Hi I've started to notice something lately.

Sorry if a lot of people have pointed this out already but.

I'm kinda getting the felling from reading a lot of reviews around here, everyone wants something more from a 'game.' where bombarded with negative reviews of otherwise positive scoring games, e.g. Halo, Gears of War, Metal Gear.

such classic lines pop up as "This Game is overly hyped" and "the fan base is a idiots" "the Story is weak" "the Multi-player has an annoying 13 year old on" and these criticisms are sometimes just a bit too shallow

A lot of the time I feel as tho people are going against the grain just to have a stab at a popular franchise. And I kinda feel non the wise to why they do so? Is it just console hating? I don't know but its sure making this place a boring read.

A Lot and I mean A lot of people are forgetting where playing a video game.
where supposed to have a bit of fun for an-hour or two or maybe even four,
But there people want something more, they want a lifestyle from these games.
and it seems there forgetting these things are just that

'games'

I pay £40 for a game I want an experience Not a life changing one.
I'm usually rewarded with a lot of fun, a great multi player and a rewarding, yet sometimes short single player.

if you want to vent your hate for popular franchised game
please use the search button and Type such keywords as: Halo

I don't mean to cause any insult
I'd just personally rather read a review
on a game I've never heard of, Or a game Ive not got round to playing
not the same 3 over and over again

best wishes Leon

The thing with games, is that for the money spent, we are getting shorter and shorter stories/campaigns and more focus on multiplayer or graphics. Halo 1 was a single-player game with multiplayer added. Halo 2 and 3 are a multiplayer arena with somewhat of a campaign added. The focus shifted, and people like me who don't give a rats ass about Multi are dissatisfied with the crap we're left with.

But you cant blame a more multi-player shift
thats where games are headed I'm afraid

I'm not a massive fan of Multi but single player centric games
are a drying breed my friend

Leon P:
But you cant blame a more multi-player shift
thats where games are headed I'm afraid

I'm not a massive fan of Multi but single player centric games
are a drying breed my friend

Same here.O, the tragedy!!!!

true but when a game gets marked down because of its "lack of multiplayer" then something is wrong
not every game should be required to have multiplayer
multiplayer is essentially an add on to get more people to buy it because of the incentive to play with more than one friend
but now reviewers and buyers are convinced that a good game requires multiplayer

tis a sad day indeed

aRealGuitarHero707:
true but when a game gets marked down because of its "lack of multiplayer" then something is wrong
not every game should be required to have multiplayer
multiplayer is essentially an add on to get more people to buy it because of the incentive to play with more than one friend
but now reviewers and buyers are convinced that a good game requires multiplayer

tis a sad day indeed

I agree
I always have my expectations low ,so when the games bad, I'm not phased.If its good, I'm wrong, and i really dont care becuase i have a good game to play

That's why I play lots of Metroid, Dragon Quest, some pokemon, Bioshock, and almost every Castlevania game ever (still waiting for 3 on the virtual console) because I like games that are built around single player, but sometimes throw in a random multiplayer mode just in case you get sick of story mode for a little while. Not because my expectations are low, they almost always produce quality single player games.

aRealGuitarHero707:
true but when a game gets marked down because of its "lack of multiplayer" then something is wrong
not every game should be required to have multiplayer
multiplayer is essentially an add on to get more people to buy it because of the incentive to play with more than one friend
but now reviewers and buyers are convinced that a good game requires multiplayer

tis a sad day indeed

While I do agree with this, I do have to be a hypocrite and say that this is the reason I'm not going to get Star wars:TFU on Launch.

I remember spending HOURS and hours playing the MP on Jedi Knight, and for TFU to not have online MP is a silly idea IMO

Games do not need Multi to be good. They do not. Up until last year I was a strictly singleplayer gamer, until I got live. And I must say multiplayer can help a game, but it is certainly NOT needed to make the game worthwhile.

grim fandango
another world
day of the tentacle
half life 2
metal gear solid

some of the best games of all time
without multiplayer

you forgot Okami God Hand and FFXII

My 250-hour, max-level Oblivion character would like a word with the fanboys.

And by "word" I mean "put on his 100% Chameleon suit, crouch down, and give you a Daedric Arrow through the back of the skull."

Escapist attracts the "cool alternative kids" with the ultimate alternate cool kid Yahtzee.

Leon P:
But you cant blame a more multi-player shift
thats where games are headed I'm afraid

I'm not a massive fan of Multi but single player centric games
are a drying breed my friend

Funny, because there's a sizeable and very vocal minority of us who don't want a damn thing to do with other players.

They've been proclaiming the death of single-player since EverQuest. Hasn't happened.

Leon P:
But you cant blame a more multi-player shift
thats where games are headed I'm afraid

I'm not a massive fan of Multi but single player centric games
are a drying breed my friend

That goes for me to. I was really displeased when I heard even "Half-Life" has went in this direction.

Leon P:
But you cant blame a more multi-player shift
thats where games are headed I'm afraid

I'm not a massive fan of Multi but single player centric games
are a drying breed my friend

See, I don't see it that way. Consumers drive the industries, gamers drive this one. There are a lot of multiplayer deathmatch twitchfest lovers, but there are more of us campaign-seeking soloists. Look at how poorly Halo 2 PC did compared to Halo 1 PC... Yes Vista had a large part in Halo2PC's failure, that's still a symptom of the real problem, the shift to multiplayer-focused games. If Halo2 was as good as Halo1, people would have overcome their hatred of Vista to play it, but we didn't. Halo2PC sales were pathetic, and it's even odds if Halo3 ever goes PC now.

And it's not just Halo, that was just a very easy example.

Farcry topped every game out there, it's single-player focused. Prey, wicked game... Don't even know if it has a multi, the single player is so dominant I never looked. FEAR, again single-player. Even Halflife2... Valve cut the multiplayer end out of Halflife2 and made it a separate game, HL2 is by far more highly regarded than TF2. Portal...

Single player gaming is here to stay. Why? Because people like me want it, and someone, somewhere, will always cater to our net-less preference.

Khell_Sennet:

Look at how poorly Halo 2 PC did compared to Halo 1 PC... Yes Vista had a large part in Halo2PC's failure, that's still a symptom of the real problem, the shift to multiplayer-focused games. If Halo2 was as good as Halo1, people would have overcome their hatred of Vista to play it, but we didn't. Halo2PC sales were pathetic, and it's even odds if Halo3 ever goes PC now.

Or it could have done poorly with the fact its a 3 year old game and its from the "last gen era". You know you could use the XBOX sales (orginal platform blah blah blah) which showed Halo 2 outselling Halo:CE.

frontier psychiatrist:

Quite often these popular franchises are not as great as people think they are, and it's important to be critical towards them.

Their opinion is wrong? How can what someone likes be wrong.

Leon P:
A lot of the time I feel as tho people are going against the grain just to have a stab at a popular franchise. And I kinda feel non the wise to why they do so? Is it just console hating? I don't know but its sure making this place a boring read.

Quite often these popular franchises are not as great as people think they are, and it's important to be critical towards them.

A Lot and I mean A lot of people are forgetting where playing a video game.
where supposed to have a bit of fun for an-hour or two or maybe even four,
But there people want something more, they want a lifestyle from these games.
and it seems there forgetting these things are just that

'games'

I pay £40 for a game I want an experience Not a life changing one.
I'm usually rewarded with a lot of fun, a great multi player and a rewarding, yet sometimes short single player.

Video games are fundamentally entertainment, but they can and should be much more than that, just like films. I'm sick of developers having all this technology and not doing anything with it, not pushing the medium forward.

I actually thought this was going to be about Too Human (considering Too Human is a perfect example of Negative Reviews based on game expectations).

Wanting something more from a game will never dissapear. No matter what the form of media we always want more. See for example Saw, as we dive deeper into the series the gore goes from intense to just positively ridiculous. Simply because the audience always wants more and that is a series that seems to always deliver more. Games are the same way when a brand new rpg hits the hands of consumers or a sequel to 2006s' AAA 3rd person shooter the fans will always want something more weither it be in multiplayer or single player experience. The bar always goes up never goes down.

As far as reading the same review over and over, weither it sucks really bad or is everyone's favorite when a game comes out that grabs a lot of attention will always have people wanting their word to be noticed. Frankly its what 24/7 is, everyone's word in the endless void of opinions. If its popular people are going to be talking about it, no way around it.

Seriously though, this thread completly sounded like it was going to be about Too Human.

Vincent9mm:
The bar always goes up never goes down.

That's because the technology behind games is ever-increasing, and most games have so much unused potential.

shatnershaman:
Their opinion is wrong? How can what someone likes be wrong.

When people only like a game because other people like a game. Look at the user-reviews on Metacritic, from what I can tell NONE of the Halo 3 reviews done by users make any valid points, or even any points at all, apart from 'it's a good game', yet when someone makes bad comments about the game, they make a lot of points as to why the game is bad and how it could have been made better.

On the opposite side, games like ones that are part of the Orange Box, user reviews generally have some helpful information in them, while the Halo fanboys just say 'totally overrated'.

the fact of the matter is, the gaming public (and consumers in general) are promised things that are never delivered in the final product.

Fable for example, was a prime example of this - almost all the innovation promised when the game was announced was completely gone by the time the game shipped. So those who were waiting from the get go will ALWAYS be the most disappointed.

This doesn't mean that the gaming public is wrong, and noone can please everyone, so there will always be negative reviews, except for a few cases. The issue with multiplayer, is rarely "No Multiplayer", unless the game SCREAMS to be played multiplayer, like Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Most multiplayer complaints are just badly implemented multiplayer. Dark Sector for instance had 2 multiplayer modes, and one of them was just not fun at all for most of the people playing, especially the more players there were. So you had one multiplayer mode. People like multiplayer modes, the more you can give them, the better, so having 1 mode is almost inexcusable.

I don't think that most people write negative reviews to take a crack at a popular franchise. More often then not, I'd imagine that they just don't understand why it's so popular, because either they're not good at the game, or it doesn't appeal to what they like in video games. I hate sports games. So if the BEST Sports game came out, and EVERYONE was telling me to buy it, my review for it would be slanted with my bias of hating sports games, so bam, negative review.

RYjet911:

When people only like a game because other people like a game. Look at the user-reviews on Metacritic, from what I can tell NONE of the Halo 3 reviews done by users make any valid points, or even any points at all, apart from 'it's a good game', yet when someone makes bad comments about the game, they make a lot of points as to why the game is bad and how it could have been made better.

On the opposite side, games like ones that are part of the Orange Box, user reviews generally have some helpful information in them, while the Halo fanboys just say 'totally overrated'.

Wow. "That is wrong in like 8 different ways"-Church