Why Jim Sterling's Mario Kart 7 review is bullshit.

[PureIrony]

Skyrim streamlines its gameplay and everyone fucking loves it. Dragon Age 2 streamlines its gameplay and tons of people hate it.

Similar scenarios, radically different reactions. Context is important. There is a difference between publishing a rehash of a popular series that adds nothing to it and refining an experience that you've already done well with and adding a few extra features while doing so.

And... that's about it for me, I think.

Oh, and its his opinion, and as a reviewer he doesn't owe anyone anything and can give any score he likes.

 

[SAMAS]

I would also like to point out that the last Dynasty Warriors game he reviewed got a 6.0.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Are you one of those people who only know him from Jimquisition and think that's how he really is? Sounds like it.

I hear this claim a lot, or that he's trolling, so I'm curious.
What's the point of his show here? Like, why did he make it, what is its goal?

I...! Honestly don't know what the goal of his show is. My guess would be 'advertise' for Destructoid. I mean, most of the points he makes are valid (Like Hate out of Ten), but his 'gimmick' is to be an egotistical self-righteous douche. Which gathers attention. A lot of attention. When his show first got started, it drew a TON of negative attention. But, people eventually got used to him and now he's one of the more popular shows on the Escapist. People have come to see his persona as endearing or something.

So! tl;dr, I have no idea. Probably to advertise himself and get his opinions out to a wider audience.

Edit: Yahtzee does much the same thing. He's said (And so have people who've met him) that his attitude on Zero Punctuation isn't how he is in real life at all.

 

[AMMO Kid]

This video is awesome!!!

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Are you one of those people who only know him from Jimquisition and think that's how he really is? Sounds like it.

I hear this claim a lot, or that he's trolling, so I'm curious.
What's the point of his show here? Like, why did he make it, what is its goal?

I...! Honestly don't know what the goal of his show is. My guess would be 'advertise' for Destructoid. I mean, most of the points he makes are valid (Like Hate out of Ten), but his 'gimmick' is to be an egotistical self-righteous douche. Which gathers attention. A lot of attention. When his show first got started, it drew a TON of negative attention. But, people eventually got used to him and now he's one of the more popular shows on the Escapist. People have come to see his persona as endearing or something.

So! tl;dr, I have no idea. Probably to advertise himself and get his opinions out to a wider audience.

See, the thing is, that doesn't make me think "Oh, then I guess it's alright." That makes me stop calling him stupid and start calling him an attention whore. No offense if you enjoy him, but trying to make valid points, and doing that, are two conflicting things imo

 

[Kopikatsu]

Are you one of those people who only know him from Jimquisition and think that's how he really is? Sounds like it.

I hear this claim a lot, or that he's trolling, so I'm curious.
What's the point of his show here? Like, why did he make it, what is its goal?

I...! Honestly don't know what the goal of his show is. My guess would be 'advertise' for Destructoid. I mean, most of the points he makes are valid (Like Hate out of Ten), but his 'gimmick' is to be an egotistical self-righteous douche. Which gathers attention. A lot of attention. When his show first got started, it drew a TON of negative attention. But, people eventually got used to him and now he's one of the more popular shows on the Escapist. People have come to see his persona as endearing or something.

So! tl;dr, I have no idea. Probably to advertise himself and get his opinions out to a wider audience.

See, the thing is, that doesn't make me think "Oh, then I guess it's alright." That makes me stop calling him stupid and start calling him an attention whore. No offense if you enjoy him, but trying to make valid points, and doing that, are two conflicting things imo

Being an attention whore is kind of the entire point of his persona. And yeah, it bugs some people, but like I said, other people have come to find it endearing and now he has a fairly large fan following. (That being said, I prefer his written reviews to Jimquisition. Although, I do like the intro. The intro is pretty cool.)

 

[ChupathingyX]

I would also like to point out that the last Dynasty Warriors game he reviewed got a 6.0.

That was an expansion, not the vanilla game.

 

[J-Alfred]

God, man, it's his opinion and his job. In a field like game reviewing, there is no such thing as a double standard; the reviewer makes it up as he goes along, and that's his right as a game reviewer. Don't go pissing all over him because he pissed on your pet game.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Being an attention whore is kind of the entire point of his persona. And yeah, it bugs some people, but like I said, other people have come to find it endearing and now he has a fairly large fan following. (That being said, I prefer his written reviews to Jimquisition. Although, I do like the intro. The intro is pretty cool.)

I agree. What the hell is that song? I want it.
The thing is though, I most often hear that as a defense against critique of him. "Oh, well he's not really like this, this is just a persona." Which obviously doesn't make much sense, since he chooses to portray that persona, and if it doesn't really represent him, then it's a waste of video.

Blargh. Can you tell I'm not a fan?

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Eh, at least Destructoid admits that 5/10 is "average". Most sites, 5/10 would be akin to a 2/10.

Honestly, unless you learn that Jim Sterling's opinions are none but his own, maybe you can start to cancel out your petty confirmation bias and just take the review for what it is - an opinion. With an arbitrary number stapled onto the end. Though I do find it somewhat odd that he praises Call of Duty and <Dynasty Warriors[/I], while criticizing a game with the major criticisms of CoD and DW. Ain't nothing wrong with iteration, mind... unless it happens to make a game worse for it. This is Mario Kart SEVEN, I'm really not surprised reviewers are turning to this and calling it "stale", at this point.

 

[GoddyofAus]

If only Jim Sterlings credibility were as wide as his body.

 

[gideonkain]

OP
"If a sequel has the exact same gameplay and graphics engine as the previous game, but has new levels, then it is still just as fun as the previous entry"

He's right, I mean look at the Star Wars prequels, same universe with new set pieces - easily as good as the Original Trilogy, that's just Science.

 

[MrLumber]

Why do you people care? A review is one persons opinion. If you like a game that much, then what someone else says should not effect you. I'm still going to get Mario Kart 7 and I'm probably going to enjoy it, it doesn't matter to me what Jim Sterling said or any reviewer for that matter. Just buy it if you want it and get on with your lives.

While there are plenty of posts similar to this, I gotta say I really hate this point of view with every fiber of my being. The reason I want to see games I like get good reviews is so that THEY MAKE MONEY AND PROCEED TO MAKE MORE GOOD GAMES!! Everybody should be passionate about what they love, if they aren't, in my mind, they don't love (or even like) the game* in question.

The same reasoning works when talking about games* that you don't like but receive critical praise. While this may not cross most peoples minds, often enough a sale for one game is a loss in sales for another, such is the nature of competition.

Now I'm not saying through a tantrum or anything, just stop being so damn pacifistic about what you care about, you** just look pathetic and genuinely are detrimental to the cause you think you're supporting.

* I use game as a placeholder for anything this could be talking about.
** Not you in particular, I'm trying to get this across to a broad audience, but take it to heart too

 

[42]

Ok you're argument is that Mario Kart, has new levels. whoop de fucking do. what stopped Nintendo from making it DLC? New characters. again whoop de fucking do, DLC. Maps? again whats wrong with adding them to the game?

My feelings towards Mario Kart and Nintendo in general, whoop de fucking do.
don't get me wrong i grew up on Nintendo, Mario has always been a character that i liked, but unfortunately

the Wii is stagnate, Nintendo 3DS is a complete dead end, the Wii-U is going to be a contrived gimmick people will praise joy for and when released will sell like hotcakes, but end up being another thing Nintendo is going to let go Stagnate. and Mario has been raped to the last dollar.

Call me a Nintendo hater, but i just believe Nintendo need to go beyond this whole exclusive mindset, and just take it on the chin and allow better support for 3rd parties.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Being an attention whore is kind of the entire point of his persona. And yeah, it bugs some people, but like I said, other people have come to find it endearing and now he has a fairly large fan following. (That being said, I prefer his written reviews to Jimquisition. Although, I do like the intro. The intro is pretty cool.)

I agree. What the hell is that song? I want it.
The thing is though, I most often hear that as a defense against critique of him. "Oh, well he's not really like this, this is just a persona." Which obviously doesn't make much sense, since he chooses to portray that persona, and if it doesn't really represent him, then it's a waste of video.

Blargh. Can you tell I'm not a fan?

I understand what you're saying, but it's really only meant as a defense when people attack him personally. If you disagree with his opinions, that's fine, but when you say something like

Jim sterling is a joke in every way. He's not a journalist, hell he's not even a critic. Just a loud mouth with a website. Don't take anything he says too seriously.

Then it's obvious that they're not considering his opinions at all and just going on what they've seen of his Jimquisition persona. If you read his reviews, most (All of the ones I've read, but I haven't read all of them so I can't speak for all of them) are pretty accurate and even if you disagree with most of his points, you can generally understand where he's coming from.

Eh, at least Destructoid admits that 5/10 is "average". Most sites, 5/10 would be akin to a 2/10.

Honestly, unless you learn that Jim Sterling's opinions are none but his own, maybe you can start to cancel out your petty confirmation bias and just take the review for what it is - an opinion. With an arbitrary number stapled onto the end. Though I do find it somewhat odd that he praises Call of Duty and <Dynasty Warriors[/I], while criticizing a game with the major criticisms of CoD and DW. Ain't nothing wrong with iteration, mind... unless it happens to make a game worse for it. This is Mario Kart SEVEN, I'm really not surprised reviewers are turning to this and calling it "stale", at this point.

He didn't really praise Call of Duty. He just said that it defined the FPS genre. That makes it worth a 9. If he thought it was an awesome game AND defined a genre, then it would be a 10.

Actually, this quote pretty much sums up his opinion of it fairly well.

Whether you like what it does is a matter of personal taste, but the skill and experience brought to the table is hard to refute. Modern Warfare 3 gets it done, and it gets it done damn well.

And that's pretty much how it should be. Each Call of Duty game is the tech demo for the next one. If it wasn't ridiculously polished/solid by this point, something would be very wrong.

 

[ERROR989]

I'm on Jim's side for this.
While Dynasty Warriors is a Sequel, Mario Kart is a Remake. Wheter they add new characters, levels or options, it is still just a remake. A sequel is a different game that CAN have the same type of gameplay and usually has a connecting story. Mario Kart is a game remade numerous times, while Dynasty Warriors is a line of sequels.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Actually, this quote pretty much sums up his opinion of it fairly well.

Whether you like what it does is a matter of personal taste, but the skill and experience brought to the table is hard to refute. Modern Warfare 3 gets it done, and it gets it done damn well.

yeah, I see where he comes from, even if I think that place is horrendously wrong. As an example, that quote.
Sure, it gets something done. That something is absolute shit, imo, and doing really shitty games well is not a plus.
Anyways, thanks for answering my question.

 

[Trishbot]

compares

I actually CAN spot the difference. A difference in hardware, mostly.

Here's the problem I have with the review. It's not objective.

For instance, Gamespot has guidelines that say every game must be judged on its own merits for the console it exists on, and NOT to judge a game as compared to its predecessors or against games on different platforms. A Wii game is judged on its value as a Wii game (so don't dock points for not having HD graphics). An Xbox game is judged as an Xbox game (so no docking points for lack of PSP tie-ins).

Well, on its own merits, I heard Mario Kart 7 is pretty good. On the 3DS, there is nothing remotely like it or even close to its quality or variety on that system.

I think it's unfair, and a big double-standard, to heavily criticize a game like MK7 on a brand new system that brings with it brand new ideas while making almost FIVE videos, articles, and blog rants "defending" poor little Call of Duty for being picked on for being "the same" (I am sick to death of Jim Sterling defending the mighty COD. He compared the series to a nerd being picked on by jocks... COD IS the jock!)

Now,I'm not saying he has to like it. Nobody "has" to like a game and give it a high score. But the reasons for doing so with Jim seem to be inconsistent and fluctuate on a whim depending on what side of the bed he woke up on. He called Skyrim his "game of the year"... but I have a question; how many completely new ideas does Skyrim bring to the table over Oblivion? Granted it does what it does VERY well, but it's structure is just a refined, not redefined, structure based on Oblivion, which was based on Morrowind, which was based on Daggerfall, which was based on Arena. But he didn't dock a single, solitary point for that... or even mention it at all.

So, where's the "review standard" for Jim's reviews? What are his guidelines? Because having those standards is the difference between a fair and objective review (I don't like football, or Madden games, but I can acknowledge if a game works well for its intended audience) and a ranting fanboy opinion masquerading as "journalism" and legitimate and intelligent criticism.