antdickens

@Yorumi you're putting words in our mouth, the articles aren't intended as "absolutely trying to associate all criticism with the very few", that is maybe your opinion, but it certainly not their intention.

Similarly talking about painting things with a broad brush, saying "See if you're down on the game then you have nothing but bad intentions and your opinion is illegitimate" is also painting things with a broad brush, nowhere is that said or intended.

We welcome people to share their negative opinions on a game, and if they do that constructively and fairly, then that's great - we, like anyone, would welcome that. We're directly focused on the people giving the game a 0/10 (and again, I agree that people giving it a 10/10 are just as unjustified) aka review bomb.

@Anri02 that's debatable

@HollowNight thanks and no problem. I actually sympathise with the fans that are disappointed with the game (for whatever reason) and wish there was a better, more constructive, way to gather that feedback into something that GF can do something with for the next game.

Maybe there should be a new universal game feedback website that captures all the feedback and presents it back to game makers!

@Yorumi you seem to be overreacting there a little, don't you think? The article doesn't insinuate that our readership is involved at all, nor does it paint them a certain way.

Personally I'd be happy for the article to mention the 10s too, even though it's a much smaller number of them and likely that they were just a reaction to the fact it's getting 0s in the first place.

Saying "anyone who disagrees with them should be mocked and sneered at from on high" not at all, we've tried to highlight a balance all along, the game is clearly not perfect, and people should voice their concerns about it - for sure - but giving it a 0/10 is a review bomb.

As and when sales figures come in for the game we'll be reporting on that too as that would be a true indication of how things have settled with the fans.

@Wexter I agree. It's the extreme right/wrong nature of this that is causing the divide. If the user score settles at like 5-6/10 then it would be completely justified, but 3/10 is just too skewed.

@HollowNight I don't think his opinion isn't "invalid", no-ones opinion is "invalid". However, I think everyone should recognise that different people are coming at the game from different angles. Those more familiar with the series are going to be more disappointed with certain elements of the game compared to someone that is new to the series, for sure. Neither of those angles are invalid.

As for @fluggy I don't feel it fair to categorise an entire generation with those comments.

@GetShulked I don't disagree - you are right that sometimes it's for laughs, but it's also often for legitimate reasons. I think the point though, is that the game isn't a 0/10 or even a 3/10 game, so it's still considered a review bomb - it's unrealistic. I think GF will be carefully watching the reaction from fans and even more carefully looking at the sales figures of the game.

@JokerCK I can understand what you are saying, however, I'd remind you that we gave the game the "average" score. We've then reported on the fact that people are review bombing the game (which they are). There is no smoke and mirrors here. We'd get called out if we didn't report on this fact.

@Mr_Muscle @Barbara001 okay, I think both of you can cool off on this one. I'll remind both that we don't want to see people arguing excessively in the comments - please report any comments you feel are breaking our rules.

@GetShulked that is exactly what a review bomb is: "A review bomb is an Internet phenomenon in which large groups of people leave negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales and/or popularity of a product, particularly to draw attention to an issue with the product or its vendor."

Whilst everyone can accept it's not a perfect game, it's not a 3/10 game is it? It's good for people to vote with their feet and not buying a game is the strongest way to do that.

@Mr_Muscle I'm sorry, but your argument doesn't make any sense to me. I think everyone can agree that despite the issues outlined by people it's not a "terrible" video game, so giving it 3/10 is basically the same as 0/10, it's a non-sense score regardless of the words written about it. As for the conspiracy that we're somehow defending GF and Nintendo, we gave the game the lowest score for a mainline game in quite some time because it hasn't evolved as much as we'd have hoped (like many) as for the first entry on Switch. It's also bang in the middle with the metascore from other outlets. The way you are saying stuff is coming across as trolling, even though I don't believe you are deliberately doing so.

@Yorumi if you didn't find the review useful to you, then fair enough - but it seems like the majority have found it useful, which is pleasing considering there are so many different expectations for this game, it'll be the first mainline Pokemon game for many, for example. This stuff about being "scared" we won't get future games is just plain nonsense, honestly, as I said before, we'd just buy it. Recent examples being Labo/Ring Fit, we were not allowed to score review copies, so we just bought it and didn't make a big deal out of that fact - it really is a non-issue.

@Yorumi sounds like you've already solidified your opinion on the game pre-release so there is little point me trying to sway you either way - you're entitled to your opinion, much like Alex is with his review which seems to be in line with the general consensus on the game thus far.

@quinnyboy58 you're welcome - also, he'll reply, he's a busy man today but I'm sure he'll get back to people when he can.

@Yorumi two reviews by different reviewers almost 10 years apart, it's difficult to directly compare them now. One point below LM3, Skyrim, Witcher seems fair based on Alex's review - he still enjoyed the game after all.

@NintendoByNature I think the range is between 13-15 hours to complete the main campaign.

@link3710 if you tag the author @AlexOlney he might be able to help answer your questions.

@Yorumi I think to say it's "almost broken" is completely false. You'd have to ask each reviewer how they determined their scores, there is no universal criteria that everyone sticks to, each publication has their own scale too - so comparing like for like numbers is misleading (metacritic really doesn't help in this regard). This is precisely the reason many sites are ditching scores.

This is clearly one of those games where lots of different people have different expectations of the game. The review suggests that, hey, this is still a good game - but it could have been better. That will affect people that are "die-hard" fans of a series probably more than those that are new to it. Maybe we need to support two different scores to accommodate that? Speaking of scores, ultimately we'd always recommend people read the review to help them come to their own conclusion whether it's for them - the score is just a guide.

@Yorumi just to nip this in the bud, big sites very, very rarely struggle with access even when games get bad scores. In the rare case this has happened it's easy - we just buy the games instead. So it's really not a factor that enters the reviewers head at any point.

@somebread nope, there's loads of news on the homepage, about 15 articles today so far I think.

@KitsuneNight haha, yes that's a very good point!

Actually looks good now, impressed. The cynic in me would think it was all an elaborate ruse

@TheAwesomeBowser haha, excellent! Thanks for the tip

@Cosats only 24 for this, often many more which would all need looking up on the eShop (not simply converting), it takes a long time. Plus, having the prices in GBP give a decent indication of price. If we can automate it again, we'll bring them back, but until that's possible we'll have to keep doing it with the info we're provided with.

@Cosats the press release we get only has GBP on it, it would take hours to find all the EUR prices and update the article accordingly... sorry!

@Lordplops ahem, no more full caps please

@Lordplops take it easy, your poor keyboard!

@TheAwesomeBowser do you have a source for such a strong accusation?

Sorry about that, we've hidden this from the homepage for the time being, but we need to get our guides live on launch day otherwise they will never appear in search results as other people publish theirs before ours... some people will be blitzing through the game this weekend and might need help - so we recommend simply not clicking on it unless you need it!

@FX102A you can click on the table header to sort by that column, however we aren't provided with all the original/new prices anymore

@the8thark certainly, I'm always for everyone to improve on both sides We've had many debates about review scores, however, we're sticking with our system, we've added things like pros/cons recently to help inform the more casual reader too. So we're always making efforts to try and make the reviews useful to all different kinds of readers.

@Kienda sorry if I wasn't clear, the policy here is the same on other articles. We don't condone simply posting political slogans in any articles (nor this one). However, we will allow relevant political topics to be discussed constructively. Usually, discussions that descend into politics are completely unrelated and therefore get removed, in this case, there is a valid discussion to be had. Hope that clears things up!

@the8thark I'm not sure I agree with what you are saying here. The review firstly recommends the game with a "Good" score, it doesn't say "don't buy it on Switch". Secondly, it clearly says that if you want a portable version then it's great, "If you intend on playing it plenty when undocked, we can’t recommend it enough, but if you intend on mostly playing on the TV, consider first buying it elsewhere."

To address the elephant in the room... we’re all well aware of the recent Blizzard news story (as we ourselves reported on it). Whilst on this occasion we’re happy to allow people to discuss the topic in these comments (even though it’s not specifically related to Overwatch), we’d like to remind people to respect the fact that it’s a complex political issue and isn’t a simple black and white situation and reaches far beyond just Blizzard.

Therefore anyone simply posting a political hashtag without any context is not adding any value to these comments and will be removed for that reason, likewise anyone unable to have a civil discussion will also see their comments removed.

The bottom line is, respect each other regardless of each other’s point of view.

@KJW90 nope, just a bit of fun isn't it? We've always covered this kind of thing

@DJKeens certainly - happy to agree to disagree on this one!

@DJKeens I'd say all of those elements are pretty factual in this case. It's also in line with everything else we post on Nintendo Life, maybe this site isn't for you if you don't like the style - which is fair enough.

@DJKeens I'm curious, which part of the article did you find "emotionally charged and biased"?

@gamer89 you're entitled to rate the game 10/10 if that's how you feel about it on Switch. But the review from Rob gave it a 9/10

@Aslanmagic he’s taking a break from the comments 😀

@Xansies please curb your swearing in every post, it's not necessary to get your point across.

I've been talking to @Damo a lot in the office this week... personally I really like quality over quantity so whilst I'd love this to have /more/ content it's still a very strong recommendation. If you want to bring "value for money" into the equation it's a greyer picture because different people have different expectations of value. Bottom line is, it's a great game, and it's up to you to decide how much your time is worth.

@Columbia76 "Untitled Goose Game Sequel"

@kepsux sorry to disappoint your conspiracy theory but we're not getting paid anything to "promote" this game. Naturally, we cover the games we feel warrant coverage, and that's subjective. We can't cover every game with an equal amount of coverage. The concentration of articles is down to the fact that the game is out tomorrow and embargos are elapsing.

@Dang69 not really, lots of news on the homepage.

@Nanaki just wait until we review F-Zero X

Amazing game, still love playing it now. Mode7 was such a cool thing and blew me away. I've been enjoying playing it again...

@nintendolie no need for that, please be more respectful.

@Spoony_Tech yeah, fingers crossed the entire game holds up to that