Star Wars: Battlefront II Review
NOOOOOOOO!
Version tested: Xbox
I'd like there to be something intelligent, perhaps analytical, in my head when I see the trappings of Episodes One through Three on my television. But all I can do is listen to the Vader-scream looping in my brain: "NOOOOOO!"
Incredibly, some of my friends and peers have informed me that the third Star Wars film in the most recent trilogy was the best of the three. Is the 'best' of three kicks in the stomach the one that actually bursts your kidneys?
I was surprised at the sheer audacity of Episode III's awfulness. Entertaining, yes, but in some tortured, ironic sense of the word I'd not been expecting. In fact having recently watched the original Star Wars for the first time in many years, it seems as if the two trilogies are barely related at all. The originals were a pleasing fluke of entertaining cinema that somehow captured greatness, while the latest were little more than a CGI debauch, a cynical cash-venting exercise of the kind that the original films were probably supposed to have been back before Lucas stumbled into the Light and Magic of the big franchise.
Anyway, that pre-ramble goes to say that no matter how much of a slack-jawed geek I can be, no matter how superb I believe TIE Fighter to be, and no matter how many times I watched The Empire Strikes Back on that crummy VHS tape when I was a kid, there remains no residual fondness for the world of Star Wars in my mind. The land of sci-fi goodness has been despoiled and poisoned. Nothing remains.
Battlefront 2, then, is without the aura of 'fantasy fulfilment' that I've heard so many folk refer to with reference to these games. Apparently we were supposed to forgive the rubbishness of the original Battlefront because it allowed us to take our place in the Star Wars battles around which our tiny imaginations were clustered. I can't see it like that. Instead there is simple the skeleton of a sci-fi combat game, something sat between the Unreal games and Battlefield on the PC. (And the original was rubbish, a zillion-xillion units sold or otherwise.)
So let's do the basics: Battlefront is a multiplayer-focused third-person shooter which pitches multiple players and AI bots on a Star Wars battlefield, complete with FPS standards such as soldier-classes (sniper/shooter/medic/bazooka) and respawn points. While most of the action involves running around, shooting, getting killed and respawning, some of it involves running to a vehicle, zooming around and then exploding. And respawning. Occasionally you'll capture a strategic point on the map, and that helps you win the battle, if you're lucky. Battlefront 2 is the same, but more so. The clones are here, and they have new toys.

Protect Princess Peach from Darth Bowser's stormtroopers.
This sequel raises the slow meandering of the original to a determined run, as almost everything gets a tweak and a fiddle from Pandemic Studios. The focus of the fiddling is on extra stuff for the single-player modes, which are now heavily ornamented with objective-based minor-cast-member-narrated fighting. The classic Rebel Alliance galaxy-conquering mode is the most entertaining, with various fleets moving about the galaxy, assaulting entrenched planets and occasionally engaging the opposing fleet in space.
There are a selection of battles to oversee, each one based on events from various Star Wars laser-squalls; from those of the original films, bless their lost souls, to those of the clone-based sequels. Some of these are quite spectacular, others rather patchy. This is the oddest thing about Battlefront 2: while it's significantly more interesting than the original, some sections are excruciatingly bland. The battle for Yavin 4 provides plenty of foliage fun amongst the jungles and ruins, because Battlefront does vegetation and pools and rebel troopers quite well. A space battle at the same location, however, will be rather more disappointing. The clash of X-Wing and TIE lacks intensity, with just a few ships whizzing between near-featureless capitol ships. The barrage of laser fire which characterises Star Wars space battles is conspicuous by its lumpy absence. See that advert on TV? Yeah, well they used editing to make it look exciting. Shame the same can't be true of life. If the bloke who directed the adverts was in charge of your brain (as I'm sure he'd be pleased to be) then a perpetual barrage of just the exciting bits might keep you entertained. (And when playing the game.)

This year's TIE Fighter comes with 0% finance and interest free photon torpedos.
Anyway, there's also now a flourish of buzzing laser swords as Jedi take to the field. The dashing space-knights look very pretty, even if they don't add the profundity deserved of a galaxy's ultimate warrior to the proceedings. Their wild flailing seems rather at odds with the 'precision' idea of force/sabre powers. Furthermore they lack the utilitarian satisfaction of any of the standard footsoldier classes. I found it far more worthy to be a standard rebel trooper than I did to play Mace Windu, which just doesn't seem right.
This problem is particularly acute in multiplayer, with hero battles being something of a skill-free farce. That's troubling because despite all Pandemic's efforts to inject steroid-derived bulk into the flab of the original single-player, most folk want multiplayer combat against real people with Jedi. The Force combat is just a mess of melee, bound to end in hurled joypads and some unwarranted cussing in TV parlours across the continent. It's a shame.
(Also, and I think this might be true of all Star Wars games, there's occasions in which a nearby soldier will say "it's just like shooting Womp Rats, eh kid?" If that's true then would 'Star Wars: Rat Shooter' actually be an ideal concept for a future title? Or is it the case that Battlefront's combat is actually much better than simply shooting some rats, and which case shouldn't the soldier try to avoid dissing his own game by continually making the easy rat-cull comparisons? Hmm.)

NOOOOO!
So then there's the Padawan-free possibilities of vehicular entertainments. Like pneumatic slaves forced to give us piggyback rides for our slight amusement, the vehicles of the Star Was universe have been forced to serve Battlefront's nefarious ends, and make up the most amusing portion of the game. Walkers and stompy metal gun-hippos dominate the shooting, although perhaps without the all-powerful finality of the vehicles of the original game. It's fun to watch the simple AI drive the vehicles around aimlessly, driving up to each other shooting like the mindless figments of algebra that they are. Yes, the bots remain numbingly stupid and regularly wander into walls and fail to do anything tactically worthy. Of course you'll have plenty of human players to provide their own brand of mindlessness too, thanks to Xbox Live (or PS2 and PC online stuff for you Sony and Miscellaneous brand consumers), which is a mostly good thing, because the single-player game plays out with a sense that you barely effect the course of the battle, even if you try really hard. At least in a multiplayer game the loss (or victory) isn't solely your responsibility, and that's a comforting feeling.
I'm probably going to be seen as the grumbling bastard of the Battlefront 2 reviews, I know. But while it was never truly horrible, it's hard to exult it above dozens of other possible game experiences this year. With my PC bias I can see that the real sense of battle-fun war-intensity was delivered best by Battlefield 2, while the throbbing heart of Xbox action still remains in the armoured torsos of Halo and Halo 2. Living up to the achievements of other games is one of Battlefront 2's biggest problems: The acute sense of excitement and precision in combat of the Halo games is absent, likewise the intensity of being in a firefight delivered by Battlefield 2. All the explosions and laser-fire feel a lot like window-dressing, even if the game does have some attractive scenery. If the original Battlefront was an X-Wing crashed in the swamps of Dagobah, then Battlefront 2 is that same X-Wing raised by The Force powers of Pandemic's Yoda onto dry land. It's in a better position, but it's still stuck on the mud-planet of a green-skinned hermit dwarf. And we all know how that feels.
There's potential here, like a thermal detonator tucked deep in the bunker of the whole Battlefront concept.
But none of that matters, because all I can think is: "NOOOOO!"
6 / 10
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Comments (105) Latest comment 6 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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THERE is your review of Battlefront II.
Now for the love of God, stop complaining there's no SW:BFII review.
/watches people complain about the number at the end of the review.
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Noooooooo! just about sums it up
With no apologies to George Lucas I won't be buying this game or the film. I still remember fondly the old Lucasarts before they decided we all want crap Star Wars based games.
Is Sith an anagram?
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1995 called, it wants its multiplayer back.
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poor game, much worse review - 2/10
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like i say, poor game, agree entirely, but giving a SW game to one so bitter with the whole experience might be a mistake? interestingly though, given the conclusions of the review, you may expect a 4 or 5 for this game, so he may still have fallen into the '+2 for SW veneer' trap of so many reviews over the years
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/starts DosBox with X-Wing
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IMO - This review tells you the following:
What the game is.
What the game does.
What is good about the game and why.
What is bad about the game and why.
Add to that a bit of harmless banter at the beginning, a few humourous picture captions and a number at the end and you've got a review that does NOT warrant a "poor game, much worse review - 2/10"
I give your comments a 4/10. Nice try but you ruined it by being an ass-hat.
By the by, my missus LOVES the first Battlefront. I might have to pick this one up just for that reason.
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reviews of reviews of reviews eh - do you have nothing better to zzzzzzzzzzzz
nice insult too, keeping it adult
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Not played Battlefield 2 though so perhaps I'm just I'll informed.
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wrong, so wrong
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PS it's exalt.
/edit: I'm an idiot
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The review of a review of a review thing was purposeful though, "the ironing is delicious" and all that.
Oh and I'll always admit to not having anything better to do
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If you like it - good for you. If you don't - that's fine too
For those of us with an interest in the Star Wars oeuvre, who don't have access to the game it allows us an insight to how it plays.
It's reasonable to assume that if we're looking at a review of a Star Wars game, we probably have some interest in the Star Wars films (not movies please, this is England).
Combining a knowledge of Jim's previous reviews (Have I agreed with him, have I disagreed with him?), it allows the reader to form a basic opinion on whether the game is worthy of further investigation.
Critcising a review because it doesn't match your own opinion is tantamount to disliking someone because they don't have the same birthday as you.
Everybody's different.
I we can go some way to injecting some manners and politeness back into EG, which has been sadly lacking of late it would be, I feel, a good thing.
Thank you.
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"OMG, ITS STAR WARS; BATTLES LIKE IN THE MOVIES"
His comment that he had no care for the star wars universe anymore imho meant that the rest of the review was therefore based on his opinion on how the game played; NOT based on how "cool" it was that the maps, models, weapons and skins had a Star Wars theme.
With such a big franchise as this, I think making that clarification was important.
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Ive no doubt the score is about right though.
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Personally I enjoyed it. Its not classic, but its better than alot of licensed stuff thats out there, and I totally disagree about the space battles. They felt really intense to me, and would make a good game in their own right. Opinions and assholes and all that.
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If you feel like Jim you'll view the game the same way. If you love everythign star wars you know you can probably add a point or two.
Another excellent review, i reckon. Getting a bid fed up of all the endless carping about every review that gets posted. It's an opinion! An individual's opinion. If they disagree with yours they're not saying that you're wrong! Don't worry! If you want to read OMG! It Rocks!!!! reviews all the time then there are plenty of websites and magazines which cater for you already.
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That's not so much to do with the reviews as it is people pursuing grudges against the site though.
Good review. I didn't think much of the Battlefront games tbh, not really much fun imo. But then the only decent SW games I've played are either on PC or Gamecube.
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From dictionary.com
Opinion:
A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof
Muppets, all of ya
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Personally, I found the biggest failing of the original game to be in utterly breaking the online multiplayer experience it was designed to be. Through a combination of bad interface design, terrible netcode and a traditional server selection system that further compounded things, battles became frustratingly broken affairs. It brought out all of the shortcomings in xbox Live. It was also "patched" several times, something I thought Live would not succumb to. That alone precludes me from buying this game because every review I have seen for it mentions that nothing has really changed.
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So the comments at the start of the review let me know that the reviewer is judging the game on it's merits as a game and not just a "ride along" like those shitty theme park rides based on blockbuster movies. This is vital information to have since Lucasarts latest efforts have hardly been stellar (Oh I know someone will say KOTOR but remember that wasn't strictly Lucasarts efforts, was it?).
You want a second opinion? Go to GameRankings.
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In any case, it's not necessary to like the films in order to enjoy Star Wars games, provided they're good. I think Star Wars (both trilogies) is shite, but TIE Fighter is one of my favourite games ever.
Thanks for an honest review.
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But again, he admitted this openly in his review; its not as if he kept it a secret from everyone.
So therefore, using a bit of intelligence, If.........
(1) You prefer / enjoy just as much Console fps' and their differences to PC fps, add 1 point to the final mark
(2) You think the whole star wars skinning of the game and putting you in "actual" Star Wars battles will enhance your enjoyment of the game above the actual game mechanics in how it plays, add 1 point to the final mark
(3) If you actively dress up like Star Wars characters and goto conventions, add 1 point to the final mark, and also go see a psychiatrist.
Job done
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The only thing I would say regarding this review is that you knew the score was going to be low simply by how it started.
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Far Cry Instincts is pretty good multiplayer, and it looks good too, unlike Halo.
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Space battles are crud though - relive the opening battle from episode 3...with TWO motherships and an exciting dogfight between FIVE fighter ships - yeah!
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How many good Star-Wars games are there anyway? X-Wing/TIE (so I'm told), the recent Lego one and the first Gamecube one? Just 3? Don't EA sports have a better record?
EDIT: Oh. KOTOR. Four then.
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@thegamesthething - taken in isolation on this one thread, then I suppose my post is over-reaction, but it's really just a build up over the last few months. More and more people come on and rather than discussing the game and its merits or bad points, it's just easier to become a literary critic and have a go at the style of review, or that the reviewer doesn't know what he's talking about or some other nonsense. I suppose it just finally got me down today. The tone of my post is meant to be more upset than angry.
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and rebel assualt on the .... er, scratch that
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I must admit to enjoying Rebel Assault though, especially the attack on the Star Destroyer. And RAssault 2 convinced me PC gaming was the way forward, it was stunning.
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What is wrong with you people? If you don't like the site, why the hell do you read it? Do you buy food you don't like the taste of and watch TV programs you don't enjoy as well?
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hehe... I like the game, I liked the first game. I think that in this case I would have given it two scores... 1: For non-star wars fans and 2: For Star Wars fans.
Because which ever way you slice it, it does make a huge difference in the enjoyment. My mates come round, we all love star wars and we can all dive into this pretty easy-to-understand Star Wars universe, kill Stormtroopers, battle on Hoth, fly X-Wings, be a Jedi... You see to most Star-Wars-fan-gamers that would make this game an 8.
If you were an alien from another planet that has never seen the movies, then I can see why you'd see the game as a average shooter. And If you hate star wars then the fact that you can have a epic Star wars battle isn't really going to float your boat.
I think this review is a bit biased against Star Wars and the review reflects that. Had you equally got somebody who loves Star Wars, I think you'd have a different take on the game.
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And Jim didn't reply. WHAT AN ASS!
Get a GRIP, JIM!
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So you'd rather have someone who would give it a good score just because it's a Star Wars game? How about somebody who can judge it without being influenced by his love/hatred of the movies? A good game is a good game, Star Wars or no Star Wars.
The reviewer said it himself - he hated the prequels (as did many), but liked the original trilogy. Hell, he even liked Tie Fighter, another Star Wars game! Shock! Look at that bias!
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Anyway can someone please tell me:
what 'meh' means
why some of you spell the as 'teh'
And what is a 'flame war'
So... does everyone think it should be 28 or 90 days?
Mr T. Blair
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A good game isnt a good game if you dont enjoy it as much as you could because you hate one particular related aspect. This is where markypants is spot on. This comment:
"Battlefront 2, then, is without the aura of 'fantasy fulfilment' that I've heard so many folk refer to with reference to these games. Apparently we were supposed to forgive the rubbishness of the original Battlefront because it allowed us to take our place in the Star Wars battles around which our tiny imaginations were clustered. I can't see it like that." sums it up.
He didnt allow himself to become immerssed in the games atmosphere like alot SW fans will. Thats the point of the licence. And I'm sorry, but if you really feel this game lacks the Star Wars feel, you havent seen the same movies I have.
Please dont see me as saying this is a bad review. As I said earlier, its all about opinions, but it just seems to be coming at it from the wrong angle. Its well written and so on, I just feel its maybe wrong to look at it as direct BF2 competitor - alot like some of the reviews about OFP which are saying its a crap FPS. My first impression of the first Battlefront was "this, more than any other SW game is firmly aimed at the fans only".
I hope he reviews King Kong without seeing or liking the film, because it should get no more than the same comments if you remove the atmosphere/"playing the film" feeling.
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/hugs pedant hat
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What are you doing all arguing about a review on a website? That thing between your legs, have you tried playing with that instead?
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I asked the same thing. "meh" apparently means a shrug of the shoulders, to suggest not really having an opinion either way. "so what is this to me" or "whateveeeer" type thing.
The daft spelling of teh is just part of the leet mis-spelling that is the scourge of the web. Early hackers had no sense of correct spelling or grammar, but the result of the mistyped gibberish is a web language all of its own. Fashion trends, they suck wherever they are found.
@gaijin
I reserve the right to abandon proper english when on a rant
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Clearly they have, they're all wankers!
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Bad comparison. FIFA98 is a game, Star Wars is a movie. Liking or not liking a movie has nothing to do with liking or not liking a game. The "atmosphere" is there whether you've seen the film or not. At least that's what I think.
But there's no "right" person to review this game. If the person hates the Star Wars movies, then he has every right to judge the game as a regular shooter with a scifi theme. He shouldn't judge the game based on his opinion of the movie, whether that opinion is favourable or not.
I don't mind a reviewer being biased towards or against anything Star Wars-related. As long as he/she's honest about it, then I don't see any problem at all. This reviewer was honest. This is a game for the fans only.
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Guh, I'm confusing even myself here. Yeah, I'm going to go back on my "liking the movies has no bearing on liking the games" statement. It obviously does, and I have no idea why I wrote that. Maybe I'm going insane, or something.
I still don't think that the reviewer is approaching this from the "wrong" way, however. He's approaching it from his own viewpoint, having not "got" the fantasy fulfillment part of the game. As long as he says that in his review, then I'm ok with it. He can then compare it to Battlefield 2, for that's essentially what this game is without the Star Wars fantasy bit. Those wanting a fan's perspective can just look elsewhere. It's got nothing to do with "quality".
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hmm if this is about some movie stars engaged in frontal battles, could be interesting
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..and here you are commenting on an argument about a review on a website!
Personally, I'd rather have an exchange of ideas with other people than sit masturbating all day, but that's really your choice. Just remember, just because your mum's knickers are in the washbasket DOESN'T mean she won't need them again.
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/moves 'out of range' of LeDilettante
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Brilliant!!
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I agree with the second poster, jlaakso, about the style of the review. Then again - I never really follow EG for reviews, just news.
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Now, would anybody like a cup of tea and a jaffa cake?
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(Did I do it right? I failed l33t at sixth form.)
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This may be the opinion of the reviewer, but maybe someone with his mind so made up about star wars may not have been the right man for this particular game.
:/
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"With my PC bias I can see that the real sense of battle-fun war-intensity was delivered best by Battlefield 2, while the throbbing heart of Xbox action still remains in the armoured torsos of Halo and Halo 2. Living up to the achievements of other games is one of Battlefront 2's biggest problems: The acute sense of excitement and precision in combat of the Halo games is absent, likewise the intensity of being in a firefight delivered by Battlefield 2."
Not exactly comparing like with like are we? Only saving grace is at least he admits it in the review. I don't really mind when Eurogamer marks a game down ... but sometimes, just sometimes, there can be massive inconsistency in who gets to review what on the site.
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Not exactly comparing like with like are we?"
...ummm...
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poor game, much worse review - 2/10
ROFLMAO
I liked the review, thought it was fair, and this comment made me p%$$ myself laughing.
Hey, its all good!
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6/10 is generous, I'd say it scrapes a 5 if it's lucky.
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And start complaining about the absense of a BF2:MC review
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I was referring to comparing this to a very very different beast that is the *PC* version of Battlefield 2.
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As he said. he admits his PC bias ... my only point was that perhaps someone with a strong PC bias shouldn't be reviewing a console game. And as I said - at least he admitted it so that readers can read between the lines.
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The end.
That this is one of the most entertaining reviews I've read in ages is almost beside the point.
John Walker
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Every time someone makes a comment like this
"it came across quite strongly to me as if the reviewer had already decided that games fate in the first few lines purely because of his view of the films."
they are accusing the reviewer of being corrupt.
Please stop accusing people of corruption without evidence. It attracts lawyers.
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What's this "Your comment" lark all about then?!
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The American Taliban??
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"I think this review was rubbish," is obviously fine, although remarkably unhelpful for anyone reading, other than those wishing to share in narcissistic catharsis. "I think this review was rubbish because..." is obviously far more helpful.
But, "While I wholeheartedly agree with the reviewer's opinions of the movies, I do think they have no place in a game review," is utterly without place.
And that's by FAR the most polite I've ever read. This belief that one can dictate the content of a review because one can comment at the bottom is fallacious. While it should not, it invades the mind of the writer, perverting his talent, and preventing his imaginative flow when creating - that hideous thought at the back of the mind that a spiteful little shit will cruelly publically denounce you, accuse you of corruption, or any other of the frequent habitual tendancies of those who think themselves so important as to control the content of whatever they happen to read.
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And that little tirade places you exactly where in this "hierarchy", how important do you think you are? I can't see any importance in any of the comments made here ( least of all my own ). I do, however, see an interesting, diverting and entertaining debate, which encompasses the whole spectrum of opinion on the subject at hand, and is all the more valid for it.
The whole point and attraction of the modern interweb is that it democratises information and also democratises the opinion forming process, on what is and what is not "good art, gaming, taste etc." Everyone is entitled to their say. If EG didn't agree then they could just remove the Speak Your Brain button. And in the process remove all that extra advertising space which is currently flashing Operation Flashpoint at me. If you don't like the comments section you really really don't have to click the link. You could even read - shock horror - games magazines - although you would still have to avoid the letters page.
Funny that, everything changes, yet it all stays the same.
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"Every time someone makes a comment like this
"it came across quite strongly to me as if the reviewer had already decided that games fate in the first few lines purely because of his view of the films."
they are accusing the reviewer of being corrupt. "
Incorrect. They would only be accusing them of corruption if they were saying the reviewer had already made up their mind because of some kind of external incentive such as money, food or sexual favours. The above is an accusation of bias rather than corruption.
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Almost. But the corruption would be if EG did as the fanbois seem to want, and went looking for a reviewer likely to give it a high score...
To the apparent fanbois: Why not IGNORE the score for a Star Wars game and pretend it says "10/10 OMG GAME OF TEH YEAR OH I CRAPPED IN MY PANTS IT'S THAT GOOD LOL!!!" instead? I mean, if you like it you're already so disconnected from reality you might as well pretend.
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edit - almost made myself a games journalist then!
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"That guy really knows his eggs, lets hire him!"