MGS 4 - Does it officially make review scores impotent?
A number of publications have reviewed MGS 4 at this point. Among others, IGN and Gametrailers have weighed in. Gametrailers gave the game a 9.3 - A pretty darned good review score. But once again, this raises the question of whether or not reviewers are refusing to touch 10 because it constitutes perfection. It also raised some outrage on the intarwebs (what doesn't anymore, really?) over the fact that the game was not given a 10. Penny Arcade, as usual, has something to say about that.
IGN, on the other hand, has given the game a 10. The game has also garnered a number of perfect scores (by that, I mean the highest possible on the scale, not that the game is perfect) from other publications. They've broken that barrier that others seem to be afraid to touch. Does the game deserve it?
Looking back on the last year of gaming, and the incredible praise showered upon so many releases, you have to wonder if it is the reviewers getting more lax about their standards for games, marketing departments influencing editorial decisions, or if it really is just that good of a game?
Take Halo 3 for example. Looking at Metacritic, there were plenty of 100 review scores. And after that, most weren't below 95. Yet the game was, in my opinion, sadly lacking in single player, and the multiplayer proved to be much, much weaker than any other Halo title. It did not deserve a single one of those 100s from my point of view.
I can't take a perfect score seriously anymore. I'm not even sure I can take review scores seriously anymore at all.
A perfect score? Really? Is the game perfect?
9.5? That's not high enough.
8.5? Are you just trying to ruffle feathers and stand out with such a low score?
7.5? You obviously don't like the game or the genre, so I don't know why they'd give it to you to review.
When did it happen that review scores were all about validating the opinions of the vocal minority?
I can remember PC Gamer giving games with 85% or higher scores "Editor's Choice" awards, way back in the day. Those were must-buys. Hell, even the 75% or higher games I'd consider picking up.
Have games that were really just that good truly saturated the market so much that the curve is easier now? Or are review scores being used as tools in the marketing game?
I don't care anymore, I guess.
Give me a publication that uses an up-or-down vote, please.
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I was discussing that over the phone with a friend. There are many perfect scores for MGS4 and I don't think it deserves that. A 10 to me means the game excels in every area, for its genre. I didn't get to play a lot of MGS4 (just a couple hours in), but at the first minutes of play I thought the controls were not intuitive at all. At this day and age, I think that is a major flaw but it can be overlooked after you get used to the awkward control scheme, but sure it's annoying and that should affect the game score in my opinion.
I believe it will be a great game. It does feel like it, but not perfect at all.
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Looking at trends over that past few years, it seems as though the 1 to 10 scale of scoring games is really more like a 7 to 10 scale.
7 = flawed, but not horribly
8 = average/good
9 = great
10 = best of the year
Rarely are games given scores below 7 any more, unless they're shovelware abominations.
I've definitely noticed a more casual use of the "Perfect 10" score lately and I personally don't mind at all. I guess some people believe that "10" really does mean a game is Perfect and therefore is a statistical impossibility to achieve. I'm not a member of that camp.
To me, a "10 game" is one that is freaking incredible (BioShock, CoD4, Orange Box, GTA IV, etc.). IMO, it doesn't mean that said title has to reinvent the wheel or even be free from negative critiques (either technical or design-wise). I look at a 10-game as more than anything exemplifying and representing the best in whatever genre the title happens to fall in. It doesn't have to be the best game in its genre, but if it can be counted among the best, then that's good enough for me.
This is why I have taken a 180 and fully embraced 1Up's transition to the A-F scale.
There's just no getting away from the distortion of the 10 point scale. No matter how many rating keys are put into magazines, no matter how many discussions rage in forums, for all these schoolkids, 7 = 70% = C- = my parents ground me, as opposed to 7 being well above the middle of the scale.
An "A+" is also a hell of a lot less loaded than a "perfect 10".
Fighting it is pointless. That much should be very clear by now. It's a battle that will not be won.
That's not to say that there won't be people screaming "why isn't Game X an A+?", but I guarantee you that there would be a lot less blowback to an A or A- rating than a numerical score.
All scales are completely arbitrary. Why not at least choose the one that most closely matches the perception and understanding of the reader?
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I think "Hardcore" game sites rate games based on hype. I actually trust Gametrailer's review a lot more, because they seem to take a more laid back approach.
IGN takes a hardcore gamer view, and so does Gamespot. I honestly can't relate to that anymore, and I don't believe them when they say "PERFECT GAME 10".
Besides, it's usually the fanboys complaining that a game didn't get 10/10. And boy, do they complain the loudest.
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Review scores aren't tools of marketing, they are marketing.
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The fact that Konami was asking reviewers not to mention certain things (and not just to avoid spoilers) would suggest to me the game is less than perfect. Therefore, it is not a 10.
Simple as that.
Giving a game a 10 is like giving the developer a pass not to improve. It's like saying, "even if you'd tried harder, even if you'd done better, it wouldn't have mattered at all." I'd be very happy if no game ever got a 10, and the fact that we've been seeing SO many 10s lately, and that they are all so predictably 10s based on the popularity of the game, would indicate to me that yes, scoring is impotent.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
The overall score wasn't the only complaint. GT gave MGS4's story an 8.7 while Halo's story, for example, was given an 9.5. I believe Halo 3 was given an overall score of 9.8 by GT as well. What readers are doing is comparing one game's review scores with another and declaring them inconsistent or contradictory.
Review scores have become almost comedic for me. But I don't much pay attention anymore. Whenever reviewers learn to use the full 1-10 scale, let me know.
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Great post NSmike. I totally agree. I think we could have all taken a guess at what the review scores would have been for Metal Gear 4 and I think we would have all said 10 just because we knew that publications and websites would just shower it with praise necessary or not. I think this weeks GFW radio really clicked with me and makes me sad that GFW magazine has closed it's doors. They were talking about doing review/critiques on games instead of regular reviews. I find I don't even read regular reviews any more because it's just the same drivel spewed over and over. Halo 3 sucked in my books go compare any of the Halo games to any game in the Half-Life series and in my books Half Life comes out on top in every category yet Half Life got no perfect scores. I don't even want review scores any more.....I just want to read some interesting opinions on why a game deserves to be played or not. The Witcher or S.T.A.L.K.E.R are not perfect games in any sense but they are games that everyone should play. In the end I will buy and play Metal Gear 4 because I am a huge fan of the series and want to see how it concludes whether it is a perfect 10 or not is irrelevant, as long as the game is fun and satisfying I'm there.
I never really did respect review scores. I kind of like CrispyGamer's ratings of Fry It, Try It and Buy It, but even that has nasty wiggle room in it for the reviewer to be indecisive.
If reviewers have to use a 10-point scale, though, I have absolutely no problem with them throwing out 10s left and right to games that blow them away. That's what the score is there for, so go ahead and use it. Going into differences at the precision of tenths of a point seems to me like a silly trapping of faux-objectivity, as if they measured the precise fun curve of a game and took the Riemann sum. A review score is a glib little snap-judgement for people who don't really want to hear a fleshed out opinion, and I think a lot of reviewers really overthink it.
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Ok I read IGN's review and it's such bullsh*t. 11 out of 10 =/
Closing Comments
Is it possible to give a game an 11? If so, this would be the game that would merit that score. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a title that exceeds all of the hype that was attached to the title. Regardless of whether you've seen every trailer and screenshot, read every preview and heard every interview, you won't get a full sense of how phenomenal this title is unless you sit down and experience it for yourself.
Ugh.
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I just think it's ridiculous to have 100 (0.0-10.0) degrees of precision for a review score, which is a fundamentally subjective evaluation. I'm all for the 4 star system typically used in every other form of media review.
Having a system that represents such extremes just facilitates the insane internet arguments between crazed zealots about whether or not a game deserved a 9.8 or a 10.
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I myself would be down with a simple thumbs-up/thumbs down system, and SHORTER text reviews to justify that position. It quite simply should NOT take 4 pages to tell me how good a game is.
That said, I also like 1Up's new grade meathod, since that works on a system that we all know and understand. Everyone knows that an A- is a good score, though if it were translated into its equivalent of around an 8.5, there would be mega outrage.
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This just in. IGN full of sh*t. Film at 11.
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It doesn't sound like particularly well written sh*t, either.
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Review scores have always been impotent, GTA 4 and MGS 4 both really just highlight the fact.
Fact. There is no perfect game in objective terms
Fact. Scores provide the illusion of objectivity
Therefore. Review scores are irrelevant
GTA and MGS are both franchises with which people either love or hate, one man's special massage with happy ending is another man's having your eyeballs gouged out and someone urinating in the sockets.
kuddles wrote:
...Are we still talking about video games?
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I don't think 10 means the game is perfect, but as was stated it needs to stand out in its genres and it had damn well be near problem free. Portal wasn't perfect, but the nits I'd have to pick to find fault with the game are so trivial that I'd just look like someone purposefully trying to find something bad with the game.
That's my test of a perfect score. The harder I have to try to find something to not like, the better the game is. If I play a game and I hardly ever get annoyed by some aspect of it then it deserves praise. That's why I was so leery of GTAIV's score. Surely the same crappy gameplay mechanics and issues continuing to be in the series are worth knocking a point or two off.
Generally though reviewers are now just pandering to what is popular or pandering to their sponsors. I'd be inclined to believe otherwise if it weren't for these AAA titles with HUGE advertising campaigns getting these ridiculously high scores. I get that reviews are subjective, but often it sounds like reviewers are buying into the hype themselves instead of really looking at a game's merits. I can't trust them to tell me what is good and bad about a game anymore. Even back in the day I could at least read between the lines or get an idea of why they assigned a score. Now, the score seems to come first and the review is written to justify the number.
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I'm not sure why some publications and websites treat a 10 review score like it was absolute zero. A 10 doesn't necessarily mean a perfect game, so much as an incredibly good game. It's much easier to think of the scores in relation to each other, and not so much as in relation to perfection. It's all in the definition, I suppose.
No one expects to see a perfect movie despite it's 5 star rating. It's because reviews are entirely subjective. One person's amazing game experience is maybe just ok, at best, when compared to the experience of another person. (Sort like last year's messiah, Halo 3, was for me despite it's great reviews. I'd have given it an 8.)
I think part of this might've just been how much was riding on MGS4. It was basically Sony's last trump card. If it sucked, it could have been the beginning of the end for the PS3. So now all the PS3 owners are breathing a sigh of relief and calling THAT part of the experience. I know if I'd spent $600 and one game made me feel like it was worth it, I'd love that game all the way up to 11, too.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
All of this clearly indicates that GWJ is backwards and wrong for not giving numeric review scores!
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
This sentence or its equivalent that popped into so many rendered the reviews impotent: "You already pre-ordered Metal Gear..."
And if most of these "writers" are purveyors of buying advice, why move past that?
I give this post a score of one hamburger paid for by I.O.U. tomorrow
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I'm not sure I get why this is such an issue. Like everyone else I look at scores of games, and a glance at Metacritic will give me a idea of where a game is falling. But it's the words the reviewer uses, not the score, that actually gives you an idea if the game is up your alley. And if the reviewer is not all that good, then I don't really care what number or letter he gives it.
When a blockbuster gets 10's and high scores, it just tells me that they didn't screw the game up. Hype is still flowing, and those early reviews are full of it. But if the game misses, those scores start dropping quickly. But the actual number or letter on an individual review means nothing.
Do I really need a score to figure out if a game is good or bad when I read a review by Bill Abner?
If I am interested in a game, and it scores 70% or better (or it gets C, 7 out of 10, three out of five, or whatever) then I read the review. If I start seeing lower scores, it may keep me from investing the time in reading a review and buying the game. But if I then see some positive impressions from folks I respect, it doesn't mater what the score or even the reviewer has said.
But I have found some C games to among my favorites, and some A games to be total turds. I never once thought the scores should change. I don't understand the obsession with it.
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First, you are wrong about the multiplayer. Halo 3's was easily the second best version of all the Halo games. But beating out Halo I was not much of a feat.
But this is exactly what I was talking about. So what if it didn't deserve the 100s? We all know exactly why it got them, and why GTA IV and MGS4 got them. They were huge blockbusters, with lots of hype. Then they didn't suck. That's it. It's a different set of rules than your normal run of the mill games, which might be much better, but the lack of hype forces the reviewer to be more accurate in scoring the game.
It had always been this way, and always will. Movies get the same treatment. It's not a conspiracy, it's human nature. Once I accepted that, it was easy to again use reviews to gleam information about games i might want to play. Scores do one thing, and that's get your review into a database with other reviews.
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So it would be ok for say, Armageddon, to get dozens of 5 star reviews because it's a Summer Blockbuster?
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My God. I just read the first few fourm posts on Game Trailers regarding their review.
It's.....it's.......beyond reason. One poster is actually sh*tting on them over 0.2 points difference in score. Multiple people are claiming that Game Trailers is owned by Microsoft because of the review score.
At what point did this become a religion to these people?
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I have a sneaking suspicion that all the gushing about this game is actually worth it, and it may be one of the titles deserving 10/10, like COD4 was.
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At the risk of "Podunking" all over this thread...
we could save a lot of time and effort if we just cut and pasted all our comments from the "GTA IV REVIEWS ARE HYPED CRAP!" thread.
This is the same exact argument a MONTH later over the same issues. Come on... does anyone really believe that a "10" means "perfect"? No magazine/web site in the universe has ever said it does. People who haven't yet played MGS4 really have no basis to complain or comment on the scores yet. I mean, seriously "it doesn't deserve a 10 because of the press black-out on talking about cut scenes"? Lobsty... I love you, man, but you're a nut
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