PS4 Launch Titles are (Surprisingly) not getting good reviews

[StriderShinryu]

Jump to a few months from now when (once again) metacritic is garbage, review scores mean nothing and it's a cardinal sin to judge games before having actually played them.

Sure the PS4 launch exclusives aren't collectively blowing minds, but I'm not really sure why all of a sudden "low" metacritic averages are a sign of the apocalypse.

 

[Saulkar]

Right... Because no one should buy a launch console, so it can burn... People do realize that SOMEONE needs to buy a console at launch. If no one did, it would die... Do people not understand this?

I understand that, so I'm picking one up tomorrow at midnight. I like the direction that Sony seems to be heading in, and while the launch seems like it will be a little rough I'm confident I won't regret the investment down the line. But according to some people that makes me an idiot.

Ditto. I will be picking up the PS4 on Friday morning and while I have a workstation PC it would be a nice diversion while I am rendering animations and am short on books.

 

[ecoho]

In what world is a 74 a bad game? If a game that I'm interested in has a score like 74 then it tells me that I should still check it out.

that was my first thought too. hell if a launch title got a 70% then that's the one you want to get as most launch titles are ,as someone else said, garbage.

 

[RicoADF]

Mediocre to terrible is... 74 and 59. Scores which indicate "Pretty good" and "above average".

Even so, not that surprising. Did any console have a positive launch?

If you want to count the SNES with Super Mario World and the N64 with Super Mario 64 then yes. Of course, it still makes me wonder about people who pre-ordered knowing the launch games were going to be crap.

Wish I had an extra $400+ laying around to waste on game hardware without worthy games.

I wouldn't consider 74 a crap game, nor do I care what reviewers think. Then again I play ArmA far more than most games and alot of players don't like ArmA. I'm sick of people treating opinions like fact and anyone that likes something with a metric score less that 90% like idiots for wasting their money.

 

[CommanderL]

this is why you should not care about meta critic I mean 80 is a good score and honestly launch titles are never the best

 

[schrodinger]

Truly, surely people understand what the damn rating system means?

No? ok...

Just gonna post this for those who don't understand:

"When will people realize that a 7 out of 10 does not mean it's a shitty ass game. It just means above average, better than mediocre. Even if it got a 6 out of 10 it's still a decent game. Once you go below 5 then it's a game below standards. People obsessing with game scores need to calm the fuck down because a game they like is not going to please everyone and it's not the end of the world if it gets a few moderately bad scores."

 

[Boogie Knight]

The use of numbers was always arbitrary, it's not like a game gave incorrect answers versus another which left them blank.

Launch titles are never part of the equation for a console choice to me. They never get it right out of the gate. I probably will hold off for two years before I give in, if possible.

 

[ArkhamJester]

Mediocre to terrible is... 74 and 59. Scores which indicate "Pretty good" and "above average".

Even so, not that surprising. Did any console have a positive launch?

Believe it or not, the Gamecube, seriously.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2
Super Monkey Ball
Luigi's Mansion
a solid port of Crazy Taxi
Wave Race Blue Storm
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 (just before the series went downhill)

While non of these were the legend that super mario 64 on the N64 was, they are all fondly remembered and teh general consensus is that all of these hold up remarkably well to this day.

 

[Reed Spacer]

Suprising? lol no, remember every other launch titles? Yeah, those really were the pinnacle of their respective consoles...


The smart thing here would be not being a complete idiot and wait for about 2 years after release to get the console cheaper with a better variety of cheaper games and actual games that were intended to be more then tech demos (and avoid the typical bugs and glitches of the system).

That's what I do - I can't think of any logical reason to buy a system when it first comes out. There are almost no games for it and you pay top dollar.

The only reason I can see is as it being an equivalent to waving your dick in someone's face and being smug.

 

[ArkhamJester]

Mediocre to terrible is... 74 and 59. Scores which indicate "Pretty good" and "above average".

Even so, not that surprising. Did any console have a positive launch?

Believe it or not, the Gamecube, seriously.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2
Super Monkey Ball
Luigi's Mansion
a solid port of Crazy Taxi
Wave Race Blue Storm
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 (just before the series went downhill)

While non of these were the legend that super mario 64 on the N64 was, they are all fondly remembered and teh general consensus is that all of these hold up remarkably well to this day.

 

[chiggerwood]

Suprising? lol no, remember every other launch titles? Yeah, those really were the pinnacle of their respective consoles...

Oh come on, Smugglers run was a great game, and to this day it represents the absolute finest in video game racing.

OT: This isn't surprising in the least. The first games out of the gate are rarely above mediocre. Now if you'll excuse me I have a very busy schedule of not giving a shit about the next generation!

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah, not too impressed by the launch titles either.

I mean, Killzone was never really my thing, and Knack looks like it would be fun for about an hour, but every other exclusive (except for Resogun, Blacklight, and Warframe) looks pretty subpar.

Now, let me just be frank here by saying I'm primarily getting a PS4 for a few games, and one of them is Battlefield 4. The graphics look nice, and I keep hearing people say DICE went back to the Bad Company 2 style of destruction (Bad Company 2 being my favorite multiplayer shooter), I was too excited. The maps that come out of the box look nice and varied, and I can't wait to see the "levolution" for myself, even though people keep saying that it ruins the verticality of the gameplay.

I'm also planing on picking it up with Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag because it looks more faithful to the series than AC3 ever was. AC3 was atrocious. And that extra graphical power doesn't hurt.

And then it all comes down to InFamous: Second Son in the end. I'm a big Sucker Punch fan, and the InFamous series is one of personal favorites. The gameplay looks so smooth in SS, and the acquisition of more than 2 types of powers looks promising, especially when you have to manage multiple resources in order to use them. (Absorb smoke to use smoke powers, drain neon to use neon powers, etc.) The game also looks beautiful. Like whoa. You can say Killzone: Shadow Fall looks nice, and it does, but compared to the art direction in SS, it just falls flat.

InFamous, and a bunch of indie titles, are what's selling the system for me. Octodad, Mercenary Kings, and Transistor all look great, and I can't wait to play them.

BUT I HAVE TO WAIT TO PLAY THEM AND WAITING IS NOT GOOD.

Boo.

 

[Fireaxe]

The first title of a series on a new console are virtually always mechanically inferior to sequels on the same console (unless the devs go batshit insane). So not really a big surprise that some of them are getting poor reviews when there's very little innovation on the actual console front.

 

[Irridium]

Launch titles are rather mediocre with maybe one or two decent games?

I'm acting astonished.

Seriously, it was the same with the 360/PS3. Like two decent launch games, the rest were meh. PS3 had Resistance 1 and Moterstorm. 360 had Viva Piñata and... um... Kameo? I guess? That King Kong movie-tie in game wasn't too terrible either. Think most people just ended up playing Halo 2 on it for a while after realizing that Perfect Dark was ass, though.

EDIT: Ok, seems I messed up. Viva Piñata wasn't a launch title. This means the "highlights" of the 360's launch lineup was that King Kong tie-in and Kameo. Unless I'm wrong about those being launch titles too.

 

[Mr C]

Launch games are always not great.

Not picking on this chap in particular, but this is a common theme throughout this thread. You all must be young whipper snappers as I remember Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 being launch titles. They were both awesome, they still are!

 

[Mr C]

Viva Piñata

Sorry to be picky, but this was released about one year after the system. It is also a good game that seems to get a load of shit from people who have never played it.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

First, just because a game didn't get a 90+ on a score doesn't mean that the game is bad. If a game gets a 70 or above, and I was interested in it to begin with, I would check out on what they actually said in the review, not just what the score was. Besides, I never considered Killzone to be a great series anyway. As for Knack, it still seems good enough to hold me over until more games come out. Plus, everyone gets Resogun for free anyway since all playstations come with a free month of PS +.

 

[Irridium]

Viva Piñata

Sorry to be picky, but this was released about one year after the system. It is also a good game that seems to get a load of shit from people who have never played it.

Oops. Yeah, you're right. Must have gotten confused since I got the 360 in 2006 and this was the first game I got with it

And yes, it is a good game. I adore it.

 

[Hazy]

Knack looked awful across the board. Shadow Fall, on the other hand, looks quite good. Great usage of color and a story that's actually interesting.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I don't think they necessarily suck according to reviews, they just don't pop huge as "OMG nexgen console is the new black!" type reaction. They're most likely playable and likeable but not anything we couldn't have had on the previous gen minus a few bells and whistles...