Disappointment in Gamespot and more in Critics

As most people know, my go-to site for reviews (and most trusted) is GameSpot. Although, they are not without their issues.

Recently Zone of the Enders HD Collection was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. I waited quite a while for this, since I liked the games. Now, I don't want that statement to interfere with my critical feelings about games, if a game is bad, it's bad, but docking it points for reasons that don't even relate to the product itself is fallacious.

A review written by Peter Brown, Editor, for Gamespot.com was published with a score of 5.5 out of 10. In a previous post I positioned that a 5 is not a bad score but Mr. Peter Brown's reasons for the 5.5 is what really kills me. Let me bullet-point this to make it easy.

-Under the "Bad" section of the review, "No Online Integration" is listed. No online? Seriously? The originals didn't have online. This is a REMASTER not a REMAKE. This is simply a re-release of a game with a different aspect ratio, no new features are introduced. Just because online video gaming has become a norm doesn't make that game any less 'good' than others.

-In the third paragraph he states, "[Zone of the Enders] can be completed in under five hours--five hours filled with..." I'm going to reference back to a game that can also be completed in well under five hours that scored a 9 out of 10, but its length was never even mentioned. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I'm really not going to say much more, other than, Zone of the Enders HD Collection includes two games, also the price point is 40$.

-Again in the sixth paragraph is online multiplayer mentioned. THESE GAMES DID NOT HAVE MULTIPLAYER NOR ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO. I could completely understand if this game was a remake where a studio was charged with remaking the game from the ground-up, introducing new elements, new modes (multiplayer), ect. But it's not, it is simply a remaster with both games on one disc.

-The last and final gripe that really gets me the most is that Peter Brown brings up the Metal Gear Rising demo, stating how it has game-breaking bugs. When I read this, I could not believe what I was reading. This statement is one of the most unprofessional statements in a review I have read. The demo, which has no relevance to the ZOE HD Collection, was counted as part of the review. I could rage for hours about this so I'll save you the trouble.

It was also worth mentioning that frame-rate issues are present but I have yet to play the game myself, so I will not comment on that yet.

This review by Peter Brown is yet another example of how the review industry for gaming is next to worthless. I can very confidently say, I will never trust a review written by Peter Brown and GameSpot should evaluate their staff based on their reviews reception.

Hope you enjoyed, and I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

Sleepy ~.~


1. http://www.gamespot.com/zone-of-the-enders-hd-collection/reviews/zone-of-the-enders-hd-collection-review-6399365/

2. http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/reviews/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-review-6239806/