Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Games you didn't buy based upon bad user/critic reviews
After getting burned several times in the past, I recently decided to wait for reviews from critics and users in all but the most guaranteed awesome titles (Skyrim, Diablo 3, etc.). So I am wondering what recent games (mmo or otherwise) did you choose not to buy based upon poor reviews. I'll go first:
Dragon Age 2
Dungeon Siege 3
Duke Nukem Forever
D&D Daggerdale
Now keep in mind that due to conflicts of interest among certain magazines and gaming sites, not all bad games receive poor reviews (Dragon Age 2), but when the average user score is significantly lower than the critic score, you know it's a bad game. Now I know you can't always go by a single critic review, but when they all start to line up, that's a sign something is wrong.
Comments
Dungeons? Or whatever that knock off Dungeon Keeper game was that was recently released.
Star Trek Online.
Boy am I glad I dodged that bullet.
MMOs: Vanguard is really the only game I've considered buying but was swayed by reviews (at launch) and that turned out to be a good move. Usually tho I'm really into trying games out myself and dont put much faith in reviews.
I actually dont. The thing is I know what I like and don't like. I like character customization more than anything. I hate first person shooters and single player games where you dont really affect anything and its super linear (dragon age or mass effect or la noire). Thre more to it, but you get the idea.
A ton of reviewers gave White Knight Chronicles a below average grade. But most of them don't have the time to invest into the game and many have the attention span of gnats, and most have a bias (like i have one for character customization) so their reviews are never any good. They provide info about whats in the game, but as to wheter they like it or not is pointless. People make big deals about different things that arent big deals to others.
I think people should be able to tell if they like a game or not based on watch gameplay videos and reading about the features. Not wheter or not some guy in a cubcle likes it or not.
While I agree that trying a a game out is OK if there's a demo or a friend has it, I just can't see myself actually buying games anymore (except Skyrim, D3) without consulting reviews first. There are very few guarantees in gaming anymore... some would say none.
Again another good point, but what about when 10000 guys in cubicles around the country start to voice their negative concerns over a recently released game? It's all about the average. Plus just watching a video and reading about a games features is no substitute for direct feedback from those who have played a title.
I'd rather watch gameplay of the game than read a biased opinion of a stranger.
For what it is worth, I don't think reviews are all that useful. I do read them, but more to get a feel for the game than to determine if it is 'good' or 'bad'
In my case, I could not handle the limited camera view in Dungeon Siege 3, and so after trying the free demo, I sadly passed on that game. I was quite hyped too! very dissapointed. The game was fine. But that darn 'can't see jack' camera! arrrgh!
Dragon Age 2 I loved. I enjoyed it as much as Dragon Age 1. Loved both games. Bad game? no way. Different than Dragon Age 1? yes. many were pissed off that DA2 changed the game a lot; same as Mass effect 2 being different than 1. In fact, if DA2 had come out first, many would have ripped apart DA1 as 'different' (my opinion)
Daggerdale I did pass on based on reviews, but mainly due to being annoyed it did not use DND rules.
Duke Nukem? I don't play many shooters.
Are you willing to drop $50 based upon watching a few youtube videos or would you rather hear from someone, better yet hundreds or thousands of people who have played it first?
Of course, I'm seeing how the game plays (Not a trailer of gameplay but actual gameplay of the game) and making my OWN opinion.
Reviews are not the way to decide if buying it or not I have several games that reviews said were bad yet I enjoyed them cause well the gameplay looked fun.
Which games? An example for me would be Hellgate London.
I usually take reviews as a warning, if reviews are pretty poor all the way around, I try and find a way to try the game first. One game I didn't end up buying was Brink, but mostly due to no local co-op for the 360. I went against reviews recently and bought Dungeon Siege 3 recently, (as it did have local co-op) and while the game isn't blow-me-out-of-the-water amazing, its still enjoyable when you play with others.
I suppose I was let down by the reviews of Duke Nukem, which did prevent me from buying it.
Unless a game has overly negative reviews I tend to not make purchasing desicions based on them. Reviewers are people and people have agendas so it is important to remember that there may be a reason they write a bad review on something. I am not saying that Joe Shmoe from Gamespot wrote a bad review on X title just because he didn't want it to succeed, but what I mean is that they may have a different perspective. Some reviewers may be assigned to review titles which they don't like the gameplay of anyways, so they will be naturally negative. They might not like the theme, the political overtones, the jokes,ect. There are plenty of reasons for a critic to go in with a biased opinion of something.
If a game has overly negative reviews I still look at player reviews but more at what each negative review has in common. If the issues the negative reviews have are something I do not care about (IE: Graphics) then I will dismiss that point. If they have overly common problems with the same aspects that I agree are important, I won't get it.
The only exception I have made to the overly negative reviews is a couple of times where I flat out just winged it and got the game anyways (and maybe regretted it later =P) and in the case of Duke Nukem Forever. I pretty much knew from the ground running that DNF was going to be poorly recieved so I had lower expectations then most people. Even after looking at the reviews and buying it I enjoyed it alot and got my moneys worth out of it.
More often then not reviews don't justify any purchase for me.
For me it was Final Fantasy 14. Wanted so badly for it to work out, being an old 11 player. I just knew by the reviews something was wrong. It wasnt even the American reviews that got me, it was the Japanese. The JP will follow their companies and people to the death and to see them post negative review after negative review convinced me to stay away.
I hear they are about to release the one patch to fix it all. Heres to hoping!
Reviews and forum conversations are certainly useful towards building an impression, if you have interest. That's my thinking. I dont read them to make my opinion for me, but to forumulate how a host of other impressions might help with a buying decision or game-play decision; and I read alot of them to sift through what appears to a reasonable vs unreasonable feedback.
Most recently, I used that feedback to 'not' buy Final Fantasy 14, Dungeon Siege 3 and Duke Nukem Forever, for example.
I can tell you from experience that there are certain times when I sit back and pat myself on the back. Like times I wrote reviews for Warhammer, Aion, or some other games telling people about how shallow, broken and or incomplete the game is. Only to have players, ridicule or to tell me to go kill myself or that they will come kill me becuase I had the audacity to write such things about their latest greatest gaming love. Then...then, I see those same people a couple of months later commenting in threads on these and other forums saying they shouldn't have wasted the money on that POS game. Yep...happens all the time.
Granted, in the end it truly is the end user that can determine whether or not they'll enjoy a game or not, but when a critic or reviewer comes right out and says...this game is like this, this and this and has these problems...then the caveat is on the buyer. The critic/reviewer did their job and if Joe/Jill gamer neglects the warnings - then Joe and Jill have only themselves to blame.
Unfortunately for many some critics and reviewers suck at their jobs. They gloss over the bad and candy coat the really bad. When that happens I do not blame the player if they went ahead and bought a game under those conditions...they might not have had a chance to experience it themselves and are going off what a few reviewers say. Sad it happens, but many online game rags have writers that write previews and reviews laced with lollipops and unicorns.
Hellgate is a good example some others:
Final Fantasy xiv while it's nothing outstanding I got to play for 2 months+ free and still have fun.
Sniper ghost warrior many said it was crap but for me I love stealth games and while some bugs in latest missions appeared there was a way to go around them.
Two worlds many also said it's crap and while it's true the animations are not great it's a very large game and you can spend lots of days in it.
James cameron's avatar another nice game which got bad reviews from some people.
The list could go a little longer but I guess this is enough of a list already.
Yes reading reviews opinions is nice and can help in getting a general idea of what people think about x game but I will in no doubt base my opinion in buying it or not AFTER watching actual gameplay and deciding for myself,
I have passed over a fair share of titles because of user/critic reviews.
But recently i tried Champion's Online after avoiding it mostly due to bad press, and absolutely love it.
Instances make it feel like old MuDs that limited number of people per room. Even the Adventure Packs and Comics are broken up into segments, making it easy to play for 10mins before work without being drawn in and still having fun with some custom toon you designed.
Would i of loved it when it first released with bugs/less content/etc? Probably not, but i don't play any MMO for at least 2 months after release as a rule. People are more fun to group with usually after they have one or two maxed toons already.
The point, yes i've avoided games based on reviews, but i question my bias toward games after reading a negetive review.
"I swear -- by my life and my love for it -- that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
- John Galt
I guess I just get lucky because typically the games I enjoy end up with decent scores. I don't buy games all that often I just buy games from companies or franchises I have liked in the past. In the last 2-3 years I've only purchased a handfull of games. FO:NV, ME 2, Empire Total war, Red Dead Redemption, Divinity 2 and that's about it, the only one I was slightly unhappy with was Empire, though I still enjoyed it for the modding. These were the only games I've been interested in, I was planning on picking up the witcher 2 but I'm not sure if my PC will handle it at this point, was waiting until I upgrade for TES V.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I bought The Witcher 2 because of fantastic reviews and youtube clips. A waste of money... Good story, nice graphics and good actors. But frustrating combat, many bugs and every aspect that made The Witcher 1 a great game was gone. Normal difficulty was harder than Nightmare in Mass Effect and other RPG's. Geralt is supposed to be an amazing swordsman but most of the time you roll around on the floor to avoid attacks, throw bombs or knives, blocking attacks and running around like a headless chicken. Easy difficulty was too easy. just keep clicking your mouse button and you won't get a scratch... sigh.
It's frustrating to see how many reviewers praise this game and reward it with prizes and amazing ratings while thousands of players scream out on forums how they can't enjoy the game because they get killed whenever they fight a fat guard with a kitchen knife... Funny enough, I completely agrre with Zeropunctuation's review of the game!
Not necessarily "bad" reviews, but reviews that gave me enough reliable info that i shouldn't waste my time on:
World of Warcraft
Warhammer Online
Star Trek Online
Lineage 2
Darkfall
Earthrise
DCUO
I did end up trying some of these via free means, but ultimately, i was armed with enough review info to know i won't enjoy playing them.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Same here. I was eager to get my hands on Witcher 2, but I just hate the combat. The rolling around seems completely stupid to me. Great setting and atmosphere though.
I wish I had seen your review in time about Warhammer. That game was by far, my personal biggest dissapointment ever for an mmorpg game. I had such high hopes that it would be an improved version of Dark Age of Camelot wrapped in beautiful Warhammer IP clothing. Alas......I was crushed to find it just not working for me.
I have enough friends that play video games that at least one of them has tested or played a game Im interested in and I can ask them. I dont go by game site reviews.
I don't put a lot of faith in critic reviews. I read various reviews so I can try to find consistancies within the reviews. If you read 5 reviews that all say the grind is heavy, then the grind might be heavy.
However, if 1 random bloke says combat is boring, maybe it was just boring for that person.