Criminal
I’ve written my MVP 06 review. When I get done writing a evaluation of a game, I usually wander around the net to see how crazy I am or how crazy other reviewers are concerning the game I just finished playing. Now, I rarely mention other reviews on the blog. People have opinions and are entitled to ‘em. Some people like Green Day. Some people think they’re a sell out former punk band, kinda like Billy Idol but without the hair. Either way, your opinion is your opinion.
On Metacritic, MVP 06 (Xbox) has a 75 Metascore. The Metascore, which I really do like (and used for my book) can still be a tad screwy because they do what a lot of review databases do and that’s take a 5 star review scale and turn it into 100% form, which doesn’t really work. GameShark, for example, uses the A-F system (which I also like) and Metacritic just butchers that when it’s translated. For example, I gave Fable: The Lost Chapters a B+, which Metacritic turned into an 83%, which is just loopy.
Anyway, just because a review on Metacritic says “50%” that could mean 50% or that could mean 2.5/5 stars. You kinda need to check. So I did.
Gamerfeed gave it a 2.5/5 saying, “Electronic Arts may have exclusive rights to the NFL license, but they missed out on the MLB license, and it hurts.“
Stuff Magazine rips it for the same reason, giving it a 6/10. “Ego-less baseball? Teamwork? No 55-kajillion dollar contracts? Uh, we’ll pass, thanks.”
Xbox Magazine said, “So while the hitting mechanic and improved ballpark creator are cool and the integration of a live ESPN sports ticker is sweet, you’ll need to think long and hard about buying what is largely last year’s game sans major league appeal.”
Next Level Gaming came with, “The game itself is pretty decent, but it doesn’t pack the punch of an MLB license. “
Team Xbox? Yeah, them too. “No matter how you slice it, the lack of an official pro license (in a sport where the following of the pro level is strong) for this year’s MVP holds this title back a bit.”
These less than glowing reviews of the game caused its rating to plummet to a 75 even after reviews from IGN (87), GameSpy (4/5;80%), and GameSpot(8.0) were published.
I guess my question is this: is it fair to rip a college baseball game apart because it’s not a pro game? Is it right to judge a game on what it’s not?
There are flaws and annoyances with MVP NCAA 06, no doubt about it, but I just cannot see the justification of giving a game like this a poor review just because it doesn’t carry the license that you want. If you really need to see a polygonal Manny Ramirez to enjoy a college baseball game, maybe this isn’t the kind of game you should be reviewing? I guess I could see the argument if this were a 100% fictional Pro game, with fake teams, fake players, etc. I’d still disagree with killing the game over that, but I think it would be a bit more justified. But this is a college game, it’s not meant to be a pro game, and I think it should be judged on that basis.
Next year, when these websites review NCAA Football 07, they better kick it in the virtual nuts because it’s not Madden.
Any thoughts on this?
January 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
I see reviewers do this crap all the time, not just with sports games. For instance, reviewers ripped on Metal Gear Acid for the PSP because it wasn’t a Metal Gear Solid action game. The game itself was very good and when you read the reviews, their only real complaint was that it wasn’t Metal Gear Solid. People doing this to the college baseball game is just as ridiculous.
January 26th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
Madden Football is a horrible game because it’s not Fable.
January 26th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Madden also isn’t Civ4, which also hurts it in the long run.
January 26th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
That’s the exact reason why I don’t read or trust a sports game review unless it was written by you Bill.
January 26th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
it really is all your fault, bill. you are confusing appreciation of quality with mainstream america.
this nation prides itself on individuality but doesnt want anything that is different than what they are used to. my gawd, what would the neighbors think?
January 27th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Unfortunately, it is not just game reviews. M Knight Shamalan could make the best movie in the world, but if it didn’t have a big surprise at the end, reviewers would say: “An excellent movie, but I was disappointed at the ending because there was no big shocking surprise like I expected.”
Almost as bad was the way some reviewers got so enthusiastic about the use of the ESPN licence. What a waste of programming time!