The only thing he could really have a gripe about would be the cost.
£200 is a LOT for an alpha.
Yeah, he might well do that, but beings this is not a complete and functional released game yet, and bearing in mind this also is a kickstarter funded title he should take this into consideration.
As the for the question of paying to play for 'testing' purposes of the alpha and perhaps the Beta, he might well bring up the old chestnut of whether this form of 'pay to test' & 'early access' is a good idea or not financially (for gamers), we'll have to see.
In my opinion as long as he states primarily the fact that this is an alpha version, and concentrates more on the content and general 'feel' of the game as it now stands in this condition, that seems fair enough.
'Official' Critical reviews of games as yet not in a final release version/state can open a whole can of worms imho. and I can see this (as I've thought for a long while now) being a rather messy and complicated subject.
Final retail released version, clear cut, no problem, but this 'early access' to games with the addition of critical reviews is setting up a minefield, for both players and developers, Alpha stages can be so far removed from Beta and Gamma stages...do critical reviews along the course of development help or hinder?
Elite Dangerous is hardly in a state to be reviewed, so it would be somewhat premature to attempt to review it. However, if he does have a stab at Elite Dangerous as it presently is in alpha, I suspect there is little to be concerned about, as he does appear relatively fair-minded.
For example, even though he made some mistakes in his review of X Rebirth with regard to some of its features, essentially he nailed it, because that game absolutely is a pile of donkey ****, which the developers - and Steam - should be absolutely ashamed of having dared to peddle. I decided to never buy anything from Steam ever again because of their refusal to refund me for that one.
Probably a prime example Chock of where an early alpha critical review would/could have averted a disaster, and we might not have been experienced the negative response that some players feel now, with the initial release of X Rebirth. So in this respect maybe early critical reviews would have benefited both player and developer here, in this instance.
...
p.s What he made of X-Rebirth was a killer review frankly, although to be fair he does praise Elite from the 1980s!
Yep, I thought that review was hilarious
...and pretty accurate.
I needed a good laugh I must admit, especially following a mild depression attack ..
..after receiving the 'collectors' edition of X Rebirth.
Jack
