General / Off-Topic PlayStation Discussion

I think that is why Metacritic is used by many, as you cant trust just the one review, looking at metacritic reviews, there are many that give 10/10 for anything but when you look at the bigger picture of all their reviews, you can get a good idea of who has been brought out and who hasn't.
 

I agree, but my point was that it's written to attract an audience, not to sell the game. There may be some dodgy deals done in order to "entice" the audience to buy the game, but in general they're just opinion pieces.

Not saying that's the case with the Last of Us, mind you. Gamespot only gave it 8/10 so praise isn't universal. Their review ties in with how a lot of 10/10 type games seem to be nowadays - good story, good visuals and locations, but not very good AI.

I'm slightly appalled that AI hasn't really improved at all in the last 15 years. It just seems to be a case of "make more of them!" rather than "make them better!" and then there's too much emphasis placed on scripted behaviour and so on.

Sometimes, it's much better to just to give characters a couple of rules and let them handle the movement themselves. Sure, you lose scripted events (although there's no reason you can't mix and match), but you get more emergent behaviour out of it. Just look at Aliens versus Predator (the 1999 PC one) and you'll see how that can work wonders.

Wait, that was a tangent. Ah well.
 
Just look at Aliens versus Predator (the 1999 PC one) and you'll see how that can work wonders.

That game was great, but I got so very, very lost playing as the Alien. I'm terrible at directions and need a good map at the best of times, but with that game... I completed the Predator and Marine segments before I even finished the first Alien level, if I remember rightly.
 
you can still pick it up on steam, i was only playing it the other night until i got motion sickness, to dam fast now.
 
I never trust reviewers when they give games a perfect score. There was a similar fan-fare around Bioshock: Infinite when that came out and it became quite obvious after playing it that most reviewers let their emotions get the better of them and didn't critique the game objectively.

If you watch the Polygon review for Last of Us(which gave it a 7.5) you can see that there are some very noticeable graphical glitches and pathing issues that other reviewers completely neglected to mention. Bioshock: Infinite suffered from fairly generic combat mechanics and an environment, which although looked breath-taking was actually very lifeless when you tried to interact with it. But very few reviewers actually let these things effect their scores of the game. That's why review scores need to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially in games.

That said, if you have played through Bioshock: Infinite and completed it, you can totally understand how a reviewer could get carried away when having to write up their thoughts in the instant aftermath of playing it. Things that I absolutely hated about Bioshock felt like distant concerns when compared to how compelling the story was and how masterfully it was told, and it sounds as if The Last of Us is having the same effect.

Adam Sessler is a reviewer that I generally trust to articulate exactly why a game is worth playing (he's not as strong on the critiquing!), here are his The Last of Us and Bioshock: Infinite reviews.
 

Philip Coutts

Volunteer Moderator
Game reviews are very subjective and I was never convinced that some games weren't getting higher ratings based on the goodies or lunches that the reviewer was receiving. On that note if Frontier want to send me some stuff I'll review ED and give it 10 out of 10! :p
 
I agree with taking a review with a pinch of salt, though i havnt played bioshock infinite i take it that from all the reviews available they all think it was a good game, no game is perfect and im sure last of us will have a few AI/ graphical issues, but it cant be ignored that pretty much everyone thinks bioshock and the last of us is worth playing.
 
I agree with taking a review with a pinch of salt, though i havnt played bioshock infinite i take it that from all the reviews available they all think it was a good game, no game is perfect and im sure last of us will have a few AI/ graphical issues, but it cant be ignored that pretty much everyone thinks bioshock and the last of us is worth playing.

I gave up on Bioshock Infinite. To be honest, it's probably me, I'm just fed up of playing a purely linear story... it just doesn't grab me any more. And the combat was "meh". For all its weaknesses I enjoyed Far Cry 3 much more, simply because of the sandbox nature (although it had a story too). I doubt many people would rate Far Cry 3 over Bioshock Infinite though.

Oh, don't have a console <spit> so won't be playing The Last of Us I guess!
 
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I gave up on Bioshock Infinite. To be honest, it's probably me, I'm just fed up of playing a purely linear story... it just doesn't grab me any more. And the combat was "meh". For all its weaknesses I enjoyed Far Cry 3 much more, simply because of the sandbox nature (although it had a story too). I doubt many people would rate Far Cry 3 over Bioshock Infinite though.

Oh, don't have a console <spit> so won't be playing The Last of Us I guess!

Out of interest, how far through Bioshock did you get before giving up on it (spoiler tags are your friend!)? I felt similarly unmotivated by it early on, but can't stop thinking about the story now I've finished it.
 
i was the same for bioshock 2, only made it half way through the game before i got bored of it, Farcry 3 i loved, even playing farcry 3 Blooddragon because i enjoyed Farcry 3 so much.
 
Out of interest, how far through Bioshock did you get before giving up on it (spoiler tags are your friend!)? I felt similarly unmotivated by it early on, but can't stop thinking about the story now I've finished it.

I'd just dismounted one of those zipline things (with the girl) and there was a defaced statue with "Hall of Heroes" changed to "Hall of *****s"... I have no idea how far through that was!

I'd tired of the combat by then I think, and of being "led" so much.
 
I really didn't enjoy the original Bioshock as the whole combat and movement mechanics seemed a little under-cooked to me. Tried to play it through on two separate occasions, but in the end gave up because I just couldn't get into it. That actually happens pretty rarely to me.
 
I couldn't get into Bioshock either. Then again, I'm not really a fan of shooters in general, although I do play them occasionally.
 
I really enjoyed Bioshock Infinite (and BS1, but not 2). Yes, the weapon based combat was simplistic, but you could do so much more than that, combining different powers to set up traps etc. The ziplines in infinite added extra fun and mobility too. As straight shooters, they are kind of mediocre (not that I'm into FPS particularly).

The Last of Us does look and sound amazing, but I don't have a US PS3, and don't particularly want to get one especially. Maybe when (if) I move back to the UK I'll play
 
Thanks for the link Mobius.

I am not a console player in general but i must say that game looked awesome - the first link was blocked (boo!) but the 2nd link - the 20min play through - I know how that girl felt when she said she almost **** her pants! I hope it's released on the PC :)
 
Sony's tells it all about used games and online.

Gamasutra was able to speak to Scott Rohde, software product development head for Sony Worldwide Studios America to gain further clarity on the matter:

We've already come right out and said we're not going to allow online pass. And the word "allow" is key there. Specifically with online, with PS+ requiring a charge to play online, we would not want any publisher [to charge.]

In general, we're all businesses. Sony or Microsoft is never going to be able to tell EA or Activision exactly what they can do. What we like to say at PlayStation is that we set the precedent. The way we are approaching this is that we want this to be extremely consumer-friendly, extremely retailer-friendly, and extremely publisher-friendly. My personal opinion is that it's hard for me to believe that any major publisher is going to put an extra set of used DRM onto game titles because that wouldn't put them in a good spot, right?


Source:http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...on_Sonys_DRM_policies_No_more_online_pass.php
 
FPS games are like ants, loads of them everywhere!

Although "The last of us" looks like the top of the crop.

Rather violent again in your face in a blood thirsty murdering way of course, but that is the nature of its story and genre.

Still I have to admire the developers on this one as it shows me my PS3 still has graphical life left in it such that I need not yet buy another console which is not compatible even though the PS4 games look good graphically, the new PS3 games do too.
 
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Been playing the Last of us and in my honest opinion this is one of the best action games I've ever played. graphics and detail are amazing the dialogue is believable the music is atmospheric and the gameplay is all there.
the 10s that the reviewers have been giving this are justified.
 
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