On Videogame Reviews

[eldargal]

I just read this, [URL="http://tevisthompson.com/on-videogame-reviews/"]On Videogame Reviews[/URL], very thought provoking. I don't agree with everything he says and I find his characterisation of Tomb Raider and Lara Croft borderline offensive* but he does raise some excellent points about videogames and reviews in general.

1. Game of the Year

BioShock Infinite is the worst game of the year.
It’s an unjustified shooter without a single new idea. It’s a self-gratifying spectacle that confuses cunning with depth. It’s a craven, heartless game of false moral equivalencies that uses the suffering of oppressed people as window dressing, as theme, while it explores its own cold metaphysical conceits.
For its lack of humanity, for its fake guilt, for its flat boring gameplay, for its 100 million dollar cost, for its cleverness, for its cowardice, BioShock Infinite is not just the worst game of the year. It’s the worst game I’ve played this generation.

His opinion on Bioshock certainly grabs attention, I've not played it so I can't comment. But he goes on to say:

I don’t expect every reviewer to give BioShock Infinite a 2 out of 10, as I would. But I expect to see more dissent than that offered by excellent outliers like Game Critics or Quarter to Three or Action Button. I expect to see more actual criticism in the videogame review community. I expect to not have perspectives like mine looked upon as trolling.
Reviews are not about finding agreement. They are not based on commonly held values. As if anyone is sure just what makes a videogame great. It’s all contested ground. It’s our values as gamers that are exactly at stake in reviews. We shouldn’t be asking whether BioShock Infinite deserves a 9 or a 10. We should be asking whether it deserves a 2 or a 10. That’s a real debate

I recommend reading the whole thing and having a think about it even if you disagree with his opinions on games because I think he addresses a core problem with the video gaming industry and the support structure around it (media and fanbases). Specifically a considerable lack of maturity and self criticism, particularly worrisome in what is the fastest growing entertainment industry at present.


*He basically sneers at Lara for being a feminist icon (which she is) and asks 'are our standards for women characters really this low?' while ignoring the fact that Lara is one of the first female video game leads, in her new incarnation she is written by a woman, is not sexualised even with the reviewers peculiar focus on the 'sideboob camera' which I can't say I even noticed and he is both strong and vulnerable. She isn't just an action hero with breasts. So he doesn't understand what makes Lara special to so many women and why to some extent we can even overlook the ridiculous sexualisation of her previous incarnations. It just seems like he is saying 'she sucks and feminists are silly for liking her'.

[Psychosplodge]

I'm too lazy to read all that this morning.
But after scanning it, he's not far off with bioshock. The first was interesting setting, but the gameplay imo was shoddy at best. The sequels are overwhelmingly meh even if the newest is very pretty.


On game reviews in general, I find scores are artificially inflated. Look at the annual reskin of COD or Battlefield. They barely play any different but still get 8 or 9 out of 10. It's almost as if reviewers are scared of going less than a 7. 5 should be the mark of an average game. yet when was the last time you saw an average game get a 5?

[eldargal]

I don't blame you, I read it last night and just posted it this morning. I recommend reading it though, like I said I disagree on quite a few points but he also makes some very good points.

[Wolfshade]

Then again, few first-person shooters are. Once I admit this ‘bias’ – that I think the FPS is one of the most limited, least interesting genres – I’ve marked myself as someone unqualified to give a fair review.

This I approve of, but then I like grand strategy and rpgs.
I love the ability not to just have to play as a platformer, I like being able to chose what my character is and how it fits into the ingame world, invariably, on first play through it is a goody-two-shoes then on subsequent replays becomes more *ahem* self indulgent.

[YorkNecromancer]

I read this last night. Great article.

I played Bioshock Infinite and loved it, but his criticisms here are absolutely on the money, especially his discussion of the presentation of the Vox Populi, and the fact that Elizabeth has absolutely no agency of any kind. His discussions of the intellectual laziness of "I have no political position" are spot on as well.

He's right that the only people who can afford "no political position" are the ones for whom the system is currently perfectly set up.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

I read this the other day, thought it was basically on the money.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

I was thinking of getting into reviewing...

[Wolfshade]

I was thinking of getting into reviewing...

Do it, start a blog

[Psychosplodge]

Or a Youtube Vlog, probably easier to monetise

[Wolfshade]

Or both.

As we created this idea, 'Splogy and I will take a reasonable 20% each