A rant against game criticism

[HandsomeDead]

Yeah, if you go by the comments left on reviews there is an abundance of people who read them (or check the score) just to be validated. To find piece in that the game they bought has a reputation for being awesome.

But fuck those people, surely? What good is that? They bought that piece of shit anyway.

What Hendo said does sound like a compromise but something seems half hearted about that.

But I totally understand the obstacles to giving games a good thorough look. I attempted a review of Shadows of the Damned for a site and it pretty much echoed what the positive reviews of others said, but when I played it again recently other things hit me; things that weren't brought up a lot originally. The game has a reputation for being some flawed but silly fun and I even kinda said that myself but when I played it again I saw some real interesting design decisions, some great character stuff. Some really bad stuff I let slide before, too!

So doing better critiques perhaps will take the time that they don't have, unless they're smart (or 'game smart') and can see all this stuff clear as day.

[TopGunKnacker]

So doing better critiques perhaps will take the time that they don't have, unless they're smart (or 'game smart') and can see all this stuff clear as day.

can you become too too critical/game smart though? i have a mate who seems to just be utterly unconvinced by some of the best games of the generation, and its like he cant just let go and enjoy a game! he sits there criticising and picking apart the game from the get go and ends up with some strange opinions. i must admit, he notices things once in a while with his eagle eye that are quite interesting, but he ruins games for himself and i dont know many if any that would want to read his pedantic negative reviews!