Topic: Quality of NintendoLife game reviews

@Shiryu Yeah, same - not trying to bag the site out either! Just suggesting that including the specific version number of the review build provided (or something like that) might help avoid these 'traps' you speak of (..it'd at least add a bit of context - if v0.9 is a hot-mess but v1.0 fixes it up nicely, knowing that the copy provided for review was v0.9 would at least help to put it in to perspective)

@Ralizah "And a game with very little plot or character depth where you roam around empty Victorian streets killing monsters." I LOLed

@Ralizah Not finished it yet, so it's still 'don't like' rather than 'didn't'.

It just doesn't seem like 9/10 material to me. The gameplay so far is very simplistic - you wander about until you find something 'odd' then wander some more until you find something that fairly obviously goes with the odd thing you've just seen. Repeat.

That in itself isn't so much of a problem, if the wandering about wasn't so tedious. Movement is slow, with rudimentary animation. There's no map, so get used to that slow movement while you try and remember where that room is you've just been to and need to return to, or while you backtrack to a save point because the game won't let you save whenever you like (something inexcusable in a modern game when the movement is so tedious), and you'll feel a need to save frequently because the game introduces enemies and only explains how to survive them after they've killed you.

There's also the occasional typo, nothing major and kinda understandable due to the game's origins, but still breaks the immersion.

And probably the worst thing... well, remember that slow movement and backtracking I mentioned? Add a loading screen of about 5 seconds every time you go through a ****ing door and see how you like it now. It is a simple point and click with (nice enough but) plain graphics and few effects and generally very little going on - this many loading screens on hardware that allows me to traverse Hyrule seemlessly is ****ing inexcusable.

So tl;dr:

• Simplistic gameplay
• Simplistic animation
• Too slow movement for how much backtracking/exploration required
• No map
• Too few save points / lack of 'save anywhere'
• Cheap deaths
• Typos
• Way too many ****ing loading screens

It's like the reviewer just said "Ooh, an atmospheric Taiwanese surrealist horror story, how niche. Blatantly no-one's going to play it so I may as well give it a 9 cos it looks interesting."

It's the sort of game you want to see where it goes and how it ends, but it's borderline too ****ing annoying to get there. I couldn't give it more than a 6 unless it turns out to be really good narratively by the end, but it's not promising to be at the moment, it's just trying to get by on unexplained suggestive ambiguity.

Sorry, I wasn't planning to write this much, but having actually gone through all my beefs about it, I'm getting pissed off now that someone could give it a 9, based on my experience so far. Thank **** I got it in a sale.

It's not a bad game, but it's got too many limitations/issues to deserve an 8, let alone a 9.

@gcunit Hmm. Well, I can't fault you for not liking the gameplay, but I will say that there is a compelling and haunting story at the core of Detention that taps into interesting social and existentialist themes. It becomes clear what's going on as you get further in.

It's one of those cases where the narrative, atmosphere, and music are strong enough that I can mostly forgive the lackluster gameplay.

@Ralizah Noted, thanks. Would you mind taking a look at my post here - https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/detention - that I posted recently and seeing if you can answer it if you've played it all?

@NaviAndMii I would like to point out that Cities Skylines was an exception to the norm. I have generally found NL reviews to be more or less accurate. With my opinion usually plus or minus 1 from their given score. Cities Skylines however was remarkably inaccurate and given and unjustly low review score for issues I could not replicate. I've been following this site now since about December 2016 and generally quite enjoy their content. I'd have stopped coming long ago otherwise.

@gcunit: I see. Thanks for taking the time to explain DM3 in more detail. I personally was never that interested in that game (or shmups in general TBH); your reasons for not bring very fond of it match my reasoning for avoiding those types of games. That's not to say that I think the genre is bad; it's just not one that keeps my interest long-term.

Edit: Never mind the question about Detention. I missed the second page.

NintendoLife is hit and miss. They seem to hand out 9s to every indie flavor of the month, while bigger budget 3rd party games better be the most hype game of the year if they want to see anything above a 7-8.

Sometimes they're spot on. Like Pokémon Let's Go. I'd also give it an 8/10 and that's what it averaged across 4 dozen other outlets. Kirby was a 7/10 in my book. Monster Hunter Generation Ultimate and DKC Tropical Freeze- solid 9/10s. But then you have games that just get railroaded, or granted undue praise, and half these indie games are 7/10 at best.

Idk, at the end of the day, they're usually on point for 1st party and exclusives. Not so on point for multiplats and indies.

@Cobalt
8/10 to Let's go P/E here when I would give a 4/10 max... :/

It didn't just get an 8/10 here, it averaged 8/10 from nearly 50 other independent sources around the world.

Which means the "score you would give" is grossly outside of the mainstream... and even the outer stream.

Yeah - and they weren't the only site to criticise Cities Skylines' performance either (I know Eurogamer, for example, had similar complaints) which makes me suspect that it was the copy provided, rather than the reviewer themselves, which was the issue...

At the top of the review page, it says 'Version Reviewed: European' - perhaps if they'd have also included the specific version/build number there also (eg. v0.9) it might've put the review in to a bit of context...for all we know, v0.9 (or whichever build was provided) did have horrible performance, but most of those issues were remedied in a Day 1 patch, which meant that Day 1 players had a completely different experience with the game - at least, if we knew which build got reviewed, it might have explained why it got such a poor score - but, instead, it just reads as though the reviewer is being unduly harsh

I just think that including the specific build number would be a good idea going forward - rather than people commenting that the review was wildly inaccurate, they might've seen that the review was of an earlier build and just let people know that many of the issues detailed had been fixed up for the full release version - just a suggestion

@JaxonH I'd say that I don't get some money bags from Big N, that's all...

@Cobalt
Because all 4 dozen independent reviewers across the globe are secretly being bribed by Nintendo via review copies... but not Cobalt, the only truly independent person in the world who isn't handing out high reviews in exchange for something /s

@JaxonH Do you know what sarcasm is ? o_O

Considering he just used it... Can we please not make this thread any pettier than it already is?

Since I use the entirety of the scale rather than the "8-10 is good everything else is trash" scale I think that the majority of NL reviews are ok within a point or two. I do wish they would do of a match up with reviewers for game genres, sometimes you can tell when a reviewer doesn't know much about a genre so their review is pretty basic. There are about 2 people that I just ignore if they are reviewing a game that I know is not their normal scope. I think people exaggerate the idea of shill reviews because their own reactions are hyperbolic and they don't realize that (or care).

@Pahvi On the absolute contrary, to use one's own images is amateurish, using the assets provided is the professional way to do it. Consider me a soldier: I follow orders. I'm no paid to think or have an opinion. I get handed a mission and I complete it.

I ask all of you to consider how easy it is to come here and drop your opinion without fully understanding (or none at all) of the work and quirks that goes into video game journalism. Some of the posts written on this here thread are downright unjust and destructive for people who are working so hard to deliver quality content everyday for free on your browser of choice.

Also consider this: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-20-id-rather-h... You DO realize that a game review for you as the final consumer means differently to publishers and developers, right? The thought of me doing a poor/unjust review and ruining someone life is not something I would ever take lightly. And above all else, I would never write something that would intentionally mislead any of the NL readers.

@Shiryu Heart you

@JaxonH To be fair, Nintendo is obscenely restrictive in who they hand out review copies to. They shut out virtually everyone and I wouldn't be more than half surprised if they only grant copies to outlets they know will be favorable. Many firms do that, but Nintendo is ridiculously closed. Sony's #2.

@Shiryu As someone who walked that beat for years....yeah, using stock assets is a huge time saver, but it isn't "more professional". Yes, I know the amount of work required to do your own. I know exactly the amount of work required to do your own as I've spent a great many hours doing it. Stock PR assets on every website under the sun isn't adding value for the readers, it's just participating in a marketing campaign. I'm not joining the chorus of trashing the well written reviews here, I'm commenting only on the image issue you commented on, and I can't blame you for opting out of the incredible time consumption that doing screens consumes but, lets not pretend it's preferred. Readers want unique content. Canned stock images isn't unique.

Feel free to pity me, though, for being used to a huge gallery of screens from video capture for every review though. It's as painful as it sounds. But I can proudly say I only resorted to stock PR shots a handful of times, only for a few PC games where no capture software got more than black screens out of it.

@NEStalgia There is a reason why I'm well on my way to 3000 Switch gameplay videos here (which I believe are the one true way see how exactly a game runs on a docked Switch), but as I mentioned before I am just a soldier.

@Shiryu Indeed, but that's not NL content. Both screenshots and videos have their purposes. Honestly, no screens are better than canned screens from PC builds...

In short, I take reviews here about as seriously as I do a PR letter from a game developer. They're more for fun to read for me than as any actual basis for purchasing games. Same reason I wouldn't base a purchase on an Xbox game from a Microsoft fan site. Always gotta hear plenty of opinions outside the fans to really get a feel for things.