Worst review I have seen in a long time (borderlands 2)

[00slash00]

i originally was disgusted by how much this reviewer embodies what is wrong with games today (all games MUST have online multiplayer as their primary feature and all first person shooters MUST be cod clones). while i am no less disgusted with this reviewer, after reading the comments people have been leaving on his review page...i cant help but feel a little bad for the guy

 

[Goofguy]

Hey, the guy is entitled to his opinion. It's just hard to take it seriously when his main point of comparison is CoD. I have no problem with CoD but you just can't compare the two.

Also, 3400 comments on his review? Damn, I don't know if the expression "there's no such thing as bad publicity" applies in this case.

 

[omega 616]

Pretty sure this is just plain nerd baiting, which has proved to be successful.

Only a pure bred moron would write that article with a straight face but is anybody really this stupid? Comparing COD multi player to borderlands multi player fucking really!?

One is co-op and the other is competitive ... it's like comparing a team building excersize with tennis.

 

[sunsetspawn]

I don't think it's that big a stretch to compare a game to another based upon mechanics. Mario Kart is indeed comparible to something like Forza. Both involve racing vehicles around a circuit. But while something like Forza and Gran Turismo may go for realism - Mario just goes for the cartoonish approach. But the rules and mechanics are similar, win the race by coming in first position. Anything else, is window dressing.

Borderlands isn't that different to any other FPS - you play in a first person perspective and your goal is to mangle anything that stands in your way with a variety of guns. Looting, good or bad writing, set pieces are all window dressing to me.

I know that to your (and seemingly a lot of other's) perspective - I am oversimplifying things. But that's just the way I classify my games. I fail to see why so many people are getting their wigs off because one guy goes against the grain in the way he classifies games. It's not like he's spouting racial or religious hatred.

If gamers fail to respect, understand and have the patience an outsider's point of view - even if it goes against our consensus, especially when he doesn't have much experience of games. It doesn't just make us look like an intolerant and immature bunch - it makes it so.

Well, if this guy were a fifteen year old telling his friends at school about Borderlands 2 then that would be fine. However, this man is actually getting paid to write "professional" reviews such as this and it offends anyone that understands the entertain medium in question.

Would it be okay the compare Killer Elite to Pulp Fiction? They're both movies about professional hitmen that shoot people, so they must be the same genre, right? To a twelve year old that just likes violence I could see how these movies might be similar, but to anyone with any familiarity with the art form, to compare these two is absurd.

Could we compare Opeth to Green Day? They both make with the distorted guitars, singing, bass, and drums, so they must be similar, right?



People ARE ALLOWED to be ignorant of things, but when they are they should NOT be getting paid to write about them.

 

[PoweD]

"cutting-edge development, engrossing campaign gameplay, scads of downloadable content, a rich social media/community experience, sharing of loot and gear and online multiplayer modes that keep you and your friends coming back until the next version of the game comes out."

Isn't that basically what CoD's been doing the past 10 years?

So they've been doing that before the original was released?

 

[kijebe]

comparing boderlands to CoD is like comparing...


well i dunno apples and hammers, both are quite good at what they do but you cant put them side by side and tell which is better

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

comparing boderlands to CoD is like comparing...


well i dunno apples and hammers, both are quite good at what they do but you cant put them side by side and tell which is better

Comparing Borderlands 2 to COD is like comparing Romeo and Juliet to A Midsummers Night Dream.

Sure both plays were written by Shakespeare and involve romance but there the similarities end. One is a tragedy which could have happened in the real world (baring the 'deathstate' poison) the other involves wacky hijinks between fairy's.

Both games are First person perspective and involve guns but that's where things end, one goes for the gritty realistic route with a focus on realism. The other has squeaky voiced midgets as opponents and one of its draws is the ability to find sniper rifle minigun.

You can't really compare the two.

 

[Vault101]

Well it's certainly true of the first game so why not the second?

uhhh...because they are different games?

Borderlands 2 is actually just as enjoyable single player...and I fidn the setting/stroy a bazillion more interesting that "derp military things going on" <-of coarse thats mostly personal preference

 

[Vault101]

So what's the solution here? Cry and rage all over the Internet about how dumb that review is? And then the review page gets a lot of undeserved views, the news talks about the rage and how immature gamers are all over the world. Then guys like Movie Bob will defend this kind of review because "artistic journalism" and all that. Lastly, in the end, the author and reviewer gets undeserved fame.

but its hilarious

[quote/]I ignoring this topic, I wanted this thread to just die, but apparantly, people here are to stupid to realize how pointless and counter productive it is to rage about this. Yeah, the review was god awful, so what?[/quote]
yeah..thanks for that...

I think your confusing raging with OH MY GOD GUYS THIS IS SO HILARIOUS/STUPID...honestly why do people love to come in and stomp around be such killjoys? it happned before when we were discussing mass effect indoctrination theory OMG STOP HAVING FUN GUYS....get over youself
[quote/]I think the real idiots here are the people making a big deal about this and are only encouraging more reviews like this to happen.[/quote]

seriosuly...calm the fuck down...you seem to be the one raging here

 

[distortedreality]

I ignoring this topic, I wanted this thread to just die, but apparantly, people here are to stupid to realize how pointless and counter productive it is to rage about this.

/irony.

Great post buddy.

 

[Gunner 51]

I am sorry but the game is mechnically different, aesthetically different and thematically different.

To compare it on bases it is not trying to cover while glossing over the bases it is covering is like going Appollo 13 was a crap movie because there was no aliens in it and the plot had a hollywood ending.

Well, if this guy were a fifteen year old telling his friends at school about Borderlands 2 then that would be fine. However, this man is actually getting paid to write "professional" reviews such as this and it offends anyone that understands the entertain medium in question.

Would it be okay the compare Killer Elite to Pulp Fiction? They're both movies about professional hitmen that shoot people, so they must be the same genre, right? To a twelve year old that just likes violence I could see how these movies might be similar, but to anyone with any familiarity with the art form, to compare these two is absurd.

Could we compare Opeth to Green Day? They both make with the distorted guitars, singing, bass, and drums, so they must be similar, right?

People ARE ALLOWED to be ignorant of things, but when they are they should NOT be getting paid to write about them.

@Draech: While I will agree with you that thematically and aesthetically BL2 may be slightly different to most other FPSes out there, mechanically it is quite similar. If a game is mostly a protagonist's eye view and he's using a gun to mow down a whole slew of enemies - it's an FPS. Just like Call of Duty, mechanically - they're similar.

I know you take exception to my way of classifying games, but we really should drop the matter at hand lest we get into a flame war.

@Sunsetspawn: Well, I wouldn't attribute the Wall Street Journal as professional games reviewers, that falls within the remit of games journalists at this website for example. (Although I had to giggle when this website gave Dragon Age 2 a 5/5 rating.)

The writer for the WSJ was asked for his opinion of the game and he gave an honest opinion. Just because he disliked a game and knew little about gaming doesn't mean to say he cannot be allowed to publish his opinion on it - especially when his employers had asked him to do it. You can compare Borderlands to games like Call of Duty - they're both FPSes. At the crux of both games - they feature a protagonist's eye view as they kill numerous enemies by shooting them.

If the Wall Street Journal wanted to fill some space with a games review, they are perfectly entitled to do so. There's no law saying that financial publications can only print financial articles - if this website were to start writing music reviews or even film - it would still be very much within it's rights to do so.

 

[LittleJoeRambler]

First mistake was comparing an FPSRPG to a straight-up FPS.

I agree with the guy that posted a few pages back about the most apt comparison being between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands, not between Borderlands 2 and anything CoD or Halo-related.

Not everyone likes Borderlands' visual style; it took me a little while to readjust to it after not having played Borderlands since last year. That's a valid point, at least.

 

[Supernova2000]

"Borderlands 2 falls short because it's missing several key elements you need to have in a 2012 first-person shooter game - most notably, a rich multiplayer online mode."

What a load of old skunk piss! I stopped reading it after that.

 

[XDravond]

HAHAHA that was a great review "it's not CoD or Halo", "with my 14 year old" "18 simultaneous players" and "xbox live gold"....

Thanks for not being CoD or Halo they are their own franchises luckily...
Playing 18y games with 14 is what makes so many adults go nuts it's the rating is there for a reason
18 simultaneous players I usually play 64p maps on BF3... and heard of MMOs? plus it's a goo Co-Op not a shoddy half assed multiplayer that so many try to force on thank you...
Xbox Live gold? You are clearly playing it wrong....

That review made me want Borderlands so much more

Oh wait I called that review, sorry my bad, opinionated trash written by someone who obviously is to much in love with CoD....
(And yea everyone has the right to their own opinion like this, but can't they publish good reviews instead?)

 

[D-Soul]

To the WSJ guy who "Reviewed" BL2

I was having a bad day and now I'm happy I saw this. I love being here on The Escapist.

And thank you Jim Sterling your awesomeness is like a ninja to me before I realize how awesome you are it's already to late.

 

[Hop-along Nussbaum]

Why on earth would the WSJ let someone who never played the first game, to play and review the second game? Yes, he's entitled to his opinion. I am entitled to exercise my freedom of speech and label the guy as a douchebag.

 

[Zeckt]

That review is so fucking terrible it makes me feel sick to my stomach! Worst review I think I've EVER seen! it makes me feel dizzy even reading it

 

[cgmetallica1981]

I thought this was going to be somebody getting mad because a reviewer has a different opinion, but then I read "Borderlands 2 falls short because it's missing several key elements you need to have in a 2012 first-person shooter game - most notably, a rich multiplayer online mode. There's an extremely limited four-player cooperative mode, and if you have an Xbox Live Gold account, you can team up that way, but this isn't the type of deeply engrossing FPS game the headset-wearing COD crowds gather to play months and months after release. In comparison, I read on several sites that COD: Black Ops 2 will feature up to six teams, for a total of 18 simultaneous players, in multiplayer mode"




...is he serious?

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Stupidity at its finest, latest and gentlemen.

Stupidity at its finest.