Worse. Review. Ever.

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by MrSpud, Dec 16, 2010.

  1. MrSpud

    MrSpud Well-Known Member

    Sep 1, 2009
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    Custom finishing carpenter
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    http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/Aralon%3A+Sword+and+Shadow/review.asp?c=25993

    I know pocketgamer is a bit of a joke but according to them Aralon is below average, 6 out of 10. Really? Do they think that there are much better RPGs out there that outshine Aralon? Do you think that they do this intentionally just to generate a buzz? I think that it's the best RPG out there right now, what does that say about the other RPGs on the market? Should reviewers but allow to smoke crack before writting a review? What do you think?
     
  2. ImNoSuperMan

    ImNoSuperMan Well-Known Member

    Jun 28, 2009
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    This is what they posted about space miner...
    :rolleyes:
     
  3. MasterChief3624

    MasterChief3624 Well-Known Member

    Oct 11, 2009
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    I never thought much of Pocket Gamer (positive or negative), but over the last few weeks I've been noticing how ignorant and stupid they can be.

    It's unfortunate, but I think they may be the "IGN" of the iDevice world. I used to love IGN, but all my favorite editors have left, and one of my favorite editors changed into a douchebag, and they changed their rating scale... Not to mention all the one-sided bias I've been noticing over the last several months, as well.

    Bleck. Whatevs. I don't let reviews get to me. It's not like Pocket Gamer's reviews made or broke me buying a game. I'll be keeping it that way, too :p
     
  4. ImNoSuperMan

    ImNoSuperMan Well-Known Member

    Jun 28, 2009
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    Thats why I love these forums. No reviewer can get you more honest opinion than the forum community.
     
  5. WunDaii

    WunDaii Well-Known Member

    It's a review of their own opinion... it's what they think a game is like. They get thousands of views a day, so there are obviously some out there that agree with their style of gaming.
     
  6. Balu`

    Balu` Well-Known Member

    Aug 4, 2009
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    Not surely. I go there to laugh.
     
  7. MrSpud

    MrSpud Well-Known Member

    Sep 1, 2009
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    And you're not on crack!! But seriously, it's true, user's review are more accurate than paid reviewers. I respect somebody's opinion to dislike the flaws that the game has but such a low score is simply laughable, it's almost like he's trolling and teasing the readers for his own enjoyment.
     
  8. chickdigger802

    chickdigger802 Well-Known Member

    Apr 14, 2009
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    uh based off most of the scores they give their games. I think anything above a 5 means the game is pretty good o0"

    Sometimes reviewers don't like the controls of a game.

    I can't stand any ios fps. Just feels wrong. Don't give a shit about other people's reviews if you already bought the damn game.

    =)
     
  9. ImNoSuperMan

    ImNoSuperMan Well-Known Member

    Jun 28, 2009
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    While I cant speak about aralon (not really fond of RPGs), I did play (and loved) space miner and its simply absurd what they said about the game and controls. Its one game which had pretty much zero negative response on the forums (still the only one I think). So pretty sure its not just me who disagrees with that review. If controls of that game were an issue for PG, then I dont think they should even review iOS games.
     
  10. chickdigger802

    chickdigger802 Well-Known Member

    Apr 14, 2009
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    I just think no one told them that space miner was pretty much a homage to Asteroids, not some geometry wars twin stick shooter =P
     
  11. WunDaii

    WunDaii Well-Known Member

    Ah, but see, like I said, it's a review. It's what the reviewer thinks of the game, and he/she gets the free game to do so. It's what they do for a living, and base it off what they think of the game.

    Like somebody stated above, to many people the controls on iOS for many games don't feel natural. For the majority of us it certainly does, but for many it doesn't.

    Pity, actually. :(
     
  12. LBG

    LBG Señor Member

    Apr 19, 2009
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    31.560499, -111.904128
    Pocket Gamer's reviews tend to vary quite a lot. Some of them I agree with, but there are quite a few sloppy reviews where the reviewer obviously hasn't played the game properly or for long enough. One of the best review sites is Touchgen IMO. They don't write many reviews, but the reviews that they do write are usually pretty good (even if I don't always agree with them).
     
  13. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    What I don't understand about this is that people are always demanding "honest" reviews, yet when someone provides you with their opinion of a game (the very definition of an "honest review"), they get blasted for it.

    So which is it? Do you want an honest review, or do you want someone to just regurgitate what you think back to you? I'm not sure there is much middle ground. If all you want is for someone who is reviewing a game to tell you what you thought of it, that would sure save me a lot of time. ;)

    Yeah, I disagree with Tracy's review of Aralon, but a review is based on opinion. Just because you disagree doesn't mean his opinion is wrong, or that it's the "worst review ever."

    Anyway, just trying to inject a little logic in to this thread!
     
  14. Balu`

    Balu` Well-Known Member

    Aug 4, 2009
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    Trying to inject logic into this thread is probably the least logical thing for you to do.
     
  15. ziotoo4

    ziotoo4 Well-Known Member

    Jan 9, 2010
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    #15 ziotoo4, Dec 16, 2010
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2010
    To be honest, as much as i find the folks at pocket gamer a bunch of idiots, i couldn't help but agree on some points of the review, namely:
    I bought aralon yesterday, and sunk about 2 hours and a half of gameplay into it (i know it's not much, but hey, i have exams :rolleyes:).
    At first i was impressed by...well, by the game itself. Huge places to explore, awesome lighting effects, a nice cinematic intro (normally cutscenes are abysmal on iOs...)

    As time went on, howewer, i found myself more and more irritated by the long list of small shortcomings that the game has. As the camera suddendly moved in the wrong direction for the hundreth time leading to my death , after the game crashed on me for the tenth time (and i have a 4G, for godness' sake!), when one of the saves became corrupted, after my henchman fell for the fourth time in the river...well, those were the moments in wich i just shut the game down and took a break-otherwise i knew i would have started hating it.

    I know making games is hard. I know galoobeth and crescent moon are, together, like four people or so. And i know the huge ambitions between this effort. I really, really wanted to know the game. Howewer, i cannot. Aralon is such a huge production that ultimately it collapses by its own: the greatness of the game world and of the scope of the product kills the product itself.

    I had the same problem with last year's ravensword: it was something the platform had never seen, but was downright irritating to play and took me weeks to finish, because of the multiple breaks i took when it started feeling like a chore. It was too big for what it was possible.

    On the other side, Rimelands was awesome. It had a great story, awesome gameplay, pushed the graphics forward...it was a fantastic product. That why i had great hopes on Aralon. And that's why this failure is even bitter: Just like ravensword, Aralon feels like an unfinished game

    Most people are liking the game. I myself will not delete it from my home screen, as i'm sure some day i'll finish it. Aralon does a lot of big things right. The problem is that it does about ten times more small things wrong. From the npc/enemies selection method (frankly: it does not work), to the dumb AIs, from the graphics popping and short clipping planes to an unusable inventory system, this game feels, unfortunately, really unpolished.

    I did not want a portable oblivion. I just wished for ravensword 2.0: a few tweaks and a slightly bigger game world would have done the trick.
    Howewer, CM and GG went far: too far. Day/night cycle, fishing, swimming, henchmen, guilds, cities and villages are nice additions, but only if the underlying base is solid. Aralon has some awesome moments when you see the small touches that the developer put into this labour of love: howewer, for the most part it just feels like a chore to play.

    The moment does not help me to love it, either: last year's ravensword was something so bright that you could forget its shortcomings just for how brilliant it was. But, with all the new releases that iOS has lived in those last months (weeks?), the flaws of Aralon cannot be overlooked.

    Everyone is loving it. I tried too. But Aralon in my eyes fails: it could have been the best game on iOS, instead it is simply the biggest. And, as the guys at pocketgamer righteously (for once! :rolleyes:) say:



    EDIT: just noticed the 6/10 vote...that is not my opinion. With all the flaws it has, and even if i was disappointed, i would still give it a 8/10 mark...but still what i wrote above remains true.
     
  16. MrSpud

    MrSpud Well-Known Member

    Sep 1, 2009
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    True, but if you ask me to review a football videogame, let's say, and I gave it a 2 out of 10 just because I can't stand sports game, would that be a fair and honest review? Or would I just be a poor reviewer who shouldn't write reviews in the first place? If you asked me to test drive a Ferrari and review it, would it be fair to say that the car is undriveable because I can't drive stick? Some people are good at their job and some aren't, honest or not. Hell, I'm pretty sure my grandma hates Aralon, honestly :eek:
     
  17. WunDaii

    WunDaii Well-Known Member

    Exactly.
     
  18. McCREE

    McCREE Well-Known Member

    Aug 26, 2010
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    i think the problem arises when a review like the one from this site is juxtaposed with the one from pocket gamer.

    how two opinions on the same thing can be so drastically different is, at the very least, unusual.

    this isn't a 'i like broccoli/i don't like broccoli' situation. there are tangible characteristics that any game possesses and it's these characteristics, these facts, if you will, that should be the foundation of any review. once that foundation is developed, a little color commentary is welcome, and will often be interpreted differently by different reviewers.

    obviously not all reviews will be the same. that is the nature of reviews. that being said, it's shocking that one established gaming community can call aralon the defining rpg for the device and one of, if not the best games ever and another can call it below average.

    that, to me, is a problem.

    nothing i'm going to lose sleep over, but it's curious...
     
  19. McCREE

    McCREE Well-Known Member

    Aug 26, 2010
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    Exactly.
     
  20. bob_wocky

    bob_wocky Well-Known Member

    Oct 13, 2010
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