Lolo discussion/why reviews are just one guys opinion.

[DEMON212]

I got slagged off for not liking Lolo the other week, and everyone was telling me how great it was and Drake even said.

Originally Posted by Drake

Just wait for the AoL review, I bet Damo/Dazza will give it 4 or 5 stars.

Well, you were right, the VCR did give it a 4.

But so did these guys.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/index/reviews....rn_all=is_true

The reason i've posted this is to prove my point that a review is just someone's opinion.

The VCR gave it a 4-5, IGN gave it a 4-10.

And look at "Bloody Wolf". 6-10 but on the VCR it gets a 4-5.

So just because a game is great in one persons eyes, doesn't mean it's great. It also doesn't mean that one person/review is right and the other is wrong.

I love many a game that people hate, but I also love many a game that people love.

And i'm sure it's the same for everyone out there.

Now that's not to say that reviews are bad, but review scores shouldn't matter.

IMO a reviewers main job is to tell you about the game. Tell you what you do in it, how long it lasts, if it has control issues etc... And that's why people should read them. That's why I read them.

I've never understood why they rate them though.

But that's maybe it's to get people to read why they think the game is a ??? out of ???, because to be totally honest I will sometimes see a score of 1.5 and think "Man, why'd they give it that?" and then go read why.

[KeatsSeven]

i agree (makes a change for us to agree demon!). i think having a rating actually demeans videogames making them look like a teenage boys hobby.
it also makes the actual review redundant- many of the most well written reviews that end up giving a game say 7/10 are ignored- people just glance at the rating and think "bad game" and move on

personally i rarely bother to look at Damo's reviews or any of the other top page reviews of the VC games because of that exact reason. One person to suggest I spend/dont spend money on a game just doesn't cut it.

However, the star ratings and the tons of user comments are usually agreeable with me on the whole...that's why i love coming here : )

most of the members on this forum have better taste than damo :X

*i didn't say that erhemmm

[Manaman]

While what you say do make sense about people having different opinions, Demon, it was more the fact that you wrote off the game completely without actually playing the game that was the issue.

It's perfectly fine if you're not interested in games that others like. Why not just say 'I'm not interested' instead of deeming X game is crap simply from watching a few videos?

[Dazza]

I agree reviews are one person's opinion. We do try and be as unbiased as possible and ask others if they think the rating sounds fair before the review goes live. Still gaming is a subjective experience so everyone is always going to disagree aren't they?

When we considered what sort of rating system would be most appropriate for vc-reviews we decided the 5 star system was probably best. Ratings out of 10 or 100 can easily put people off if a game gets 7/10 or 70% - To me the 1up system of giving thumbs up or down is even worse and doesn't create any real indication of the quality of a game.... case in point they gave thumbs up to World Sports Competition last week which really is pants..... then they gave NES Golf thumbs down which is crazy.

I think you've got the best of everything with vc-reviews. If you think Damo or myself are a bit off the mark then you can check out the reader comments if you are in doubt. Zelda II is a good example, in good conscience we couldn't give it more than 3/5 but it's one of the most loved and talked about games on the VC.

Each to their own eh?

[KeatsSeven]

it can also work the other way around- take eurogamers review of resi 4 wii edition. it got what i call a 'decent' score(7/10), but the actual review is one of the worst written reviews i have ever read- its more like a blog post or something

[DEMON212]

Originally Posted by Manaman

While what you say do make sense about people having different opinions, Demon, it was more the fact that you wrote off the game completely without actually playing the game that was the issue.

It's perfectly fine if you're not interested in games that others like. Why not just say 'I'm not interested' instead of deeming X game is crap simply from watching a few videos?

I had this argument with someone else recently.

I never said "LOLO IS CRAP" I said "LOLO LOOKS! CRAP".

There's a big difference.

One is my opinion having played the game, and the other is my opinion after viewing footage of the game.

Lolo may be great, but i'm not prepared to spend 500 points to find out if it is good or isn't in my books.

I've bought many a game that I thought looked crap through recomendations, and i've regretted almost all of them.

Originally Posted by Dazza

I agree reviews are one person's opinion. We do try and be as unbiased as possible and ask others if they think the rating sounds fair before the review goes live. Still gaming is a subjective experience so everyone is always going to disagree aren't they?

When we considered what sort of rating system would be most appropriate for vc-reviews we decided the 5 star system was probably best. Ratings out of 10 or 100 can easily put people off if a game gets 7/10 or 70% - To me the 1up system of giving thumbs up or down is even worse and doesn't create any real indication of the quality of a game.... case in point they gave thumbs up to World Sports Competition last week which really is pants..... then they gave NES Golf thumbs down which is crazy.

I think you've got the best of everything with vc-reviews. If you think Damo or myself are a bit off the mark then you can check out the reader comments if you are in doubt. Zelda II is a good example, in good conscience we couldn't give it more than 3/5 but it's one of the most loved and talked about games on the VC.

Each to their own eh?

Exactly, that's another thing. With the comments and the forums, you have the chance to learn people's tastes so that you can take there recomendations better.

Same goes with reviews. Alot of what you guys put up on the VCR I agree with about games. So I found it to be a great place to look up and find out if i'd like the game. Because you guys are usually on the mark.

It's rare that I a read a VCR review, and regret my choice of buying or not buying.

It's just when I take a rec of some guy on a forum.

It's a shame I rarely get to speak to one guy anymore. His handle was Spelldragon and he was the first mod that I looked up to. He done a great job and he was a really nice guy. And we had a very similar taste in games. We'd often recomend a game or even band to each other and we'd usually like it/them.

well its pretty much fact zelda II is crap and the review was too nice :P