Oh God, it's Jeff Gerstman all over again. (Gamespot Skyward Sword review)

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Okay, so the Gamespot review of Zelda just came out, and remember the shitstorm that occured when Jeff Gerstman was still at Gamespot and gave Twilight Princess an 8.8? Well, they gave this a 7.5. [http://www.gamespot.com/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/reviews/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-review-6345839?metacritic] That's the lowest score of any reviewer yet.

Now, I haven't played the game yet, and I couldn't care less what one reviewer thinks, especially Gamespot, but unless fanboys have magically become more mature over the past five years, there's a huge shitstorm about to come.

*grabs popcorn*

Oh, and if you're wondering, the main problem they had was controls and it being predictable, which is weird because the controls and originality is what most people are praising. I'm still gonna buy it to see for myself, how bout you guys?

 

[ResonanceGames]

I'm guessing after the Gerstman incident, Gamespot cleaned up their act a bit. That was a fucking travesty and a huge black mark on their reputation.

While everything I've heard tells me I'm going to disagree with this review once I play the game, 7.5 isn't really that bad of a score. Obviously even the best games aren't going to appeal to everyone on the same level. But whiners gon' whine.

*joins in popcorn*

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Should have given it a 12! ANYTHING LESS IS BRINGING DOWN THE AVERAGE FOR A GAME I HAVEN'T PLAYED!!! [/obvious sarcasm is obvious ]

But honestly? Who the hell cares? Skyward sword is still really highly rated by everyone else, and is a first party console zelda game. That ASSURES the fact that its good.

So what if one guy isn't praising it to high heaven?

....Also...isn't 8.8 PRACTICALLY a 9? Isn't that good enough? Jeez...

 

[BreakfastMan]

I love the smell of butthurt in the morning. It smells like... victory.

OT: I would still buy it if I had the cash to. Which I don't. So I won't be buying it. Anyway, their criticisms do seem weird when every other critic seems to be complimenting the things they are criticizing. Of course, opinion being what it is... Eh, whatever. One major site gives it a "good" rating when everyone else gives it an "OMFGBBQ AMAZING!!1!" rating doesn't bother me or make me not want to buy the game in the slightest.

 

[Sampler]

Mine turned up today two days early! I did the happy dance.

Then spent all night playing Portal 2 co-op with a friend on the xbox anyway. Tomorrow though, will be a glorious day

 

[Mr. Omega]

Meh. It ain't that bad. Fanboys always act crazy. I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna love it. It'll likely be my GOTY. But I know a ton of people are going to not exactly love it.

I only hate reviews when they just downright lie, or they just hate it based on a trivial reason (oh, It's fun and great, but MOTION CONTROLS, 0/10! or "Made by a company I don't like! 3/10!). This just seems that some things bother the reviewer more than others. I disagree with the score, but it's not gonna bother me. As for the claims, I haven't played it, I can't judge.

 

[nickyv917]

Oh, this is going to be freaking great. Got any popcorn left, or should I bring my own?

 

[The Human Torch]

This is a good thing, reviewers need to take scores down a notch, so that we can get rid of this "must give out 9/10's to all good games or readers will freak". If more game review websites start doing this, things will hopefully become more peaceful (not likely, but still)...

5 Out of 10 is average, 7,5 out of 10 is actually quite good.

 

[TheGreatKlaid]

See that's the kind of thing I like to see. He reviews the game fairly, it's not his cup of tea, but he seems to find it a decent game. Personally, I wish some games would go to the people who know the genre or series better so I don't have to see more reviews saying this is the 21st century and we're dealing with turn based battles? in a Dragon Quest review. Overall, this is going to be ugly to watch, but undeserved.

 

[BishopofAges]

To quote 60s Spiderman "Look at all the f**ks I don't give, they are falling from the sky"

This popcorn, is it kettle? Because I've got kettle
*kettlecorn*

 

[The Abhorrent]

Actually, Gamespot's rather low score seems to be indicative of Skyward Sword being the perfect example of how "love-it-or-hate-it" motion controls probably are. It may (or may not) also be a sign that the playerbase for games in general are a little too attached to the conventional control scheme of button pressing; it's not inherently bad, but it is a little difficult for older players to move beyond the precsion button pressing has acquired through almost three decades of refinement.

What I'm trying to say is...
"Is Skyward Sword having one-to-one sword combat the ultimate proof-of-concept for motion controls in gaming?"

The majority of reviews have praised it, but what I've noticed in the reviews with the lower scores is that they hate Skyward Sword's controls. Conversely, the highest scoring reviews are calling it an astounding success. I suspect what's going on is that some are "getting it", while others simply are not. Perhaps those reviewers don't have the necessary eye-hand coordination nor the adaptability to get used to the motion controls (too many years of playing with buttons?). Both control formats are independent skills, and old habits might be dying hard.

The other chief negative I've noticed in many reviews is that the series formula and structure has been changed for Skyward Sword. And yet again, the best scoring reviews are praising it for doing just that. This, and perhaps motion controls in general, could be simply the "change versus no change" debate which has been sweeping up the gaming community for the past several years.

---

So yeah, it certainly seems that Skyward Sword is on the fast-track to being the most divisive Legend of Zelda title ever... due to Nintendo trying to come up with controls which are intuitive rather than conventional.

You can't please everyone.

 

[jelock]

This is a good thing, reviewers need to take scores down a notch, so that we can get rid of this "must give out 9/10's to all good games or readers will freak". If more game review websites start doing this, things will hopefully become more peaceful (not likely, but still)...

5 Out of 10 is average, 7,5 out of 10 is actually quite good.

Couldnt agree more, I always raise the idea that if this was an exam most people would think that them getting 75 - 80% was an excellent grade but applying it elsewhere less than a 9 is an outright fail.

Im sure I dont need to point everyone to this weeks Jimquisition....

 

[Something Amyss]

The majority of reviews have praised it, but what I've noticed in the reviews with the lower scores is that they hate Skyward Sword's controls. Conversely, the highest scoring reviews are calling it an astounding success. I suspect what's going on is that some are "getting it", while others simply are not. Perhaps those reviewers don't have the necessary eye-hand coordination nor the adaptability to get used to the motion controls (too many years of playing with buttons?). Both control formats are independent skills, and old habits might be dying hard.

Or they just don't want to play in that style.

Or, and I know this is going to sound crazy, the people praising it are glossing over flaws because it's Zelda.

Seriously, I've been told four times today that I'm making up glitches in Saints Row: The Third. I haven't played so much of any game in the first 24 hours in years, so I'm not a "hater," but there certainly are glitches.

Want a more popular example? People have tried to deny flaws in Fallout3/NV in the past.

And Zelda has 25 years of nerdstalgia to fall back on.

Maybe they do suck at the controls. We have no real way to judge that short of watching them play. It just sounds dismissive to suggest that the low scores are attributed to lack of applicable skill.

It's also possible some people are more readily impressed by shiny new things. Looking back at the early days of Wii games, I'd say it's pretty likely.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

This is a good thing, reviewers need to take scores down a notch, so that we can get rid of this "must give out 9/10's to all good games or readers will freak". If more game review websites start doing this, things will hopefully become more peaceful (not likely, but still)...

5 Out of 10 is average, 7,5 out of 10 is actually quite good.

Well, I'd agree with you in theory, but to be fair Gamespot isn't exactly known for being hard on games (see: Jeff Gerstmann getting fired). I can see the angry letters now of "You gave Wii Party/Just Dance 2/Dragon Age 2/ect... a better score! Rawr!"

 

[Ranorak]

This is fairly off-topic, but are there any Wii games that actually have stand-out good controls? The controller just seems so awkward in everything that it does.

OT: A 7.5 is a respectable score. Well, it would be, if the whole system wasn't so fucked.

Give the Metroid Prime Trilogy a shot, I personally liked the controls of that game.

 

[Windcaler]

I dont understand, how is this like Jeff Gerstman if someone didnt get fired after giving a game a low score? Right now all I see is someone having some actual integrity in their review, god knows we need more of that in this day and age

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

I dont understand, how is this like Jeff Gerstman if someone didnt get fired after giving a game a low score? Right now all I see is someone having some actual integrity in their review, god knows we need more of that in this day and age

Sorry, I should have clarified better, I'm talking about when Jeff Gertsman was still working at Gamespot and he gave Twilight Princess an 8.8. The shitstorm was so big he got a trope is named after it: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EightPointEight

And just to play devil's advocate, he doesn't have more integrity just because he gave a lower score than everyone else. I haven't played it yet, so he might be right, but it might also be as good as everyone else says. Personally, I'm in the camp of "the score doesn't really matter compared to the review".