Hot topic for today class. "Why do we even bother having reviews?" The way I see it, they don't really do any good for anyone. Case and point, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and any other movie made. I watched this last night and I loved it. Easy 8/10 for me, I'd watch it again. I click on IMDB (Internet movie database) to go look up some background stuff on the movie and what do I see? 6/10. Granted that's out of thousands and thousands of reviews and ratings, but still. I just gave this movie an 8 so to me it's a faulty rating. Anyone would think that, right? I can say the same about movies I've hated, games, book... Anything.
I remember I had a guy come into Gamestop when I was working once and asked me to tell him some good games. Alright, I said, what types of games do you like? Oh just anything that looks pretty.... Alright... By what standard? What is your definition of "looks pretty?" I showed him things like Okami, a beautiful game modeled after Japanese watercolor artwork and calligraphy. I loved it when I played it, it's a very fun action adventure fantasy game. He just does this number. He picks the case up, looks at the back for two seconds and puts it down with the statement "I hate it." He didn't even let me tell him about the game. Didn't know what it was, just instantly hated it. I could have given him any and all the information he needed. Nope.
So the guy walks over to the infamous Sonic '06 and picks it up and a smile spreads across his face. "Now THIS. THIS looks great!" I told him it looks beautiful, sure, but it plays like a sack of sand being used as a hammer. It just doesn't work. At all. The graphics are the only thing that game had going for it. What's he do? He ignores me and buys it. What happens? He brings it back hours later on the same day and returns it to get something else. If he had listened to me and my review of anything, as it wasn't just with Okami, he might have been spared some money and an extra trip up here. But no. So why do we have reviews at all? It all boils down to personal opinion, right? And if you see a majorly hyped up game and then play it and hate it you feel pissed off and cheated, don't you? (I do.)
I have tons of review ideas and even some written up but I don't care to do anything with them because it wouldn't make a difference. Someone somewhere wont agree with me and they're going to complain about it, perhaps to the point of bad mouthing me and berating me for my "wrong opinion." then why bother in the first place? I know we have reviews just as a general consensus, a lumped together general feeling upon something. That's great, I understand that. I get it. But what good does it really do when 9/10 people, at least in my experience, don't listen to what anyone has to say. Or if they do listen they act like a stuck up spoiled little child and tell you you're wrong. And what's even worse, they don't even tell you why! They just say those little words and leave it at that. If you're going to tell someone they're wrong you should at least have the knowledge and backbone enough to explain why. Present a credible argument or discussable reason.
Maybe if people thought a little bit more about things the world would be a better, easy going place to live in. But the way it is now you can't even have an opinion, or share the one you have out of fear of being made fun of or talked down to. To close it off I shall share my opinion on one horrible thing I love and one loved thing I hate.
The Kinect. Everyone berates it for not doing what it should and not working the way it's supposed to. Mine works perfectly fine when I use it, and I got mine used! Nothing's ever going to be perfect, and it's still a new piece of technology. For how new it is and if you set it up correctly and use it as instructed, it works very very well. It may be hit and miss at times, but its general performance is well above what people say.
Thinking back on it I can't really think of anything I HATE that people love, so I'll use this instead....
Castlevania 1-whatever number the arcade style went up to. I like the game. Do I agree with people who say that the arcade styled ones are vastly superior to the rpg, metroid-esque ones? Hell no. They're fun and I like them but they're nowhere NEAR the top of the list of "best games" in my book. I could get into a discussion of this just by itself but I'll keep it short. If someone asks me to back my opinions up I shall do so then. "The jumping is shoddy, you can hardly get from point a to point b without playing it like a strategy game. If you die, you die. That's it. Hours of hard work gone, all for nothing. "Aww, but I was all the way to Dracula, now I have to start all over?" YEP SCREW YOU KID. Now I know some of the newer games fix these problems and that's why I still like them, but the originals are terrible. The one that started to fix everything was Super Castlevania IV. From then on I like the arcade style games. But 1-before IV are terrible and feel like they were all rushed games that went unfinished.
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Opinions are just that. If you do not value my opinion and feel the need to act out like I have stated others have then be kind to everyone and refrain from posting something you'll regret later. Thumper rule.
If you would like me to explain something further or have a civil talk about anything you see here, let me know. I will be more than happy to defend or elaborate my standings on anything.
Thank you and have a blessed day,
~Coby
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