Edge 208 scores

[rmoxon]

This times a bajillion.

I'm loving Borderlands, but I'll defend anyone's right to give it a bad review. There are a large group of people where the appeal of loot just doesn't do it for them. The Edge review is for them.

I think the problem is that most people feel that Boarderlands is a good game and should get a good review, a score of 6 might not put people already intrested in it off, but it wont make anyone want to buy it either, and its a game that deserves to be sampled by people really.

I havent actualy read the review becuase i dont read the magazine, but i'd be intrested to know what critisisms they leveled at it really. I'm not that big on loot collect em ups, but I think it has fantastic gameplay, so i like the game...

[Brats]

If all reviews just reflected what most people thought, there'd be no point in having reviews. You'd be better of looking at things like the average Amazon score.

If the Edge review editor gave the game to writer to review and he/she said they didn't like it, is the editor meant to take the game away from the writer and give it to someone else?

A review isn't meant to reflect the typical opinion of a game, it's meant to reflect one opinion of a game. A bad review is not a problem. I agree it is a problem when a prospective buyer looks at one bad review and makes their buying decisions based on that, but that's not the reviewer's fault.

You see it a lot on other forums, when gamers cancel their pre-order to a game they have been looking forward to based on one review. That's completely nuts imo.

[MikeRox]

i remember some excellent japanese dreamcast games (Blue Stinger and Shutokou Battle) only getting 3/10 and i was so furious i was about to write a letter! (sure that would have done any good)

I think Shutokou Battle was just completely misunderstood by critics tbh. It was also before the "import" scene was suddenly big in gaming so also maybe a bit ahead of its time? I never once saw a score better than 5/10 for what I consider one of the best 3rd Party Dreamcast launch titles in the UK. 60fps high res graphics made my eyes bleed.

I got so much out of it and loved every minute that, I think my rating would have been 8/10 at least. But as with everything, purely subjective, I can also see why other people would find it a monotonous bore with "just" 1 long track etc.

[charlesr]

Shutokou Battle was almost an RPG I quite liked it.

[Flabio]

It's why I like the review aggregators like metacritic. Ignore the actual metacritic score and scroll down to the list of reviews. All the scores are there along with a quick quote from the review. Doesn't take long to get a feel for whether it's something you'd like or not.

[egparadigm]

If all reviews just reflected what most people thought, there'd be no point in having reviews. You'd be better of looking at things like the average Amazon score.

If the Edge review editor gave the game to writer to review and he/she said they didn't like it, is the editor meant to take the game away from the writer and give it to someone else?

A review isn't meant to reflect the typical opinion of a game, it's meant to reflect one opinion of a game. A bad review is not a problem. I agree it is a problem when a prospective buyer looks at one bad review and makes their buying decisions based on that, but that's not the reviewer's fault.

You see it a lot on other forums, when gamers cancel their pre-order to a game they have been looking forward to based on one review. That's completely nuts imo.

Excellent POI. This should probably be cut and pasted into all future EDGE threads.

[rmoxon]

If all reviews just reflected what most people thought, there'd be no point in having reviews. You'd be better of looking at things like the average Amazon score.

If the Edge review editor gave the game to writer to review and he/she said they didn't like it, is the editor meant to take the game away from the writer and give it to someone else?

A review isn't meant to reflect the typical opinion of a game, it's meant to reflect one opinion of a game. A bad review is not a problem. I agree it is a problem when a prospective buyer looks at one bad review and makes their buying decisions based on that, but that's not the reviewer's fault.

You see it a lot on other forums, when gamers cancel their pre-order to a game they have been looking forward to based on one review. That's completely nuts imo.

I agree with most of what you said, but its not really nuts when people cancel a pre order, even if its only based on one review...., some people may have a single source they trust, and they dont have enough money to buy every game thats released so pick the ones they want that have the best scores.

I'm not one of those people, but If I was then a 6 for borderlands would have probabaly put me off the game and made me buy Brutal Legends instead, becuase that got a higher score and so theoreticaly was a more worthwhile purchase.

[Valiant]

Short critique of Gameswipe was spot on.

The show was beyond awful and did gaming no favours.

[egparadigm]

I agree it was good, although I also agreed with their qualifications in the sense that he (Brooker) is free to make whatever program he wishes to.

On a personal level, I really enjoyed the program. I don't mind being told how to suck eggs on the issue of genres because I'm interested to know how games are explained to, and understood by, a television audience.

[Valiant]

I thought the programme failed to portray games and gamers in a positive light overall as Brooker is an individual that does not generate sympathy or warmth with his manner, style and tone. Some of the content was baffling!

[Flabio]

It wasn't made to 'do the industry any favours'. It's a Charlie Brooker show, it was always going to be the way it turned out.

[Brats]

I thought the programme failed to portray games and gamers in a positive light overall as Brooker is an individual that does not generate sympathy or warmth with his manner, style and tone. Some of the content was baffling!

I disagree. By acknowledging that some games are bad and that some gamers are nutters, it showed that most gamers themselves have a degree of common sense and quality control.

Sure, you can show off Ico and Rez and get all high and mighty about gaming, but the truth is that those games are not the mainstream and those who are sceptcle about gaming's worth know that.

Brooker does not generate sympathy, but sympathy is not what we need at all. He does however get respect, which is exactly what we do need. I thought the Edge article missed the point of what was clearly a very carefully constructed and targeted show.

[Sam The Man]

*My review for edge magazine for the past 5 years - 5/10*

I would of said the past 10yrs

[nakamura]

For me a review score should be almost irrelevant if the text is well thought out.

For instance a 6/10 game may not be a bad title just have some fundamental problems. I am playing Digital Devil Saga right now and a friend asked how I would score it. I said after some thought around 6/10.
Why am I playing a 6/10 RPG? Well the graphics, sound, story gameplay overall are all really good but it suffers from a pretty steep learning curve and a high random encounter rate which can make it very frustrating and put of a lot of gamers. So to sum up there are many plus points of the game but it can be a chore at times for me even though I am enjoying it.

A review is more than just a mark of 10.

[Sam The Man]

Agreed but unfortunately alot of people (not myself) go on the final score in the magazines and make a decision whether or not to buy purely based on the review in mags/web sites.

Couldnt log onto MSN tnite mart as there seemed to be a problem with messenger.