Video Game Reviews: Reading Between the Lines
By Zanzabar
First let’s get the oblivious out of the way: I’m an editor at a gaming site and a game reviewer. I’ve written a few game reviews in my time and have seen and read a great deal more. So what I’m about to say is true, shall we say, from a certain point of view.
Gaming reviews of bad games can be very brutal but seldom are so. Sometimes it is because the reviewer is trying to give the developer the benefit of the doubt. After all it isn’t easy to conceive, organize, code, and produce a video game (no matter what those technical schools say). So many reviewers will tend to go a little easy on a review. Of course, if the product is a true piece of manure, then the gloves will come off. But such games are truly few and far between. Usually a game will have some redeeming quality that will get the game a least a 2 out of 5 or a 7 out of 10. But why aren’t some of games out there rated as low as they should be? And please don’t say it’s all subjective! If the buyer is going to plunk down their forty-nine or fifty-nine bucks on a game, then they want to know from the magazine, website, or television host, that the game is actually worth it. Your money (or lack there of) is not subjective, it is pretty darn objective!
Yes, I know that some reviews go into more depth than others. They evaluate game play and graphics and storyline, yadda, yadda, yadda…But too often, after the gamer has read what looked liked a positive review of a particular game, they are left with a feeling of uncertainty as they see the reviewer give the game a final review of 7.5 out of 10. What the heck are they to make out of that mush? Of course, the reason that so many reviews are ‘soft’ is, like most things in the world, economical and/or practical in nature.
A few years ago, one of the major networks did a human interest story on American eating habits, focusing on snacks and beverages. The host, a renowned expose journalist, happened to query why it was that American’s spent so much on soda. He mentioned that all sodas were basically sugar water with carbonation. He noted that the actual cost of every soda was about 5 cents a gallon, and that the can the drink was incost more than the drink inside it! He wasn’t saying that there was anything actually wrong with the soda, but that soda was definitely a tremendously overpriced habit that the American public was addicted to.
There was no official outcry from the beverage industry. There were no denials or demands for a retraction. The next week they simply pulled all their soda ads from the network and its affiliates for a few months. They didn’t even say why. Point taken! There were no more exposés on beverages for a long, long while.
The video game industry is a very touchy business. It is an industry where word of mouth can kill a game quicker than the fall of Sonic, and where a review can spell the difference between a game being on a waiting list and being in the bargain bin. Millions of dollars are poured into the production of a single game; often with only the hope that it will catch on and people will lineup to buy it. No wonder developers can get a little touchy over a bad review.
Video game magazines are heavily dependant on gaming advertisements for a major part of their revenue. So they walk a thin tight-rope. On one hand they can’t afford to bite the hand that feeds them, and on the other, if readers lose trust in the magazine or site, they will stop patronizing it. And while television video gaming shows have less of a dependence on game advertising than magazines do, they know that they need something else almost just as badly…access!
Both magazines and television (television more so) must have access into the behind the scenes of the gaming industry. Exclusive ‘previews’ and interviews are what they both thrive on. The gaming public has a voracious appetite when it comes to what is happening behind the scenes of a company. What are they working on? When will the next installment of their favorite game come out? The show or magazine that can get an exclusive from a developer or gaming company is a step ahead of its competition.
Currently the relationship between the media and the developers is a symbiotic one. Companies need to create a ‘buzz’ among gamers about their latest and greatest effort so they use the gaming media. The media needs this inside info so that they can get the jump on the competition and snare a larger share of their audience. But if a show or magazine was a little too critical, a little too often towards a developer or producer, they just might find that they wont get the next exclusive invite or interview. This is not evil or sinister, it is quite understandable. If someone kept taking a dump on your front porch would you then let them in the house?!
What all this means is that it is up to the gaming public has had to learn how to read between the lines. There are gamers out there that won’t even look at a game that doesn’t have a minimum rating of 4 out of 5 (8 out of 10). Yes, yes, every review is subjective, but when someone has just plopped down their hard earned cash on a title that was rated 3 out of 5 or 7 out of 10, only to find out that they had just bought the next Catwoman, it just might be good idea, as a rule of thumb, to knock off one more rating number to get a more accurate picture.
Oh, by the way, if you’d like to beverage people, you can place ads all over this site and I promise not to say a bad word about you!
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