Yahtzee!

Game reviewing appears to be a growing, but altogether amateur field. No I don't mean amateur as in it is done by a bunch of unpaid hobnobs that throw praise at the big names whether or not they are any good while simultaneously fear giving bad reviews in the off chance they offend a fan... What I mean is reviewing is done by PAID hobnobs that throw praise at the big names whether or not they are any good while simultaneously fear giving bad reviews in the off chance they offend a fan (Or company).

"THE BEST TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER ON THE PLANET 9.5/10" - Game Informer

Example: Look at the top of above picture of the back of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Or additionally in the caption). Or again here: "THE BEST TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER ON THE PLANET 9.5/10"... If that is not an embellished (Read: Masturbatory) claim to have in a review then strap an F on my academic transcript now.

You might be thinking "Come on Hugh (My name), that is one line from a regular unbiased review! Now stop writing blogs and get some real work done." But I tracked down the review from Game Infromer and blogging is real work.... And the WHOLE review is just fluffing Battlefield for DICE's (company that made Battlefield) enjoyment. It is enough for me to think that Game Informer Chief Editor is actually sleeping with the DICE CEO... Or if not, that they really want to. Especially considering they claim that the single player "Deliver[s] an experience on par with a summer blockbuster movie". Which might be true for the online, bet HELL NO for the single player.

Oh god... the Single Player. I could go through and point out all the faults with it, but much more entertaining if Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw does it...

'Yahtzee' is an amateur game designer, blogger and games reviewer with his show Zero Punctuation and game industry critic (Pronounce: Academic :-p)(Note: Worth looking at his article Context, Challenge and Gratification) for The Escapist. What he does is gives very harsh reviews of games, game designers and the gaming industry including players, which isn't to say he is unfair of his critique and gives dishonest reviews. Just 'Yahtzee' looks for faults within a game, says where it went wrong, what made a good concept bad and why the game deserves to get locked in a cupboard... then set on fire.

To close, the gaming industry does not have any many real reviewers, just those who want their "This is awesome" quoted on a box, or to please the fan boys who get so worked up about a game before it comes out that it becomes blasphemous to trash it or unless you want to lose readers. So it is up to real reviewers like 'Yahtzee' to be extra harsh while still giving a valid review of a game, and has even managed to become famous because of it, as really a lot of what the video game industry pushes out... is just shit.

   -  Hugh .B