I am a harsher critic for games that I like than the ones that I do not.

[Legion]

For example I played Turok and Devil May Cry 4 for the Xbox 360 when I first got one. I didn't really like them and overall felt that I wasted my money buying them. I don't have any real criticism to give for them, because I don't care about them, I basically sold them on and forgot that they existed for the most part.

Yet, when it comes to series like Fallout, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Gears of War and so on, I can rant for hours about all of their flaws. I could write a whole bunch of things that piss me off about them, or where they could be better.

Not because I hate them, but because I like them so much that each problem almost feels like a personal insult. I want those issues to not be there so the games would be even better.

It seems strange though, because by and large from what I see on the internet, people seem to love complaining about games that they clearly do not want, nor have to play. Yet for me, if I do not want to play it, then I just forget about it and move on. Yet I can say much nastier things about the ones that I do like.

I am curious to know who else is similar or the same.

 

[Brett Bowling]

I figure everyone who is truly capable of critism are like that. If it's your favorite game then you of all people should know exactly what its shortcomings are. They piss you off because you love them. If they games you where indifferent about, why would it matter to you if New Vegas kind of missed the point of explorative freedom. Cause New Vegas being putting all these limitations on the player sure as hell bothered me because is a game I love. The Mass Effect 3 Ending didn't bothered me because I never had a real connection to those games. That's why fan feedback is so championed.

 

[Woodsey]

Most people, I guess. At least for games that are universally derided, like Turok was.

There's a certain sadistic appeal in absolutely decimating a game that loads of people like (I liked RDR, but I'll endlessly knock it when I see people proclaim it as some sort of definitive game - especially when they say that about its writing), but if everyone thinks it's shit then you're kind of left asking "why bother?".

 

[Evil Smurf]

So like most reviewers? Good, that is mature.

 

[babinro]

I just assume this comes naturally.

I absolutely LOVE Diablo 3 and yet I could write pages about things I disagree with.

Meanwhile, I wouldn't put the same kind of energy into explaining why I didn't like Classic British Motor Racing for the Wii. The game sucks, that's all the time it deserves.

 

[Casual Shinji]

With games I really like it's more nitpicking; "If only they did those few things right the game would be perfect." But I never get downright pissed off because of it.

With bad games it all depends on how much the mistakes push my buttons. Max Payne 3 was filled with annoyances that other people might not have been bothered with, but which turned me into a frenzy. In which case I thoroughly enjoy tearing into them.

 

[IronMit]

I'm the same way. I could write several essays on deus ex:hr

 

[crazyrabbits]

Every piece of media has flaws, no matter how anyone tries to convince you otherwise. The only measures of whether it stands up as enjoyable are (a) whether you can look past those problems and enjoy the work as it is, and (b) whether those flaws exceed the amount of 'good' points the product has.

Both The Dark Knight and TDKR are full of more holes than Swiss cheese (especially in regards to the logistics behind the Joker's plan in TDK, and Bane's plan/backstory, Miranda's plan and the timeskip in TDKR), but I still enjoy them regardless.

 

[WoW Killer]

It's only natural. If you like a game then it's probably from a genre you're familiar with. You'll have likely played similar games in the past. You're more an expert of what you like than what you don't, because naturally you tend to surround yourself with the former.

Am I going crazy or does the word 'surround' look wrong? I dictionary.com'd it of course, but it still looks... wrong...

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

With bad games it all depends on how much the mistakes push my buttons. Max Payne 3 was filled with annoyances that other people might not have been bothered with, but which turned me into a frenzy. In which case I thoroughly enjoy tearing into them.

Whaaaat? MaxPayne 3 is the BESTEST game EVOR, there are no flaws. Nah, i remember what you considered as flaws.

I really try to avoid games i dislike by gathering as much information i can get before buying.
With games i really consider good or great i`m more the forgiving type. Games disapointing me get torn to shreds and get more critic.
I had high hopes for Saints Row 3 and i loved the franchise so it was a blind buy. Never again.

 

[Racecarlock]

That's why I got so pissed at mafia II actually. I was never invested in the series, but a lot of people kept asking for stuff from that game in GTA V, so I just had to play the game to see what the big deal was and found that it was nothing but a bland first person shooter and sitting in traffic simulator with traffic laws and everything and also it threw in random chores like cigarette box color matching and cleaning toilets.

People honestly want GTA V to take inspiration from that? I've seen people that want to add not just traffic laws, but going to jail every time you get busted, having to eat and sleep, having to gas up your car, and so much more bullshit. I mean, seriously? I play games to avoid real life, not experience every single inconvenience. That's why mafia II pissed me off, because I know that people are suggesting those mechanics for GTA V and they would completely ruin one of the best game series I've ever played.

 

[The Cliffe]

I find that I can praise or criticize games in equal weight, whether I like them or hate them. It's all about keeping an objective perspective, and a really good thought exercise, actually: write a page of criticisms about a game you really like; then write a page of things that a really bad game did well.

Subjectivity / your opinion is always going to be a factor on your perspective for any given game, but as long as you don't let it completely distort your perception of reality (e.g. good game "X" can do no wrong or terrible game "Y" has no redeeming factors) you're pretty much free to present a game in whatever light you want.

 

[Lonely Swordsman]

I don't think that's being more critical. It's just that you spend alot more time with games you enjoy so you're able to discuss them more than games you hated and have already forgotten or are trying to forget.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

If you can criticize something you love and recognize its faults then you are mature and well grounded. Without this we have stagnation of creativity.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Obviously if you like a game more you'll play it more and thus find more stuff you can't stand.

For example I'm in love with Borderlands 2 at the moment and have a laundry list of bullshit.
Like the level 30 missions that drop level 27 loot all that crap is useless to me!


And if you find a game you hate you'll shut down your critical radar as a self defense mechanism.

Like Resident Evil 6 was overwhelmingly boring, but I don't have very good reasons for why it sucked because I stopped paying attention as soon as I realized that I wasn't having any fun.

 

[WoW Killer]

For example I'm in love with Borderlands 2 at the moment and have a laundry list of bullshit.
Like the level 30 missions that drop level 27 loot all that crap is useless to me!

Ha, I could write an essay on all the things I dislike in that game (especially those sodding monster closets). Truth is though, it's so far been my favourite game this year.

 

[scorptatious]

Huh, I never really thought about it like that.

It makes sense though. A lot of the games I like have problems with them that bug me. Final Fantasy IX has it's trance system which you can't control manually. Meaning that if a character who is about to enter trance gets hit by a weak enemy, and that enemy dies the next turn, that trance is wasted. Quite annoying. And don't get me started on that ONE minigame.

Or how about Fallout 2 in which your companions will often stand in a doorway, preventing you from leaving, forcing you to load up your last save? VERY annoying, but I enjoy the game nonetheless.

So yeah, I can see where you're coming from.

 

[Mikeyfell]

For example I'm in love with Borderlands 2 at the moment and have a laundry list of bullshit.
Like the level 30 missions that drop level 27 loot all that crap is useless to me!

Ha, I could write an essay on all the things I dislike in that game (especially those sodding monster closets). Truth is though, it's so far been my favourite game this year.

Same here,
And it was the game I was not expecting to like.
Funny how that works. When games I legitimately wanted to like like Journey, Mass Effect 3, Soul Calibur 5 and RE 6 all fell flat on their faces. If Black Ops 2 turns out better than Halo 4 then the world will be completely upside down!

 

[RJ 17]

Not because I hate them, but because I like them so much that each problem almost feels like a personal insult. I want those issues to not be there so the games would be even better.

I'd imagine quite a few people are the exact same way, actually, because of what you mention right there. Can't say that all people feel "personally insulted" because a game or series they really like does something that they have a problem with, but it's a pretty simple sentiment actually: if you love something, you want it to succeed.

That's why you'll point out all the flaws in the ME 3 ending. That's why you'll rant and rave about why DA: 2 was crap. That's why you could type an entire essay on the faults of Fallout. You enjoy those games and franchises so you pay a lot more attention to every detail of the game, wanting to absorb every possible aspect of it. As such, whenever you come to what you perceive as a bump or a misstep, that shakes your perception of the game, which gives rise to nerd rage. You WANT ME 3 to be the epic ending to a grand "space opera" story. You WANT DA: 2 to be as grand as Origins. You WANT Fallout to be...well....don't have a line for this one since I actually never played it...ummm..."You WANT Fallout to be an indepth and intriguing tale about survival in the post-apocalypse." Yeah, I'll stick with that.

The point is, if you're paying attention to a game because you like it so much, then you're of course going to notice a lot more flaws, a lot more things you can criticize, than you would if you're playing a bland game that you're utterly uninterested in and can easily forget three days after you're done playing it.

The simple answer is: you're harder on games you like because you expect them to be better than the forgettable games, you give out critiques because you want the game to learn from its mistakes and be better for the next installment.