Are video games judged for their 'funness' anymore?

[EndOfDaWorld]

I've been watching and reading a lot of video game reviews lately, and I've noticed that almost all of them have nothing to say HOW ACTUALLY FUN THE FUCKING GAME IS.
For example....Some reviews say that the graphics in a game are not that good. Well? So what? Is it still as fun to play? Honestly, I had more fun playing Rainbow Six Vegas 2 than Call of Duty 5. Obviously the graphics aren't as good, but it was still more fun.
And Two Worlds. I almost had as much fun with that as I did with Oblivion. Yes the graphics sucked (on TW), yes the combat was kinda broken and repetitive, yes it was annoying to die over and over fighting the same fucking wolf, and yes its voice acting was terrible, BUT it was still loads of fun to play.
I guess whether a reviewer finds a game fun or not is based on their personal opinion, but still...I bought Fallout 3 because it was getting 10/10s and 9/10s from every single review, but after playing for about 2 hours I soon became bored. It was a good game in my opinion, but it was not fun. I just bought Farcry 2 yesterday, because (a) it was only $15 and (b) because my friend said it was incredibly fun. And I agree.
Okay, last complaint. Rainbow Six Vegas 2. People keep saying that it was so less tactical than the other Rainbow Six games, and that it was more action oriented. And? Your Point? If its still fun, doesn't that make up for it?
Okay, that's it. If you disagree, please be somewhat nice about it.

 

[Shru1kan]

Everyone has their own version of fun.

My college writing class has that, and another list of words banned because you can't DEFINE fun. Along with words like awesome, hilarious, etc...

 

[Cherry Cola]

Pretty much what the guy above me said.

People enjoy different things. If a game got a good score, that means the reviewer had fun.

 

[mokes310]

Fun Factor is the primary metric for which I rate games. Above all else, I won't play it if it isn't fun!

 

[MasterMongoose0]

Fun is impossible to quantify.

I had much, much more fun with Saints Row 2 than Grand Theft Auto 4, but does that necessarily make it better?

I don't know. That's the problem.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I agree that you can't define fun, but a lot of reviews miss the point. They talk about the graphics and sound and all that stuff and forget the actual reason people play games. The strange thing is that while fun cannot be defined, neither can quality. Someone might say that the graphics are the best part of a game while another might say sound is. That's why I rarely read reviews down to every last detail.

 

[end_boss]

My guess is that reviewers are just trying to remain objective so that you can determine for yourself if you would find it fun. For instance, when I worked at a video game store, the PS3 had just come out, and customers would ask me "So, what's the better system?" Invariably, I would ask, "Well, what do you look for in games?" Almost always, the customer would reply "Which has better graphics?"

Also, I knew somebody who had the 360 and PS3 and were raving to me about how awesome the PS3 was. He told me that once he saw how good the graphics were in Dirt, he played that instead of Gears of War.

For me, graphics are the lowest part of my "fun scale," and I enjoyed the hell out of Fallout 3, whose graphics were a bit weaker in comparison to a lot of new-gen games. I can also read a glowing review about a JRPG and understand that the reasons they praise it are likely the same reasons I would dislike it. Even Yahtzee nitpicks a lot of things in WRPGs that I personally really appreciate.

So, really, reviews are ALWAYS to be taken with a grain of salt. Reviews might put a bit less emphasis on how fun the game is, because that's a matter of opinion. Even review scores are notoriously misleading.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Fun is opinion. Personally, I can enjoy nearly anything that says LEVEL UP.

 

[sln333]

Game reviewers have to break down games into categories and analyze each category. Sometimes they just grade the categories. Sometimes they also go for the overall feel. For example, Game Informer has an entertainment category where they say if it was fun to play or not. I can still have fun with games that get lower scores. Sure NBA Live 10 gets 7's and 8's, but I find the online play to be really fun so what it got graded down on doesn't really matter.

 

[Subzerowings]

How many times must I say this?

[HEADING=1] IT IS A OPINION[/HEADING]

It's an opinion?
Sorry I couldn't resist.
On topic: Games are judged by how fun they are. Music, design, gameplay and story are thing that attribute to fun.

 

[Andantil]

No, they aren't.
No, they shouldn't be.
The reviewer could be somebody who thinks Microsoft Excel is fun, you wouldn't want them telling you that the game Spreadsheets 5 is infinitely entertaining, now would you?

 

[i love arizona]

Fun is opinion. Personally, I can enjoy nearly anything that says LEVEL UP.

I agree with that, but I find I read reviews only to see how long the main storyline/campaign runs and if there's enough side missions to keep me busy. To me, a video game is fun if it immerses me into the world and it's story. Like in Fallout 3 I can around for 4 hours and it only feels like 10 minutes. Sadly, most reviews I read don't have the same idea of 'fun' as me

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Fun is opinion. Personally, I can enjoy nearly anything that says LEVEL UP.

I agree with that, but I find I read reviews only to see how long the main storyline/campaign runs and if there's enough side missions to keep me busy. To me, a video game is fun if it immerses me into the world and it's story. Like in Fallout 3 I can around for 4 hours and it only feels like 10 minutes. Sadly, most reviews I read don't have the same idea of 'fun' as me

Exactly, and to me running around Fallout 3 for an hour felt like, an hour.

And an hour of Fable 2 felt like 10 minutes.

And an hour of Oblivion felt like 10 seconds.

And an hour of Fable 1 felt like one hour.

 

[Chancie]

No, not really. The graphics seem to take a more important part than the fun factor does.

But like everyone else has said. No two people will find the same things fun.