experience with a game doesn't seem helpful these days. The bombcast has been the best way to find out how GB really feels about a game.

I am just sick of soap boxes on this topic.

Am I the only person who doesn't give a crap about Metacritic? I don't get these people that watch it like it's the friggin' dow or something.

I'm far more interested in people talking more in-depth analysis of games. If more reviews were written like that one, I'd read a lot more reviews. The 8 out of 10 tells me it's a great game, so I'd love it if the reviews themselves had more interesting content than "yeah it's pretty good".

The reason most game's writing/reviews is poor nowadays is because fanboys just want a PR statement with a 10/10 at the end because they are too dumb to read the damn text.

Brad Showmaker/Arthur Gies are two of my favorite game reviewers despite disagreeing with them on TONS of games. I hate flower (Brad loved it), LOVED gta 4 (neither seemed to care much) because they can actually express why they did or did not like a game. No offense to Brad but when he likes an arty game like flower/limbo odds are I will hate it. That's great though, since I know we have different tastes him giving a 5/5 review to a game I'd give 1/5 is perfectly valid and worth reading.

@Pr1mus said:

@OracleXIII: Wtf are you talking about?

Seriously, dude. At least make an attempt at a complaint instead of a thinly-veiled attempt at trolling or don't even bother typing.

Patrick, the article was great and I totally agree. I love Uncharted but this complaint is completely legitimate.

I don't mind this review because frankly this is spot on. If you hate linearity you'll probably hate Uncharted's single-player.

I admit that I do sometimes get a little irked over a review, but I'm rarely vocal about it unless I feel passionately that some great injustice has been done. But it's not about how I react; there is clearly a problem with the way people perceive reviews, and what they have become to the gaming community at large. Once reviews were a sort of purchasing guide -- now they are, as Patrick says, a source readers look to for confirmation of their own opinions. It's unfortunate, and the way people react to an opinion differing from their own is outright ridiculous.

@kingzetta said:

A review never convinced me to buy a game I was not already going to buy.

A review has never stopped me from buying a game was going to buy anyways.

My thoughts exactly.

Hey guys, remember when Jeff gave Zelda a 7 and for a month nothing but hardcore hate about him filled message boards about that game?

@Enigma777 said:

@alternate said:

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

This site needs an "ignore posts from this user" button.

It also needs a "Thumbs Up" button cause Oracle hit the nail on the head.

Nazi pikachu trying to be controversial. No surprises here.

I'm still deeply offended by your avatar.

ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ANYTHING IS OBVIOUSLY A FANBOY!

The problem is that the internet allows anyone to fire off a comment without thinking. Snarky-toned websites like joystiq and kotaku have further encouraged gamers to say the first thing that comes to their mind without thinking about it. You're allowed to disagree with the reviewers opinions, but no one thinks out reasons anymore and everyone just says "YO YOUR REVIEW SUCKED!" The problem is now, its impossible go have any sort of discourse on a web site without some portion of the people involved calling you out for being on the opposing force of the 'console wars'. That's why i thought the colored names on this site were a bad idea, because it makes it impossible for anyone who criticize a console exclusive from the opposite console of their color without half the people going "HURR DURR SONY/MICROSOFT FANBOY" when they can still and probably do have valid critiques of the game in question. Its happening as i type this, in this very thread. Everyone is quick to be the cool internet kid that made some smartass comment about how __insertgamefranchise__ is really just a knock off of ___insertgamefranchise__.

TL;DR: The internet is not a place for intelligent discussion.

Whenever a game consistently gets glowing reviews, i look for the ones that disliked it. You get more information that way. Maybe the reasons the reviewer hated the game are the same reasons you might have.

But Patrick, I question the need for this article. All that's really being accomplished here is stoking the already tired arguement over review scores.

Very interesting Patrick. Keep the solid stories coming!

@patrickklepek said:

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

I'm happy to hear how any of these additions to Giant Bomb are impacting the overall quality of the website, and I'm not being sarcastic whatsoever. If you have an actual grievance, feel fee to PM me with details. No one is forcing you to read every article on this website, and part of what I'm trying to do is expand the editorial coverage of the site overall.

Never mind that dude. Your articles and tight jeans have been excellent additions to GB.

And sweet Jesus, this Kill Screen site is pretty rad.

@Captain_Felafel said:

Patrick, you continue to be the best thing to happen to this site since Luchadeer. God bless you and your terrific write ups of oft-ignored topics in the game industry. Great article.

Amen to that.

Great article, keep it up.

Sigh. This ain't grade school. 5 is 'average', not 8.

Uppity and sanctimonious critics, there's something the world needs more of. It's as if these people are afraid of being criticised or something.

@Xer0Signal said:

My problem with the review is...well, the rest of the review itself. The reviewer sounded like he kept trying to play the game by a different set of rules, and then, was upset when the game didn't conform to what he wanted from it.

It's akin to playing Gears of War, and just actively not using cover, then dying a lot, and marking off points because the game isn't letting you win.

The Uncharted campaigns are built to move forward. If you refuse to move forward, or don't press the triangle when it (very loudly) says to press the triangle, that's not really the game's fault. I wonder if he never failed at a QTE, or died in a gunfight, if he'd then say the game was too easy.

I completely agree with this guy. The review sounded like he expected something other then Uncharted.

Not that my opinion matters, but I found this article cogent, articulate, and thoroughly enjoyable to read. I have been extremely satisfied with the articles Mr. Klepek writes, and I think the addition of a sort of meta-"game industry" style articles is a welcome inclusion on Giant Bomb.

Thank you Patrick, for what you bring to the Giant Bomb family.

The problem with some reviews for this game is when they comment on the linearity. Naughty Dog purposefully makes the game very tight in pacing and linear because they are telling a story and providing an experience tailored for the player, just like a movie would. Over the last few years, linearity has all of the sudden become an awful word in the gaming industry and I don't really understand why people are taking points off of games for this trait. If a developer purposefully tries to execute something, but the execution has flaws, it's understandable to rate it lower. However, when a developer achieves what they were going for and the reviewer doesn't agree with it or enjoy it, should that really lower the score in what should strive to be an objective review?

This is 8.8 all over again.

@GorillaMoPena said:

This is why I only score games on my scale of .213 to 16.78432

Somewhat relevant:

No, seriously, watch til the end.

I agreed with the Eurogamer review. It's exactly how I felt about Uncharted 2. Like Simon's review stated, it's essentially the video game equivalent of a carnival ride--even though it's probably the best damn carnival ride ever.

An 8 from Eurogamer is like a 17.5 from anyone else. They tend to hate everything.

Reminds me of what happened to the norwegian gamesite Gamer.no. Uncharted 2 got an 8/10 (wich is a good score, they are known to use the whole scale) but since everyone else gave it a 10 some readers got furious. We are talking bat shit crazy-furious.

I used to run my life by review scores. I would never buy a game until the review came out, and depending on the score it got, I would buy it or skip it. Then Tenchu: Fatal Shadows came out, and I figured the Tenchu series could do no wrong, so I played it and loved it. Then the reviews started tearing it apart. I had already decided I loved the game though, and that pretty much killed any power reviews had on me.

Now I take pride in having enjoyed (and still enjoy) many games that have received mediocre or even abysmal review scores. I like knowing that I have enough individuality to put hours and hours into Ninety-Nine Nights despite the average score being around 5.0. I also think Onechanbara is more fun to play than God of War 3.

The thing that upsets me most about people who attack/swear by reviews is that it pretty much means they'll never experience a potentially amazing experience because they have these weird thresholds like "I won't buy a game that gets below a 9.0". Those people probably never played No More Heroes or any other hidden gem out there. And shame on other "professionals" like Cliff Bleszinski for attacking what are decidedly positive reviews praising the games they love and/or created.

@Cincaid said:

@kingzetta said:

A review never convinced me to buy a game I was not already going to buy.

A review has never stopped me from buying a game was going to buy anyways.

My thoughts exactly.

Yeah I just know what I like. I can't understand how people don't.

See, this article & the response to it is part of why I love Giant Bomb. The article is an interesting take on gaming criticism, which is something that we never really think about as primarily consumers. But, & maybe I'm in a minority here, I've always appreciated a well written review, one that is able to get across precisely what is so good or bad about a game.

And then the comments section is almost all written by people who actually think before writing, as opposed to knee-jerk reactions, boring trolling or other awful phenomenon I see on so many other sites I visit. It's a great mix of staff & community.

As for the actual review, well I actually just finished Uncharted 2 today. My dad owns it on his PS3 & I'm up visiting at the mo, & I loved the game, but can absolutely see where the criticisms about the games limitations come from. They didn't really frustrate me too much because I found the narrative strong enough to pull me in to the linearity of it all & truth be told I kind of liked that I was being told where to go, no room for much messing about. But it's easy for me to understand why that would frustrate someone a little

Anyway, keep up the good work everyone.

Patrick, you do realise you are telling the internet to "take a deep breath, and think before you comment."

As good as your intentions may be. This article is a waste of time. ... Trying to correct people on the internet. Good one Patrick.

Good one.

This article is why people like me flourish on this site. We are the ones who read between the lines, and give 1000 reasons why Uncharted 3 is not that great, as opposed to the frothing media hyped jerkoffs who just copy and paste praise blindly.

Kill Screen's an excellent example of how reviews should be evolving beyond purchase recommendations. Game reviews should grow alongside games, becoming a discussion on the power and meaning of video games along with a critique of the technical design choices of the developer. As readers, we also need to take recommendations for games that receive 6s and 7s, scores that are supposed to mean a game is worth playing. Games are judged on a scale of 1-10 for a reason. Gamespot's Kevin Vanord may be on to something when he says that the American schools' grading system (70-80% is a C, 80-90% a B, etc) compromises video game review scores. If we only play games that score a 9.0 and above, we're really only working on a binary system of "above 9.0 = purchase" and "below 9.0 = ignore".

@HarlequinRiot said:

More people need to write actually critiques of games, and not "the graphics are bad and the online isn't fun". We need to get away from fact sheets that end in a score to actual editorials about what the game is, what problems/successes lie in the design (not just execution) and what its place in the context that its release into is. I'm actually kind of tired of how little thought actually goes into most everything the industry produces, from the games to the editorial business surrounding them.

Absolutely. I'd love more articles like this on Giant Bomb (and other gaming sites on the web as well). It kinda feels like games are still stuck where the movie medium was in the early 1910's, where the number of film reels were more important than what the movie actually was about, and how they most effectively could be presented to the viewer through visual cues, different styles of editing and all that stuff.

Many games these days are pretty much treated like movies, using film making techniques that may not fit all that well with games, while not making use of a lot of stuff that distinguishes games from other media. The work of a game critic shouldn't only be to inform consumers what to buy and assign the games scores, but to help bring the medium forward by discussing how we interact with games and the narrative and mechanical conventions of the medium.

@Napalm said:

@Winsord said:

I didn't take issue with Uncharted 3 not getting a perfect score or a 9/10, or whatever. 8/10 is still a great score, and that's perfectly fine. What I took issue with was his actual complaints; his reasoning for why he disliked it.

"As an expression of all that a video game could be, however, Uncharted 3 is narrow, focused and ultimately shallow. It is a majestic tribute to cinema, a movie game in the literal sense, and your enjoyment will be in precise step with your appreciation of that objective"

This just feels like a really weak knock to make against a game; "If you don't like what the game is trying to do, then you won't like this game".

A weak argument? Have you actually read that quote? He's basically saying the game is cinematic, but it is mechanically shallow and therefore, unfulfilling, in his opinion, (because people seem to forget this part). Seriously, that's one of the greatest review-specific quotes I've ever read. Absolutely true and in the end, it leaves the judgement ultimately to the reader if they'll enjoy that type of game.

How are you guys honestly not getting this?

What this guy said.

More reviews should be like this. "Here is what this game is. This is what it does well. Here is where is falls short. You decide." Too much these days we just see "I liked this game! 10/10!!!" It's perfectly fair to have that opinion, but it shouldn't prevent you pointing out a game's failings. Just look at what happened with LA Noire; The unyielding critical praise that got, followed up by a significant number of disappointed gamers who saw the game's hollowness. This guy is actually critical, daring to point out flaws, and even thought in the end he is still positive with his score, all it gets him is a pack of angry fanboys. Goddamn internet.

From the text of that review I expected a 6. It seemed like he was disgusted with the nature of the game. I don't really care, though. I'm still buying it day one, because it seems like everything I want in an action game.

Ironically, even though I agree with your article Patrick, I learned about confirmation bias which is something that I have been doing recently. Attempting to prove to myself that Battlefield 3 just isn't for me. Thank you, good sir.

The problem I see with his review, is that he criticizes it for something it never tries to be in the first place. When it should focus on the fact it excels at what its sets out to be.

Great read Patrick.

@patrickklepek said:

@OracleXIII said:

you're really trying to be this oh so professional, so pc, so down with the intellectual shit.. mr. big man journalist. but these, these are just ruining the quality of this once fine website.

I'm happy to hear how any of these additions to Giant Bomb are impacting the overall quality of the website, and I'm not being sarcastic whatsoever. If you have an actual grievance, feel fee to PM me with details. No one is forcing you to read every article on this website, and part of what I'm trying to do is expand the editorial coverage of the site overall.

Way to go, Patrick!

The article is excellent and I thank you for touching on the subject. In the end, it will accomplish absolutely nothing against fandom everywhere (probably generate more confirmation bias), but touching on the subject is in itself a great accomplishment.

I'm with you on your expansion of editorial coverage and appreciate how you try to bring different views and subjects into focus, even if I may not like a particular article.

Fanboys are going to be fanboys. Who cares at this point?

Dumb comments made in the comment section of a review!?!?! Colour me shocked!