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Polygon gives high scores to games despite their anti-consumer aspects / DRM strategy

M

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I listened to the Rebel FM last night with the bizzare curiosity that Arthur would be talking about this, they didn't touch on it though.

But I really liked Arthur's discussion about the new God of War game, really nuts.
 
L

Lowlander2

Banned
I'm not interested in burning my bridges as a writer yet, but I do want to express some disdain at the haphazard standards being employed by Polygon in regards to SimCity. The game is pretty much unplayable to most general set-ups, which was the exact reasoning they gave for Steel Battalion's 1/10.

As they guy who was solely lambasted by his team for disliking Mario U, I understand there doesn't need to be whole consistency even within just one writing team, but for something as critical and fundamental as the game working, it's fair to say that this is important to get straight and stick to.
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
When I read a review, I want to read about the game itself. How does it look, sound and play. I couldn't care less about some server issue it's having, how bad the paper stock for the instruction manual is or what method of DRM they use as part of the final score.

Don't get me wrong, DRM and server issues are things that I need to know so please include them in the review, but I don't believe that it should be part of the score for the actual game. Once all these issues outside of the actual game are dealt with Game Informer magazine's (for instance) score is set in stone. Now I'm reading the magazine with a 4/10 for Sim City when it should probably be a 9.5/10 (or whatever).

Granted these problems directly effect the game and it's horrible, but they are still outside of the actual game and I don't believe that the score should be a part of that outside and very fixable issue. If you can't review the game because the servers keep going down, wait until you can properly play it to give it a fair score.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
When always online is required for the experience those type of things have to be mentioned. If it was easily fixable, things would be working already. Maxis has had to strip features out just to keep some semblance of the game to run.
 
K

Kinyou

Member
Lowering the score like this is weird because consequently they'll have to raise it once the servers are working fine. They should have given the game the normal score, grey it out and add some text that explains the launch issues and that you probably shouldn't buy it yet.
 
B

Broder Salsa

Banned
Jake Tower said:
This needs <parameter: score> thrown in the mix.
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W

Wickerbasket

Member
Kinyou said:
Lowering the score like this is weird because consequently they'll have to raise it once the servers are working fine. They should have give the game a normal score, grey it out and add some text that explains the launch issues and that you probably shouldn't buy it yet.
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I'm not so sure they should raise it; if they believe it accurately reflects the game at launch that is.

I mean, how much should DRM like this factor into reviews? If it completely stops customers playing the game at launch should that be reflected in the score?

I'm not really sure personally, the core gameplay could be great but if the DRM gets in the way of the enjoyment it should definitely be noted.

It would make sense that anything that obstructs gameplay should be reflected in the score though. Games that are released as buggy messes get docked points on their scores at release, even if those games are patched further from release.
 
K

Kinyou

Member
Wickerbasket said:
I'm not so sure they should raise it; if they believe it accurately reflects the game at launch that is.

I mean, how much should DRM like this factor into reviews? If it completely stops customers playing the game at launch should that be reflected in the score?

I'm not really sure personally, the core gameplay could be great but if the DRM gets in the way of the enjoyment it should definitely be noted.

It would make sense that anything that obstructs gameplay should be reflected in the score though. Games that are released as buggy messes get docked points on their scores at release, even if those games are patched further from release.
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I guess it depends on you want your review score to be. Do you want it to remain as the reflection of the temporary moment, showing how EA basically screwed their customers over (important for people in the future who think about buying a new EA game), or do you want it to always represent the current state of the game (important for people in the future who think about buying this game)

The magazine I used to read always re-evaluated their scores after a certain amount of time. If some game was a buggy mess at launch they scored it appropriately and then revisited it a few months later, adjusting the score to the fixed bugs/added content. I think this way the review has a lot more long time value. If I want to buy Sim City 5 four years from now the launch issues wont interest me, I'll want to know what the current game is like.

Of course can you argue that always online DRM will always be an issue for customers (eventual shut down of servers for example) but then it should have already influenced the initial score and not be added retroactively. (When I think about it, I guess that kind of is what the OP demanded in his first post.)
 
Korranator

Korranator

Member
Never even heard of the site till today, that said I really don't care about reviews scores, and haven't followed anything the gaming press (or media on News) in a long time. They are all biased fan boys or afraid to be objective then loose their media access.

Personally, I can make my own objective opinion, and if I have questions a youtube play through usually works for me.
 
S

SiskoKid

Member
Why are they required to dock points for DRM on a game?

Unless the DRM actually gets in the way of the game (i.e. SimCity which they docked the score), I don't see why this is a requirement for them to lower their scores.

That said, I could see the argument that they should mention the DRM in the review.
 
P

partyphone

Banned
SiskoKid said:
Why are they required to dock points for DRM on a game?

Unless the DRM actually gets in the way of the game (i.e. SimCity which they docked the score), I don't see why this is a requirement for them to lower their scores.

That said, I could see the argument that they should mention the DRM in the review.
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They're not required but it's not a consumer friendly feature and it would be nice if reviewers were a lot more critical of it.

And the big problem with the polygon review is that they published it before the game went live to the public. So they reviewed the experience they had with the custom private servers that EA set up solely for reviewers. To polygon publishing first and getting a lot of clicks is more important than having any sort of integrity.
 
A

Acorn

Member
Why bump up the score when the 2.0 patch is (supposedly) coming soon and (again supposedly) going to fix alot of the simulation problems.

Why not wait until then? It seems random, not that it matters since all that matters for metacritic is the first score but still..
 
R

Roche

Member
All the flip floppin' does not say good things for their integrity and trustworthiness as reviewers. Why would others trust their word if they don't stick by it themselves?
 
J

Jackpot

Banned
So how come Polygon doesn't do this for every game that gets an update?

Aliens CM had an HD graphics patch, yet no review update there.
 
R

Revven

Member
Jackpot said:
So how come Polygon doesn't do this for every game that gets an update?

Aliens CM had an HD graphics patch, yet no review update there.
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Because it's a recent policy they're instating. Also because they used this tactic to save face for their idiocy on putting up a review a day early before the public can even play it; where the server issues would come into play.

Every major outlet that does reviews waited. But Polygon couldn't wait to give their almost perfect score to the game.
 
K

KalBalboa

Banned
Listening to Rebel FM the week of the Sim City review and then seeing all of this go down is pretty humorous.

Most of the episode was Gies telling his audience he didn't care about their concerns with the game.
 
J

JWong

Banned
Jackpot said:
So how come Polygon doesn't do this for every game that gets an update?

Aliens CM had an HD graphics patch, yet no review update there.
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They just screwed up. Lowering the SimCity score was just to get attention and hits.

If reviewers kept changing their score as they find hidden gems or deep game-breaking bugs, we might as well throw the whole system away.
 
S

SneakyStephan

Banned
Is wario serious and did they change it a 4th time?
Wow.

Anyhow as if EA gives a flying fuck that they changed the score the first time, metacritic doesn't change from the original 9/10 masterpiece goty oscarworthy score and they already scammed people with pre orders and day one sales .
 
R

Rufus

Member
JWong said:
They just screwed up. Lowering the SimCity score was just to get attention and hits.

If reviewers kept changing their score as they find hidden gems or deep game-breaking bugs, we might as well throw the whole system away.
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I might just end up liking this elastic score bullshit.
 
J

JABEE

Member
Jackpot said:
So how come Polygon doesn't do this for every game that gets an update?

Aliens CM had an HD graphics patch, yet no review update there.
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Because the policy is only implemented on large releases with inaccurate information due to clear editorial errors. This policy has not been used in the past, and has only been used to address an error that occurred because Polygon rushed to get the review out in the name of hits. No other US enthusiast outlet published their review because they somehow have higher editorial standards than Polygon.
 
Petrae

Petrae

Member
More sites should randomly change review scores. It can be like Wall Street. Scores rising or falling, changeable Top 20, etc.

"The Review Score Index for Metal Gear Solid plunged today after some reviewers replayed the 1998 PlayStation game in advance of 'The Phantom Pain'. One Polygon reviewer noted that the 'graphics don't hold up' and this makes the game less playable by today's standards."
 
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