Edge - 193 October Scores

[Dazzyman]

Aye I prefer forums for testing the water on impulse buys but I think the days are pretty much gone of really really bad games like the dross we used to get. Its like last Wed I saw first review of Tiger Woods 09 and it said it was ok not great. It put me off (as I like to preorder stuff usually to get em for Thursday) but next morning I thought sod it and orderered it anyway and gushed over it since and all of a sudden other reviews are pretty much saying the same as what I did BUT the first review put me off.

Ive always thought its a terrible thing to give a game to someone that has little intrest or no knowlege to review as you get loads of stupid errors (take new TW09 you can switch off put preview and go up levels but Ive seen at least two that say its too easy due to it) and Ive seen some dire reviews of shumps due to it Edge included! Same with racing games theirs loads that hate motorbike racers but if you give Superbikes to someone that knows em inside out you would see its a better game than motogp even with its flaws wheras someone thats never played em would just say its too hard and wander off. I just wish though some of the big reviewers would actually touch the options and in case of Blue dragon had played it with JPN launguage to get rid of the comments its irritating lol

[Roddie]

No, and I don't think that's necessarily a good way of reviewing, because surely doing it that way you're more likely to get a biased opinion? You can often get a far more interesting, balanced view of a game if the reviewer has little interest in the subject. It used to be one of Edge's strengths, in fact.

Generally, you want to read reviews by a similarly-minded people, so if you're a MotoGP fan, then you'd want a review to also be written by someone who likes the sport. If it's a series you don't like or aren't really interested in, then surely you'd also want someone coming from the same perspective so as to better guage whether you'll like it or not.

At the end of the day, it makes more sense for games to be reviewed by someone who enjoys the sport/series/type of game etc. because those are the people likely to be buying the game.

[JohnMcL7]

No, and I don't think that's necessarily a good way of reviewing, because surely doing it that way you're more likely to get a biased opinion? You can often get a far more interesting, balanced view of a game if the reviewer has little interest in the subject. It used to be one of Edge's strengths, in fact.

Not at all, if someone has no interest in a genre how can they accurately assess whether a game is actually any good or not? Going to the example of MotoGP for someone who has no interest in the sport and does not ride a bike themselves, how can you trust their opinion over a core feature like the bike handling? They may think the bike handling is atrocius (it's a lot more tricky than cars) but the reality is that the game accurately simulates a MotoGP bike and is actually really good for those that enjoy bike games.

I have little interest in football and even less interest in football games - at my former workplace they were all crazy about football games with large number of games taking place every lunchtime. I can't really tell the difference between any of them however there were always long arguments about differences between even versions of the same game. Any review I could write would quite simply be rubbish as I don't know enough about football itself and what those who enjoy the sport are looking for. However if writing a review on a motorbike game I could give information more useful to others interested in motorbikes and considering the game.

John

[egparadigm]

I think the truth is there needs to be a balance between the two.

If someone has a preference for RPGs, they may rate them more highly. Surely - especially in the mainstream print media - there must be some allowance made for readers who are new to the genre?

Then again, if they play a lot of RPGs, maybe they can be more discriminating.

[Grapple Convoy]

Is it me, or is this the fattest issue of Edge ever? 170+ pages!

[Malc]

Indeed, the latter half of the book is pure rubish though.

[spagmasterswift]

Really, all seemed of the same quality to me