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Killzone 2: Curse of the Review Score

Killzone 2 is a prime example of what's wrong with review scores and internet fanboy expectations.
italianbreadman - contributor
Published: 303 days 8 hours ago | Article | PlayStation 3 | Gaming
 
 

Showing: 1 - 39 of 39 Comments
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SlamVanderhuge - 303 days 8 hours ago
1 -
This is why the 100 point (or even the 10 point) review scale is absurd. Its impossible to distinguish between a 84 and an 86, or a 92 and a 94. The only real point to such a large scale is to incite fanboy riots when their game gets rated 2 points below a similar game on a competing platform.
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italianbreadman - 303 days 8 hours ago
1.1 -
I prefer the

:'-( :-( :-| :-) :-D

scale
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Timberland2K9 - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.2 - They need to change this whole reviewing bull
because these ignorant fanboys are getting on my nerves Oooo halo got .1 higher on ign that means its still supreme

GTFO you haters
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InfectedDK - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.3 -
The only thing thats wrong with the review score system is that Gamespot and Edge Apparently havent figured out how it works yet.
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whoelse - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.4 -
That's why some sites now (like PS3 Attitude) don't use review scores.
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butterfinger - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.5 - @ whoelse
Yeah, I really enjoy reading Play's reviews, because it seems like they are just writing what they actually feel, and not writing to a score (as in knowing the score before writing).
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Parapraxis - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.6 -
In my opinion.
As soon as you start understanding the difference between "perfect" and "very good" review scores become useful.

When looking at a score it's very important you understand the individual reviewers preferences. It's all a matter of opinion, and with reviews you can either agree with the opinion or not.

At the same time it's not good that many publishers, journalists, devs and gamers put review scores at the tops of their list when determining whether or not a game is "good" or "successful".

A games success is not based solely on reviews. Sure they are often a valid indication of the general perception a game recieves, yet there's more to understanding the reception than just review scores.

When a market becomes as large and varied as the gaming industry there are often a very wide spectrum of different types of gamers who are interested in only one or a few types of games. Such things as "game of the year" are in my mind absurd, as it should be looked at in respect of each game in a specific genre.

It's also become evident that many times a game is not being scored on it's own merits. Constant comparisons in reviews are disrespectful. Yes they can be compared to other games, but when the score is determined mostly on how a game compares specifically to another the review has already failed us.

Anyways, in the end we as gamers have the choice to decide how much value is put into reviews. We have the POWER to buy the games that interest us and that we enjoy, regardless of how it scored in reviews.
Money talks, and we have a lot of influence in our pocketbooks.

The more we put reviews up on a pedastal the more that that will hamper us. It's up to us to talk less about scores and more about what we like and dislike in games. Many developers are listening. Are we making the most of our opportunity to communicate to them what we want?
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eagle21 - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.7 - ENJOY KZ2!
1up A/A+
IGN 9.4/10
GamePro 5/5
OPM 5/5
Xplay 5/5
Gamespy 4.5/5
Eurogamer 9/10
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ChampIDC - 303 days 7 hours ago
1.8 -
To be honest, I've always liked the 5 point scale best.

5 = Must Buy
4 = Above Average
3 = Average
2 = Below Average
1 = Bleh
0 = Fail

It's much more clear cut than the 10 and 100 point scale. Plus, if 2 games fanboys are crazing over both get 5/5, you can't pick out a .2 difference or something stupid like that.
1.9 BadboyCivic | 303 days 3 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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gaminoz - 302 days 20 hours ago
1.10 - Great Read And Spot on!
Hype and advertisement dollars....
Take the time to read the article...it really is on the money. I suspect that what they suspect is true.....

I'd also give reviews a 6/10! lol.
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tharealest - 303 days 8 hours ago
2 - Killzone 2
GOTY.. Those sites that don't acknowledge thate are simply looking for hits.. like Edge.. 7/10.. WTF
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HDgamer - 303 days 8 hours ago
2.1 -
Hits do generate revenue.
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pimp614 - 303 days 8 hours ago
2.2 - GOTY yeah right more like FOTY
Edge gives KillZone 2 7/10
http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News...

This site was very honest, even though sony tried to bribe them.

The demo played like a 7 out of 10 game for me, so I will bet the final product is worth a 7 out of 10, it had alot of problems that needed to be fix
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khellendros1 - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.3 -
Did you guys read the article? You're proving his point about fanboys.
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HDgamer - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.4 - @ pimp614 and khellendros1
Pimp614 sony didn't bribe them and you have no proof to support that biased theory.

Khellendros1, you do have to understand that if you really want to generate extra revenue lowering the score down a couple of points can really get people riled up to go to their website, make accounts and get some nice revenue. The hits from the unique users are insane and well money talks and bs walk. Besides it's still a AAA game one or two bad reviews won't change the fact it's going to sell well and the preorders are growing daily. Not everyone listen to reviews or rely on them.
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jammy_70 - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.5 - @2.2
what problems in the demo it was great!
its its a fukin DEMO not the finished game! there will be little problems
and 1 more thing ...the demo was 2008 build...so it will be wayyy better
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Kushan - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.6 -
therealest - regardless of what score it got in whatever mag, whether it was a 7/10 or a 10/10, until you've actually played the full game, you cannot claim it's "GOTY", nor can you claim the score is "wrong" (Aside from the fact that it's all opinion anyway). Save it for when the game is on shelves and you actually know the score.
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khellendros1 - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.7 -
@HDgamer

My apologies, my comment was aimed at the other two, not you.
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ChampIDC - 303 days 7 hours ago
2.8 -
While I'll admit KZ2 is an amazing game, I have to say that there's still 10 1/2 months left in this year. Too early to say it'll be GotY, but there's no doubt whatsoever that it'll be in the running.
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khellendros1 - 303 days 7 hours ago
3 -
I don't get pissed about the criticism or the score. I just want them to be fair. Flaws are overlooked in some games and they still get high scores. Other games get nitpicked to death and points are deducted for everything. I just want them to be consistent.
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Kushan - 303 days 7 hours ago
3.1 -
Unfortunately it's extremely difficult to not be biased in just about any circumstance. Even some fanboys are biased against their console or game of choice because they want it to succeed so badly, it gets people in all sorts of ways, but generally everyone has some bias in them.
People have probably noticed that my own bias lies towards the 360, but I'm also one of the first to call out Microsoft when they make mistakes - overpriced Live, the HDMI audio fix that took 3 months to appear, the RROD issue and so on, but so many people don't see this and think I hate the PS3 or something, even though I paid more for my PS3 than I did for my 360. I feel a lot of these reviews are suffering the same fate, too many people are jumping to conclusions just because they expect something to be different.
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HungPHAT - 303 days 7 hours ago
4 -
I could care less about reviews and Fanboys I go by Demos and eye candy that the game offers . Reviewers are a joke now a days ! IGN is the worst , that get paid for reviews , so who to you trust ? NO ONE ! if you're intrested in the game then go for it regarudless what any reviewer has to say , I've played so many games there were called crap and turned out to love those games , so my advice is play what you like , not what reviewers tell you what to play
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SirLarr - 303 days 7 hours ago
5 -
You need some kind of summary to an entire review or people won't read it, but the 1-10 number scale carries too much baggage.

Reviews should use a more arbitrary scale like five stars, thumbs up/down, or my favorite: buy it / rent it / skip it
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harshtruth - 303 days 7 hours ago
6 - who else decapitated a Helghan?
On my first play through of the demo i missed this, i thought you could only shoot off helmets... turns out in the warehouse section there's a second Helghan rifle to pick up (not the Helghan sub machine gun) if you shoot a dead/alive Helghan in the face it blows their head completely off.... this gun only shows up once in the demo, the guy sniping above the office has it and he must fall off the office when he dies for you to get this gun... its sweet
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ar - 303 days 7 hours ago
7 -
As long as I like the game the reviewers can say whatever they like. For the game developers on the other hand the sales numbers is probably the most important aspect in the end.
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somekindofmike - 303 days 7 hours ago
8 -
Review criteria should change, they should only rate the fun factor, how fun is it to play regardless of faults. because lets face it all game have faults, it oh so easy to critise, it's a lot harder to try and understand the larger picture!w
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ar - 303 days 7 hours ago
8.1 -
Bubbles for making sense.
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Hellsvacancy - 303 days 7 hours ago
9 - Listen to yourselves
Ive never bothered with reviews the only times ive EVER looked at reviews is when i use to go on2 GameTrailers.com and look at some of the older video reviews games like Blazing Angels, The Darkness crappy games that im really not bothered about but i would play enjoyable crap as my Dad would say

I know my own tastes i dont need any mofos tellin me any different

Just my opinion i can understand that sum people may need that extra nudge in deciding on buyin summin thats cool but dont complain when wot u read is bad because then it defeats the point in reading the review in the 1st place

Please 4give my spelling and gramer ive had bit of a drink and a smoke 2day :-S
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tudors - 303 days 7 hours ago
10 - It's just someones opinion......
KZ2 has had some great reviews, it's obviously not a bad game, if they were all bad reviews fair enough.
11 Wurider | 303 days 7 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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Hellangelzx - 303 days 6 hours ago
12 -
I still don't understand what's the point of 9.2, 9.4, 7.6.
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A HiFi - 303 days 5 hours ago
13 - Despite being an Xbox person through and through...
I was glad to see this live up to the hype of critics and fans alike. Even a 7 from Edge is a great score. But I don't know what they said about the game, which I will go and check now...
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Heath134 - 303 days 4 hours ago
14 -
Wow, this has sparked some very interesting discussion. Keep it up!
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A HiFi - 303 days 1 hour ago
15 -
Upon looking at the Edge review, they seemed to have made a balanced case (well...by that I mean as 'balanced' as Edge can make) and a 7 seems to sum it up quite well. We must remember that they also gave Halo Wars a 7. It is not a bad score, especially not from Edge.
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primordialmeme - 302 days 22 hours ago
16 - couldn't agree more
Great article. It perfectly describes fanboyism and corrupt journalism.
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yojoe26 - 302 days 22 hours ago
17 - Gaming really has gotten sad
I have found myself getting totally irate with people (fanboys) as a result of their total inability to reason and be intelligent about things. I have never been like that before so this whole N4g console war thing has really gotten me out of whack. It is one thing to have a preference on which console is better or which one you prefer, but to bash the other person's choice constantly and belittling that person is just totally unnerving to me. I think that maybe I just need to stick to my gaming sites that only support playstation products, that way I am not tempted to stoop to the level that people began to call me a fanboy and a retard and such. I lost some bubbles today just for getting onto some jerk-wad xbox fanboy who was being totally irritating with some of the people on N4g. The things they were saying were rational and well thought-out and then he and some of his friends would just answer back with juvenile comments and four=letter words. It drives me crazy!! It's the same way with reviews. There is absolutely NO place for biased reviews on either side for ANY console. I am beginning to think that the whole number system or star system needs to be abolished. That way, there is no hard scale with which someone can compare and say "Oh yeah they give an Xbox game a 10 and a PS3 game an 8!!" If all they do is review the game and give a relevant list of pros and cons, that should be enough for people to decide whether the game in question is worthy of a purchase, rental, or none of the above....
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A HiFi - 302 days 22 hours ago
17.1 -
I definitely agree with you there Joe. But there's too much to be lost from not offering a score, and if sites want to be featured on Metacritic then they have to provide a score for metac. And if they don't give a score, metac will give the score that best fits with the tone of the review.

It's a no-win situation while metacritic is still around.
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Dragon Boy - 302 days 20 hours ago
18 -
I say play the game and decide for yourself. The graphics in Killzone are far beyond anything I ever witness in my lifetime of playing video games. The way I start shooting and the smoke from the battle clogs my vision, to glare of the sun, to shooting an enemy close up having his blood get all over my screen. In my book this game merits 10's and nothing below. Anybody who has been playing since the days of atari and sees this game and his jaw dropping graphics needs to realize this game just set the bench mark of graphic of any first person shooter on any console to date.
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