Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) As an ex reviewer for Atari User and a UK trade mag etc I've done my fair share of reviewing, I was always honest and even in the small circles I mixed in you still got offers from publishers to lets say spice up the review but I never took them up on it. In the main stream magazines where an exclusive is everything there still are the perks for the big mags like free trips, flights and countless freebies but you kind of hope the review will be honest but you know its not always and are normally very easy to spot. So are reviews reliable? I'd say mostly yes but there's the odd one that slips through, in this case its Micro Marts review of Centron 3D, I won't repeat the review just incase they throw copyright at me but you can read it here http://pr0.sytes.net/Mag/Informatica/Micro_Mart_10-16_julho_2014.pdf on page 79. The trouble here is that for all possible checks there is NO game, the screens they use are from the RPC site and the wording is pretty much a press release but its wrapped up as a review. I wrote to the reviewer regarding this game and the fact that its got hoax status here and guess what, no reply in all this time and I guess I never will get a reply. Now I like Micro Mart, shame they dropped the ball here.. And before anyone says, I love TMR's stuff in the magazine, he's a truly dedicated gamer so the review means everything to him... Edited July 19, 2014 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Invader Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 To me, it just doesn't make any sense for a journalist to take a bribe for a review. He will ultimately be judged by the quality of information he provides to readers and if they buy a £40 game on his say-so and the game doesn't live up to expectations he loses credibility. People buy magazines to be informed not ripped-off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'd say mostly yes but there's the odd one that slips through, in this case its Micro Marts review of Centron 3D Shaun's section in Micro Mart is currently more a news section than reviews though, a bit like the first page of my four in Retro Gamer right now. In the case of Centron 3D i didn't cover it because i post here pretty regularly, saw how things were (or in this case weren't) going and had similar doubts to other posters which led me to back burner it until something more substantial arrived, but i've been similarly caught out in the past on platforms i don't follow as closely so i can see how things can slip through like that. And before anyone says, I love TMR's stuff in the magazine, he's a truly dedicated gamer so the review means everything to him... Oh, it's not that i wouldn't take a bribe... just that, in nearly twenty years of reviewing games for fanzines, the web and print, nobody's actually tried! Kidding. =-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 The article is misleading and gives the impression the writer had in fact viewed the game in action. The graphics really are quite stylish and colourful with pacey and frenetic gameplay. Then note on the same page an article titled "Multi-core C64" describing a 1 Meg upgrade which allows swapping among "16 states" - this has nothing to do with multicore, and is in fact a simple multitasking methodology. But if we go back in history, there's libraries worth of previews and reviews which follow the same recipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 (edited) I had 2 offers in my short time reviewing, one from a large Liverpool based company and one from a company that you expect sim type stuff from, neither were cash based and neither amounted to much, well the sim company did offer a nice weekend away. I just refused because I enjoyed the reviewing and was making a packet at Maplin so a weekend away wasn't something my wife and I didn't already do on a regular basis. On a similar note I was looking at Frank Gaskings Site, GamesThatWeren't64 and watched a video by Larry Bundy Jnr (he's English, never heard an English person use the Jnr thing before), anyway he's talking about the Thundercats game that came out on multiple platforms, it was APPALLING yet one mag gave it 10/10 and ACE gave it a HUGE score. Its an interesting watch because it details the way Elite hedged their bets and actually had 3 games that depending on which was ready for Xmas would be the Thindercats game, one game was later to be released as Beyond the Ice Palace which I liked yet and here's the review catch, ACE gave it low marks and then 60 days later gave the exact same game good marks, the only difference was that it was released on the Encore cheapy range Good old continuity of reviewing (Yeah I know, every one has a different mind about a game) I also like that the other game which was due to be a Thundercats game was released as far as they can tell as Bomb Jack 2. Edited July 19, 2014 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 As a teenager I realized that there was a coded system of wording some reviewers used to secretly state what they REALLY felt about a game. That, coupled with video rental stores where I could easily fact check led to my utter distrust of game revewers. Of course, this misses the point. Game magazines should never have let advertising dollars effect their journalism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'll have to dig out my ACE magazines. Was it the same reviewer for both reviews? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Many hobbyist internet reviews I find are not trustworthy. It's common to see information given that is not true, or the reviewer hasn't actually played through the entire game, or the individual has a particular bias against or towards a particular company, or they are writing from memory while wearing rose-tinted glasses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Computer And Video games (C+VG) was always an odd one over the years. Tempest 2000 Jaguar Overall 84% (Paul Rand) yet that score hadshot up to 95% into a later Xmas Buyers Guide feature. Mind you Mark Patterson giving Rise Of The Robots 91% on SNES and 90% on PC CD-ROM raised a few eyebrows. Most puzzling though was Iron Solider Jaguar review, overal 78%, Gary Lord moaning the movement was slow..err Gary, your piloting a bloody great big robot mate, Mechs are slow, lumbering beasts..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 @Austin :yep i've found that, if your reading a review and you clearly knew more about the game than the person who reviewed it, ie review says it's strictly a single player game, yet you knew it had option for 2nd player to join-in, or you had the game game on 2 formats, yet reviewer said format X made owners of format Y jealous...your thinking...ok.....1) I don't think you've the instructions, so what source are you using to play the game from and 2) Have you even played Version Y to compare to X?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'll have to dig out my ACE magazines. Was it the same reviewer for both reviews? I'll have to watch the video again and see if it is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 The worst magazine I ever saw for weighted reviews was EGM, it was a great looking magazine from the states but almost every review was ultra positive and it was then you spotted that they were also a company that sold games so every thing was also stock thus had to be rated highly. Such a shame as it was a peach of a magazine in lay out terms but the validity of the reviews was nigh on criminal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 As a Jaguar owner i watched magazines like C+VG, Gamesmaster and EDGE really 'turn' on the Jaguar (and 3DO) these once 'wonder' machines in their eyes that thanks to previews, features, reviews etc in their pages, people like myself rushed out and bought, were seemly declared 'old hat' almost overnight when the Playstation and Saturn were getting import reviews onwards. Suddenly a game was only as goodas it's 3D engine, reviewers looking for texture-mapped, light sourced polygons galore and things like Toh Shin Den (which like a muppet i bought with my Playstation) were HOT, scores absurdly high. C+VG even started rating games like Skyhammer (3/5) based on visuals 'Looks like a weaker 32X title' and Iron Solider compared to 32X Metal Head which yes, looked nicer, but played like a dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 :-) See THIS is why you guys should play 'nicey' with us newbie posters, it's all sooo much better when community works together, so group hug and here we go: OK, ACE Thundercats review, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions reviewd, ACE RATED at 931 reviewer:ANDY WILTON and get this:Review has a box-out where it annouces, GASP! Elite had a 2nd Thundercats game in development (damn you UK Press for revealing such a thing) and i quote the other is '....a 4 way scroller with exploration elements to it' Skip forward to issue 9..Beyond The Ice Palace reviewed on Amstrad CPC and Atari ST and who's reviewing it...wait for it..HOLD.......HOLD.....Why it's none other than....Mr Bloody Andy Wilton (somewhere a woman faints..) Rated at 648 on CPC 677 on the ST.ST version took flak for being little more than an 8 Bit update, not 16 Bit enough for our Andy, the blighter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Zzap 64's Operation Thunderbolt Review on C64 was a dark day for the magazine.I lost all faith in them after that. Full story-Here: http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/operation-thunderbolt-v1/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Last example from myself: Mean Machines SEGA 'Exclusive review' (booklet) Of Earth Worm Jim II. 1st signs of trouble, only the 1 reviewer (big game reviews usually had 2-3 people looking at).Overal score 95% Hmmnnn.....it's good, but it's not quite..... Convincing me Mean Machines that any thing other than advertising revenue was primary concern here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subby Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Generically speaking one of the things I hate most is when the first sentence of the review starts with "I normally don't like these kind of games..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Bit of an update the Thundercats games/s we were talking about, back along: Nick Jones i recal talking in an interview, brought the subject up, said he'd been approached by Dave Perry who wanted him to work on the (C64 version of...) game (which became Beyond The Ice Palace) and he said Dave had negotiated a 'package deal' to do 5 versions of the game for a lot of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Bloody hell, did'nt think i'd be updating/thread bumping this one, but there's yet more to be told regarding Dave Perry's Beyond The Ice Palace... Apparently (or so the CPC Press claim) game was intended as an unofficial sequel to Capcom's Ghosts N Goblins. These Unofficial sequels went through something of a 'phase' on the 8 Bits... Ocean doing Target Renegade and Renegade 3. Tiertex doing Strider 2 and Human Killing Machine (unofficial follow up to Street Fighter) Imagine with The Vindicator aka Green Beret II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sargie Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Some magazines / publishing houses would basically boost review points for: Exclusives. Larger amounts of advertising. Not at all surprising really... although when I was younger and first found out about this I thought it shocking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+poobah Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I used to do game reviews online (3dgaming.net) back around 1999 or so, and we were brutally honest... I remember when I did the review of Interstate 82, I joked in the summary that I probably won't be getting any exclusive invites from Activision in the future. (It was a *horrible* game) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilsaluki Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I usually found that only AtariUser presented honest reviews, for the most part. Most major mags were just sales pitches for their advertisers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Reviewers in general (not just gaming) are in a tough spot. A magazine needs a good relationship with the industry to have access. Bad reviews hurt that relationship. What do you do when you really want to skewer one of the big guys? What will happen to your ad revenue or what happens when you need an interview with someone? At least with games you can go out and buy them but in pricier scenarios you rely on review samples. The only way to be truly objective is to be completely self-funded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Regarding Edge's 4/10 review for AVP (Jaguar) Jason Kingsley of Rebellion, is supposed to of claimed that the un-named reviewer (as was and still is Edge's stance) of AVP quit the magazine soon after to take a role as professional footballer....which is fine, people change proffessions in all walks of life.... But Jason also meant to of claimed reviewer only played the game less than 5 mins! and was a massive Doom/Doom 2 fan, so approached the game as a simple Doom clone.... No idea if these claims are true, might be bit of sour grapes on Rebellions part, might be few grains of truth in it, guess Edge would never say either..but it makes for a brave tale :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 (edited) I never trusted reviews of games much except for the early days of computing, 1977-through-1982, more or less. And then I'd take them with a grain of salt. Why? When money is involved people will say and do anything. So I'd read them to understand the gameplay objectives, and to try gleaning tips and tricks from them. I'd always separate the hard facts from opinions. Number of colors, cpu, required memory, controller, screenshots, those sorts of things I considered hard facts. I used reviews like I did advertisements - a way of learning about new things coming out. And when possible I would play my buddies' acquisitions first to see if I liked it. Edited June 21, 2015 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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