IGN

[nitnit]

Surely almost everyone here has heard of IGN. I'm sure many of you think they are professional, and give great opinions.


I beg to differ.


Anyone who thinks that IGN is the best review source. Have you guys even looked at their top 360 scores?

GTAIV with a 10? Sorry, no game is perfect.

Fallout 3 with a 9.6 when games like the Orange Box have a slightly lower score? I think not.

Prey with a 9.0? wtf?

DoA4 with a 9.0?

RE5 with a 9.0?

I like some of those games, but those scores are ridiculous for them.


Honestly, a lot of the scores seem to be almost directly tied to the influence and budget of the publisher/developer.


Then again I find myself at odds with the vast majority of "gaming journalism" having higher standards than most.

What do you guys think?  

[Your Irish Twin Brother]

nitnit

Surely almost everyone here has heard of IGN. I'm sure many of you think they are professional, and give great opinions.


I beg to differ.


Anyone who thinks that IGN is the best review source. Have you guys even looked at their top 360 scores?

GTAIV with a 10? Sorry, no game is perfect.

Fallout 3 with a 9.6 when games like the Orange Box have a slightly lower score? I think not.

Prey with a 9.0? wtf?

DoA4 with a 9.0?

RE5 with a 9.0?

I like some of those games, but those scores are ridiculous for them.


Honestly, a lot of the scores seem to be almost directly tied to the influence and budget of the publisher/developer.


Then again I find myself at odds with the vast majority of "gaming journalism" having higher standards than most.

What do you guys think?

The bold point is why I no longer trust most reviewers. Modern Warfare wii is getting 6 and 7's for being a Wii port and for having non PS360 graphics on just about every site when it is the unanimous decision that everything about it is better than World at War for Wii, which got 8.9 - 9.3's.  

[nitnit]

Just to clarify I was saying that Prey, DoA4, and RE5 deserve lower scores. I won't bother arguing about Fallout 3 since those who see all the game's flaws are in the minority.

Some other absurd examples include:

Perfect Dark Zero with an 8.4 compared to Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts with an 8.3. How are they going to make a case for PDZ being better than nuts and bolts? PDZ is a generic, linear FPS banking on the title of a classic N64 game. Most other reviewers gave it lower than an 8.4.

Nuts and Bolts on the other hand, is innovative. Rare took a chance, and made a decent game with some groundbreaking gameplay elements. With fine tuning, a sequel could potentially be great. Sure, it deserves an 8.3, but it's a better game than PDZ.

Also it's absurd that the majority of Guitar Hero / Rock Band games are scoring over an 8.5 on their list when they're all the same game with different songs, and a few extra features.

Honestly IGN, it's sad when Gamefly's average player score for a game is often more accurate than your own reviews.  

[nitnit]

Double posting. Just want to point out the review I just read on IGN for Raging Blast.

I don't think the reviewer is able to use a 360 controller at all. Either that or his controller is broken.

First he claims that melee combat has taken a back seat to flashy attacks. Wrong. Melee combat was buffed in RB (I've been on a few "competitive" DBZ game forums, with explanations for all of this). In past games Ki blasts were too good, so those were nerfed, and both Melee and Specials were buffed, making all 3 good.

He goes on a rant about how pressing X wouldn't let him attack. Really? Because every time I press X it's as precise as the character model lets it be; you know, that's how most fighting games are.

He then proceeds to whine about the difficulty of the clashes that require you to rotate the left stick. I've won 95% of the ones I've been in, and despite what he believes they're easy to see coming... whenever both fighters dash into each other, or their supers hit at the same time, a clash ensues.

The only real complaint he has is the camera.

So what probably happened was the idiot picked up the game, went through 1 saga, got his a** handed to him since he didn't bother with the tutorials or anything, then raged in a review. He even fails to mention the customization aspect of the game, or the fan service of SS3 vegeta/broly.  

[Tron714]

I never really cared about IGN. The reviews that I look at most is from OXM, Game Informer, and just watching vids from G4TV(there scores are ridiculous too, i just like watching gameplay and seeing their pros and cons.)  

[nitnit]

Hoo boy, don't get me started on game informer. 2 years of subscription and rarely any reviews worth the price.  

[The Ginger Dude]

Game Informer going down the steep hill for certain, the magizine covers are horrible now,and the reviews are just plainly non-essential and biased, There new 200th issue had DR.Mario 43 of the top 200 games of all time, while Beyond good and evil which i thought was an innovative game was 200, Half-Life was 70, and System-Shock 2 was 110, and as for IGN, they suck as do all other game reviewers, there just there to make their point on good and bad games wanting you to believe them, go yourself and review them, oh is Raging Blast any good i'm thinking about renting it as well as AC2 and L4D2.  

[darkslasherX]

It's kinda hard to trust companies that write reviews for profit, and to a lesser extent strategy guides. I mean, when the goal is to get it done by a certain time, the focus is going to be on getting a block of text written, regardless of factual accuracy or interest. The saving grace for strategy guides is that they have to have a reputation for at least being somewhat complete and accurate, or nobody will buy them, but anybody can buy someone's opinion/reviews and think "these guys are obviously right, so I should buy their magazine more", regardless of if it's the proper mentality or not.

Not to mention inflated rating systems. 5 or 6 should be "average", above that "good", below that "bad". 1 should be "unplayable", 10 "perfect", 2 "extremely flawed", and 9 "extremely good". 8-9 is Game Of The Year material, or 10 if one comes out (which should be rare). Most of the time people put 7 as "average" for whatever reason and give 10s out far too often.  

[Haratio TaFotter]

I kind of think the idea of game reviews with a number score is kind of inneffective. When I look at reviews in magazines like OXM or watch them on shows like X-Play, I really just listen to what they say about the game. If I think the pros listed outweigh the cons, I have a higher oppinion of the game.

As for the GTAIV perfect score, I agree that no game is perfect. Granted I think GTAIV was a good direction for the series, but by no means perfect. However, I believe that was the first game IGN had given a perfect score to since Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Once again not a perfect game, but pretty much (this is my oppinion, no numbers attached lol) the perfect Zelda game.  

[KRaZyAmmo]

I never go to IGN. I go to Gametrailers for my reviews. But they really don't change my decision on buying a game. However there are some games on Gametrailers I disagree with.  

[Jahinske The Second]

I have to disagree with you on the GTAIV point. That game does deserve the 10 it got, only because of the development it came from. Considering the low graphics level from the PS2, this game has come a long way. I was addicted to it when it came out, didn't put it down for at least 10 hours. As for the story, it was good, nice storyline and a good length, with the last mission to be a choose your path so you could do it over again. But there's more, the multiplayer is outstanding. It's addicting, almost or right on the point of Call of Duty online play. There's so much you can do with your friends in the online free mode. I doubt if you've tried, but they have the annihilators and the Buzzards[ now from Gay Tony add on] helicopters. Those give you many more ways to play the game. People now have "dogfights" with them, and it's very entertaining and gives you more to do. The downloadable content is great too. TLAD sucked, I must say, but The Ballad of Gay Tony made up for it like crazy. The new stuff it included, it gave it more of a San Andreas feel to it.

Wow, that was more than I meant to post. In short: GTAIV deserves the 10. The story and the online play are the reason.