The morons are at it again (ME3 review bombing)

[Aerosteam]

Dumbing down games.
Day 0 DLC.
Games are getting shorter.
Games are getting more expensive.
The homogenization of the whole industry, making everything into boring FPS clones.

As to your first points, combat IS better no doubt. But again, we're seeing that from every game. It's generic. What happened to ME3 being a RPG?
The dialogue wheel has darn well shrunk to only 2 responses now.
The game IS shorter, and people have been playing it for days. Streams have been up all over the place. The game is about 20 hours vs ME1's 40. And before that, Baldur's Gate type games lasted 60 hours.
Gaming IS getting more expensive. First prices went up from $50 to $60. Then DLC is cutting large chunks out of the game to resell to you for ANOTHER $7-10.
If you believe the PR line about it "being made after it went gold" and think that justifies it, then we're at an impass. But you're getting hustled, and I'm just trying to warn you.
If we ALL say no to DLC, it will stop.

What was removed from the first Mass Effect that wasn't bad? (Other than infinite ammo)
Games are not getting shorter.
Everything is not being made into a boring FPS clone.


Don't mention Mass Effect 3 not being an RPG, because it still partly is. RPG, meaning the actions you do affect the story/environment of the game. Last I heard ME3 still does this.

You must have played the first Mass Effect longer than you should in one play through, or did you mean completing it 100%? You need to be more clear, it took me less than 40 hours to do all the missions and assignments. Also how do you know that ME3 is "about 20 hours"? I remind you again that you need to specify what you mean. And the game is just out.

The prices of games are rising because the money needed to fund the making of a game is a lot higher than before and the quality of games is also improving. Don't count DLC as an essential part of the game. Again, last I heard you can finish the game without the DLC. Don't say you need to buy it just because it has a live character that is part of a supposedly extinct species.

 

[Icehearted]

Day 1 DLC fleecing, an awful lot of miscalculations by EA, seeing what were previously only concepts being executed at last, and poorly so...

I don't doubt a lot of these are just petty, but I don't doubt a lot of these are justified either.

 

[srm79]

Not all masses of bad reviews are unjustified trolling.

If they're a 0 out of 10 review for a game that was just released and should take more than a day to complete yes they are. Don't try to defend these assclowns. No defense exists for them besides their dad should have hugged them more.

On the other hand, if I had bought a £40 game and then found I couldn't run it because it wasn't compatible with the PUBLISHERS OWN FUCKING DRM/ONLINE PORTAL then I would say that more than warrants a big fat fuck all.

Holy shit that happened to you?

What has been the response from Customer Support?

Not me, guy near the top of the thread. I only have a feeble laptop at the mo, and a PS3 for gaming, so I've been spared having to use Origin so far...

 

[Sylveria]

I would be annoyed or disappointed by this, but come on, it was to be expected. There was no way this wasn't going to happen.

...

Y'know, it's funny. A lot of people are always accusing reviewers of being hacks who either take bribes or give good reviews to ensure favourable relations with publishers and access to early review copies.

But look how the gaming public acts when given a mouthpiece to share their own reviews. Childishness and entitlement abounds.

Personally, I place more legitimacy on the opinions of the supposed corporate whores.

In an unregulated industry that is built in a fashion that completely squashed any sort of consumer's rights a long time, the consumers have precisely 2 methods to show their disgust, disdain, or disappointment with a company or product in a meaningful fashion (Bitching on forums doesn't count). The first way is, obviously, not buying (or buying used OR pirating). The second way is this, reviewing bombing.

Also, the Corporate White Knight word of the day is "entitled". Yes those damn entitled little shits who are displeased with what they feel is a sub-par game or the duplicitous and underhanded business practices of a company. How dare they express their opinions in a fashion that the companies actually pay attention to, they should just bend over and take it like men instead complaining like children.

What I find amusing is how many people are getting all nerdraged up about game review bombing when they are so quick to praise review bombs on Amazon after the product creator says something stupid or ignorant.

 

[Sylveria]

Can't say I am surprised. As petty as it is I find that I am kind of pleased at this although really, who bases purchases on metacritic?

Nobody, but I know various CoD/Fifa fanboys who I unwisely argued with, who will see this and then make this face:

Publishers place a lot of value on Metacritic scores; far more than they should.

 

[viranimus]

I dunno, While the game certainly does not merit a zero, the underlying sentiments are not really all that off.

Bad way to end the trilogy
Lack luster writing
Pandering to make it more accessible
Pandering to niche demographics
Not remaining true to the prior installments
Excessively dark gamma filters
Problems with the PC release

All of these things any critic worth their salt would ding a game for. Which invariably means that there is just as much damage done by people registering a zero as everyone registering a 10 because the game clearly is NOT perfect, yet if you look at the user reviews theres clearly an equal number of baseless 10s being given out as there are baseless zeros.

 

[DailonCmann]

With the release of ME3 I thought I would have a peek on metacritic to see how it was going and read some initial thoughts.
Lo and behold it is being bombed with negative reviews, just from the few I looked at most of them were obviously from people who haven't played it or people who just have an axe to grind.

Why do people insist on pulling this sort of moronic crap?

Firstly, who's to say they actually don't like it and are giving it an honest review. Also, who's to say that these people genuinely don't like the game even if they haven't played it all the way through or even partially. If you play it even once, you can weigh in your thoughts on the game and review it. Look, if you want to play your game, play it. They feel the need to stop people from buying the game in an ineffective way. It's not going to hurt the company, it's not going to stop them from making another Mass Effect, nothing will come of it. It doesn't matter.

 

[DailonCmann]

Day 1 DLC fleecing, an awful lot of miscalculations by EA, seeing what were previously only concepts being executed at last, and poorly so...

I don't doubt a lot of these are just petty, but I don't doubt a lot of these are justified either.

It was going to be content for the Collector's Edition. They put extra things into the game for the Collector's Edition that then sold out. So, instead of you having to buy a game well over a hundred dollars, and then not being able to get it at all, they let you buy it for ten bucks on the same day it came out. It's the same as paying an extra 25 cents for bacon on a cheeseburger.

 

[The Pinray]

I only ever trust one reviewer... An opinion that can never be wrong, as far as I see it.

Me.

Reviews are nice and all, but I'm not forming an opinion on a game until I've played it.

 

[boag]

Not remaining true to the prior installments

Can you elaborate on this, because its a pretty vague terminology you are using.

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

In an unregulated industry that is built in a fashion that completely squashed any sort of consumer's rights a long time, the consumers have precisely 2 methods to show their disgust, disdain, or disappointment with a company or product in a meaningful fashion (Bitching on forums doesn't count). The first way is, obviously, not buying (or buying used OR pirating). The second way is this, reviewing bombing.

Also, the Corporate White Knight word of the day is "entitled". Yes those damn entitled little shits who are displeased with what they feel is a sub-par game or the duplicitous and underhanded business practices of a company. How dare they express their opinions in a fashion that the companies actually pay attention to, they should just bend over and take it like men instead complaining like children.

Heh, I could almost be convinced to agree with you.

Then I remind myself that most of these people haven't even played the game. The bombing began before the game was available, let alone that it takes 20+ hours to play. They are "displeased with what they feel is a sub-par game" that they have never bloody played. Entitled and childish.

What would you say if a reviewer were to review and score a game without even playing it? Personally, I'd say they were an idiot and never give any credit to their views ever again... y'know, just like I do with metacritic user scores ever since Portal 2.

 

[Valdus]

With the release of ME3 I thought I would have a peek on metacritic to see how it was going and read some initial thoughts.
Lo and behold it is being bombed with negative reviews, just from the few I looked at most of them were obviously from people who haven't played it or people who just have an axe to grind.

Why do people insist on pulling this sort of moronic crap?

Allow me to translate
"Oh no, someone doesn't like a game I do, therefore they must not have played it or have an axe to grind".
Why do you care exactly? Are you really worried a bad review might cause EA to be put out of buissness or something? How do you feel that EA employees also go onto such sites and post "reviews"? (I say "reviews" because they read more like advertisments). Did you not read a while back about EA employees getting caught writing reviews for DA2? They even admitted it.

Seriously, why do all the fanboys have to insist that no one can say a bad thing about their game. You all act like someones personally spat on covers before the game was sold to you.Why can't you just accept that not everyone is going to like it and leave it there. Well...maybe because that would require some sense, maybe thick skin, or even just enough maturity to accept that your opinion is not fact.

Or if that's not enough, how about because EA, in their usual fashion, are trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the franchise and some people have just simply had enough. Heaven forbid that people decide not to want a game because of something and simple as not wanting to be treated like EA's private bank account and there only to "hold onto" their money.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

Meh. Why do reviewers insist on giving Bioware games a bottom line of 9 regardless of the quality of the game?
It all evens out.

People are allowed to hate it for whatever reason they want. Deal with it.

 

[Wintermoot]

trolling?
or simply hating the company.
or homophobic bigots who are pissed over gay Sheppard,

 

[boag]

Meh. Why do reviewers insist on giving Bioware games a bottom line of 9 regardless of the quality of the game?
It all evens out.

Lets see, interviews and exclusives, add traffic, favorable media list that gets shit early for reviewing.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

Meh. Why do reviewers insist on giving Bioware games a bottom line of 9 regardless of the quality of the game?
It all evens out.

Lets see, interviews and exclusives, add traffic, favorable media list that gets shit early for reviewing.

Destructoid still gets all those things and does not have to sacrifice their integrity to do so.
Apart from a few whiney ***** developers, Jim has said on podtoid that most publishers are fine with even the negative reviews as long as he can back it up with proper reasons. Also negative reviews on big name games tends to draw more traffic.

Other, less credible sites that just give big name games a 10/10 do not really get anything extra and are generally distrusted by the community. Gamespot caught a whole world of shit after the Gurstmann incident. The Escapist also lost a whole lot of credibility after giving Dragon Age 2 a 10/10 even though it was a thoroughly broken game.

And I don't know about Gamespot but The Escapist has certainly not gotten any exclusive interviews and they constantly give out high ball scores.

 

[Icehearted]

Day 1 DLC fleecing, an awful lot of miscalculations by EA, seeing what were previously only concepts being executed at last, and poorly so...

I don't doubt a lot of these are just petty, but I don't doubt a lot of these are justified either.

It was going to be content for the Collector's Edition. They put extra things into the game for the Collector's Edition that then sold out. So, instead of you having to buy a game well over a hundred dollars, and then not being able to get it at all, they let you buy it for ten bucks on the same day it came out. It's the same as paying an extra 25 cents for bacon on a cheeseburger.

And I've also heard the one about how it was developed during the time between RTM and release date (even though script leaks months ago confirm this as already in development well before RTM). Probably closer to paying extra for the cheese on a cheeseburger, but I guess this will be a matter of objectivity vs perceived objectivity. Yes that was a barb, and no, you aren't going to convince me to take a side either way. Day 1 DLC was a slap, always feels that way, nothing changes that Day 1 DLC, however one chooses to defend it, is very plainly fleecing. I get the ire, though I think some of this outrage is really overblown.

As an owner of the first two games the steps EA has taken to wring me as a customer has been more than enough to lead me to disregard Mass Effect 3. I simply cannot care about any part of it largely due to the sheer level of DLC already available in order to get the "full experience". I simply refuse to allow myself to be taken advantage of, and I recognize that not everyone out there cares how exploited they are, they will take what they are handed and do so gleefully. For my part, time invested is time wasted now, c'est la vie.

 

[Forgetitnow344]

I've been replying to all of the negativity with, "SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER ALL THE FUN I AM HAVING!"

Which is actually very true with all the times I've yelled BIOTIC CHARGE GARRUS OVERLOAD LIARA SINGULARITY JAMES CARNAGE SHOCKWAVE INCENDIARY AMMO GARRUS ARMOR PIERCING AMMO LIARA WARP AMMO etc. The box is right. It really IS better with Kinect.

 

[Therumancer]

Not all masses of bad reviews are unjustified trolling.

If they're a 0 out of 10 review for a game that was just released and should take more than a day to complete yes they are. Don't try to defend these assclowns. No defense exists for them besides their dad should have hugged them more.

I defend this largely becaue I think review-bombing has become an excuse for fanboys to attack products they personally want to see lionized.

As I said to begin with, while piracy is wrong, there is no guarantee that people who are posting that kind of thing have not played and completed the game. One of the big defenses of piracy being to allieviate the risks of taking a leap of faith with a product, and to inform the public about the game before they spend money. Some do it with various review shows on Youtube and the like, others just contribute reviews right upon release as it's less risky.

My big comment though was that I could easily see someone who could not install and play the game after release rating the game a "0" as "totally unplayable" in a very literal sense, which is not unfair when you get down to it.

For the sake of those who responded on the subject though, EA called this morning and informed my dad that they found a way to fix the problem, Origin was SUPPOSED to update automatically, but didn't, and he needed to totally uninstall it and re-install from scratch. That said, this is kind of ridiculous.

 

[Awexsome]

We've all paid attention to the extreme amounts of hate it's been getting for the most trivial reasons. Especially with Origin there is a significant number of people who have made it their goal to completely tear down the game regardless of quality or even if they've played it.

The user review sites would be very justified in wiping all the reviews after a week or so to provide a much more fair assessment of the game. But everyone saw this coming. The unjustified hater base is far too large to have let the release go without one last tantrum.