Halo Reach Perfect 10! WTF?

[Tearopenthelives]

I see your point, but damn the scores for a second.

Take for instance why people use reviews.

For one it's often to basically let you know if you should buy the game.

Two you like to see what the reviewers thought of the games you love

Three in some cases people look for reasons to hate a game and a better way to reson said hate rather than being on the lesser half boat.

To me that saying if it has a lacking plot while giving it a good score (though scores are irrelevant beyond good/bad) says to me that while the game lacks some areas, screw it it's hella fun to play.

Which is what I often thought reading crackdown 2 reviews, (oh repetitive, well screw it there're millions of random muck abouts you can do with just one other player)

Games in all honesty just cannot be reviewed objectively as books or movies can, they have more dimensions of entertainment by far, I rarely see a review that points out that the game is fun and so on. yahtzee has managed this a few times but still misses the point.

Part of me thinks that this is a partial dig at IGN or reviewers in general, it seems you've missed the point that I've made, the game is still damn good fun to play, it's not a case of oh it's halo TENS ALL AROUND, it's (for the nth time) that it is a fucking (+ve adjective here) game so it doesn't shit on the player and laugh about it, it just makes it up in areas

[/rant]

 

[Krantos]

I don't think that a 10 needs to be perfect per se, because, frankly, I doubt we'll ever see a perfect game.

However, I do think that a 10 should indicate a game that has all the major aspects of game design well in hand, and story is a big part of that. Sure, you can argue that the score is simply indicative of how much the reviewer enjoyed it, but if that's the case then why read reviews at all? No two people are going to enjoy all the same things, so basing score just on "fun" factor has no value to anyone other than the reviewer.

So while I'm not going to voice an opinion on the game itself, I feel that any review which admits that the game's story is lacking should not give it a 10/10. 9.5, sure, maybe even 9.8, but don't give a 10 unless there are no major issues with it.

 

[Evil_Weevil]

Um, I thought IGN gave it a 9.5.

3. That point 2 is irrelevant because its Halo. Uhuh...

Now, without having played the game I can't comment on either gameplay or story but what really irked me was the disregard for the complete package. In a sense we have admitted defeat in gameplay writing if it can be relegated as inconsequential. We don't look at films and say "Gee, that film was great! Made no sense but there was explosions and a funny man, and more explosions!" Now I know that films and games are different media forms and that they can't be directly compared. But when will consumers grow some balls and demand more for their money? As far as I can tell, in artistic terms reviewers like IGN create the impression that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is better than the Godfather.

Disregard for the complete package my shiny rainbow colored ass. Halo: Reach is one of the most complete games on the market. It has something for everyone except a video-game-alergic-movie-critic and an RPG-fanatic. It has a 10 hour campaign filled with fast-paced refined gameplay and intelligent detailed enemies, it has Firefight (which is basically Gears of War's Horde mode, but with the Covenant, difficulty multipliers, better AI, matchmaking support, and an insane amount of customizability), multiplayer (some of the best multiplayer, if not the best, on any console, as well as an amazing level of customizability), Forge (in which you can quite literally play anything from board games to building rube goldberg machines to platforming to building castles in the sky), and even some simple but polished space combat.

And are you saying that if something has Halo in the title, it can't have a good story? Have you even read any of the books or comics or seen any of the anime or short films? Halo has an incredibly deep story with literally 500 years of human history as well as thousands of years of alien history to play around in.

EDIT: Btw, I see that IGN UK gave it a 10/10. IGN UK is absolute dogshit. You can't trust them about anything.

Extraneous media should not be the crutch for bad storytelling in a game.

EDIT: I have tried to avoid giving an opinion on the game as I have not played it. My criticism was NOT of the game itself but the way in which reviewers approach games in general, and some games, like Halo, in particular

 

[Snotnarok]

This sounds a lot like GTA IV, it got a perfect 10 when that game is far, FAR from perfect.

 

[StriderShinryu]

The thing is, a perfect 10 is supposed to indicate, well, perfect.

Actually, if you look at IGN UK's review chart 10/10 is not "Perfect" it's "Masterful." Most review sources that use a numeric rating scale don't consider a 5/5, 10/10, etc. "perfect" as there would pretty much never be anything that received such a score.

I stand corrected then. I still believe my argument still works, however, as the story clearly isn't 'masterful.'

The Masterful designation is given for the entire game as a whole, not for the story. All games that are often named as "Masterful" (or even perfect or classic) have notable flaws that keep them from perfection but don't lower the impact of the experience as a whole. Of course, your personal results will vary as opinions always do.

 

[ALuckyChance]

The thing is, a perfect 10 is supposed to indicate, well, perfect.

Actually, if you look at IGN UK's review chart 10/10 is not "Perfect" it's "Masterful." Most review sources that use a numeric rating scale don't consider a 5/5, 10/10, etc. "perfect" as there would pretty much never be anything that received such a score.

I stand corrected then. I still believe my argument still works, however, as the story clearly isn't 'masterful.'

The Masterful designation is given for the entire game as a whole, not for the story. All games that are often named as "Masterful" (or even perfect or classic) have notable flaws that keep them from perfection but don't lower the impact of the experience as a whole. Of course, your personal results will vary as opinions always do.

Well, in my opinion...

A story is a very important part of the game. When the story happens to be mediocre, the quality of the game declines. It makes sense - at least for me - for a masterful game to be as close to perfect as possible in every category

 

[Dexiro]

Eh what're you gonna do. Of course the game isn't a perfect 10 but they get paid more to say that ;D

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Has anyone here actually played it?

Then shut up.

 

[John Funk]

Having just beat the campaign, it's easily the best campaign (and the best-told story) of the Halo franchise. Make of that what you will.

Wait, you guys get early copies? I didn't know that The Escapist was that well known in the industry. O_O

OP: Dude, who cares? It's Halo, just because the writing sucks doesn't mean it's not good. This isn't BioShock for f*cks' sake.

...Uh, yeah. Multiple millions of unique monthly visitors.

Having just beat the campaign, it's easily the best campaign (and the best-told story) of the Halo franchise. Make of that what you will.

I say it's a 9 or 8. After all a perfect ten means it's pefect and if the story is complete stock then that's a big enough hole to prevent perfection.

Actually, a ten shouldn't mean literally perfect - without flaw. It should just mean that it's masterfully done.

That's why we use stars, honestly. People interpret someone giving a game a 10 as saying it is utterly and completely without flaw. Us giving a game five stars, on the other hand? Sure, it's technically the same thing, but if you see a game get 5/5 stars, you don't think "oh, it must be perfect 100%," you just think "damn, that must be a superb game."

Besides, even if the characters ARE fairly stock, they're likable enough, and the story is well told for all its cliches. I'm not going to spoil Tuesday's review, but it was the first time a Halo game felt genuinely emotional

 

[Eipok Kruden]

Extraneous media should not be the crutch for bad storytelling in a game.

What? I don't get it... How is it 'extraneous'? Halo 2-5 aren't meant to be story driven campaign-centered journeys into the human psyche. They aren't Bioshock or Mass Effect or Fallout. They're fun shooters with polished gameplay and huge amounts of features. Their stories exist as fun ways to drive the single-player campaigns for the everyone who isn't a huge Halo fan. For everyone who IS a Halo fan, they provide lots of insight into the Halo universe as a whole.

The Halo games are designed to stand on their own as GAMES. You can play them without getting invested in the story. If you want to actually get into the story instead of just playing the campaign, you are expected to delve more deeply into the expanded universe by way of books, comics, short stories, short films, etc... I don't understand why you're expecting the stories of the Halo games to stand by themselves as deep character driven sci-fi masterpieces when they aren't intended to.

 

[StriderShinryu]

The thing is, a perfect 10 is supposed to indicate, well, perfect.

Actually, if you look at IGN UK's review chart 10/10 is not "Perfect" it's "Masterful." Most review sources that use a numeric rating scale don't consider a 5/5, 10/10, etc. "perfect" as there would pretty much never be anything that received such a score.

I stand corrected then. I still believe my argument still works, however, as the story clearly isn't 'masterful.'

The Masterful designation is given for the entire game as a whole, not for the story. All games that are often named as "Masterful" (or even perfect or classic) have notable flaws that keep them from perfection but don't lower the impact of the experience as a whole. Of course, your personal results will vary as opinions always do.

Well, in my opinion...

A story is a very important part of the game. When the story happens to be mediocre, the quality of the game declines. It makes sense - at least for me - for a masterful game to be as close to perfect as possible in every category

I certainly see where you're coming from, but in that case I hope you also exclude titles like, just to name a few, the Zelda games, many of the Metroid games, all of the Mario games, etc. from the list of games you consider "Masterful."

 

[GuerrillaClock]

Oh, we're back to this again. Perfect score does not equal perfect game, for fucks sake. I love how fanboys and haters alike point to a 10/10 score as some sort of affirmation when a critic dares to go against them. "haha, 10/10 WTF! their just owned by M$!!!11one!"

10/10 does not mean faultless game, it means a game that is really, really, really good, and since Reach isn't out yet, and every review going rates it very highly as well, I'm going to assume that is the case.

Basically, the review said that the story wasn't quite the sweeping, Platoon-esque war epic that people were hoping for, but this is inconsequential when weighed up against the incredibly fun gameplay and mind-boggling suite of multiplayer options.

 

[Evil_Weevil]

OK, I couldnt give two shi'ts what score the game got, it could have gotten 1/10 and I wouldn't have cared, because its a review and for all the reasons given above, we cannot trust reviews.

NO, instead I was trying to draw attention to the shocking (to me) fact that a significant aspect of the game has been sidestepped in the awarding of this arbitrary score, not the score itself

 

[The Austin]

Having just beat the campaign, it's easily the best campaign (and the best-told story) of the Halo franchise. Make of that what you will.

Wait, you guys get early copies? I didn't know that The Escapist was that well known in the industry. O_O

OP: Dude, who cares? It's Halo, just because the writing sucks doesn't mean it's not good. This isn't BioShock for f*cks' sake.

...Uh, yeah. Multiple millions of unique monthly visitors.

So I don't have to worry about you guys going out of business? HUZZAH!

So anyway, back to the OP: Who buys Halo for writing, blah, blah, blah. Also, Halo has FORGE MODE. THE REAL REASON PEOPLE PLAY HALO.

 

[greenflash]

really i think there should be no 10/10 games because if you reach (pun)the top how can you make your games better?

 

[Apocalypse Tank]

The "I hate Halo" bandwagon has been jumped onto by too many people.
It's been a great franchise and nowhere near as bad as some people claim it to be.

I am pleased all these haters are getting angry

(haters gonna hate)

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Pretty much every big name title will get a perfect score from at least one reviewer... And Halo brings out the ignorance of people, apparently. If you like it, you are a fanboy and if you don't you are a "hater" that just hates it because that is the "cool thing to do".