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TalkBack / RE:Virtual Console Mondays: January 7th, 2008
« on: January 08, 2008, 01:16:52 PM »
Okay, I'll have to admit I'm peeved. Why? Because reviews for a game in a genre the reviewer has no interest in was stupid back when EGM did it and it's just as stupid now. If you have no interest in the very foundation of a title you're covering, the review is worth, as the censored English would say, "eff all".
You realize that when a person reads a review, it's not because they care what your opinion is. If I wanted assorted opinions I'd find someone's crappy blog, and I view Planet GameCube's successor with a significantly higher air of legitimacy than that. When someone goes to look at a review, 9 times out of 10, it's to make a purchase decision. Hence, your review of KOF is worth jack squat.
There's a ton of things you could include in a review of a classic fighter that would actually be relevant to fighting game players, good or bad. Someone who grew up on Guilty Gear X or Street Fighter Alpha (a 10-year-old getting into either game when they came out would be in his late teens or early 20's by now) might appreciate a warning about rougher animation that they're used to, or hit timing that's significantly less immediately intuitive than the more recent, optimized games offer. In other words, "For Fans" might really not even remotely hit. Never mind some kid who *hasn't* played many fighters but finds them interesting might wanna give it a whirl, and nine bucks may very well be all he has to spend for the next month on games. Not everyone likes adventure titles, guy.
I've been playing video games since SF2 as well, and personally, I think KOF is a bit of a waste (it was basically SNK's answer to Street Fighter 2 and it didn't really get any better for the next 10 years, odd given the near-yearly sequels). However, think about how annoying this review process would be for anything else. Imagine looking for a grill for your summer barbecue. You go to Amazon, find one you might be interested in, and when you get to the editorial review, it's by some dick who does haute cuisine and finds the idea of using grills to put meals together disgusting. Then he blows a paragraph giving the item in question a cursory glance and insults its userbase. Exactly what good would that review do you?
The entire practice of reviewing something you don't like on a fundamental level is not only insulting at its core to your readers, it's outright irresponsible as a critic.
You realize that when a person reads a review, it's not because they care what your opinion is. If I wanted assorted opinions I'd find someone's crappy blog, and I view Planet GameCube's successor with a significantly higher air of legitimacy than that. When someone goes to look at a review, 9 times out of 10, it's to make a purchase decision. Hence, your review of KOF is worth jack squat.
There's a ton of things you could include in a review of a classic fighter that would actually be relevant to fighting game players, good or bad. Someone who grew up on Guilty Gear X or Street Fighter Alpha (a 10-year-old getting into either game when they came out would be in his late teens or early 20's by now) might appreciate a warning about rougher animation that they're used to, or hit timing that's significantly less immediately intuitive than the more recent, optimized games offer. In other words, "For Fans" might really not even remotely hit. Never mind some kid who *hasn't* played many fighters but finds them interesting might wanna give it a whirl, and nine bucks may very well be all he has to spend for the next month on games. Not everyone likes adventure titles, guy.
I've been playing video games since SF2 as well, and personally, I think KOF is a bit of a waste (it was basically SNK's answer to Street Fighter 2 and it didn't really get any better for the next 10 years, odd given the near-yearly sequels). However, think about how annoying this review process would be for anything else. Imagine looking for a grill for your summer barbecue. You go to Amazon, find one you might be interested in, and when you get to the editorial review, it's by some dick who does haute cuisine and finds the idea of using grills to put meals together disgusting. Then he blows a paragraph giving the item in question a cursory glance and insults its userbase. Exactly what good would that review do you?
The entire practice of reviewing something you don't like on a fundamental level is not only insulting at its core to your readers, it's outright irresponsible as a critic.
