Hhmmm . . . what to say, what to say . . .
I like Pulp Fiction. It's about junkies, mobsters, murderers and people of all sort. I enjoy them. I find them entertaining. I enjoy a good villain, even a psychopath, provided the entertainment value is there.
I have been waiting for GTAV to come out on the PC, rather than getting the PS3 version. I haven't played it yet, but, to see what all the, "they're unrelatable and unlikable psychopaths" fuss was about I've watched a few streams of people playing the game, in the background, as I went about my day. The VGA play through by Fraser and his girlfriend Becky stood out, in my mind, as part of the complaint was that the game was sexist, and misogynistic from some reviews.
I watched these two play through this game, and enjoy it, enjoy its characters. They fully realized Trevor was a psychopath but found things complex enough, entertaining enough and even, sometimes, likable enough, in Trevor. It was interesting to see these two people play. The contrast on Fraser and Becky's opinions of the game, versus journalists both male and female tell an interesting story about what men and women think. They liked the characters, after a fashion. I found them villainous, but enjoyable as well.
It's a steady reminded that reviews really are individual opinions. It reminds me that when I look for reviewers to follow, I don't just pick any reviewer, I pick a journalist that has similar tastes to my own. It's not that other reviewers are wrong, it's that I have particular tastes that many don't share and I need a source of information that both covers mechanics and 'taste' in regard to story and characters. I respect the Escapist's review of GTAV and its opinions even though I've found I don't agree with them. I don't think the score is an issue, other than that, 'scores' in general . . . I don't put much stock in. The opinions in most reviews, by my measure, are things that should stand alone without the need for a scoring system.
So, I disagree with the review. Yeah. Oh well. It's not a terrible review, it's a needed review for people with tastes of that particular thread. If one doesn't agree with it, realize it for what it is, and find a journalist that does their job with just as much integrity, but has tastes in things closer to your own. That helps get a measure on whether a character or story is truly disgusting, by your own standards, and then lets you concentrate on the dissection of the game mechanics, which are the real make or break.