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

[TheRussian]

7.5 is supposed to mean "Above Average"
just sayin

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I think that his score is validated. It's his opinion, he can express it however he likes. Doesn't change my opinion in the slightest, as I haven't formed much of one beyond all the trailers, screenshots, release bundles, reviews, and previously formed expectations. All of which will mount ahead of me getting the game, and ranking it not among all games ever, but among Zelda games. Will it be as good as Minish Cap, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess? Will it be as not-so-good, like Oracle of Ages/Seasons? Or will it still be really amazing but have a few keys flaws, like Zelda 2 and Orarina of Time? Or, will it be a Zelda-esque game that doesn't feel entirely like a Zelda-esque game, like Darksiders?


EDIT: Wait...that sound, while it's blurred out at the end. Either someone's being mean, or...No, don't tell me. I don't want to get those hopes up, then have them crash.

[small]Can it be? Is she back?[/small]

 

[lacktheknack]

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh boy.

Screw the popcorn, I'm gonna need an underground bunker. Even the Happy Happy Joy Joy effect caused by Skyrim cannot save us from this.

 

[Humza Ahmad]

8.8 thats a respectable score for Twilight Princess, nothing that I would get upset about. 7.5 on the other hand will cause a storm of fan rage. Then again Gamespot is a big gaming website so they can handle it.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

I don't see the comment section to the gamespot review article. No use for popcorn unless I see rage comments flooding the site.

I present to you the comments section for the video review, enjoy: http://www.gamespot.com/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/videos/video-review-the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-6346095?tag=topslot;title;1

If you watch the review, the score is appropriate for his comments. I disagree with certain points he makes, and I didn't have one of the control issues he mentioned, but based on his experience, it's a fair score. Where he sees repetitious elements, I see the game staying true to its roots. He hated flying around Skyloftt, but I really enjoyed it. We saw the same things, just with different perspectives. People will freak out over the score, which is a shame, because it's a fair review.

Hey, thanks for chiming in, it means a lot! I know everyone has different opinions, but it's hard as a consumer when you see things like controls being lauded by one camp and criticized by the other. I respect him just as much as you guys, but I hope I don't have the same grievances, and I look forward to disagreeing with him.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

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*

Unless they use a different system than I think they do, 7.5 actually /is/ a terrible score coming from Gamespot; I'm pretty sure they base it on the American education system, in which a 7/10 is a minimal C, and therefore average, but barely passing. A 7.5, from them, almost smacks of a publicity stunt. Not that I really care...

 

[the spud]

Skyward Sword strikes me as a game that will be a "love it, hate it"type of Zelda, much like Majora's Mask, due to its new directions and motion based controls. I don't know, that is just how it strikes me. Personally, I have little doubt that it will be my GOTY, but since I haven't played it yet, we shall see.

 

[Zeh Don]

Wait, people still read Gamespot? I thought it was written off like IGN and Gamespy as entirely irrelevant to a game's quality.
Wasn't Gamespot the one who pulled down GTA IV's review to make it higher after other reviews came out who has scored it better?

 

[Smooth Operator]

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?

Well I did play it and he's right, the controls tend to get horrid because they decided to sail right down gimmick valley and the Wii controller isn't precise enough to get consistency.
And then you get the awful camera on top that seem to really hate you, maybe you slept with her mom or something...

At times the whole deal feels like a game from 10 years ago when they just didn't have controls figured out, but the overall charm does carry it above all that.

I find it hilarious however howmuch he harps on the repeating formula while they call CoD brilliant because the games are copy/paste... I guess Nintendo isn't their prime sponsor.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Wait, people still read Gamespot? I thought it was written off like IGN and Gamespy as entirely irrelevant to a game's quality.
Wasn't Gamespot the one who pulled down GTA IV's review to make it higher after other reviews came out who has scored it better?

Yes that would be the one.
They are also the guys who rearranged their entire site layout to promote Kayne & Lynch 2 and when one of their reviewers gave it bad marks he was fired, his review was pulled and replaced with a more favorable one.

Gaming journalism in a nutshell

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm confused by this Gerstman thing. I've never even heard of the guy or his review so I can't speak specifically to it, but I can say I bought Twilight Princess the day it came out, then beat it in a depressingly short amount of time, but enjoyed it. That sounds like a 7.5 - 8.5 game to me, I'd hold onto that 8.8 for dear life if I was you

Gerstman is the last name of an ex-employee of Gamespot. "ex" because he gave Twilight Princess an 8.8 out of ten, which pissed off the more rabid Zelda fans, and may have also pissed off Nintendo. Long story short, he was either fired or pressured into resignation (I can't remember which), and Gamespot hasn't been able to shake the stigma of letting people companies pay for review scores since. There's actually a TV tropes page for it, simply titled "Eight Point Eight"

Wait, people still read Gamespot? I thought it was written off like IGN and Gamespy as entirely irrelevant to a game's quality.
Wasn't Gamespot the one who pulled down GTA IV's review to make it higher after other reviews came out who has scored it better?

Wait, does this mean that Gamespy still exists in some capacity, other than as a logo at the top of the server browser in some older games? I actually didn't know that, which tells you how irrelevant they've become to the average gamer; if it's been that many years since I've visited the site, I don't want to think about the gamers who spend less time on the internet than I do -- especially since I'm also part of what would have been the prime demographic for their old matchmaking system, which I never could figure out how to get working (to be fair, I was, like, 10 at the time. I didn't start playing online in earnest until I got my first dedicated server based game, around the age of 12.)

 

[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.

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!"

We should review games on their own merit, it just seems like such a weird notion to compare the score of a dance game to an RPG.
I am not saying here that Gamespot will turn out to be the new Moses and lead other reviewers through a parted sea of high scores and rabid fans, but at this point I am willing to accept any kind of hope, no matter how small.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Maybe this is a good thing. We might get another awesome website like Giant Bomb.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I'm confused by this Gerstman thing. I've never even heard of the guy or his review so I can't speak specifically to it, but I can say I bought Twilight Princess the day it came out, then beat it in a depressingly short amount of time, but enjoyed it. That sounds like a 7.5 - 8.5 game to me, I'd hold onto that 8.8 for dear life if I was you

Gerstman is the last name of an ex-employee of Gamespot. "ex" because he gave Twilight Princess an 8.8 out of ten, which pissed off the more rabid Zelda fans, and may have also pissed off Nintendo. Long story short, he was either fired or pressured into resignation (I can't remember which), and Gamespot hasn't been able to shake the stigma of letting people companies pay for review scores since. There's actually a TV tropes page for it, simply titled "Eight Point Eight"

Wait, people still read Gamespot? I thought it was written off like IGN and Gamespy as entirely irrelevant to a game's quality.
Wasn't Gamespot the one who pulled down GTA IV's review to make it higher after other reviews came out who has scored it better?

Wait, does this mean that Gamespy still exists in some capacity, other than as a logo at the top of the server browser in some older games? I actually didn't know that, which tells you how irrelevant they've become to the average gamer; if it's been that many years since I've visited the site, I don't want to think about the gamers who spend less time on the internet than I do -- especially since I'm also part of what would have been the prime demographic for their old matchmaking system, which I never could figure out how to get working (to be fair, I was, like, 10 at the time. I didn't start playing online in earnest until I got my first dedicated server based game, around the age of 12.)

Gerstman wasn't fired for Twilight Princess. He was fired for giving Kane and Lynch 1 a 6.5 when Naughty Dog advertised heavily in GameSpot. Half the editing staff left with him.

Okay, that either means it happened twice, or Gerstman was able to stick around for a while after his fateful review.

Okay, I looked it up. Gerstman was the guy who reviewed Twilight Princess. Kane and Lynch must have just been the final straw, assuming you're right.

 

[Fishyash]

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.

Ohai TVTropes:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourPointScale

And yeah it's an 8.8 as well, but you already linked that.

Comments are a BLAST though. I would have thought that people would have learned by now...

 

[Plinglebob]

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

As others have said, 7.5 in game reviews sadly isn't considered a good score especially when it comes to Gamespot. Reading the review, he does label his complaints and without playing the game (24hrs and counting!!) I can't judge if they're fair or not. However, when a review is so out when compared to the popular opinion of other critics (so not necessarily fanboys), it does, and should, raise questions. His to biggest issues seem to be Nintendo reusing the successful Zelda formula and the controls. Considering no-one else seems to find them difficult, I think the controls issue is more personal to the reviewer and considering games like COD can reuse the same formula without incident, I think its harsh marking this down for it.

Small aside: If a reviewer has difficulty with a control system in a game, should another couple of reviewers from the same company give it a try to see whether its a general issue or just a problem for that reviewer and if so, should it be noted in the review?