Topic: Should you play a poorly rated game before condemning it on the interwebs?

[UncleBob]

"Instead, I buy the originals used, which is essentially no different than using ROMs as the companies involved still aren't seeing a cent of the money."

Nope.  Because when you go to the store and buy that used copy of Mario RPG, then when I go to the store and buy it, it's no longer there... so then I have to buy it via VC and the company gets piz-aid.

[Peachylala]

Um... I'm a bit confused, wasn't GI the one that started the Paper Mario TYD fiasco? I wouldn't be surprised if EGM bullshat their way around reviewing the game (this isn't surprising), but if I remember correctly, GI became a huge laughing stock within the Nin-community.

I'm sure Pro Daisy had a ball with that review. (after all, Pro Daisy's amusment is our entertaiment)

[Flames_of_chaos]

EGM gave Paper Mario Thousand Year door a 90/100 and EGM gave it a 68/100. Here's the scores from Metacritic

68
Game Informer
The art and combat are killed in their tracks by the game's downright shameful dialogue. [Nov 2004, p.158]

90
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Seriously, random villagers in this game have more character than major players in other RPGs, and certain moments are literally laugh-out-loud funny. [Dec 2004, p.168]

[Mop it up]

I think Game Informer are the ones who said that they score games based on what the gaming public will think of them. How does that make sense? Who are they to decide what the gaming public like and dislike? Idiots.

Because when you go to the store and buy that used copy of Mario RPG, then when I go to the store and buy it, it's no longer there... so then I have to buy it via VC and the company gets piz-aid.

You wouldn't check at another store or on eBay? If you're looking for the original cartridge to begin with then you probably wouldn't settle for an imitation version like on the VC. Though you kind of make me want to buy every copy of Super Mario RPG in existence so that everyone is forced to buy the download.

[NWR_pap64]

I think if you should try a game out if it peaks your interest but the word on it has been mixed.

Videogame experiences can be very personal and vary from person to person. What to me might be solid and even amazing could be boring and horrendous for someone else. This means that if you don't have any idea of how a game might be like you will never find out until you try it for yourself.

This is why I always suggest renting before buying, especially if people have mixed thoughts on the game. I know for some of you renting a game would be admitting that you are weak or something but for the sake of saving money you should swallow that pride and rent so you can see what the game is all about. Then and ONLY then will you know if the game fits your overall preferences and style.

[oohhboy]

I believe for a majority for us here, it is ok to slam a game before we play it because most of the time when we do it, it is for games that are terrible. It is ok to follow your gut, turn on that BS detector. Most of us have played enough games to know a bad game (shoot) on sight. I mean who in their right mind would defend games Like HorseZ and Universal park adventure(Which I have shamefully played for 5 minutes in a failed attempt to find redeeming value).

Most of the time your not arguing over things like Saints Row, a highly flawed game, with strong comedy value here. Or Wii fit and it's practical non-game benefits.

I read reviews mostly for entertainment value. I already know what I want.

[KnowsNothing]

I apologize for my reckless slander!  It is in fact GI that we should hate more

Also for the benefit of those who misunderstood, towards the end of my post I may have been a bit hyperbolic.  no one can ever really enjoy hoop-and-stick

[S-U-P-E-R]

So to answer the thread title question; yeah. There's already been a few anecdotes in this thread and I definitely have a few of my own. Just because the mags/sites universally pan a game doesn't mean you should not check out a game (it usually does, but not always). If you have played enough video games and know who's developing it, intuition can often tell you if a game is good. Playing is best, though!

Final Fight: Streetwise owns

[Flames_of_chaos]

So to answer the thread title question; yeah. There's already been a few anecdotes in this thread and I definitely have a few of my own. Just because the mags/sites universally pan a game doesn't mean you should not check out a game (it usually does, but not always). If you have played enough video games and know who's developing it, intuition can often tell you if a game is good. Playing is best, though!

Final Fight: Streetwise owns

Haha I want to see someone say that with a straight face while playing and enjoying it. I think after that game which was made by Capcom's US development house, they shut that dev house down.

[Mop it up]

I believe for a majority for us here, it is okay to slam a game before we play it because most of the time when we do it, it is for games that are terrible.

The problem I have with this is, how do you know it is terrible? If you've never actually played it, how can you be sure? Do you really have the right to pass judgment on a game you haven't played?

This is a two-way street too. I never claimed that Super Mario Galaxy was a good game until after I played it.

[Stogi]

I know other people's poo smells like poo because people have told me there poo smells like poo; does that mean I have to smell their poo in order to say the truth about their poo, which is, it smells like ****?

[Mop it up]

That disgusting analogy doesn't really make sense. Everyone's excrement is essentially the same so it is all going to have the same scent. That would be like if someone owned the same game as you and you asked them if it were any different.

[Stratos]

Poop is a product of a natural bodily function. Making a game takes work and can turn out good or bad. It is not something that just happens like poop happens.

[Mop it up]

This is turning into a Fun House thread. I really need to stop eating whilst I'm here...

[Stratos]

Sorry, I could have phrased that better I suppose. I was more arguing that he is comparing apples to oranges.

[Stogi]

You two obviously missed the point.

[KDR_11k]

Define condemn. Put it on my "don't buy at any price" list? Hell yeah am I going to put games there without playing them. Constantly insult on the internet? I usually do that more with games I played that got rated highly and turned out to suck so much feces it's no wonder the graphics are all brown.

I usually go by word of mouth first (if many people on a forum liked it it's likely that the game is fun), then reviews (often using the text to determine whether a game is one I'd like or not while the score is more of an overall quality judgement, many reviewers fail to properly express the level of like/dislike they have for a game in writing). Some games get bought on a random chance if they're cheap enough. Demos apply for 360 games (which have never convinced me to buy a game, so far all demos I played on the system ended up with the game being put on the "definitely not worth 70€" list) but on the Wii or DS there are none.

I do think I should listen to Yahtzee's reviews, he does seem to exhibit a similarily critical viewpoint as I do. It's what kept me away from buying GTACW recently (got Prof Layton instead).

I also do recommend games to people based on scores even when I didn't enjoy them but felt it was an issue limited to me or at least count them in a list of good games (stuff like GTA and God of War goes here, I didn't think of them highly when I played them but I know many millions loved the games).

[vudu]

Final Fight: Streetwise owns

What happened to that video you posted a few years back?  I think it was you playing through one of the levels and the bad guy got stuck running in circles for a couple minutes.

[S-U-P-E-R]

Not the creator of the vid, but here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b-kJ9T9HaU

This is the ever-popular article I wrote about the game:
http://superty.livejournal.com/288401.html

[Mikintosh]

I'd be wiling to play more badly-reviewed games if they all had demos that I could try out; sure, XBLA's great for that, but the demos for the 360 games take up almost half of my remaining disk space each, and take an hour to load. And the Wii doesn't have any at all; what happened to demo discs?

This may be a slight tangent, but I don't see why all of these classic game companies don't just dump their entire backlog onto the VC/XBLA/PSN channels; this staggered release business is ridiculous, because the years of lost sales for releasing something 3 years after the service began has to outweigh any benefits to releasing them one at a time. I was planning on getting Super Mario Kart & Star Fox on the VC, but instead I got them and an SNES system used (which I don't consider wrong since the company already got paid for them, and the previous owner doesn't get to keep a copy.

[KDR_11k]

You only have 2GB left on your HDD? What did you throw on there?

The staggered releases are to keep the service alive, if they did massive dumps every 6 months or so noone would bother checking for updates anymore. Plus the games would get drowned in the flood with people only focussing on the games they know already instead of each getting its own exposure, potentially making people check what those games are and maybe buy some.

[Mop it up]

This may be a slight tangent, but I don't see why all of these classic game companies don't just dump their entire backlog onto the VC/XBLA/PSN channels; this staggered release business is ridiculous, because the years of lost sales for releasing something 3 years after the service began has to outweigh any benefits to releasing them one at a time.

I'm sure that they've done market research to determine that it's best not to release everything at one time. They're not the only one who does this sort of thing either; companies don't release every season of an old television show on DVD all at the same time. Though I do think that they should go back to releasing three VC games every week, regardless of what's coinciding on WiiWare. With the amount of systems supported by the VC and the possibility of more, I'm sure they could find three worthwhile games every week for many years to come.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Um... I'm a bit confused, wasn't GI the one that started the Paper Mario TYD fiasco? I wouldn't be surprised if EGM bullshat their way around reviewing the game (this isn't surprising), but if I remember correctly, GI became a huge laughing stock within the Nin-community.

I'm sure Pro Daisy had a ball with that review. (after all, Pro Daisy's amusment is our entertaiment)

Actually, Game Informer reviewed Eternal Darkness a year before it came out (5 months before GAMECUBE launched in the USA), complete with a final [low] score and a 3-paragraph write-up -- based on the E3 2001 build that debuted only a month before this issue came out.  This is my ground beef with them, and they've done a remarkable job of covering up/erasing any evidence of this catastrophe.  I thought "how the **** did they review it?  I only played this demo at E3 a month ago like they did!  Did they get a GAMECUBE?  I WANT MY GAMECUBE!"

On a side note, I did sign up for GameStop Edge Card whatever a long time ago, handy for in-store credit.  I keep getting issues of that terrible GI magazine in my mail, and they won't stop.  "This" is how GI appears to stiill be "in business", cuz the stupid retail chain won't stop CUTTING DOWN RAINFORESTS TO GIVE THIS AWFUL MAGAZINE AWAY.

[Mikintosh]

You only have 2GB left on your HDD? What did you throw on there?

Music from CDs; they finally got the user soundtrack thing down right with the 360, so I like to have things to listen to in Burnout and such. Plus, I have a bunch of XBLA games.

This may be a slight tangent, but I don't see why all of these classic game companies don't just dump their entire backlog onto the VC/XBLA/PSN channels; this staggered release business is ridiculous, because the years of lost sales for releasing something 3 years after the service began has to outweigh any benefits to releasing them one at a time.

I'm sure that they've done market research to determine that it's best not to release everything at one time. They're not the only one who does this sort of thing either; companies don't release every season of an old television show on DVD all at the same time. Though I do think that they should go back to releasing three VC games every week, regardless of what's coinciding on WiiWare. With the amount of systems supported by the VC and the possibility of more, I'm sure they could find three worthwhile games every week for many years to come.

Yeah, but that's usually because they don't want to crowd the market by releasing multiple seasons of Frasier at the same time, for example. I don't think it's the same for video games since they're more evergreen and you don't have to experience them in any particular order (unless they're sequels). At the very least the process is too slow.

[KDR_11k]

Well, the process got slowed down to make room for WiiWare.