Serebii Game Reviews

[thunderblade12]

I noticed that when ever a typical gamer gives their "professional" review of a game it always ends up looking biased. Some people actually try to judge a game fairly and determine whether or not it is worth people's money, but more often than not I notice that they can only manage to give a game two scores: a 1 or a 10, nothing in between. I thought it would be a good idea to create a metacritic/gamerankings type of community within Serebii. I will update the first post with the averages of all game reviews whenever some one posts. If you're going to give something that most people agree is good like Mario, Halo or Uncharted an absurdly low score like 3/10 or below, at least tell why you gave it that score or people are going to accuse you of being biased against Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft or what ever company makes the game at hand. Additionally, try to avoid saying stuff like "Halo is just shoot, shoot shoot, cutscene, shoot, shoot" or "Uncharted is just shoot, climb, shoot, climb, shoot, climb" something of that sort. Saying a game "is just [insert gameplay element]" is a really vague criticism and can be applied to almost any game. And, again, people are going to be up in arms if you later give an equally repetitive game a higher score. Just trying to avoid any trolling/conflict.


Anyway I'll begin with Pokemon since this is a Pokemon forum.

Pokemon Black and White

My second favorite set of games in the Pokemon franchise after Gold and Silver. Making older pokemon unavaliable until after the main story was a small tweak but it made the game feel fresher than the previous two generations have. Gamefreak is really headed in the right direction by putting more emphasis on story and character. They seem to be stepping out of their comfort zone and innovating a bit. That is many people's main criticism of the series, the games really haven't changed much from the GBC version of the game. They seem to be continuing this with Blac kand White 2. If they can continue to surprise the fans and keep things fresh I think the sixth generation has a chance at being the best one yet. My only criticism of the game and the only thing that keeps me from liking it more than Gold/Silver is that there isn't a great deal to do after beating the Elite 4. Of course there are still hundreds of pokemon to catch, but I guess going back to Kanto in GSC spoiled me. Everything feels like an anemic step backwards after that.


Pros:
+ Many new pokemon
+ Begins innovating the series. A step forward
+ Small tweaks like making TMs reusable

Cons:
- Only one region. Not a "bigger and better" sequel


9/10


Your review can be in any format you want. It doesn't have to copy mine exactly.
Xbox 360

Playstation 3

Wii

DS
Pokemon Black and White (9/10, based on 1 review)

3DS

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

[img139]http://img-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com/358665e6ff888fb1ba9d861821843fa7/http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz338/iAnimexD/oh-look-its-this-thread-again.jpg[/img139]

 

[Charizard Champion#06]

I think a metacritic type system for forum reviews isn't the best idea and here's why: The greatest strength of having forum reviews is that you can have reviews made by forum members who you've got to know over the years. Some of which you have learned their tastes and how they match up with your own. If you know someone who really enjoys quality JRPGs and has even recommended a few titles that you've come to enjoy then you should be able to put a fair amount of trust into their review. Same goes for a forum member who you think has the opposite kind of your game tastes or even someone who you don't think has half an idea of what a good game is. These sort of relationships can't be summed up by a mere number, one that can easily be swayed by bias. I think instead of the metacritic system there should just be a list of all the reviews in the first post, with links to each. Even if you're dead set on keeping the metacritic system at least include review links.

And what if the person writing the review doesn't want to give a numeric score? There are those out there who don't believe that a game experience should be summed in a single number.

Also what reviews will be considered as a "pass" when it comes to including them in the metascore (if you still wish to do that)? Is a review of Halo that consists of "It wasn't good because I didn't like it and it was boring and dumb and it's my opinion and that means I'm right 1/10" going to be worth as much as a well thought out review of the same game?

Everyone should watch this video if they haven't already for some insight on what makes a good review (more of that towards the end).

 

[blaze boy]

OK lets break down this terrible review.

Pokemon Black and White

My second favorite set of games in the Pokemon franchise after Gold and Silver.

Which mean that you are already bias since you will be comparing Black and White to a game that came out when you where younger, thus you will be looking through your nostalgia glasses.

Making older pokemon unavaliable until after the main story was a small tweak but it made the game feel fresher than the previous two generations have.Gamefreak is really headed in the right direction by putting more emphasis on story and character. They seem to be stepping out of their comfort zone and innovating a bit. That is many people's main criticism of the series, the games really haven't changed much from the GBC version of the game. They seem to be continuing this with Black and White 2. If they can continue to surprise the fans and keep things fresh I think the sixth generation has a chance at being the best one yet. My only criticism of the game and the only thing that keeps me from liking it more than Gold/Silver is that there isn't a great deal to do after beating the Elite 4. Of course there are still hundreds of pokemon to catch, but I guess going back to Kanto in GSC spoiled me. Everything feels like an anemic step backwards after that.

According to word you have only written 177 words for this review, if you can call it one, that isn't enough nor does it tell us anything about the game.

You are assuming that we are familiar with the pokémon series, which also makes this review pointless, Also talking about Black and White 2 and 6th gen is going off track when reviewing about Black and White

That is many people's main criticism of the series, the games really haven't changed much from the GBC version of the game.

I though this about your review about Black and White, also that criticism is wrong the pokémon series has changed from the Game Boy days.

My only criticism of the game and the only thing that keeps me from liking it more than Gold/Silver is that there isn't a great deal to do after beating the Elite 4. Of course there are still hundreds of pokemon to catch, but I guess going back to Kanto in GSC spoiled me. Everything feels like an anemic step backwards after that.

There was lot to do after Elite 4;

- you could explore the East side of Unova.
- Catch pokémon from past gen.
- Unlock new area in the game.

Also Kanto was the reason why Johto suffered from horrible level placement and why the region felt short and barren

Pros:
+ Many new pokemon
+ Begins innovating the series. A step forward
+ Small tweaks like making TMs reusable

Every gen brought new innovation into the series.

Cons:
- Only one region. Not a "bigger and better" sequel

What? That doesn't make any sense what so ever, Black and White 2 is the first pokémon sequel.

Black and White is a stand alone game that doesn't require the past game to be played.

9/10

I give this review 2/10.

 

[Jolteon91]

I think you would need a lot more people participating in this type of thread for it to actually work, all it would take is for me to come along and give something like iDOLM@STER 2 a perfect score, and you'd likely be stuck with it since I would not be surprised in the least if no one else here has played the game.

 

[thunderblade12]

We're not pretending to be professional reviewers here. A community opinion of games is the goal. Its to be expected that in a game that has been around for 15 years there will be some comparisons to older games in the series. The point I was trying to make is that I didn't feel there was a whole lot to do post Elite 4 in Black and White. There was eastern Unova but there wasn't a great deal to do there either. If you need a specific example, I don't think we should have to wait for the third game of a generation for something as basic as gym leader rematches at this point. They've been around since what, the third generation? It seems like they're intentionally holding out just to have something to beef up the third game. There are pokemon to capture and a few additional places to explore, but aside from Wifi there's no one new to battle outside of real people on Wifi

I'm not dead set on the metacritic thing, it was just a suggestion.

 

[Recon]

I think the best way to do this would just post a couple games every week or two and have the forum members review them and then give it an overall score. However, only multi-faceted, well-written and detailed reviews will be considered for the overall score. Nothing along the lines "I give this a 1 because I don't like it/I hate the series/I haven't played the game" or "I give this a 10 because it is THE BEST GAME EVAH!" Or some really weird review.

Just my two cents on the idea.

Assigning games to review has pretty much already been proven not to work. It's much easier and more flexible to have people review what they want, when they want.

Alright, fair enough. However, I think if we were to use the reviewing system I previously mentioned, it would be the best way to give a game an overall score, as all the reviews for the game will be relatively easy to find, rather than scattered all over the place.

 

[Charizard Champion#06]

Which mean that you are already bias since you will be comparing Black and White to a game that came out when you where younger, thus you will be looking through your nostalgia glasses.

Comparing a game to an older iteration of the same series is not biased or looking through nostalgia goggles just because they played it when they were young. Pokemon games follow a certain formula in their design and it's only natural to look at past games in the series when reviewing the new ones. Many reviewers also do this with Zelda games, particularly comparing to Ocarina of Time.

According to word you have only written 177 words for this review, if you can call it one, that isn't enough nor does it tell us anything about the game.

There are several details about the game discussed in the review.

-Older Pokemon are not in the game until you finish the main story
-More emphasis on writing and plot
-Less to do after finishing the main quest than GSC
-Adds innovative features (but really "continues to add" would be more appropriate)

You are assuming that we are familiar with the pokémon series, which also makes this review pointless, Also talking about Black and White 2 and 6th gen is going off track when reviewing about Black and White

This I agree with. Talking about Black and White 2 was unnecessary, and while not pointless (this is a Pokemon site after all) it is a good idea to fill people in on what the game is.

I'm not dead set on the metacritic thing, it was just a suggestion.

What about my other questions?

I think the best way to do this would just post a couple games every week or two and have the forum members review them and then give it an overall score.

Assigning games to review has pretty much already been proven not to work. It's much easier and more flexible to have people review what they want, when they want.

 

[The Admiral]

We've had this before. It didn't end well.

I'd be interested to see something like this done and done right, e.g. through the metasite design, but that'd take a lot of work. And we'd probably need more people who can write reviews. For all my pretensions, I can't write my way out of a paper metaphor for the atomic bomb.

 

[Charizard Champion#06]

Another issue I've seen is that people who tend to write reviews on forum go with games they love to give praise. That ends up with a lot of 8-10/10 reviews.

 

[Zazie]

[img139]http://img-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com/358665e6ff888fb1ba9d861821843fa7/http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz338/iAnimexD/oh-look-its-this-thread-again.jpg[/img139]

My thoughts exactly. I remember a few years back when we actually had one of these that was somewhat successful (The one Kabutopzilla started, it's still around if you want to see it). It was a great thread and I enjoyed contributing.* That said however, this place just doesn't have the activity or variety of tastes to make a successful review thread like there was back in the day.

Another issue I've seen is that people who tend to write reviews on forum go with games they love to give praise. That ends up with a lot of 8-10/10 reviews.

Selective bias is a problem, but that doesn't make the thread useless, it just turns it into more of a recommendation thread.

 

[Night Shadow]

Yeah, let's just not do this thread. It's going to be a disaster. If you really want a good review, go on metacritc.

 

[Night_Walker]

The thing is you need people who can actually put their biases aside to do a review, think of qualifiers for their own perceived negatives and admit when they're expressing their own opinion - which is very difficult for a lot of people, even the pros (I mean how often do we hear them talk about "You'll hate this character" or something similar). So yeah this seems like a trouble maker's letter box.

 

[The Admiral]

I'm pretty sure getting a person who isn't biased at all isn't likely to happen, or even someone who can hold their biases in.

But maybe I'm really underestimating the average writer here. Maybe, deep down, they're all great at this! (And maybe I can weave James Hetfield's nose hairs into an elephant parachute. Who the hell knows?)

 

[Night_Walker]

I'm pretty sure getting a person who isn't biased at all isn't likely to happen, or even someone who can hold their biases in.

But maybe I'm really underestimating the average writer here. Maybe, deep down, they're all great at this! (And maybe I can weave James Hetfield's nose hairs into an elephant parachute. Who the hell knows?)

It depends on the mindset you have when you sit down to do a review.

 

[Zazie]

The thing is you need people who can actually put their biases aside to do a review, think of qualifiers for their own perceived negatives and admit when they're expressing their own opinion - which is very difficult for a lot of people, even the pros (I mean how often do we hear them talk about "You'll hate this character" or something similar). So yeah this seems like a trouble maker's letter box.

Why do you want to get rid of bias ? I would much rather have reviewers who share my biases, so I can get a better idea of whether I would enjoy the game.

Quite honestly people take video game criticism too seriously. The reviews should be able to give the reader an overview of the game, but some people go way beyond that, demanding that they be some of kind machine that sorts video games based on quality or something.

 

[The Admiral]

Why do you want to get rid of bias ? I would much rather have reviewers who share my biases, so I can get a better idea of whether I would enjoy the game.

Quite honestly people take video game criticism too seriously. The reviews should be able to give the reader an overview of the game, but some people go way beyond that, demanding that they be some of kind machine that sorts video games based on quality or something.

I'm curious as to what a review without any bias would be.

Other than boring as hell and not much more than baseline-informative, probably.

As far as the last part... it's kind of funny, because quality basically is one of the more subjective attributes of a video game.

 

[Night Shadow]

Why do you want to get rid of bias ? I would much rather have reviewers who share my biases, so I can get a better idea of whether I would enjoy the game.

Quite honestly people take video game criticism too seriously. The reviews should be able to give the reader an overview of the game, but some people go way beyond that, demanding that they be some of kind machine that sorts video games based on quality or something.

In addition, if people want games that would probably cater to their liking, they could always ask in a VM rather then reading a full review. Most of us know what each other's favorite genre's are based on what we post on the thread.

 

[Charizard Champion#06]

Did anyone actually watch the video I posted? Here's a quote of what basically was the bottom line:

If we practice drilling down into why we hold the opinions we hold and finding ways to express that rather than just delivering a review full of opaque personal feelings we'll create more useful reviews for the consumer and build a culture more prepared to think about games.

Reviews should be more opinionated and varied with well written explanations as to why the game is good or bad rather than just saying "The gameplay was good/bad."

 

[Night_Walker]

Why do you want to get rid of bias ? I would much rather have reviewers who share my biases, so I can get a better idea of whether I would enjoy the game.

Um because subjective personal opinions shouldn't be included in a fair balanced review of a game - ie just because the reviewer doesn't like a character or can't get into the world they shouldn't say "You'll hate this character" or "You won't care about the world" as if it's a fact that cannot be challenged - or at least be telegraphed as personal opinions.