For those who have been following along for a while you know that I write reviews for games, movies, books, whatever I can weasel material from. Well, that’s one thing I do, at least. But you also probably know that I don’t use a regular critic’s format; and that is because I’m not a professional critical journalist.
However even so, I want my opinion to be respected as well thought out, at least. As such I give at least a rudimentary spell-check and typo hunt of each review I write. I also try to sound like I have some idea of what I’m talking about and I try to be properly critical of the source material I am critiquing.
So why the hell are there people who write reviews about things they have no idea about, or in languages they clearly cannot speak? Take this person writing a review for PS3 game Valkyria Chronicles (2008)*:
Okay, they’re being critical of the game and accidentally used ‘shoots’ instead of ‘shots’. That’s a typo, you should still value their opini-oh damn.
Yeah, nevermind; they’re just illiterate fools. Then we seal the coffin with this remark on a 1/5 rating for Valkyria Chronicles, a turn-based strategy RPG (Role-Playing Game):
Another comment on the same game, also a 1/5 (keep in mind there are 5 one-star ratings compared to 254 five-star ratings and they all start out with, “How can anyone like this horrible game?”)
Yeah, not only do they have poor grammar, but they’re reviewing a 2-year-old game at that point. I read their review title and skipped the review. For sport I went back and actually read it…they cite a few great things about the game saying that the graphics were good and the voice acting is superb. But they gave it a 1/5 because the story is linear…even after admitting that is pretty standard in this genre of games. Yup, your opinion is as faulty as your grammar.
Then we just have idiots who shouldn’t review anything, at all. This is another 1 out of 5 star rater for Valkyria Chronicles:
So if we ignore the fact that she’s reviewing a five-year-old game, since she doesn’t criticize the graphics or anything like that. No, she says that the game was touted as a benign RPG, but had ‘children’ shooting guns and throwing grenades.
This is the box the game came in:
Yup, looks pretty benign to me; certainly no guns in this game.
Keep in mind that the game is a fantasy retelling of World War II; y’know, if Switzerland had huge oil reserves and was invaded by the Axis powers. Also keep in mind that these ‘children’, at least the main two characters, are 24 and 21 at the start of the game. So if we assume the game lasts the same timeline as the real war, they’d be the pubescent age of…32 and 29 by the end of the game. Whoo! Kids these days, getting’ drafted into World War II and shit, y’know?
*Note: I have not played Valkyria Chronicles, so I am not defending the quality of the game or writing my own review out of any bias for or against the game. I recognize and readily admit I have no place reviewing it, given the fact I’ve only played the demo. And even that was 5 years ago when it was first released.
Need more examples of stupid people writing reviews? Try this reviewer for the somewhat similar X-Box Game, Operation Darkness (2008):
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s part of the game’s strategy, not a game-breaking flaw. Game-breaking flaws would be if you had unlimited healing items, but weren’t able to use them in combat. Strategy is, “Harumph! I’ve only got six inventory slots, but I have ten possible items to take, which six should I choose?” Schmuck!
Or we can move to a game I’ve actually played, and look at some of the 1/5 star ratings for Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009):
I’m…not even sure what the hell he’s saying. No support for the continuation of the game? This is a review written 4 years after the game came out. What did he expect from a four-year-old game? A sequel?
And this one is hilarious:
Without going into too much detail if you haven’t played the game…at one point the villain Scarecrow kind of breaks the 4th wall and makes you think your system has crashed. If you stick with it, it will recover (kind of like the tricks in Metal Gear Solid or Eternal Darkness). His game works fine, but he’s been shutting it off during that fight, I can almost guarantee it. Developers 1; Player 0.
Speaking of Batman, here’s a reference to the Arkham games in this 1/5 star review for the new highly acclaimed PS3 game The Last of Us (2013):
What did you expect from a guy named Rapister?
Aside from the ego, this guy is clearly an idiot. Arkham Asylum is the first in the Arkham series, Arkham City is the sequel; if you wanted more of Arkham Asylum you would play Arkham City, not the other way around.
Not to mention the horrible grammar and syntax on another “five-star review”. Douche.
And finally, here’s a rambling review about how some weirdo can’t relate to the characters in The Last of Us:
Dafuq?
Yeah, his grandfather saw terrible things in Vietnam, I have no doubt of that. But he saw worse things than the zombie apocalypse? Debatable. His grandfather fought communist Asian people, the folks in The Last of Us are fighting deformed monsters and zombies on top of the regular post-apocalyptic psychotic people.
Not to mention, just plain TMI! You can’t relate to these characters because they’re sensible and normal and you are descended from some real idiots. Your grandfather got his head stuck in AC unit? Your father was a great chef, who chopped his finger off and couldn’t cook anymore? Why do I care what kind of pie your father made your grandfather when he came home from Vietnam?
The whole rambling, shambling thing is just a ridiculous, ‘Look at how terrible my life is!’ diatribe. Except that the guy’s life really wasn’t all that bad. His grandfather survived Vietnam, his father was able to afford Chef’s training, they could afford AC in the Vietnam war era; sounds pretty decent to me. Whines a lot about being Native American, too. Yes the Native Americans got screwed over pretty bad, but that’s no excuse to whine like an Emo sod about how your whole life is worse than the zombie apocalypse.
~RCS
As a note I looked through the 1/5 star ratings each time, because they have the best examples idiots.
Richard C. Shaffer 