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What do yuo think?

  • Yes, they should relate their personal experience with the game.

    Votes: 101 6.0%
  • No, they should judge the game by its own merits.

    Votes: 1,571 93.9%

  • Total voters
    1,673

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,100
I'm all for reviewers bringing the real world into their reviews but I personally draw the line at topics which have barely any relation to any theme or situation exhibited in the game. This example would be pushing it massively.

I mean, then you don't have to let that review impact your decision on whether or not to try/buy a game. That doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, or might not somehow be valuable for someone other than you.
 
Oct 27, 2017
6,348
If anything cities in the real world will be destroyed because of the reaction of the ploiticians in charge, not because of the virus itself.
 

Chixdiggit

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
1,447
Since this thread was born from the combination of an upcoming game involving a virus changing society and also a recent review of Half-Life:Alyx that still has some people clearly bent out of shape and unable to cope with an 8/10, I'll post this:



I don't think any professional reviewer is going to ratchet the score lower because of COVID-19. I also think the reviewers are well within their right to discuss how playing this game during the COVID-19 affected their overall enjoyment of playing the game. The reviewer's overall enjoyment can also be independent of how they critically *score* the game as well. I don't think any reviewer out there will let COVID-19 affect the critical score, and I'm not going to act like some dumbass warrior when a handful of them mention that it felt eerie to review a virus outbreak game during a virus outbreak.

But he literally said in his review that he held it against the game?
 

Deleted member 51789

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 9, 2019
3,705
I mean, then you don't have to let that review impact your decision on whether or not to try/buy a game. That doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, or might not somehow be valuable for someone other than you.
I would happily move on to another review and wouldn't bemoan its existence, I just don't think that would be particularly good practice.
 

Twig

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,486
since reviews are entirely subjective, the reviewer should share their own thoughts and feelings and experiences with the game

if that includes putting the game in the context of the current pandemic, then so be it, stay true to yourself

if you are unaffected by it, then, hey, don't worry about bringing it up





why y'all actin like reviews are objective lmao
 

Gilver

Banned
Nov 14, 2018
3,725
Costa Rica
Why would you shit on something if you thought it was well made?
Because it made me feel bad. Like when I watched Parasite, I had a miserable stressful/anxious time watching that movie but I loved it even if I did not enjoy my time with it at all because thats the point and the point was well made. Some people dont like stuff that makes them feel bad becasue they feel bad.
 

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,100
Because it made me feel bad. Like when I watched Parasite, I had a miserable stressful/anxious time watching that movie but I loved it even if I did not enjoy my time with it at all because thats the point and the point was well made. Some people dont like stuff that makes them feel bad becasue they feel bad.

I mean, that sounds like something that, If you were writing a critique of the movie, you could articulate without resorting to "shitting" on it.
 

Aswitch

Member
Nov 27, 2017
5,118
Los Angeles, CA
No and if anything taking this current situation into account for a review of a game franchise that was originally made in 1996 with no awareness of this happening would just show how terrible of a reviewer they are. Sure it's a pandemic, and that's still stretching since at least in this game's timeline the issue is only isolated to raccoon city as far as we know at this time in the game's timeline. No mention of the current virus or anything(i'm certain as I haven't played the game). It would just be in very poor taste to base a review off highly unrelated current events. If people were actually turning into flesh eating zombies then I could understand concerns....but no.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 44129

User requested account closure
Banned
May 29, 2018
7,690
Too keep this short, the world is going through a challenging time with the Corona Virus pandemic. And Resident Evil 3 deals with a virus outbreak that destroy the city of Raccoon City.

There is no need to go through all the differences between the two virus, their effects and how fictional all of RE3 is, but the point is that some people might feel particular sensitive to the subject, to the extend that it might affect their time with Capcom's lastest remake.

That is beyond anyone's control, so my question is not if reviewers should be affected on a personal level while playing the game, it is if they should allow that to reflect on their overall judgement of the game. Personally I feel that although an object analysis of anything is impossible, striving for it is not. And that is what I expect from a good reviewer, an attempt to be as object as possible, to see the game as it is as much as one can. That is a difference between a proper review and a simple impression.
If this game was a new franchise and begun production AFTER the Virus did the damage, then yes, it mnight have been viewed as being in bad taste, but it's a long running franchise, it has been due out for a while, and it's not really about a "disease" as such.
 

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,100
since reviews are entirely subjective, the reviewer should share their own thoughts and feelings and experiences with the game

if that includes putting the game in the context of the current pandemic, then so be it, stay true to yourself

if you are unaffected by it, then, hey, don't worry about bringing it up





why y'all actin like reviews are objective lmao

because most of them only care about reviews based on how they validate their own feelings and help them win internet arguments.
 

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,621
Because it made me feel bad. Like when I watched Parasite, I had a miserable stressful/anxious time watching that movie but I loved it even if I did not enjoy my time with it at all because thats the point and the point was well made. Some people dont like stuff that makes them feel bad becasue they feel bad.
You're greatly reducing and under-simplifying how experience can impact how we experience something

And yes, a movie making you feel uncomfortable or tense because of your background can just as much be a point of praise. See my previous example about the new Invisible Man.

Similarly that background can make you uniquely qualified to critique a work from a perspective that others might not consider. Hence the value of personal experience and context in reviews; what might go unseen or glossed over might well be a crucial weakness in representation or a surprising strength given how it resonates
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,502
Since this thread was born from the combination of an upcoming game involving a virus changing society and also a recent review of Half-Life:Alyx that still has some people clearly bent out of shape and unable to cope with an 8/10, I'll post this:



I don't think any professional reviewer is going to ratchet the score lower because of COVID-19. I also think the reviewers are well within their right to discuss how playing this game during the COVID-19 affected their overall enjoyment of playing the game. The reviewer's overall enjoyment can also be independent of how they critically *score* the game as well. I don't think any reviewer out there will let COVID-19 affect the critical score, and I'm not going to act like some dumbass warrior when a handful of them mention that it felt eerie to review a virus outbreak game during a virus outbreak.


The reviewer had other issues with the game, but everyone decided to completely focus on how the virus being around was the reason he put the score at an 8, which is a great score btw.
 

beau_beaumont

Member
Nov 12, 2017
1,344
In how they rate it, no. But if there is some interesting perspective current events can provide that are worth describing, then go ahead and include it. Write a whole piece comparing the two if it doesn't all fit in the review. I'm not sure what a cheesy horror game would have to say about a real-world pandemic, but I would happily read an article about it.
 

Gilver

Banned
Nov 14, 2018
3,725
Costa Rica
You're greatly reducing and under-simplifying how experience can impact how we experience something

And yes, a movie making you feel uncomfortable or tense because of your background can just as much be a point of praise. See my previous example about the new Invisible Man.

Similarly that background can make you uniquely qualified to critique a work from a perspective that others might not consider. Hence the value of personal experience and context in reviews; what might go unseen or glossed over might well be a crucial weakness in representation or a surprising strength given how it resonates
I guess It depends on what type of reviewer you want to read a game synopsis of, a personal review with personal points of experience or a more objective one with the most basic description of quality.
I prefer the basic description because I want to know if the game is for me and not how it affected the reviewer because I dont care and our life experience will be different but I understand that a more personal experience review is almost always going to be more interesting to read but I just dont care enough about how the movie/game whatever affected you because of whats going on in your life.
 

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,279
The reviewer had other issues with the game, but everyone decided to completely focus on how the virus being around was the reason he put the score at an 8, which is a great score btw.
Exactly. To the point where it's spilling over into other discussion. And like you said - an 8 is a *great* score and it's Opencritic score is a 92. It's got some amazing accolades, but the "internet" decided to descend upon the reviewer for expressing an opinion of how it felt to play the game during a global pandemic while also critically scoring it an 8 based on how he perceived the overall quality of the game.
 

McScroggz

The Fallen
Jan 11, 2018
5,971
If a reviewer feels that the current situation has them in a mental state where it affects how they judge the game, they shouldn't review the game. Write an opinion piece on it, but not an official review. It does a disservice to the people who made the game and ultimately it wouldn't be helpful to those wanting to buy the game, especially after this pandemic is behind us.
 

*Splinter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,087
No and if anything taking this current situation into account for a review of a game franchise that was originally made in 1996 with no awareness of this happening would just show how terrible of a reviewer they are. Sure it's a pandemic, and that's still stretching since at least in this game's timeline the issue is only isolated to raccoon city as far as we know at this time in the game's timeline. No mention of the current virus or anything(i'm certain as I haven't played the game). It would just be in very poor taste to base a review off highly unrelated current events. If people were actually turning into flesh eating zombies then I could understand concerns....but no.
So if playing this game made them feel sad, they shouldn't consider why they feel sad? And just give the game a low rating?
 

hank_tree

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,596
I don't see how it would be relevant, but I always want a reviewers personal experience in a review.
 

Aswitch

Member
Nov 27, 2017
5,118
Los Angeles, CA
So if playing this game made them feel sad, they shouldn't consider why they feel sad? And just give the game a low rating?
In that context, of course but don't knock a game that's been longstanding with this plot way before this current event even happened for that. If anything it's supposed to be fun and take your mind off of it. I guess it's just hard for me to fathom people having a direct correlation to our current events and this game. Now i'm sure there are people that will, but I feel there should be some capacity to separate the 2 or I guess just acknowledge it in the review or having someone else do it or not do it at all at that point if it's affecting you to the point of not being able to legitimately review the game and separate the current event's very minimal (i feel) correlation to it.
 

NathanS

Member
Dec 5, 2017
449
So is she going to give it a lower score?
Looking at the mentioned beat review, they didn't give a bad score, just talked about how playing the game during this time period effected them. Reviews are more that the stupid score and "GAME GOOD ME LIKE" or "GAME BAD ME NO LIKE" I expect reviewers will talk about how this game relates to thee current world, and they should be able to do that if they want to. That does not mean they are going to call it a bad game or give it a bad score.
 

XR.

Member
Nov 22, 2018
6,576
I'm not especially worried that will be the case but if reviewers feel some events has had an impact on their enjoyment of something, I don't have a problem with that. They aren't robots programmed to write objective pieces - they're merely conveying their experience with the game, so if they had a bad time, they simply had a bad time.
 

NathanS

Member
Dec 5, 2017
449
Lord, the only part of the review people in this thread thinks exists is the fucking score isn't? They think they only things to say about a game is if it is good or bad, not note an experience you had with it and how that could be either good or bad or simply interesting. The only way people can remotely imagine the pandemic coming up in a review is if it's used to justify a lower score, because the sore is all that matters.
 

Truly Gargantuan

Still doesn't have a tag :'(
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,034
I don't think the word "should" should come into it.

But people's perception of this stuff will absolutely be impacted.
This is the answer. Some reviewers will mention the current climate in their reviews, others won't. Some people enjoy that type of commentary on the reviews they read, and others don't.

Just figure out where you live on the spectrum and follow reviewers who's mindset matches your own. It's pretty simple if you ask me.
 

mutantmagnet

Member
Oct 28, 2017
12,401
Are you out of your mind ?
I don't think reviewers are going to judge the game's merit because of the current pandemic.


No. This is as absurd as the thread suggesting Capcom delay the game because of the pandemic. A viral zombie outbreak isn't remotely the same as Covid-19.

There are no zombies wandering around the streets. This is a spurious correlation at best and absurd to even consider.

what the fuck is going on with these bad takes every fucking day?

What an incredibly stupid question. Really.


I'm honestly not sure what the point of this thread is. The answer is a resounding "No" and it doesn't appear like the question poses any meaningful discussion.

I apologize for sounding harsh, but it might be even worse than the thread asking if the game should be delayed due to the coronavirus. Of course it shouldn't.
I can tell none of you guys clicked on the Half Life Alyx review thread. It already happened for one review hence the OP.
 
Oct 27, 2017
2,165
Everyone should just be robots, don't allow your human qualities to spill over into my game reviews.
There is a difference between "human qualities spilling over in my game reviews" and childish insensitive people bringing up a real virus that is killing real people while writing a review about a remake of a game with zombies in it. By all means, the dark subject matter might be too much for some people right now, it might bring their opinion down on the game. That's fine. Pass the review to someone else then or don't bother until you have a clear head. These reviewers aren't the only people going through hardship right. For most of us, this game is an escape from the real world because we aren't blinded by the most shallow of connections between a real and fake outbreak. A game review should not be a platform for someone to share their sorrow and that sorrow should not be doing a disservice to the media in question. Write a personal blog if you got something to get off your chest.
 

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,199
Game reviews arent the place for the shallow observations and metaphors that reviewers will pry out of a game that was made completely outside of our current crisis. Save that for the "blog post" opinion articles a month or two later so you can spend some time researching your points or sharpening your arguments.

Same shit will happen with TLOU2
 

Deleted member 51789

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 9, 2019
3,705
There is a difference between "human qualities spilling over in my game reviews" and childish insensitive people bringing up a real virus that is killing real people while writing a review about a remake of a game with zombies in it. By all means, the dark subject matter might be too much for some people right now, it might bring their opinion down on the game. That's fine. Pass the review to someone else then or don't bother until you have a clear head. These reviewers aren't the only people going through hardship right. For most of us, this game is an escape from the real world because we aren't blinded by the most shallow of connections between a real and fake outbreak. A game review should not be a platform for someone to share their sorrow and that sorrow should not be doing a disservice to the media in question. Write a personal blog if you got something to get off your chest.
So anyone who even dares to imagine a link between a fictional virus outbreak and a real life one is childish and insensitive. Let's forget cultural and societal context when talking about media and art. In fact, don't even let them review the game, don't want societal issues or politics touching our game reviews or their precious metascores.

Jesus, this forum sometimes. People's standards for reviews are both incredibly low and super specific...
 
Oct 25, 2017
9,205
Nope, just into idiots
Untitled-design-291.png

People like him were already idiots.
 
Sep 21, 2019
2,594
The Half Life: Alyx review that docked points due to "parallels" to our current situation is absolutely fucking absurd.

It is absurd for a reviewers of anything to draw comparisons to real-world events and deduct points from the review as a result. This same thing could occur when The Last of Us Part II releases in May.

I say get the fuck out of here. It is fiction. We need stories, now more than ever. And reviewers who cannot objectively differentiate art from a cruel reality should reexamine their profession.

Resident Evil 3's review should have no bearing on our current situation whatsoever. And any review that considers this differently is idiotic.
 

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,467
So anyone who even dares to imagine a link between a fictional virus outbreak and a real life one is childish and insensitive. Let's forget cultural and societal context when talking about media and art. In fact, don't even let them review the game, don't want societal issues or politics touching our game reviews or their precious metascores.

Jesus, this forum sometimes. People's standards for reviews are both incredibly low and super specific...
It's not really an outbreak in the same way at all though. It is a bio terror attack on one city and the game is mostly about running away from a tentacle monster. It doesn't deal with stuff like being quarantined and things like that.

It would be like criticizing splatoon for connecting to climate change since the setting is way in ths future after a global warming apocalypse.
 

Deleted member 51789

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 9, 2019
3,705
It's not really an outbreak in the same way at all though. It is a bio terror attack and the game is mostly about running away from a tentacle monster. It doesn't deal with stuff like being quarantined and things like that.
I'm aware of that, but there are obviously some overt similarities, the main one being the breakout of a disease with deserted streets.

I also don't necessarily agree that this would affect me but there are those whose experience in-game might be affected by the current real world situation. Mentioning it and saying that also doesn't mean it will affect the review negatively. It might even possibly affect it positively in a weird way. But people saying that reviewers should be robotic to the situation aren't seeing the forest for the trees.
 

Lunoir

Member
Aug 31, 2019
82
Massachusetts
If a reviewer feels that the current situation has them in a mental state where it affects how they judge the game, they shouldn't review the game. Write an opinion piece on it, but not an official review. It does a disservice to the people who made the game and ultimately it wouldn't be helpful to those wanting to buy the game, especially after this pandemic is behind us.

What is it that you think reviews are, if not opinion pieces??

Lmao why does this forum have an entirely different culture in threads related to reviews than it does everywhere else? It's so weird.
 

Hikari

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,685
Elysium
Didn't we already have this thread? Instead it was delay it but this is similar imo. How is this going to be any different for last of us 2 or any other zombie games reviewed? Why does RE3 get singled out specifically?
 

Haze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,774
Detroit, MI
If a reviewer feels that the current situation has them in a mental state where it affects how they judge the game, they shouldn't review the game. Write an opinion piece on it, but not an official review. It does a disservice to the people who made the game and ultimately it wouldn't be helpful to those wanting to buy the game, especially after this pandemic is behind us.
What do you think a review is?
 

tiebreaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,115
If the game actually has something to say, then yes, but in this case the answer would be no.

Zombie outbreak in Resident Evil is just that, it's not some commentary or trying to draw parallel to Covid-19.
 

Derktron

Banned
Jun 6, 2019
1,445
Who the hell writes these? I mean seriously though I didn't know the Covid-19 makes you into zombies.