Grumblings have been rife on the internet recently (What’s new?) about reviews and reviewers in the video game industry. Where has the unrest come from?

The trend seems to be that fans will not let their favourite franchise be tarnished in any way by reviewers on websites and printed press. A prime example is the low review scores of Resident Evil 6 on Metacritic which had fans up in arms and crying foul from reviewers judging the game too harshly, they seem to forget that this is an aggregation of all review scores and some will be higher than others.

A prime example from my own experience is the Final Fantasy series, I am a huge fan but I have seen the quality drop over the years. Just because I love the series it doesn’t mean I will review the latest game favourably, I will review it as I see it and if it sucks well then too bad for the fans but I will be honest in my opinions.

Another example is the lacklustre review scores of the latest instalment in the Medal of Honor franchise. People are upset and rightfully so but don’t take it out on the reviewers giving it a low score, take it out on EA for releasing a terrible unfinished product. I am one of those people upset as I really enjoyed the previous Medal of Honor but I will be honest in my opinions from what I have played. Sure people will not agree and will enjoy the game and more power to them as the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same thing. Hell if Halo 4 was a terrible broken mess I wouldn’t still be saying it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread just because I have been looking forward to it all year as many people do to inflate their egos.

Reviewing in general is someone’s opinion and we all crave for someone to agree with our point of view. Think about it, do you read reviews even if you own the product? Going back to the Resident Evil 6 reviews and to back up my point I played Resident Evil 6 and didn’t agree with most of the reviews but could see the point they were trying to put across. I eventually found a printed review from a well known magazine which gave the game a 7/10 which I feel is a fair score which is above average.

So when a majority of review scores for a certain game are lower than expected the internet all get together a decry foul on the likes of twitter and facebook saying that all these reviewers are egotistical maniacs and wouldn’t know a good game if it slapped them in the face. Remember what I have said, it is their opinion.

Who is a reviewer these days anyway? Many people say that anyone who has an internet connection and a blog/twitter account is a reviewer and that maybe true in some aspects as everyone who has a friend is a reviewer. For example I buy a new car and my mate Dave says to me ‘Hey Webby nice car how is it’? I then sum up what the car is like. Is that not a review? It is an opinion on a product after all.

What we are really talking about though is BIG review websites and the printed press because in general the internet won’t be angry at a small blog with 100 hits a month or a twitter account with 3 followers, the internet gets angry when all these negative or positive reviews all share the same thought of a product that they don’t agree with.

Why grumble? Just let it go people. If you like a game just play it, sure you want to be heard, you want people to know that you like it and that the reviewers are all wrong but when is someone’s opinion wrong? Well apart from facts like the graphics are shit or the controls are clunky but people even seem to disagree on those facts these days.

People argue all the time about these subjects but when all the big reviews back up your opinion the other person really has no defence and it’s a great way of winding someone up even more for a laugh. (I personally thrive in it)

Reviewers in general cannot win. You say a game is great and people will slam you down for saying its shit. You say a game sucks donkey dick and the whole world suddenly seems to think it’s the greatest game of all time. My advice is to find a person or outlet that shares the same views and preferences as you and follow them.

In the mean time just enjoy your favourite hobby, gaming is all about having fun so lets just put all the moaning aside and play our favourite games be it Halo, Call of Duty, Forza or heaven forbid Medal of Honor Warfighter.

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