Cuphead Reignites the “Game Journalists Should Be Good at Games” Debate

[Jokerfiend]

I'm in the crowd that anyone that writes about anything, and wants to be taken seriously, needs to have the basics down.

I can't play consoles anymore. 99.9% of my adult gaming experiences have been on PC, with about 50% of my teenage years on a PC gaming. I'm an avid gamer and have played just about every genre, but if you set me in front of a console, booted up a game, and told me to play it. It would look much like this video.

I don't know if that would take away my ability to critic the piece.

If you want to know why, here is why -

After watching my brother play Destiny on PS, I decide to play. I can't even get past the first major mission/level and he is just laughing at me. Rightfully so, considering he used bow to me on any fighting game. I concede that I can't play this game, on PS.

But after watching him at the end game, seeing how much time he invested into it, and no where close to decked in endgame gear ( maybe a piece or two.) I said enjoy your loot grind, bro. Because, with how much time you've invested now, how much you have to go. It said it's like raiding in WoW, have fun.

He played 10 more hours and put it down due to the grind.

Did my skills effect my ability to assess this? Not at all. Though, I'm open for debate about that. I'd say it effected my enjoyment, but not my ability to figure out where the game was going, why and how.

[GennGreymane]

Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb are the only "game journalists" I trust

Totally willing to listen to youtubers though

[urasim]

Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb are the only "game journalists" I trust

Totally willing to listen to youtubers though

I don't trust someone that's willing to dox anyone who disagrees with their opinions.

[Santti]

Well, I think you should be able to understand video games in general to some extent, to understand their very core concepts. It's completely fine if certain genres aren't really your thing, and aren't all too good with them.

But that guy? Looked like he has never even seen a side-scroller before.

They need to be able to adapt, or at least not record themselves playing like they've never held a controller before.

Doubt I'd fare much better, as the last time I played an FPS with a controller (fucking lol), was when Golden Eye on N64 was hot shit.

[GennGreymane]

I don't trust someone that's willing to dox anyone who disagrees with their opinions.

X-Play was good times,

[urasim]

They should definitely have some basic competency. Just like I wouldn't trust a car critic who can barely drive or a food critic who puts ketchup on his steak and doesn't know what a filet mignon is. You certainly don't need to be a 3000 arena rating 360 noscope MLG pro, but having a basic knowledge about the genre you play and the control scheme used is the bare minimum.

It's also why I'm always leery of reviews for any remotely challenging game, or game that doesn't have an easy difficulty. I can't even be sure if the reviewer even finished the thing because most of the ''games journalism'' scene is a total farce.

The only time I listen to a game's reviewer is when they state objective facts. Does the game run well? Is there controller problems? Is the community thriving or is it a dead game? Difficulty is 100% subjective and I wouldn't trust ANYONE when they say something is easy/hard.

[Zelk]

I think the bigger problem than not being good at games is that this bloke clearly can't even read. Are all his articles dictated to an intern or something?

[urasim]

I think the bigger problem than not being good at games is that this bloke clearly can't even read. Are all his articles dictated to an intern or something?

Some are saying that it's a learning AI and not actually a human player. Which would make sense. That or a really old person who lost their glasses.

[Halicia]

Most professional reviewers avoid "arbitrary" stuff like rating whether the game was easy or hard...

and focus instead on the production quality... and whether its "fun"... and really pulls off what its attempting.

[dope_danny]

For a baseline i look at it like cooking. A mcdonalds frycook and a 5 star chef may be worlds apart in skill and training but they both have experience and personal insight someone who has no major experience cooking at all can ever have. A lot of mainstream journalist for places like Polygon or Kotaku are part of the modern 'secret socjus mailing list' groups that by and large dont play or like videogames. They are social studies grads or dropouts that dreamed of being journalists and see tech journalism as an easy foot in the door where they can wash over any ineptitude or incompetence behind a shield of internet boogeymen. They dont like videogames and they certainly dont like you, were it not for the post 2007 big bang theory 'im such a nerd xDD' culture shift they would be shitting on every one of us as 'losers wasting their time with videogames' because for them it is just an easy entry form of journalism that may lead to job opportunities via networking.
Thats not a conspiracy theory its a fact. We've all seen articles like Polygons "how DO you turn on the ps4?" where these people are so busy making political soapbox articles behind a thin veneer of videogames, usually the judgement proclaiming sort with titles ending in "-and thats okay" and thats because its all they know. Like a shitty college professor using their course as a means of trying to indoctrinate kids with their personal politics they are a subversive group that have little to no experience with games and probably think things like a saturn is a type of smartphone or candy bar. Its not elitism to laugh at these people, for everyone like Gerstmann or Ryckert who -agree or disagree with their opinions- play and can evaluate games based on their experience and taste they are now in the minority because the next generation of potential real games journalists went into the youtube game instead. Were it 15 years ago folks like Superbunnyhop would probably be writing for games magazines and folks like the mailing lists crowd would be working in starbucks telling everyone how they are going to start working on that novel any day now.

You can't expect them to have ability to gauge games properly when they dont play or clearly understand them. They arent casuals. They are more like an invasive parasite being carried from one medium to another.

[urasim]

For a baseline i look at it like cooking. A mcdonalds frycook and a 5 star chef may be worlds apart in skill and training but they both have experience and personal insight someone who has no major experience cooking at all can ever have.

Yeah, no. A McDonalds fry cook can't tell the difference between a meat that's been frozen or not. A normal person should know as much as the fry cook(it's really the bare minimum of cooking). There are people that like prime sirloin well-done with ketchup. They forfeit the right to tell me what is and isn't good food.

Agreed with the rest of your post. Or at least enough to not argue with it.

[rosebull]

Yeah, no. A McDonalds fry cook can't tell the difference between a meat that's been frozen or not. A normal person should know as much as the fry cook(it's really the bare minimum of cooking). There are people that like prime sirloin well-done with ketchup. They forfeit the right to tell me what is and isn't good food.

Agreed with the rest of your post. Or at least enough to not argue with it.

That is such an asinine statement, most 5 year olds can tell the difference. I get the point you try to make but bruh.

Bruh.

[Rustedsaint]

Game journalists should have some skills with gaming thou that often not the case(outside Xbox I'm looking at you)
I don't expect perfect skills just enough to get the basic methods down

[prwraith]

If it takes you 10 minutes to get past a 30 seconds tutorial you should probably not be reviewing games.

[Charge me Doctor]

Keep in mind that the guy playing that Cuphead demo is the same guy who gave Mass Effect 1 a negative review because he didn't know you could upgrade your squad abilities and skills until Feros.

Agree. Reviewers and game journalists should be at least decent in gaming. And by gaming i don't mean facebook games like angry birds or plants and zombies

- - - Updated - - -

Playing a game for 30 minutes and then jotting down your opinions about the game in a blog article isn't "journalism" to begin with.

Another legit concern. I remember reading gaming journal "igromania" and (most) reviews were done after... completing the game

[arandomuser]

Oh so we should fire almost every major sports casters and only fill them with retired professional players for that sport since only someone who was good at it for years at the professional level should be able to commentate on it. same logic, maybe we should also ban almost every journalist from covering war and say only seasoned war veterans should be allowed to cover anything war related, i mean clearly anyone elses take or opinion is just wrong.

[Charge me Doctor]

Oh so we should fire almost every major sports casters and only fill them with retired professional players for that sport since only someone who was good at it for years at the professional level should be able to commentate on it. same logic, maybe we should also ban almost every journalist from covering war and say only seasoned war veterans should be allowed to cover anything war related, i mean clearly anyone elses take or opinion is just wrong.

Sport commentators have to watch the game, not play it. Are you that dumb to not understand it? Videogame and game of sports are different things, if you want to make a conclusion on "is it fun to watch this game?" - sure, go ahead and base your review on watching someone else playing it, but they are playing it and judge the game itself, how it plays. When i buy the game i don't think "will it be entertaining to watch?", i think "will it be entertaining to play?"

[Strangebrew]

[Edge-]

Oh so we should fire almost every major sports casters and only fill them with retired professional players for that sport since only someone who was good at it for years at the professional level should be able to commentate on it. same logic, maybe we should also ban almost every journalist from covering war and say only seasoned war veterans should be allowed to cover anything war related, i mean clearly anyone elses take or opinion is just wrong.

No, it's not the "Same logic", nobody is expecting gaming journalists to be as good as esports players.

But expecting a sports commentator to be able to throw around a ball, shoot a few hoops, and display a basic competency and understanding of the game they're commentating on isn't asking too much. They don't have to be amazing at it, but understanding that you need to lead a running player when throwing the ball, or that you can't just hurl the ball at the basket and expect it to go in are pretty basic things.

That's the more apt comparison.

[Eleccybubb]

Should the critic have some experience in games or the genre they are reviewing? Yes.

Should they have the same skills as an esports player or professional gamer? Not at all.