double standards...

[jacksak]

I was just looking at the America's Army reviews for the xbox on Metacritic and was surprised to find that, although the overall average score isn't that good, major reviewers were championing this "tactical shooter," and applauding its "realism." They seemed genuinely pleased that the game was difficult and that it was easy to die ("just like real life"). Further, many of the critics complain about the sub-par graphics of America's Army, but seem to excuse them when giving their final score. I just don't get it...The same "tactical" features are implemented so much better and to such a greater extent in OFP:E, but they are often seen as hinderances by critics rather than attributes. I'm thinking that this critical discrepancy can be explained by noting that OFP:E is much more complex overall and, perhaps, this complexity makes the sub-par critic nervous. I also wonder whether critical praise has anything to do with the propagandistic nature of America's Army....

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

P.S. What blows my mind is that IGN's reviewer justifies his rating of America's Army by listing a number of flaws that Operation Flashpoint doesn't have....yet OFP:E gets a lower score....

[meyamoti]

Thing is though that America's Army was originaly created to get you to sort of want to come into the army (or somethin like that) their comparing a real life to war simulator to some propaganda,I never played AmAr online so I can't say how many shots it takes to kill a person,I'm not sure what all they can do but I bet they can't drive vehicles and things of that nature in the game,sure I'v seen some vehicles but most of them were stationary props,nothing more. I don't quite understand how they would say that OFP:E is lower par in graphics than AmAr as from what I'v seen,OFP:E beats it by a long shot,there are critics and then there are assholes,comparing games to the fullest and only pointing out the flaws,this guy just seems like one of em.

[Heatseeker]

I have read about the game in the ubi forums, people say there is no lip sync when a npc talks, the M4 mods dont show up in 3rd person view (other players), the game supports 8/9 players MP play, the game has to be restarted if the host wishes to change maps, it crashes all the time in MP and there is no kick options to restrict abusive gamers.
It appears that just like many late Ubisoft xbox games this game is filled with very serious technical problems and this specific game being just another small game, using well known technology and with alot of content taken from the PC version should have been alot better all around.
I wouldnt be surprised if there is a laser target designator aimed at Ubi offices and a bomber warming up its engines has we speak http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/whistle.gif ..

Reviewers cant be trusted, most just dont understand how much work BIS went thru optimising and improving their own engine and game so it would work on a very limited platform such has the xbox, most reviewers dont seem prepared to handle inovation and freedom, i pity them and despise their efforts of spreading biased information to possible customers.

[Uziyahu--IDF]

Ubi has the money to pay for good reviews.

I've seen screenshots of America's Army on X-Box. I'd swear that they Photoshopped some of those just to make the graphics look somewhat passable. The graphics look pretty awful to me, which is unforgiveable on a small-mapped game.

[Jtec]

Dont believe reviews, simple as that. ***If you look at some games reviewed on certain popular websites you will notice that public reviews sometimes totally go against what the expert reviewer has posted. ***Ive noticed most sequels in their 10th or 11 form are still getting 90% scores even tho the game itself is exactly the same it was 10 years ago (with changes to gfx, sound, etc) *** Simple way of getting people to buy this game is to recommend it, post your thoughts of the game on several forums where you read these reviews. ***I only buy a game if its worth buying now either by hands on experiance or recommendations from friends. *** ***http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/biggrin_o.gif

[councilor]

http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/banghead.gif ***There will always be double standards in the industry.

Me and my buddies played Ghost Recon almost religiously until we ran out of mods.

We got that hideous mess that is known as Ghost Recon 2, and stopped playing after around a week or so worth of gaming. ***The reviews slated the changes to actual game-play, but praised the graphics, and thus it got an average score of 8(! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/crazy_o.gif )

If you were on the UBI forums @ the time of GR2's release you would have seen the anger of the gamers complaining about the lack of realism.

Fast forward to the release of OpFlash:Elite, and though it recieves praise for its realism, it gets a bashing for the graphics and even in the same breath of mentioning realism, gets negative reviews for being "too dificult" etc.

The best thing is: ignore reviews & get on forums and promote games word of mouth. ***I only read a review for a brief outline of the game, any obvious glitches and to find out whether it has co-op functionality, but other than that i'll try and read as many forums reviews by players and fans of that genre.

I for one am over the moon OpFlash came out on the Xbox as getting it to work online with my mates on our PC's was a hassle (we're not very technically minded) and the way the Ghost Recon series is heading just gives me a sinking feeling.

Anyway, down with poor excuses for "combat sims" and up with Flashpoint! ***http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/yay.gif

[colt]

The main problem is that, as 'gaming' becomes more and more popular, it obvioulsy becomes much more lucrative for developers and publishers. Now, do the publishers want to sell something that will gain critical acclaim but sell hardly any copies or will they prefer to sell somthing that will appeal to the largest demographic?

The reason why Battlefield and it's ilk are reviewed highly and sell so well, is because although their essentially Counter Strike, the games are dressed up in more militarism. These games give the gamer the belief that there particpating in a virtual battle and and are implementing tactics gleaned from real war scenarios.

Look at the Rainbow Six series. I used to enjoy planning the missions and setting waypoints (Rogue Spear). Sometimes I used to just sit back and execute Go commands and watch my ai squad carry out the mission whilst watching via the different camera angles. Nowadays, Rainbow Six just feels like a generic shooter, yet it still earns good reviews and probably has a bigger following than ever ($Ł$Ł$Ł$Ł) - although it would be interesting to see how many devotees the series has retained since it's first installment.

Many reviewers and gamers favour Battlefield over OFP because Battlefield is a sheep in wolf's clothing, whereas OFP is an out and out wolf. And a wolf is a damn scary animal to some folks...

[Jtec]

I could think of other reasons why some mags/sites reviews are so wrong.... Say i give you a certain percentage of my profits for giving my game a good score http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/biggrin_o.gif http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/biggrin_o.gif

[councilor]

The other thing I dislike about reviews, and this is something IGN is guilty of, giving scores out of 10 or whatever, for Graphics, Sound, etc. then giving a final score "NOT BASED ON AN AVERAGE". I mean, what the F is that?

And having a "tilt" score?!

"we gave this game to Bob because he likes tactical shooters"

turns out "Bob" only likes Rainbow Six: Letdown...

Rubbish. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/banghead.gif

[xnodunitx]

What I'm wondering is why are they griping about the graphics on the game,usually these big time reviewers look for things like shaders and such...I still think their playing OFP:PC because I know damn well that OFP:E has these things,maybe if they'd pull their head out of their butt they could see these things eh? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/whistle.gif

[Uziyahu--IDF]

Excellent post, Colt.

I too am wondering if those who are not tac-shooter fans are somewhat scared by realistic tac-shooters.