The Last of Us - Review Thread [Emargo up, scores in OP.]
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SniperHunter
Banned
just play it on hard, it was very challenging trust me.
Lifejumper
Member
So what difficulty will everyone start the game with?
Im still thinking about going normal or hard.
Im still thinking about going normal or hard.
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
Okay folks, because I hate myself I ran the numbers.
I looked through the reviews for all PS3 and 360 exclusives and compared the Metacritic to the Polygon reviews. I don't think I missed any but it's possible.
PS3:
Last of Us
Deadly Premonition DC
God of War Ascension
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time
LBP Karting
Ni No Kuni
Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault
Starhawk
Guacamelee
Metacritic PS3 Average: 78.11
Polygon PS3 Average: 68.89
Difference: -9.22
Conclusion: Polygon rates PS3 exclusives lower than the average critic by 9.22 points on a 100 point scale.
360:
Gears of War Judgment
Halo 4
Witcher 2
Dance Central 3
Forza Horizon
Fable Journey
Steel Battalion
Kinect Star Wars
Metacritic 360 Average: 72.38
Polygon 360 Average: 61.88
Difference: -10.5
Conclusion: Polygon rates 360 games 10.5 points lower than the average critic on a 100 point scale.
Remove Kinect games from the equation and the Polygon 360 average is -8.5, which may indicate a slightly less negative bias toward 360 exclusives. However, this is based on only 4 scores, and that makes the estimated average a lot less precise. I would guess that a statistical test would reveal no significant difference between 8.5 and 9.2 based on this small number of observations.
Conclusion: Polygon scores both PS3 and 360 games lower than the Metacritic average. They score 360 games slightly lower, though probably not significantly so. In other words, NOT TEH BIAS.
Use this info however you see fit.
I looked through the reviews for all PS3 and 360 exclusives and compared the Metacritic to the Polygon reviews. I don't think I missed any but it's possible.
PS3:
Last of Us
Deadly Premonition DC
God of War Ascension
Sly Cooper Thieves in Time
LBP Karting
Ni No Kuni
Ratchet & Clank Full Frontal Assault
Starhawk
Guacamelee
Metacritic PS3 Average: 78.11
Polygon PS3 Average: 68.89
Difference: -9.22
Conclusion: Polygon rates PS3 exclusives lower than the average critic by 9.22 points on a 100 point scale.
360:
Gears of War Judgment
Halo 4
Witcher 2
Dance Central 3
Forza Horizon
Fable Journey
Steel Battalion
Kinect Star Wars
Metacritic 360 Average: 72.38
Polygon 360 Average: 61.88
Difference: -10.5
Conclusion: Polygon rates 360 games 10.5 points lower than the average critic on a 100 point scale.
Remove Kinect games from the equation and the Polygon 360 average is -8.5, which may indicate a slightly less negative bias toward 360 exclusives. However, this is based on only 4 scores, and that makes the estimated average a lot less precise. I would guess that a statistical test would reveal no significant difference between 8.5 and 9.2 based on this small number of observations.
Conclusion: Polygon scores both PS3 and 360 games lower than the Metacritic average. They score 360 games slightly lower, though probably not significantly so. In other words, NOT TEH BIAS.
Use this info however you see fit.
MDSVeritas
Member
I agree, and it's why I was a bit confused by comment last E3 about how Last of Us was "just another violent game." It handles violence with a much less detached, more frighteningly real lens from what I've seen. The point that cemented it for me was in the E3 demo last year where Joel strangled one of the bandits to death, and you could see the guy clawing up at Joel desperately. There's a humanity behind these people that seems to give the violence a darker tone then most games.
Lion Heart
Banned
MCtalkfunny
Member
Really looking forward to this game. Liked the Uncharted games but never got the hype around them. For pulpy adventure stories they all lack one of the most important things a story like that needs which is a great villain. The more realistic tone seems like a better fit for te type of games they make.
The thing I'm most excited about was I think in the game informer cover story they talked about the street shoot out in No Country for Old men as a big influence on the pace of combat they were going for. Does anyone know if that made it into the game. Slower more drawn out fights against just a few enemies rather then waves and waves of goons? I really hope they can nail that feeling. I wish more games would go for that type of combat rather then the latter, I'm looking at the most recent Tomb Raider as a game tht could of really used something like that.
The thing I'm most excited about was I think in the game informer cover story they talked about the street shoot out in No Country for Old men as a big influence on the pace of combat they were going for. Does anyone know if that made it into the game. Slower more drawn out fights against just a few enemies rather then waves and waves of goons? I really hope they can nail that feeling. I wish more games would go for that type of combat rather then the latter, I'm looking at the most recent Tomb Raider as a game tht could of really used something like that.
Vire
Member
This will end well.
graywolf323
Gold Member
sorry I was catching up on the thread and posted that before getting to where you posted your followup ^_^;;
Get outta here with your hard data, facts and reason. We have shiny new pitchforks to break in!
GoofsterStud
Member
I can't even quote it I'm laughing to hard.
Along these lines... my recommendation would be start on Hard first and see how you like it.
it was still a weird moment to show and I can see how it felt weird to have all that loud cheering after it tho, that was somewhat worth reporting
also imagine if all that violence came as a surprise as you're playing
but yeah, violence sells
SniperHunter
Banned
hard
I died a lot the first time around, but I figured you have to keep the ai at their toes. Keep distracting them, isolate them and take them out one by one. It was very satisfying XD
reptilescorpio
Member
Fuck, I always end up buying Naughty Dog games day one once reviews hit despite waiting for the half price drop a few months down the track for every other game.
EdibleExplosives
Member
I'm pretty sure someone posted in a previous thread that the game can be completed on any difficulty to unlock Survivor mode.
greg_miller_uncharted3_review.html
graywolf323
Gold Member
is it fun with statistics time? I'd be more curious to see the average with just first party titles
Was that even a review?
I'm kind of irritated with all the reviewer emphasis on this not being a happy story. WTF guys, it's a game about an 'end of the world' scenario. They are basically telling us that one or both of the main characters die. It's fucking bullshit lol
edit: WTF folks are still arguing the 7.5? Unreal
edit: WTF folks are still arguing the 7.5? Unreal
cpp_is_king
Member
Does anyone still have the link to that site that busted open the Metacritic ranking algorithms and gave the weightings for all the review sites?
Using that, we should be able to determine how much of an effect Polygon had on the Metascore. Just recalculate the score assuming the polygon rating doesn't exist and see what the difference is.
Using that, we should be able to determine how much of an effect Polygon had on the Metascore. Just recalculate the score assuming the polygon rating doesn't exist and see what the difference is.
Statue of Limitation
Member
Honestly its just such a shame to see all this negativity - the game has had great scores all around and instead of the discussion being about the praise and tid-bits we're learning its just the same old tired discussion of review scores being "too good" or "too bad"
They are what they are, no need to obsess about it.
They are what they are, no need to obsess about it.
Yea it's fairly obvious how this is going to end.
Review scores have nothing to do with school grades. In a 10-point scale, 5 is average.
You're not understanding what you quoted?
It pretty much means, Violence set in a realistic setting for the viewer to relate with will have a more effect/impact than so, Violence set in a unrealistic fantasy.
TheLaughingStock
Member
Can anyone confirm boss battles? Does it handle that like Uncharted?
ScruffMcgruff
Neo Member
Incredible scores! Congrats Naughty Dog
VanCityGamer
Member
While I agree that Greg's review score for Uncharted 3 is too high, it isn't off from the mean by all that much. The metacritic score is 92 compared to Greg's 100. Compare that to Gamespot giving TLoU 80, and the metacritic score sitting at 95. Much bigger difference.
Of course, these are all just numbers and opinions anyway - there's nothing wrong with different viewpoints. I think most of us can agree that Uncharted 3 is a great game (and Greg was a bit hyperbolic), while TLoU is another great game (with Gamespot likely underrating it according to most).
Napalm_Frank
Member
Well lets just say that without even reading any reviews you just know both of them (or more likely one of them) dies. That is pretty much THE trope for any post apocalyptic zombie whatever with focus on few main characters. I will be extremely surprised if there is a ''happy ending'' or even a bleak ending with both still alive.
They ain't gonna get them mantears by killing Bill!
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
buy it bro
Clock them.
VanCityGamer
Member
5 is not necessarily average on all review scales. According to some, 5 is "mediocre" or "okay", or "meh". Average might be higher than that. It's very subjective.
Just like many people I know will say someone looks average and then rate them a 6 or 6.5 out of 10. People tend to not use the lower part of the scale.
LightofRohan
Member
What? When was that?
I'm just saying GAF can get feverish at times when a game reviews well, so they'll over compensate and pull it through the mud and discuss way too much about it (trying to stay on blackout). So I don't even want to read the positives, I want to go into this game tabula rasa.
Damn, we went through a good stretch where we didn't dislike each other. But I'm the same in regards to this game for the overly positive, like I said above. I just want to go in this game with a clean mind. Overly negative can be a bit more detrimental since they can be more specific and then I focus way to heavily on that as I'm playing like, "The Jumping looks way too floaty it sucks shit!" then that's all I'll see as I'm playing.
So I'm just prepping myself and think it is for the best to just hide from this games discussion all together.
Puhleaseeee. You know that's not true at all... ok, I was being immature with how I said it. But a game that is reviewed overly positively is often put up to a much higher scrutiny, especially on GAF (which is fair).
Also, this thread was moving fast. I didn't even think people would read my comment... haha
TimeEffect
Member
So, I'm excited and all, but I really want to play the MP. I don't know if I'll love it as much as UC2 before they patched it, and I don't know if a community will stick with it, but I am so excited to play a round-based MP.
Tallshortman
Member
lol steel battalion and star wars kinect are without question terrible games and probably got such low scores they pulled the rest down. 360 doesn't even have enough first party exclusives to make a comparison. I don't know why people care about polygon reviews that much anyway, they're one of the least respected gaming sites at this point.
I generally quite like Phil Kollar, and generally dislike Polygon but if you read the review he seems he is being very generous with the score. It reads like he dislikes the game. He praises the "powerful" character development of the two mains and the links he made with them (particularly Ellie) because of it. That's really about it. A brief mention of the high production values (which are obvious by looking at it or watching any videos) is caught amid complaints about "small things" like companion AI not being 100% and more general complaints like he just doesn't seem to enjoy the gameplay. It's an ~1100 word review where over a third of it is negative. Not that to do so is bad, it just seems like he should have awarded it lower than a 7.5.
Not that it matters, it's his evaluation of the game not ours.
The only thing I can really nitpick him for is the now common and played out whining about "YOU KILL SO MANY PEOPLE IT BREAKS THE MOOD!" Yeah. It's an action game, hence action.
Not that it matters, it's his evaluation of the game not ours.
The only thing I can really nitpick him for is the now common and played out whining about "YOU KILL SO MANY PEOPLE IT BREAKS THE MOOD!" Yeah. It's an action game, hence action.
MDSVeritas
Member
I personally didn't think it was that weird to include. I mean, a lot of the darkness of the themes in the game emanate from the need to survive even at others brutal expense.
I'm not entirely sure that the cheering was in a "F*** Yeah, he killed that dude!"-vein either, as I feel it may have been, as it was for me, more of a cheer towards how amazingly well-pulled off the entire demo and, by proxy, game seemed to be. Of course, there's no way to get on answer either way to that point.
Regardless, The Last of Us will at least hopefully be known for it's uniquely dark portrayal of violence, for better or worse. It will be interesting to see more of its reception.
How would I know without reading the reviews? For all I knew this was ND's next ongoing franchise.
I just don't care for this type of "audience preparation" in reviews. It stinks and I wish I hadn't read any now. It's one thing to say it has an "emotional" story. Every other reviewer making a big deal about how it's not a "cheerful" story is blatantly spoiling the game. Do we expect a cheerful story in other games set in apocalyptic situations? Why now?
Evolved1
make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
That's a terrible argument... he used metacritic as a baseline. Whether games are bad or not has absolutely no bearing.
Jeff Rubenstein twitter stab at polygon
''The Last Of Us Worst Reviewed Game Of Month thus far...Right''
https://twitter.com/jeffrubenstein/status/342394130497949696
''The Last Of Us Worst Reviewed Game Of Month thus far...Right''
https://twitter.com/jeffrubenstein/status/342394130497949696
Whats a real review?Come on, if you see a game with that many 10/10's it just screams fake reviews.
CambriaRising
Member
Even though this game is not out yet and I have not played it, Polygon MUST BE WRONG.
Looking forward to picking this up next Friday.
Looking forward to picking this up next Friday.hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
That's a good point.
Using just first party IPs:
Sony:
Last of Us
GOWA
Sly
LBP Karting
R&C Full Frontal Assault
Starhawk
Polygon is 10.5 points lower than Metacritic on average.
MS:
Gears Judgment
Halo 4
Dance Central 3
Forza Horizon
Fable Journey
Polygon is 4.6 points lower than Metacritic on average.
ALERT ALERT! TEH BIAS DETECTED.
This difference is statistically significant, but because the sample size is about half of the recommended minimum requirements (which would be 10 observations per platform), I still urge caution in making too much of this result.
pharmboy044
Member
Seriously? It's fake. ND has a little more respect for themselves then that.
Anyway, do we know if all the reviews are in yet? I predicted the game would get a 91 on metacritic and am wondering if we are still waiting for more reviews? Also, where's the GT review? Are they waiting to try the MP before they add a score?
NoirVisage
Banned
That's the part the perturbed me, Its not a microsoft conspiracy, its all about polygons vanity and their mission to try to affect affect and be part of the gaming landscape, Gies did that with Sim City and continued to do it with his "opinions" on what Microsofts plans for their console were. And he seems to hold much sway over at polygon.
If there was anyone over him he would had been told to shut his mouth ages ago..now Polygon's Aegis has dictated out loud that TLOU isn' worth a damn..
the the review reflecting his decree. That Aegis dude RUNS polygon.
Don't ban them, let that walking ego run their site into the ground, make a SINGLE POLYGON thread to collect their missteps, and let's watch them hang themselves.
...it's June 5th.
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