Recently I wrote an article sharing my disgust with our online family concerning Gametrailers 9.3 score they gave to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. In the article, I pointed out that there was heavy bias in the review and some worthless comparisons to Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The reviewer said Uncharted 2 took ideas from CODMW and ripped off horde mode directly from Gears of War. He also said Uncharted 2 has no thrills but the game makes you feel like it does. There's a lot more in the review that I was not pleased with hence the inclination to write an article about it. Unsurprisingly, that piece circulated the web in countless forums, here are just some of them:
5) Trigeia
All of the above including Gametrailers were talking about the article, the pressure then became unbearable and recently, Editor-in-Chief of GameTrailers Shane Satterfied responded. Well we have news for Mr. Satterfield and Gametrailers, their responce to our article is straight up nonsense, and their Uncharted 2: Among Thieves review still reeks of bias.
"As far as people's criticism of the review are concerned, what I saw the most was people were upset that I dinged it so much for not being original. And that's the comment I saw the most on message boards and our comments. And the truth of the matter is it's not original. It doesn't really do anything that hasn't been done in other games."
"And people say 'oh well you compared it to gears of war, why did Gears of War get a higher score?' Gears was released a year ago. The original Gears of War was released way before that. So the expectations change overtime. You can't just create a 'me too' game where you grab all the features from all the games that are over a year old and expect to get the same score a year later for those same features."
"Now honestly, there was nothing original in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to be perfectly honest with you, the 9.3 that game got is about as high a score a game like that is ever going to get on GameTrailers and that's the bottom line."
There's more, oh yes, there's way more, but I felt the need to stop now and respond to his seemingly grudge ridden chatter.
How can you sincerely say Uncharted does nothing new, therefore it could not receive a score higher than 9.3, yet you gave Halo 3 which brought NOTHING new to the table 9.8? I am no Halo or Gears hater, if you browse through GamesThirst you'll see the diversity of the news we deliver and the articles we post. That being said, I ask you, didn't Gears of War 1 & 2 borrow ideas from those before it? Sure, all games do that, yet still you gave them no flak for it; That's why I said in my first thread that sometimes I feel shady dealings go on behind the scenes where rich men call the shots dictating what is shown on the surface.
Your response is so sad, truly, how can you say Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a "me too" game? You claimed it took all the "features from games before it, that were released a year ago and so a higher score cannot be expected. Yet, Forza took many ideas from the GT series, did you complain about it? Nope you didn't.
At the end, you try and redeem yourself by telling gamers to go out and buy Uncharted 2, but you know the damage has already been done, your stone has already broke through the glass; But you know what Mr. Satterfield? In four days Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will be in the hands of gamers the world over, and when they experience the genre defining title that's in their PS3, you and your site will lose credibility because of your score.
10/10/09 Ernice Gilbert
We need more people like Ernice and websites like Gamesthirst who are not afraid to spill the truth and shock this industry!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://advertising.microsoft.com/sverige/NewsAndEvents/PressRelease.aspx?Adv_PressReleaseID=838
ReplyDeleteM$ and Gametrailers
So... Shawn Elliott called out GameThirst for being a horrible website on the Out Of The Game podcast. Response?
ReplyDeleteShane's reasoning was so retarded it was borderline laughable. He states Gear 1 was released waaaaaay before Gears 2 and yet it plays the same as gears 1. So by that logic, because it wasn't so original (and it was a online glitchfest), it would have scored waaaaaaay lower. What poppyc#ck. They are full of it and they will continue to be full of it. If they are on damage control, they essentially acknowledge there was damage in the first place. I can't wait for their MW2 when it brings very few new things to the table but somehow becomes the it. Shane is a poor journalist and now he's a liar.
ReplyDeleteWho... cares?
ReplyDeleteA 9.3 is a dicking great score. If someone see's that score, they'll think "Wow, that must be awesome. Heavy buying that"
If it was like 6/7, I'd get the "anger". But it's not anywhere close.
It's their site, it's their reviews based on their opinion of the game and what it brings (or doesn't bring) to the table. Let them say what they want.
I (and millions of others) will be buying it anyway, GT's review only cemented me getting it day 1.
9.X is a great score regardless.
ReplyDeleteYou can't expect everyone out there to 100% agree on something.
One question; why the hell does anyone care?
ReplyDeleteGametrailers in one website, you can find game reviews all over the net, and they will all vary and are all subject to a certain degree of bias.
Why do you give a damn what one website has rated the game you're most anticipating, with their flawed rating system no less? (I mean who can tell the difference between a 9.3 and a 9.4, seriously?)
Everyone is bias, even you, and that makes this who Gamesthirst retaliation even more pathetic, don't you people have lives?
And if you call me out for being some xbox or GT fanboy, that's all your credibility out the window, I wouldn't even think of buying an xbox and I've pre-ordered U2 no less.
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ReplyDeleteIndeed brother. You speak that truth.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThey also said: "go buy this game!"
ReplyDeleteStop saying "9.3 is a great score man..." Watch the damn review, then you'll see the way they rip the game for the dumbest reasons... Seriously it's looks suspicious when you say "Innovation is wat matters and Give Halo 3 a 9.8 . I still dont even see the gears comparisons with this game. Gears felt nothing like this IMO
ReplyDeleteYes people are complaining about the score but people are more upset by the review. It's funny how everyone starts getting on everyone else because they back up whats said. The problem here is when compared to other games then why aren't all other games on the other system done the same way?
ReplyDeleteThere isn't one game on any of the systems PS3 OR 360 that has done something another game hasn't done before. So if U2 was reviewed this way why aren't ALL games then?
Everyone does have a opinion, but you can't review 1 game one way and turn around and ignore how another game will copy ideas from another game that's just silly. It also proves that you are bias'd towards either the game or the system.
The funny thing is they probably did it because they knew people would be in a up roar and would link and post their site all over the place this is called media. Welcome to how some places get more atention then they already have!
I haven't played the game yet or the demo I have no opinion on the game until I play it. But you really can't compare one game to another and say well nothing new is brought to the table. I'm sorry but you can take any game out today and find another game MUCH older that HAS done it before and it DID start it.
People should stop complaining because GT was called out yes they gave it a messed up review that they hardly do to other games. Just don't watch the reviews anymore, just watch the game video's you should be able to tell from that alone if the game is going to interest you or not.
How do you take someone seriously that writes response as responce?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the review score, its all business. Why would you want to go all personal on it?
HAHAHAHAHA Gears Of War 2 Is Better ner ner! :P
ReplyDeleteLet's keep it clean guys, you already know the rules, no indecent language will be tolerated on this website.
ReplyDeleteAll such posts will be deleted by website's admin.
Thanks for respecting the rules.
Respect for your article. I agree 100%. I am a huge fan of Gametrailers as a site and I visit it for more than two years now.
ReplyDeleteAnd from my experience, every AAA PS3 exclusive reviewed on GT was underrated due to some flaws, they've pointed out and rated the overall score therefor down.
It is not the first time Shane Satterfield acted like a complete fanboy.
I just have to remind people about the Tekken 6 interview last year, after the game became multi-plat.
And the graphics comparison, using the same PS3 version, yet the official PS3 version looked worse, than the so called fake 360 version.
GT is a great site for newest trailers, features etc. But it is not a good review site.
I agree to a degree I think U2 with a score of 9.3 is fine and is a fair score I think GT who are bias towards the 360 gave halo 3 a way too high score it in no way deserves a 9.8 and if you think it is the game that everyone has done a comparison of scores to, i mean just look when mgs4 came out they gave the story a lower score than halo, did it deserve the score it got, well thats debatable. Did Halo no way in hell.
ReplyDeleteHalo 3 deserved an 8.x but because gt being gt they gave it a much higher score and has made their whole review system look stupid. If you want to trust gt reviews look at them in comparison to everything but halo 3.
Still dont understand why people care about reviews so much. It doesnt matter. The game will sell, its a great game who cares what score it got. Its a website. If you dont like their reviews then dont watch simple as that. Your an idiot for getting so worked up about this kinda crap.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are Da Man!!!
ReplyDeleteGood going for calling out any fishy happenings in the industry. Somethings must be called to attention if they are so obvious that they have to respond to it themselves out of guilt like Gametrailers did.
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