Critics That You Simply Can't Listen to Anymore

[Werewolfkid]

Today, one of my favorite game critics did something that has basically turned me off from listening to him ever again. Charlie Cade aka The Gaming Brit was a really intelligent guy that has made some very good video game reviews. His review of Metroid: Other M I think stands as one of the most detailed and well thought out deconstruction of why the game didn't work. But, lately it seemed that he was becoming more jaded and unreasonable about things even stating that games that run at 60 fps is unforgivable and that video games are objectively for cunts. The final nail in the coffin was today when he was venting about the latest Jimquestion and said quote "When you become a paid critic you're not allowed to say whatever you want and then hide behind "muh opinion". The idea that "review" = "my opinion and whatever I want to say" is daft and shallow. It's a critique and analysis first and foremost." unquote. Never mind that a critique is nothing more then a detailed opinion based on your own personal teachings and beliefs making his comments hypocritical, but it also highlights a mentality I am getting fucking sick of.

The idea that the whole of mainstream gaming journalism is purely evil and corrupt, that game reviewers are practicably selling their souls for huge sums of money and fame, and that only people that review games without pay and without bias are the TRUE and HONEST "gamers". On the totem pole of things important to the world at large corruption in game journalism is very, VERY low on the list. As for game reviewers taking bribes, I won't deny that it happens, just look at what happened to Jeff Gerstmann. But no one ever seems to put into their heads that these reviews likely have livelihoods to maintain and/or families to support. It's so easy to say that game reviewers are being greedy monsters with absolutely no integrity, but why is it so hard to look a little deeper and see that maybe they are just people like you trying to make their way in the world and having to make compromises to survive. I wonder how many game reviewers hate being game reviewers right now? To have something you love doing be corrupted by people that are constantly telling you that you are a greedy hack, that your review is not a thespian critique like it should be, and that you should go kill yourself.

Bringing this back to The Gaming Brit, he entitled to his opinion that reviews should be "critique and analysis first and foremost" and that "game journalism is shit." Charlie is very intelligent and insightful, but he is also young and likely inexperienced to how the world really works. Hopefully, this cynical and elitist attitude he has right now is just a phase he is going through and will look back at some at the things he has said and say to himself "What the hell was wrong with me." Till that day comes he has lost a fan and I cannot say if I will ever be one again. It's likely that he won't care, but I want to say that I wish him the best and that I may one day enjoy his videos again.

So I guess the final question I want to ask my fellow Escapists is...has something like this ever happened to you? Has someone that you respected and/or trusted as conduit of helping shape your opinion on something done something immature or just plan awful that you can't look past? I want to know that I am not alone in feeling sad about losing trust in someone.

 

[sanquin]

I actually agree with this gaming brit, if that is indeed his opinion on the latest Jimquisition. A review is there to give information about a game. What's good and bad about it, or if it's just 'okay'. When only an opinion is given, other people have no right to complain to them about it.

Example:
Jim Sterling's game of the year awards. That was purely his opinion. Even though I disagreed with him on some games, I said nothing about it.

Any review from, say, IGN. They're there to inform, not to give their personal opinion. I have every right to go on there and complain about reviews if my experience is very different from what was described.

 

[BQE]

Any review from, say, IGN. They're there to inform, not to give their personal opinion. I have every right to go on there and complain about reviews if my experience is very different from what was described.

I'm not sure I can support this notion. Personally, I find that all reviews and critiques merely things to keep in mind when reflecting upon whether or not a game may adhere to your personalities. I've loved games that were reviewed poorly, and been less than supportive toward games that were universally lauded.

What makes it difficult to disagree with you however, is that I would think that if an entity like the Escapist and IGN becomes a trusted news source with reliable information and opinions, then there needs to be a sense of accountability.

I don't know, I relate it to how I would feel when I don't like a game that my friend heartily recommends; I honestly don't cast blame or fault due to accounting for tastes.

 

[shrekfan246]

Any review from, say, IGN. They're there to inform, not to give their personal opinion.

Not that I want to actually get into this since nobody ever changes their views on the internet, but reviews are for both. Mostly because a review is about a person's experience with a piece of entertainment or item, and as such will be colored by their personal tastes and preferences regardless of technical prowess or quality.

But hey, don't let me stop this thread from being derailed into another flame war about how all reviews that aren't "objective" are shit...

OT: MovieBob, specifically on superhero films. I still watch his videos and respect his opinions, don't get me wrong, but his entire tirade against every superhero film that hasn't been from Marvel lately has just made me not care in the slightest about both the Marvel Cineverse and his reviews of superhero films. The fact that he's preemptively hating everything unrelated to The Avengers just cements my position.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I don't listen to Total Biscuit/Cynical Brit/John Bain or Gaming Brit/Charlie Cade because I don't enjoy listening to a man gripe about how a game doesn't run on his supercomputer. But if he wants to vent about stuff, that's his prerogative, so let him do so, and let people listen to him. Just not my cuppa.

 

[sanquin]

Not that I want to actually get into this since nobody ever changes their views on the internet, but reviews are for both. Mostly because a review is about a person's experience with a piece of entertainment or item, and as such will be colored by their personal tastes and preferences regardless of technical prowess or quality.

But hey, don't let me stop this thread from being derailed into another flame war about how all reviews that aren't "objective" are shit...

While subjectivity does play a large factor when a game gets reviewed, that does not mean you can blatantly ignore a game's strengths and weaknesses. Not while you're actually getting paid to review at least. As someone else mentioned when quoting my post, if such sites as ign and the escapist were to become a full, proper news source would they still not be accountable if they warped the truth or even gave false information? I know over here there would probably be protests outside of their building if the 6 'o clock news over here started doing that...

But opinion is opinion. If you think of it differently. Oh well.

 

[shrekfan246]

Not that I want to actually get into this since nobody ever changes their views on the internet, but reviews are for both. Mostly because a review is about a person's experience with a piece of entertainment or item, and as such will be colored by their personal tastes and preferences regardless of technical prowess or quality.

But hey, don't let me stop this thread from being derailed into another flame war about how all reviews that aren't "objective" are shit...

While subjectivity does play a large factor when a game gets reviewed, that does not mean you can blatantly ignore a game's strengths and weaknesses. Not while you're actually getting paid to review at least. As someone else mentioned when quoting my post, if such sites as ign and the escapist were to become a full, proper news source would they still not be accountable if they warped the truth or even gave false information? I know over here there would probably be protests outside of their building if the 6 'o clock news over here started doing that...

But opinion is opinion. If you think of it differently. Oh well.

I have yet to see a single review where the reviewer or critic in question blatantly lied about the quality of the game. There are, admittedly, times where they will omit certain things that may be problems simply because they didn't view it as a problem or because it paled in comparison to how much they enjoyed the rest of the game, but I would struggle to name one game released in the last six-eight years that has received reviews which simply weren't true in any way. I've even seen some of the people who played Rome II say that, beyond the bugs, the opening hours of the game were pretty enjoyable and it was after twenty+ hours when you started really seeing it start falling apart. Many reviewers simply don't have the free time to invest that amount of time into a game.

I mean, I don't particularly care what the internet at large has to say about Dragon Age II or Mass Effect 3; They're not abhorrently terrible games that deserve to be down in the depths with Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing, Bubsy 3D, Superman 64, and Ride to Hell: Retribution, and my opinion about them isn't factually incorrect because I happened to enjoy them despite their flaws.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Most, if not all of them. My tastes in gaming these days seem to be vastly different from the majority of critics. The only one I agree with most of the time is Angry Joe.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

I used to read a lot of gamespot's reviews, now I don't bother. My opinions on games shifted from focusing on the technical aspects towards the subjective and metaphorical.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I did stop watching TB a while ago. I dunno why, I suppose he's changed over the years or something. If he does a proper report on something happening in the industry in that show that replaced the Mailbox that I can't remember the name of I can watch that sometimes.

He can complain a bit too much though, I remember when he used to stream his own ranked Starcraft 2 games and he would fucking rage. I thought it was hilarious when he got destroyed by a guy rushing a fuckload of Banshees against him and cheesing him to death with the invisibility before he could get enough reveal units out.

"This doesn't work"

*everything dies*

"THIS DOESN'T WORK, STOP BEING BAD!"

*rage surrenders*

And he just released a WTF is of Long Live the Queen. Ok, i'm a bit curious, I don't know how he views the Visual Novel stuff and I love that shit but so many people dislike it almost on principle. You people and your negativity of mashing enter to advance text slides. You'll never understand.

I'm into anime reviews now for some reason and I was a bit shocked by how harshly they reviewed older stuff. I did watch anime in a complete vacuum in my youth though, I basically would scroll down the A-Z and click anything that looked decent.

Still, was School Days really that terrible? I thought it was fuckin' funny.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Every time I watch one of Total Biscuit's videos I end up closing the tab due to complete and utter boredom of listening to him drivel on about how games should run the way he expects them to or bitches about the big 3 or the usual publishers, all the while gushing over indie's like the second coming.

Angry Joe on the other hand I can listen to because a good chunk of the time he's acting with a little of his own opinion.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

I don't listen to Total Biscuit/Cynical Brit/Gaming Brit/Charlie Cade because I don't enjoy listening to a man gripe about how a game doesn't run on his supercomputer. But if he wants to vent about stuff, that's his prerogative, so let him do so, and let people listen to him. Just not my cuppa.

Total Biscuit/The Cynical Brit/John Bain and The Gaming Brit/Charlie Cade are two totally different people. One is a massive icon in the realm of PC gaming videos on Youtube, the other made a few excellent videos about Metroid: Other M and... nothing else worth watching, really.

OT: I kinda sympathize with the whole "Liking The Gaming Brit initially for his Metroid: Other M video but despising him for his other stuff" deal. That Other M video was brilliant and opened my eyes to how terrible and genuinely offensive that game was. Then I tried watching his other stuff... aaand he came across as a bit of a ****, honestly.

As for actual "Critics I cannot stand to listen to anymore", I guess I'd say pretty much any major review website ever. I used to follow places like GameSpot and IGN pretty closely when I was younger, however I've grown to totally ignore websites like those and trust smaller reviewers on Youtube and word of mouth instead. Especially after things like the whole Jeff Gerstmann debacle back in '07...

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I don't listen to Total Biscuit/Cynical Brit/Gaming Brit/Charlie Cade because I don't enjoy listening to a man gripe about how a game doesn't run on his supercomputer. But if he wants to vent about stuff, that's his prerogative, so let him do so, and let people listen to him. Just not my cuppa.

Total Biscuit/The Cynical Brit/John Bain and The Gaming Brit/Charlie Cade are two totally different people. One is a massive icon in the realm of PC gaming videos on Youtube, the other made a few excellent videos about Metroid: Other M and... nothing else worth watching, really.

Really? I could have sworn they were the same from the sound of the rant posted above. Freaking out over "unacceptable framerates" sounds exactly like Total Biscuit. Plus, Gaming Brit is only a word away from Cynical Brit. How big is this Charlie Cade guy on Youtube? Is he noticeable, or does he bank off of ignorant people like me assuming he's the same person due to similar style and name?

 

[Zhukov]

TotalBiscuit.

I used to like his "WTF is..." videos. They introduced me to some cool lesser-known games that I would likely never have played otherwise.

But there's only so long I can listen to a grown man whine at length about the most inconsequential bullshit imaginable.

There's a fine line between intelligent critique and whining like a sick dog. I don't know where exactly that line lies, but I do know that that man has crossed that line in a manner reminiscent of German tanks crossing a Belgian border. (That sounded funnier in my head.) Even when I agree with what he's saying, the way he says it makes me want to find a way to disagree, just so I don't have to share a point of view with him.

The whole PC elitist crap rubs me the wrong way too, and that's coming from someone who games primarily on a PC. Whenever I refer to myself as a PC gamer or similar I always have this urge to point at him and add, "...but I'm not like that guy!"

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

TotalBiscuit.

I used to like his "WTF is..." videos. They introduced me to some cool lesser-known games that I would likely never have played otherwise.

But there's only so long I can listen to a grown man whine at length about the most inconsequential bullshit imaginable.

There's a fine line between intelligent critique and whining like a sick dog. I don't know where exactly that line lies, but I do know that that man has crossed that line in a manner reminiscent of German tanks crossing a Belgian border. (That sounded funnier in my head.) Even when I agree with what he's saying, the way he says it makes me want to find a way to disagree, just so I don't have to share a point of view with him.

The whole PC elitist crap rubs me the wrong way too, and that's coming from someone who games primarily on a PC. Whenever I refer to myself as a PC gamer or similar I always have this urge to point at him and add, "...but I'm not like that guy!"

Like his video on why Dark Souls should be ported to the PC. I agreed with his premise, but I wanted to smack him upside the head for his reasons/way he presented his reasons.

 

[Fireaxe]

TotalBiscuit is pretty bad at actually playing most games so his views become painfully subjective to the amount he actually gets what he needs to do and how well he can do it -- I can recall him saying stuff like "what is the point of this skill" when the point was readily apparent. Hence I really can't watch him these days.

 

[Jandau]

Don't quite understand all the hate towards TB, I generally like his stuff. Content Patch has some solid commentary, WTF is... often points out good games I would otherwise miss or demolishes crap in funny ways, I enjoyed his Hearthstone videos (though that has gotten a little stale lately). He's well spoken and has a solid sense of humor without coming off like a giggling stoner (like Crendor, Pewdiepie and a LOT of gaming Youtubers). He can get a bit preachy at times, but I don't really mind that much.

Now, there are a ton of critics and pundits that annoy me, but if I had to pick one that I used to like but I simply can't bear anymore, it would be Moviebob. I still like Big Picture and Escape to the Movies, but Game Overthinker and Overbytes have really lost me. His insistence on dismissing PC gaming and his extreme fanboy fixation in Nintendo are starting to grate on me. Mostly it's because he's ignoring my platform almost entirely and gushing over platforms I have next to no contact with (I owned a NES and emulated some GBA game a while back, that's all). Also, he's really White Knighting for feminism at every opportunity and it's really annoying at this point. I don't mind gender issues in gaming discourse. I actually kinda liked Anita's videos. But it doesn't have to be brought up every 2 minutes...

 

[lacktheknack]

I actually agree with this gaming brit, if that is indeed his opinion on the latest Jimquisition. A review is there to give information about a game. What's good and bad about it, or if it's just 'okay'. When only an opinion is given, other people have no right to complain to them about it.

Example:
Jim Sterling's game of the year awards. That was purely his opinion. Even though I disagreed with him on some games, I said nothing about it.

Any review from, say, IGN. They're there to inform, not to give their personal opinion. I have every right to go on there and complain about reviews if my experience is very different from what was described.

You've missed the point.

I think .flow is great.

Someone else could easily play it, describe their experience exactly the way I would describe mine, and hate it. Ergo, it is literally impossible to write a review about it and call any part of it "good", "bad" or "OK", because it works perfectly and it tends to result in love or hate reactions. Objectively, the game is good in that it does exactly what it's designed to. Whether or not it was designed well is a matter of opinion and ONLY opinion.

There is no such thing as objective good/bad/okay general standards in entertainment. I can't tell you that something I enjoy is fun and make it so for you. Stop pretending anyone can do that.

OT: Moviebob's Worst List was... a thing. "Based on disappointment" followed by him trashing Oscar Bait that we already know he despises, yada yada... it's gotten old.