Ok, things like that are definitely worth speaking out against. That's not the type of criticism I was addressing in the OP. In the OP I meant complaining about the games themselves, like the gameplay or graphics or music. People of course are gonna have contrasting opinions but it got to me when I see entire YouTube videos devoted to pointing out "flaws" in games that the average joe otherwise wouldn't notice unless those videos were made.
well I for one have a lot to criticize games for and I feel I can back my issues up with explanations that actually make sense.
giving you an example, IMO Uncharted is a terrible series. the games are shallow to the core and during combat it is just really mediocre 3rd person shooter.
why, well I can give examples on why it is shallow... many "puzzles" are not puzzles. in Uncharted 4 for example you drive around with an offroader, and you have a towing cable on the front. great opportunity for some puzzles right? yeah it would be, but the developers seem to think their players are literally brain-dead 5yo kids.
at one point you have to break the supporting beams of a broken bridge in order to create a ramp. that would be a decent enough little puzzle if executed well, but in this instance not only does the game basically shout at you what you have to do by having UI elements on screen telling you to use your towing cable on the beams, but the AI characters you are with will literally spell it out for you ontop.
or at one point you have to wrap the cable around a tree ontop of a muddy hill so your car gets up there... not only does the NPC spell it out for you, there's of course also the UI icons showing you exactly which tree to use (there is only 1) BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH! OH NO! after you are back in the car... that you drove around in before... the game TELLS YOU TO PRESS R2 IN ORDER TO GET UP THE HILL... how stupid do these devs think people are? how the fuck is this in the game? fuck man... why not just make it a full on QTE game at that point? just show me what to press and I'll press it oh Naughty Dog overlords!
then there is the climbing, in which you literally can't fail. so the climbing sections are 100% just there to fake variety and stretch the game.
what do I mean by you can't fail, well for one if you are at an edge and try to jump to your death, you can't. so the game doesn't let you make a mistake basically... fair enough, already bad but now comes the part where I literally let the controller fall on the ground from laughing so hard.
me and a buddy were drunk playing Uncharted 4 and we come to that part where you climb up a giant clock inside a tower.
so you climb through gears that are moving and stuff, and you come to a point where the only way forward is to jump through the holes on the inner side of a spinning gear, onto a swinging part of the clock.
now anyone who plays videogames would think you have to time your jump, to get THROUGH the spinning gear and ONTO the swinging thing right? NOPE! not in Uncharted 4, oh no, Naughty Dog thinks you are a child with zero eye hand coordination. so of course, you can't fail the jump... so Nathan Drake will not jump as long as both the hole in the gear and the swinging thing are perfectly placed for you to jump onto it. if you try to jump at any other time nothing will happen.
me and my friend were laughing our asses off, because I called it before I tested it, I said something along the lines of "wanna bet these devs think we are too stupid to press Left and X at the right time?" and lo and behold I was correct.
and I for one think you have to point out absolutely awul gamedesign like that, making games basically hold your hand to the point where the developers don't even trust you to press the fucking jump button correctly HOURS into the game. or to find the solution for a puzzle so they ahve an AI character there telling you every detail of what you need to do next, and if that's not enough here are giant UI icons that tell you exactly what to do.
how is this good gamedesign? how is this not criticized by and mainstream critic? how are fanboys of a game not able to reflect on a game realistically.
I for one can both like a game and call it a bad game. most people have the midnset of I LIKE A GAME = THIS GAME IS GOOD and if you say anythign bad about their game they like they lash out with senseless crap to defend it.
I LOVE Crackdown 3 for example... does that mean I would say it is a great game, even a 9/10 or something? fuck no... especially on console with 30 fps and that awful button layout it's fucking gross at times. and even at 60 fps and freely configurable keyboard and mouse controls, it's still buggy and at times clunky... the bosses are a bit of a downer and there is not a lot of variety.
but I love it... it's mediocre as it gets but I love it.
an example of the opposite,
League of Legends... I played it, and I can tell it is well made, the animations are pretty good the game plays well, it runs well on even a potato and it is well designed and really pushes you to think about every move and work as a team. it is hard for me to find anything to really critecise it for except for maybe the monetization model. BUT I HATE IT... I hate it with a passion. I tried it because a friend wanted me to play it with him, so I played it with him for at least 4 or 5 hours, and I hated every fucking minute of it. I thought maybe I will get the hang of it and it clicks after a while... but to me I can't think of anything that I wouldn't prefer playing over it tbh. even Uncharted 4
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so what I am saying is that people are unable to separate themselves from the games they like, and game critics are not doing their job, you often read about how side missions are "well written" in Witcher 3, but not that the basic structure of the side missions is 99% the exact same, walk around, find enemy, kill enemy crap OVER AND OVER AND OVER again.
gameplay and gamedesign don't get analyzed to any real degree other than very surface level stuff.
if you compare actually hard core film critics LIKE REAL enthusiasts, they know their stuff, they really know their stuff and they will be able to articulate every single issue a film has... or every single outstanding and well made detail about a film... like the camera cuts in Mad Max Fury Road that perfectly guide the eyes of the viewers in even the most crazy action shots... just an example from the top of my head.
game critics usually can't tell camera acceleration from a sensitivity curve.
so it is kinda frustrating in that way too, that games with seriously bad gamedesign often get a pass because they are nice to look at and the reviewer didn't have any control issues while testing the game on easy and the game basically holding his hand like your grandpa talking you through a nice walk in the park... that this activity was shallow and completely empty of any interesting gameplay choices is not important usually.
sorry for this wall of text, but it's hard to get across what I mean with only a few sentences, especially since this is my second language and I'm not as comfortable using it lol... so I often make extra sure to get the point across.
what frustrates me is the lack of actual analyzes that goes beyond surface level "oh this game is a bit short and the controls could be better but it's fun guys!!!".
and these critics exist, but they are usually small youtubers with tiny followings, or dead... R.I.P. TotalBuscuit
and because of that I also tend to over react and be overly negative towards games because I have the urge to even the seesaw if you know what I mean... basically I go full SJW on games sometimes, trying to over-correct LOL and I know this is illogical but I am but human...
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