The Video Game Critic

So I almost bought a Wii today (about two seconds away before I dragged myself out) and the one thing that stopped me was the lack of good software.  It has Zelda, Paper Mario, Resident Evil 4, and... I can't think of many other high quality games.  I know Warioware is supposed to be good, but it is a collection of mini-games, and Trauma Center is cool, but I already own it for the DS.  People have been criticizing the PS3 for the lack of games, and maybe it doesn't have enough to justify the price, but looking at the list of its games I see more that would be classified as great comparded to the Wii (Resistence, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden, Rainbow Six, VF5, Motorstorm, etc.).  I also see a whole lot of mini-game type software for the near future, while the PS3 has Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, and GTA yet to come.  I'm by no means a Sony diehard, but it seems to me that the PS3 has gotten a lot of undeserved criticism for its games while the Wii has been able to avoid much of that.  Obviously it doesn't help that the PS3 is in direct competion gamewise with a console that is nearly identical in performance and cheaper, but still... Anyone agree?

So I almost bought a Wii today (about two seconds away before I dragged myself out) and the one thing that stopped me was the lack of good software.  It has Zelda, Paper Mario, Resident Evil 4, and... I can't think of many other high quality games.  I know Warioware is supposed to be good, but it is a collection of mini-games, and Trauma Center is cool, but I already own it for the DS.  People have been criticizing the PS3 for the lack of games, and maybe it doesn't have enough to justify the price, but looking at the list of its games I see more that would be classified as great comparded to the Wii (Resistence, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden, Rainbow Six, VF5, Motorstorm, etc.).  I also see a whole lot of mini-game type software for the near future, while the PS3 has Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, and GTA yet to come.  I'm by no means a Sony diehard, but it seems to me that the PS3 has gotten a lot of undeserved criticism for its games while the Wii has been able to avoid much of that.  Obviously it doesn't help that the PS3 is in direct competion gamewise with a console that is nearly identical in performance and cheaper, but still... Anyone agree?

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That may be fair, as I haven't actually played any of them, and obviously it all depends on an individual's taste.  But I do put a lot of stock on how reviewers score a particular game, and a quick check on Metacritic shows that only 12 games have received an average rating of 75, and of those only six have achieved an 80 or better.  Compared to the PS3's 27 games of 75+ and 18 80+, or the 360's 92 games at 75+ and 58 80+, it seems a little thin. 

That may be fair, as I haven't actually played any of them, and obviously it all depends on an individual's taste.  But I do put a lot of stock on how reviewers score a particular game, and a quick check on Metacritic shows that only 12 games have received an average rating of 75, and of those only six have achieved an 80 or better.  Compared to the PS3's 27 games of 75+ and 18 80+, or the 360's 92 games at 75+ and 58 80+, it seems a little thin. 

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You're confusing reviewer tastes with good games.  Give it a few years, once the tastes have changed those numbers will be reversed.  I remember when reviewers liked what I liked, and then they went crazy, like they are today, and started taking marks away for cartoon graphics and short lengths.  Before long minigames and arcade games will be the norm, and games that are now getting 80% will be getting the 40s they deserved all along, and arcadey type games will be getting 80s and 90s again.  I imagine, as you seem to agree with reviewers, that isn't a good thing.  Sorry.

That may be fair, as I haven't actually played any of them, and obviously it all depends on an individual's taste.  But I do put a lot of stock on how reviewers score a particular game, and a quick check on Metacritic shows that only 12 games have received an average rating of 75, and of those only six have achieved an 80 or better.  Compared to the PS3's 27 games of 75+ and 18 80+, or the 360's 92 games at 75+ and 58 80+, it seems a little thin. 

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You're confusing reviewer tastes with good games.  Give it a few years, once the tastes have changed those numbers will be reversed.  I remember when reviewers liked what I liked, and then they went crazy, like they are today, and started taking marks away for cartoon graphics and short lengths.  Before long minigames and arcade games will be the norm, and games that are now getting 80% will be getting the 40s they deserved all along, and arcadey type games will be getting 80s and 90s again.  I imagine, as you seem to agree with reviewers, that isn't a good thing.  Sorry.

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[QUOTE=feilong80]Except that all you are doing is using opinion and then calling it fact.

Truth is, you are going to find a lot of people on these forums who have a very high distrust of metacritic and professional reviews in general. Yes, you are right: if you judge the Wii's library by metareview scores, then the library, frankly, looks like a pile of crap.

However, you will find many people on these forums, not just myself, shaking their heads in disbelief over how wrong some of these reviews are. Just ask JustLikeHeaven (a happy PS3 owner, hardly someone you could say is just trying to support Nintendo out of fandom), Paul Campbell, a, The Critic, or myself about this.

You should also take a closer look at the meta reviews for Wii games. Often, you will find many games that have many high marks, and some very, very low marks, bringing the score down into the 70's. Take SSX Blur. There are some dreadful scores for that game. But also some very high ones. It is my experience that the high scores are mostly correct.

As far as the industry heading towards simpler games, I guess I'll just shrug my shoulders at that. I don't really know if that's the case. I do know that, at the very least, there is a market correction going on, and an underserved audience for arcade type games is being found. To what extent remains to be seen.

-Rob
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