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[EventHorizon]

I'm actually shocked.

I was never hyped for the game and didn't like what I saw in trailers/gameplay videos, but I honestly thought it would be in the green with a mid 80s score at best.

And then after all the reviews came out I thought mid 70s, but 65 is getting close to Knack territory.

I think the floor fell out when it was realized that even the story wasn't very well done. Sacrifices were made to gameplay in order to further the cinematic quality of the game, but when that doesn't even work there is nothing left. Combine that with the fact that the game is $60 and you really can't recommend it.

Btw while I feel that the 65 average score is appropriate for the game, I do criticize some of the individual lower scores. It'd also criticize the the high scores too which is why for as much as Metacritic is hated around here, averaging the scores out is much better than relying on any one review.

 

[Messofanego]

Next time you so called """""journalists""""" want to review a game, here are some helpful pointers from me, the man on "the streets":

• Divide a game into six different categories: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Presentation, Replayability, and GamePro Face. Each of these scientific and objective scores should be then combined via an algorithm that mathematicians still aren't sure is real. If the final score doesn't match your opinion, that's proof that you were biased. This mathematical standard will hold up pretty well until a game I think I'll like is reviewed poorly under it, and then we'll need to restart all over again.
  
• Review a game for what it is, not what it isn't. If you state that the game isn't good, then that's pretty unfair to the developers, who might not have wanted to make a good game.
  
• Consider that by criticizing a game, you're criticizing every game in that genre by extension, and telling the developers not to bother making any game remotely like it ever again. Logically, it follows that we'll eventually reach a point where no games will ever be made again, and that's bad because I want to preorder more of them as soon as they're announced.
  
• Imagine the feelings of the developers. Be fair and criticize them, but not as much as you're thinking about criticizing about them, however much that is. That's too much. Remember that developers have families to feed. Imagine if reviewing a game poorly caused ISIS to besiege the developer's town. Imagine if the developers joined ISIS to make money because now their studio is shut down. Didn't think about that, did ya.

Post of the thread. EmCeeGramr delivers. I will be sure to use this scale.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

The really low 20%esque reviews surprise the heck out of me, truth be told.

Like, that goes beyond "well it's average/mediocre/inspired/functional" to "offensively bad/flawed/awful" sorta territory.

Which is surprising as hell, because it looks like at the very least on a technical level, RAD did a pretty impressive job.

 

[Dawg]

Agreed. Funnily enough there is even a 2/10 review. I mean, that's just, bizarro land. Clearly a statement was being made, because otherwise those kinds of scores are usually the one's you see reserved for buggy, broken, near unplayable and completely unpolished types of games.

That's the worst part. This game is one of the most polished and bug-free games in a while.

Alas, it paid a heavy price to reach that level of quality.

 

[Wasteman]

Sony should buy the studio for the engine then hire in outside talent to lead the team. Clearly they have created a stunning game visually, and it's not a buggy piece of shit that runs well. Imagine The Last Of Us on this engine? The already amazing atmosphere enforced by near CG visuals.

 

[silva1991]

Here is a sneak peak for the GOTY-edition..

This is harsh lol

 

[Dictator93]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjZJHSU-58M

oh god, this thread

 

[mysteriousmage09]

I think it was fair to call this PS4's Ryse.

Remember Ryse?

Course you don't.

 

[Despera]

I hope the score itself doesn't deter people from buying the game.

Because if it did...

People wouldn't have experienced this gem.

 

[OsirisBlack]

Are people really cancelling their pre-orders? 65 sounds like a good , reasonable score unlike some inflated scores we've seen in the past...

Yes people are cancelling pre orders have had quite a few cancelled today.

I've played the game for 5 hours now and I'm currently at the beginning of chapter 6. So it took me almost 1 hour for each chapter.
And I personally don't get some comments here and elsewhere about the game.
In my opinion it's one of the best looking games on PS4 right now.
The story, characters and design are interesting, the gameplay is fine and the QTE are ok, too. The ratio of gameplay and cutscene is also in no way annoying as some people seem to make it.

The game might not be for everybody who likes absolute freedom, as it guides you more along a certain path. Yet, I can't understand why people and critics make it look like a piss poor game.

This is my biggest gripe with this entire ordeal. Its not a bad game but the reviews are scathing

At least they let the embargo lift the day before the game releases and not on release day (fucking hate that trend) so people can cancel pre-orders or choose not to buy the game at full price.

would not surprise me if we saw a lot more release date review embargos after this or if companies just decided not to give out review copies at all.

 

[ODDI]

Everyone should have stopped buying hype after Watch Dogs.

Ubisoft should have killed hype forever.

Personally for me, I no longer get hype thanks to Bioware.

Wait till Rockstar announces Red Dead Re-re-re-vengence

Dat hype.

 

[Astral Dog]

Yeah it was. That game was a slog.

Zelda fans are really confusing.

They attacked him for reviewing TP low,and yet TP was held in contempt for quite some time after they actually played it.

Probably because that game was boring as fuck.

Yes the game was not fun.

That was embarrassing, but at the same its true for all fanboys, if a beloved series gets a less than stellar score, its going to be trashed, especially if its an outlier, sometimes the reviewer makes questionable points for lowering the score, but other times its just a well written opinion.
It doesn't help that we had a time when everything anticipated was expected to score above 90

 

[fluffydelusions]

I wasn't on GAF at the time but was it like this when Brink came out? I remember that game being super hyped from the big websites and then the reviews came out.

 

[Meccanical]

People wouldn't have experienced this gem.

Nier is different.

If you look at near in separate parts it's not a very good game(well besides the soundtrack, which is incredible),but it is so interesting in the way it approaches it's structure that it creates a wholly unique experience that is ultimately enjoyable despite its many weaknesses.

 

[BigDug13]

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

 

[Ferrio]

I hope the score itself doesn't deter people from buying the game.

Because if it did...


People wouldn't have experienced this gem.

: /

You know I don't think Nier is a good game BUT at least you can try and defend it because it really wasn't aimed at a wide audience. So I can understand the low scores there. Not sure you can say the same about The Order.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

inFamous, Resogun and the upcoming Rime, Bloodborne, Uncharted are really the only games that interest me so far. That's not very good on a Sony Playstation after over a year considering half of those mentioned aren't even out yet.

Okay, so what games interest you on XBO now since you mention it?

 

[timlot]

I think it was fair to call this PS4's Ryse.

Remember Ryse?

Course you don't.

I'm amused that the comparisons to Ryse keep coming up. Ryse was released 11/22/2013 as a launch title. The Order is basically part of the "2nd generation" of PS4 releases that was thought to be the start PS4 2015 onslaught. Personally from the videos I've watched I think The Order deserved better reviews.

 

[Ceravic]

People saying Bloodborne will suffer a similar fate is hilarious. The Souls games exist. It will be a Souls game, which means amazing.

 

[QaaQer]

Seriously?

We're talking about the industry that is still jerking it over The Last of Us every other day, right? That's regarding Uncharted 4 like the second coming?

It reviewed well because of the story, just like walking dead. Gameplay was workmanlike.

 

[Dawg]

If you think about it, The Order might get beaten by a beast. There's actually a chance this game will end up having a higher metacritic!

 

[Lingitiz]

Still can't get over how poorly this game has reviewed at some outlets. Linear cinematic games really must be disliked by many in the industry. For me personally, unless this game suddenly turns shit towards the latter acts, I'm going to chalk this up to being another underrated title (user impressions would so far certainly correlate with that). Sort of feels like DriveClub all over again.

To those that are interested in cinematic, linear TPS, but have been put off by the reviews, rent it or buy it for cheap when the price goes down, I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

I think you're over attributing the bad scores to the linear aspect of the game and ignoring the fact that the game seemingly fails to execute on almost everything it was going for aside from graphics.

Reading Jeff Gerstmann's review and watching the quick look really gives a good picture of it's shortcomings. The game has extremely slow pacing early on and seems to end right when it starts to gain some steam, and feels like 2 parts of a 3 act game. The shooting segments are hurt by poor weapon and enemy variety and from being way too straightforward and simple. The stealth is poorly done and has hard fail states where if you get spotted by an enemy you're immediately shot in the face dead, like in Dragon's Lair or something. The areas where you can "investigate" are ultimately pointless since you just pick up an object and rotate it, which adds nothing other than being able to say it's interactive.

All of that is ignoring stylistic choices like the letterboxing, and the overreliance on QTE's, underbaked storytelling/unresolved plot threads, and short length. It just does not seem to play all that well or even execute on the things it should absolutely be getting right.

 

[Saint9806]

Reading the reviews and this thread have definitely disappointed me. That won't stop me from buying the game I have been waiting a over a year for. I'm a judge for myself kinda guy anyways.

 

[Meccanical]

Personally from the videos I've watched I think The Order deserved better reviews.

You watched it and you think it deserves better.

That dank cinematic experience.

 

[User 73706]

If we go by the grading scale for Cinema Appreciation courses, it's actually a solid C-. Still passes!

 

[Mr. Giggles]

Sooooo... Am I like the only one still buying this today?

No, im getting it too.

Admittedly its been a really fun day, watched a bunch of funny videos, enjoyed some good gifs and read some hilarious meltdown posts.

 

[DataGhost]

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

The thing is MCC's problems weren't fixed for many months and they became apparent after release. They probably didn't review the MCC's multiplayer. If they did a rereview, I would hope they would score MCC lower for it's brokeness

 

[timetokill]

It reviewed well because of the story, just like walking dead. Gameplay was workmanlike.

I don't disagree, but the argument that people in the industry must not like linear cinematic experiences and THAT'S why this game is scoring so low is, frankly, completely baffling.

 

[valkillmore]

I don't care what the reviews are, I'm buying the game and playing the shit out of it! Looks so good. I'm floored by the visuals.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

Yeah, there's no consistency at all.

 

[The perfect Dark]

is ths the longest review thread ever? wow!

 

[Ferrio]

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

I've found many many many times I'd rather play an entertaining buggy game than a polished turd. Not said that it should excuse buggy games.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

People saying Bloodborne will suffer a similar fate is hilarious. The Souls games exist. It will be a Souls game, which means amazing.

The people saying that about Bloodborn are either the true trolls, or know something about money exchanges going on behind-the-scenes from "certain companies" to ensure a game with a legacy that's been pretty damn good so far, suddenly gets low scores in an installment that so far many are calling an improvement.

 

[FStop7]

This is another one of those situations where I would love a "fly on the wall" documentary or book that deconstructs the development of this game. Five years, including an 8 month delay? That's way, way out of line with the amount of content in the shipping product, per the reviews. Even taking time for engine development into consideration, it's still way off... unless the game went through many iterations.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I wasn't on GAF at the time but was it like this when Brink came out? I remember that game being super hyped from the big websites and then the reviews came out.

I wasn't on GAF at the time either, but I do remember being pretty excited for it. Parkour + FPS drop in drop out coop/vs MP, awesome. Game came out and played like shit.

OT:Why did you get junior'd?

 

[NIN90]

I've found many many many times I'd rather play an entertaining buggy game than a polished turd.

Basically this.

 

[Messofanego]

I hope the score itself doesn't deter people from buying the game.

Because if it did...


People wouldn't have experienced this gem.

I seriously doubt this game touches the narrative of Nier, especially its replayability.

 

[Soyongdori]

I've found many many many times I'd rather play an entertaining buggy game than a polished turd.

This. Playing Unity was like playing a fun house. Those glitches actually made the game more memorable. Not saying they are good, it's just more memorable like that. It's like the black sheep of the AC series.

 

[MOG728]

Well that's just not true is it. These reviewers aren't just people the website found on the street, they've been writing about games for years - sometimes decades - and can certainly critique a video game.

That is a stretch.

I will admit that there are definitely a handful of journalists who fit that criteria, but there is also a large number of gaming "journalists" who are glorified bloggers.

Many come from smaller websites (that they created) and after attending some press events (that are easy to get into) they eventually made connections at bigger outlets. Some don't have any type of degree and honestly unlike movies, books, and other forms of media most colleges don't offer "Game appreciation" classes, "Gaming Art History" classes, or classes that allow you to look at games in a professional way.

90% of gaming journalists are people who were fans, made it a hobby to write about them, and eventually lucked into the industry.

 

[Realyn]

I don't understand the Gametrailers review. Every good point had a "... but". Example: "But then later on you fight bigger enemies, but basically they are just a QTE event like in Resident Evil." or "later on you unlock cool weapons, but they don't really have a use". Among those others scores and their harsh critic 8.2 really seems strange. To be clear, I'm not critizing the game in any way. I'm just puzzled by that review, specially because Gametrailers reviews are one of the few I still watch.

edit: for reference, they gave Wolfenstein: The New Order a 7.

 

[LegalEagleMike]

is ths the longest review thread ever? wow!

Not even close yet

 

[0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55]

So this has the same metacritic average as Too Human... Hmmmh.

 

[Surface of Me]

I wasn't on GAF at the time but was it like this when Brink came out? I remember that game being super hyped from the big websites and then the reviews came out.

I cant remember the GAF reaction, but all my friends and I that preordered and hyped it pretty much just had a collective, "god damnit".

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

MCC is a funny case, reviewers put their reviews out before launch and no one could have guessed MS would let Halo fuckup that bad. Whether or not they should go back on the scores is another argument. Halo also has much more SP content and replayability than The Order does, even if you entirely discount it's MP component. Also, different reviews and such, there is and never will be a "standard". I honestly dont think their should be either. I'd argue a 2/10 could be reserved for an entirely broken game or one that a review doesn't think is worth your time or money, period, regardless of polish. Something something polish a turd(not calling The Order a turd, but that 2/10 can be applied to more than just broken games).

 

[Mad Season]

I don't disagree, but the argument that people in the industry must not like linear cinematic experiences and THAT'S why this game is scoring so low is, frankly, completely baffling.

Because people pay to play video games not watch them

 

[Meccanical]

So this has the same metacritic average as Too Human... Hmmmh.

Time to stand and be counted?

 

[boredandlazy]

Am I the only person around here who finds reviews (of all things) only occasionally reflect my actual experience and opinion?

I'm honestly baffled by why so much value is placed on the opinions of a handful of people who in most circumstances have no specific experience or qualification to denote expertise in their chosen field.

Its not like successful developers migrate to being eminent critics or commentators, what you get most of the time is actually the reverse... wannabe developers or writers who aspire to better regarded gigs within journalism.

No. I sort of half-expected The Order to not review well. The writing has been on the wall for a long time in regards to media reception etc.
Did I expect it to get 1/5's? Not in the slightest. However since I think that score is just stretching things almost into the realm of parody at this stage, I'm not going to pay it any mind.
The Order never really had a chance with a lot of the gaming media(however a decent amount of that was self-inflicted with it's rather poor initial reveals). Fair enough they not like the game, that's entirely their prerogative. However the snipes on twitter etc. from professional reviewers indicate there's more going on here in regards to negativity than what most games have to deal with, and that's unfortunate.
However none of these reviews has made me doubt buying this for a second, since I've been reading detailed impressions from probably more like-minded people on here for the past 2 weeks which have been largely positive.

 

[PixyJunket]

 

[darkazcura]

This is why reviews are typically a joke. How many broken games have received 80+ scores over the last 10 years? Some people have the weirdest hatred for QTEs and linear gameplay. If it is polished and done well, no way should the game be held out as some kind of example or whatever the media in this industry wants to do with it. No consistency.

 

[MegaSackman]

The people saying that about Bloodborn are either the true trolls, or know something about money exchanges going on behind-the-scenes from "certain companies" to ensure a game with a legacy that's been pretty damn good so far, suddenly gets low scores in an installment that so far many are calling an improvement.

Prepare for the worst, wish for the best.

I can think of one word that could be used regarding "Souls": "Fatigue".

Seriously, I don't think that's gonna happen and hell I hope it doesn't!. I'm going to buy the game within next week.

 

[Frillen]

When hugely buggy games like MCC and Unity score higher, that's when the head scratching happens. Yeah I get that a reviewer can legit not like the game and score it down. But then when a polished yet flawed game starts to score 20's at some outlets who scored broken games much higher, that's when it becomes frustrating

Like explain what the fucking standard is, because an outlet praising a broken game and then condemning a polished game with poorly designed mechanics to 20% scoring. I just don't get where the standard is.

Unity was actually pretty good. It had a huge single player campaign, co-op, plenty of side missions etc. Yeah, it was buggy, but it was meaty. The Order 1886 is not.

I haven't played MCC, but from what I know the four SP campaigns are great and the reviews for that game came out before the controversy regarding the broken online portion of the game.