As I see it, gaming reviews can be very helpful in telling you if you should or shouldn't spend your hard earned dollars on yet another poo-coaster of a game. It can even turn you on to games you hadn't considered before or explain aspects of a game that seemed confusing at first.
But the problem is, reviews seem to be under the control of the Game Makers, and I'll tell you how the industry screws us, the consumer.
First of all, Not every system plays every game the same. Ghostbusters for the PS3 might as well have been a different game entirely from the Xbox 360 version. Yet gaming reviewers of late have taken less and less time to differentiate between versions, often having a preferred console anyway that seems to always have the superior version in the review (and in many cases, the only reviewed version at all) resulting in games like Star Wars Unleashed getting similar ratings on the PS2 version as the PS3 version! How is that even possible? With Batman Arkham Asylum looming on the immediate horizon, while gaming sites have had NO PROBLEM telling me how I'll get an exclusive Joker gameplay option if I get the PS3 version, they seem awfully quiet on which console has the tighter gameplay. Being able to play as the Joker means bantha poodoo to me if the game is BROKEN. Worse, over the years I've become suspicious to little gimmicks like that, which always seem to work their bait and switch so that you end up taking it in the shorts with the crappier version. This is what happened to me with Assassin's Creed.
I got distracted by the hype, but the xbox version, and realized that it was the inferior version in every way, RUINING my gaming experience. Not to mention getting away with my hard earned cash in an economic recession.
Secondly, the system reams you by simply circumventing it's only regulator right from the start. Honestly, I was going to make it a personal policy to boycott buying any newly released game until the reviews come in, but then I realized I do that already. But that doesn't excuse this sneaky industry tactic of holding test-copies or worse, demanding reviewers "hold" their reviews until well AFTER the game's release date. Then to add to it, they offer everything and anything upfront to get you to PRE-ORDER the game and pick it up on release day, hoping to make most of their "idiot" money all at once. This is douchebaggery as I see it, because these companies KNOW when they are sloughing off an inferior product. Games are too expensive for me to be casually tossing $60+ at a half-assed title that I didn't know was half-assed because they held the game review process hostage until AFTER the game has "gone gold".
So whenever I see game makers lamenting companies like Game Stop, I just have a good hearty belly laugh, wipe my tears, and keep going. Buying and trading games for cheaper (although gamestop themselves are just pirates capitolizing on an already brutal system) is really the only answer us gamers have to combat the industry's dishonest practices. I really do want Batman Arkham Asylum, but then again I want a really good Superman game too, and lessons from the past have taught me that it's best to hold on and wait for a really long time until every last review comes in before getting my hopes up. Sure it's eye candy now, but how does it run? On the PS3 or the Xbox 360? There's often a difference and I want the best version.
/rant
Discuss.
But the problem is, reviews seem to be under the control of the Game Makers, and I'll tell you how the industry screws us, the consumer.
First of all, Not every system plays every game the same. Ghostbusters for the PS3 might as well have been a different game entirely from the Xbox 360 version. Yet gaming reviewers of late have taken less and less time to differentiate between versions, often having a preferred console anyway that seems to always have the superior version in the review (and in many cases, the only reviewed version at all) resulting in games like Star Wars Unleashed getting similar ratings on the PS2 version as the PS3 version! How is that even possible? With Batman Arkham Asylum looming on the immediate horizon, while gaming sites have had NO PROBLEM telling me how I'll get an exclusive Joker gameplay option if I get the PS3 version, they seem awfully quiet on which console has the tighter gameplay. Being able to play as the Joker means bantha poodoo to me if the game is BROKEN. Worse, over the years I've become suspicious to little gimmicks like that, which always seem to work their bait and switch so that you end up taking it in the shorts with the crappier version. This is what happened to me with Assassin's Creed.
I got distracted by the hype, but the xbox version, and realized that it was the inferior version in every way, RUINING my gaming experience. Not to mention getting away with my hard earned cash in an economic recession.
Secondly, the system reams you by simply circumventing it's only regulator right from the start. Honestly, I was going to make it a personal policy to boycott buying any newly released game until the reviews come in, but then I realized I do that already. But that doesn't excuse this sneaky industry tactic of holding test-copies or worse, demanding reviewers "hold" their reviews until well AFTER the game's release date. Then to add to it, they offer everything and anything upfront to get you to PRE-ORDER the game and pick it up on release day, hoping to make most of their "idiot" money all at once. This is douchebaggery as I see it, because these companies KNOW when they are sloughing off an inferior product. Games are too expensive for me to be casually tossing $60+ at a half-assed title that I didn't know was half-assed because they held the game review process hostage until AFTER the game has "gone gold".
So whenever I see game makers lamenting companies like Game Stop, I just have a good hearty belly laugh, wipe my tears, and keep going. Buying and trading games for cheaper (although gamestop themselves are just pirates capitolizing on an already brutal system) is really the only answer us gamers have to combat the industry's dishonest practices. I really do want Batman Arkham Asylum, but then again I want a really good Superman game too, and lessons from the past have taught me that it's best to hold on and wait for a really long time until every last review comes in before getting my hopes up. Sure it's eye candy now, but how does it run? On the PS3 or the Xbox 360? There's often a difference and I want the best version.
/rant
Discuss.
