Topic: Nintendo Life reviews

Once, but I can't remember what it was. Like TBD, I don't really use NL as my sole decision-making tool when it comes to my purchases.

I've usually decided before the review comes out anywhere.

But if something gets awesome reviews by just about everyone (for instance, Dishonored on PS3) then I'll take interest.

There are reviews on Nintendo Life now?

Not that I can think of, but I use more than just NL. I also use Nintendo eShop Gamers, Nintendojo, & Nintendo World Report. I may drop NWR though, they're by far the harshest I've seen.

Bird Mania 3D - NWR: 2.5/10 (NL: 8/10)
Outdoors Unleashed: Africa 3D - NWR: 5/10 (NL: 7/10)
Dillon's Rolling Western - NWR: 5.5/10 (NL: 7/10)
Sakura Samurai - NWR: 6.5/10 (NL: 8/10)
The Denpa Men - NWR: 6.5/10 (NL: 9/10)

Of course, there are a few times when their scores are comparable, but if they do rate higher than NL, it's usually only by .5 points.

Even though I find that extremely strange, as Pushmo is my favourite game on my 3DS (besides Kid Icarus Uprising), I do respect your opinion. For example, I actually don't find Angry Birds all that fun, and I don't understand that it's the most sold game of all time (true story: more than 350 million sold!). It's overrated IMO.

But regarding the topic question; I definitely use NL to influence my decisions when buying a game. I also find that when I buy and play a game, I end up agreeing with the score NL gave it more than other reviewers on most occasions.

Unfortunately, and quite biased tbh.

I mean, every game that comes out that is remotely interesting or hyped to kingdom kong by this community recieves a 9/10. Mario Kart 7, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Pushmo, and really, anything Nintendo published, you name it. (Just look around you. You're on the site.)

Also giving games like Animal Crossing and Metal Gear Solid TTS a 7 and a 6... what? But then giving games like New Super Mario Bros Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Skyward Sword, World of Goo, Resident Evil 4, Rayman Origins, and Kirby's Epic Yarn, a 10? NL needs some new reviewers who aren't scared to be a little more honest. (And a .5 rating scale at least.)

Until then, I will never use this site to determine a purchase of a newly released game. It always seems to be a waste of money, time, and false hope.

People need to remember that reviews are just opinions thats all. I mean I might say Game X is a 5 while someone else thinks that its the greatest game ever created or vice versa.

You know you just said that to a Nintendo Life staff, who was making a joke?

That is very true!
That's why I think it's so great to have threads like this, so people can express their beliefs and opinions on games, which I find very interesting.

Boo hoo.

Of course and a funny one at that. But what does that have to do with anything?

Boo Hoo to you too

Well I just think you should be more considerate. Saying that someone's work is bad directly to them is just inconsiderate. If you don't like this site, then find another!
Anyway, what are you to judge; you review games at WiiWareWave.com yourself!

I wasn't being rude. The reviewers here at NintendoLife are great at writing and excel in that department, but it's the bias reviews that bug me. No, not scores (I mentioned those because it's easier to discuss), but the review itself explaing how nearly perfect a few of the game's aspects are when they're not. New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Rayman Origins reviews for example.

Why should I have to leave NintendoLife just because I don't find their reviews helpful and have reasons for this? I love the news that's posted every day and the community.

Also, who cares if I used to write reviews for a Nintendo fansite? If you were to read my reviews, they were not only nonbiased, but I never gave out a 10/10 score let alone numerous 9s. And the 9s you do see are because of the fact I purposely reviewed GOOD games.

So please, before you reply to me, think.

Nah, NintendoLife needs to start scoring games out of 10,000 because i can't be bothered reading the review to understand what the critic thinks of a game, and giving a game a 9,565 lets me know it's better than a game that gets 9,557. But under NintendoLife's scoring system they would both get 9's, and that's useless information to me.

Sorry, I was being a bit rude myself there.
I guess if you have that opinion, well I need to respect that.
Well all those games that you think are rated with bias (such as mario, rayman ones, etc.), it is obvious that the reviewer loved it, and it was his/her opinion. You don't fully know if there is bias. And an aspect of a game you may not like, the reviewer may love.
I'm sorry I was being a bit nasty there; I just thought it was a little rude what you said.

OK. RE reviews/ bias/ all that junk.

I know that people often like to say "oh, they're just opinions, and people are entitled to their opinions." Yes, and no. Yes, people are entitled to their opinions. No, they are not entitled to their opinions being justifiable or taken seriously. In the world of criticism (film, games, whatever), a good critic can justify his/ her opinions - bias or otherwise, and a bad critic cannot.

The bad critic's opinion is utterly worthless. The good critics opinion is incredibly valuable to the overall discourse and development of the games industry, whether "biased" or a review I personally disagree with.

I've disagreed with a lot of reviews on NintendoLife, and NintendoLife is clearly writing for a audience of Nintendo fans ("bias"). But whether I agree with them or not, NintendoLife's critics do a great job of backing their opinions up with a strong argument, and this is why I give the site more credit than almost any other game site out there. NintendoLife's critics are superb.

Now if only they could rein in this Sun-style news coverage, we'd be right back to how things were when James was running the show.

well said @ WhiteKnight
Some bias is in there, but i feel they dont need to put so much sugar on the cake i mean nintendolife is not nintendopower and thus should be more independent than those company mags?!
Sometimes it feels the opposite ...

So your complaint is that we universally rate Nintendo published games too high, and your other complaint is that we rated another Nintendo published game too low? Talk about impossible to appease!

And regarding the larger issue of "bias"...reviews are ultimately founded on a personal experience with the game. You can't write a review without bias. You can write a list of features, perhaps, or a plot summary. But once you get into criticism, that is bias. You praise the things you feel the game did right and speak honestly about the things you feel the game did wrong. To say that a review can be written without bias is to say that there's actually some "correct" score that each game (and movie, and book, and song, and work of art) should individually receive across the board...and that's just silly.

It's also why so many critics exist. We don't just need one unbiased source, because that's impossible. We need many sources, and we need to stack our own preferences against theirs.

Boom. @Phil, droppin' the truth bomb.

@Chrono_Cross, thanks for sharing your opinions. I completely agree that not every review on every game site is going to be fair, and there's going to be some sort of bias, but that's why most people here are saying they usually check more than one review source before making a purchase. Also, reading the full review to understand why it got the score that it got is always a good idea too, rather than just jumping right down to the conclusion.

And for the record, most of my reviews that people take issue with are when I score a game lower than what they had thought the game deserved. And I gave Mario Kart Super Circuit a 7/10, which I was surprised to see people completely agreeing with.