The EDGE of Reason
December 21, 2009 by Tom Kerkhof
Filed under Articles
I’d like to start of by saying I love Dragon Age. From what I’ve seen and been able to play through the demo, I’m going to love Bayonetta as well. Both are great games in their genre and deserve some praise, so here you have it.
However, I read EDGE’s reviews of both games and was astounded by their verdicts. It made me ponder on the objective quality of games and certain principles an objective reviewer (if possible) must keep in mind. What will follow is the glorification of Dragon Age, strong criticism directed at EDGE Magazine and some rambling about game reviewing, but bear with me.
I will have to say that I respect EDGE’s opinion as a whole, but they really lost me with their review of Dragon Age. Although their review for Bayonetta was good – or actually too good – that bothers me just as much. I simply cannot fathom the EDGE’s criticism on Dragon Age. Are they playing the same game, or, more importantly, are the playing games the way they should? Whereas seemingly everyone else thinks Dragon Age is worth at least an 8 or higher, EDGE ‘rewards’ the game with a 5.
I didn’t believe it at first. Given the EDGE clumsy placement of their grades (at the bottom end of the article, in small font, almost as if it were a footnote… I would almost start franticly searching for an explanation. Although this has nothing to do with any of this, it should be changed) its hard to spot and you just want to write it off as anything but a grade. But alas, its actually really Dragon Age’s grade.
Now that would just get me curious, and there’s no problem there, so I started reading.
The entire article barely touched anything positive about the game, as if such things were not there. I reckon that if hundreds of other sources seem to think the game is worthy of at least an 8, this simply cannot be the case. Their review goes on and on about how they think the story and scripting is bland and uninspiring and how the Xbox version has controls that don’t work. While the former is a question of personal taste, the latter isn’t, and to be honest: the controls on the consoles aren’t THAT bad. They are, absolutely, inferior to the PC version; but EDGE doesn’t review that one and takes both versions as a whole. I won’t go in on all the details, you should read the review yourself, but it’s just a showcase of pure unprofessional work in my opinion.
Next up, Bayonetta. I loved what I’ve seen so far, but when I saw (and played) it, I wasn’t surprised. Not at all. I was looking at Devil May Cry 5, as it were. EDGE, apparently, and they likely played the entire version so they might know things that we don’t, disagrees and sees something so much better than Devil May Cry that it should get a solid 10. I like the game, but I simply refuse to believe it is THAT good. Especially considering the EDGE’s tendency to reward originality and perfectionism, a game that is so blatantly similar to DMC cannot be rewarded with a 10. Anywhere between an 8 and a 9,5 seems reasonable, but a 10 is pushing it. Seriously, what were they thinking?
Well, I know what I was thinking. I thought: how much of those reviews is completely influenced by personal opinions? Especially with the Dragon Age review it seemed very obvious: most of the game was branded awful due to bad story, setting , voice acting etc.
All of those are things that can’t be truly judged objectively. I don’t blame them for disliking it, but maybe they should’ve found a reviewer that DID like the story and setting and the game would instantly be rewarded with at least a 7. The true technical mistakes and glitches aren’t so bad they can take down the game by themselves, and the gameplay, dare I say it, works pretty well. On paper, the game is a very decent one, especially the PC version (which received too little attention from EDGE to begin with).
Now they’re stuck grading 2009’s greatest RPG with a grade that doesn’t even begin to compare with what anybody else thinks. It just doesn’t seem like a smart move.
So I wonder, shouldn’t a review at least think of certain objective measurements too, and grade a game as a whole, whether or not you truly liked it? I, myself, dislike tons of games, and yes, some of them are actually good. I even think they’re good, I just don’t like them. Were I to grade them, however, I would at least give them a positive grade for the recognition of quality. In that same way, DA should’ve been graded at least a 6 but probably a 7.
As for Bayonetta, I came to think the game can be graded the way EDGE did. If they preferred everything the game offered above the stuff DMC offers, the game should have a high grade. I’m just very opposed to the notion that a game could have a perfect score. As such, a grading system from 1 to 100 is infinitely better than any other. A 10 will cause some people to buy this game and they’ll probably like it too, so no harm is done here, but from a review standpoint, it seems over the top.
If you’ve made it through this rambling up to this point, you’ll probably have your own opinion and maybe you started to think about examples that fit right in. Games that you don’t like but are actually good, or maybe even vice versa. To what extent should objective judgment and personal preference take over a review? I think there is something to be said for both extremes, but I also think none of them should be disregarded. If any of you have anything to share, please let me know. Use the comments below, or visit the forums and perhaps we can discuss this some more…
Dennis Chafiâ
Maikel De Bakker
I’d have to disagree, I’ve had this discussion with several well known dutch game journalists and in the end we can’t deny the fact that the rating that a game receives from it’s reviewer is purely a snapshot of the experience that the reviewer has with the game, not the cumulative of the grade for graphics, controls, story, gameplay, extra features, etc. On top of that, these grades, as I’ve just stated, are snapshots of the game experience when it was just released, these grades no longer hold true once the game ages, After all, new developments occur every month in the gaming industry. Even if it’s just improved graphics and motion capture technology, the user experience of a slightly older title will in most cases degrade. You can try this yourself by playing some older titles, they simply aren’t as much fun as they were back in the day when they were still fresh, they just can’t compare to what’s out there right now. Of course there will always be some gems here and there, but for most games, this will be the case.
Anyway, if, at the moment of playing, a reviewer feels that the game he is playing beats everything on the market straight out of the water, like uncharted 2 did with many (it, too received prefect scores by many gaming news outlets), then I find it perfectly acceptable for a game to receive the perfect score. Such a number by it’s very nature will be tied to a person’s preferences, you simply can’t review a game objectively, just like you can’t review a book or film objectively. They are created entertainment that is supposed to influence the player, thrill them, excite them, fascinate and capture the imagination. All of these things are subject to taste and opinion, and as such, an objective review is impossible.
Furthermore, i find your reasoning for using a 1 to 100 score system very weak, it doesn’t hold too much ground. Just read it again yourself, you say that “a grading system from 1 to 100 is infinitely better than any other.”, but only for the following unconstructed, unargumented reason: “I’m just very opposed to the notion that a game could have a perfect score.”
I’m sorry, I’m siding with Edge on this one
Ps. Bayonetta was created by the original creator of DMC, the games we know as DMC today are not, and haven’t been up to the same level as the earlier ones.
Oh, I understand your own experience is important to grade a game. Still, I think there are area’s where you can at least consider more objective viewpoints.
1 to 100 system obviously gives SO much more room for nuance, but I thought that would be obvious. If not, here you have it.
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In that case you could give Bayonetta a 9,7 if you like, that would cover about the same thing as that 10 without flat-out calling it perfect.
1-10 is to shallow for my tastes, many people might think differently, but that’s how I see it. Why would 1-10 be better? (I’m asking you to give me an example, by the way, not using this as an argument
I also know and knew then that Bayonetta is from DMC’s creator, though it still is very much alike. Yes, it’s upgraded, but if it wasn’t, why make the game at all? Also very obvious to me.
About Old games not feeling fresh… sure, but I still treasure them. It’s hard to consider them being new or try to judge their quality within their respective time period (you could try if want), but with games that are just released you can still tell other people the state of affairs regarding that specific time period. Would someone read the article much later in time and read: ‘ are bad/good’ they at least know that. If a game had bad graphics for the time, you can’t expect them to be good now. If they were good for that time, you know what to expect most of the time. (Both DA and Bayonetta don’t really have superb graphics, but I see little fault with both of them).
I just disagree with their grades. Both seem extremities that really almost border insanity, although that 5 for DA is infinitely much worse; at least Bayonetta was graded positively (which in itself is just, in my opinion).
Nice lil’ article you got there, Tom.
For me, DAO at least deserves a 9. I just love the game.
Oh by the way: “Seriously, what were they thinking?” AVGN anyone?
A review or preview is always something that is part of some ones personal opinion. If the person is really generous with giving away high scores you might wonder what is experience within the gaming industry is. If you give a game like Bayonetta a high score i seriously wonder if he ever played similar games like the devil may cry series.
To me EDGE magazine has lost his edge a long time ago (ever since RED EYE left) As goes the same for the Famitzu mag