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

[Endus]

I don't consider myself some kind of "pro gamer", so I don't expect reviewers to be any better than I am, really. You don't need to have cutting-edge reflexes to get a feel for how well-put-together a game is, nor beat the most difficult settings.

But this video is hilariously bad. The time he spent seconds in on the 2nd point of the tutorial, where he had to jump and air-dash over the next pillar, jebus. That's where it goes from "not a pro gamer" to "does this person PLAY video games?"

I love Cuphead's art, but the game type isn't my favorite and I probably won't pick it up (unless SUPER cheap or in a humble bundle or something). I'm not averse to difficulty; I played and enjoyed Super Meat Boy. But that's a different kind of game.

[dope_danny]

The dude has now tried to calm this by saying "the bioware co ceos let me know they toned down the rpg mechanics of mass effect 2 because i couldnt find out how to use skill points in my mass effect review" in what i assume was a "look fellow consumer, i am helping!" play which has only lead to even more people going "THAT WAS YOU!" and just starting the "why are modern games journalists poison for games" debate all over again.

Good lord what a shitshow.

[Edge-]

The dude has now tried to calm this by saying "the bioware co ceos let me know they toned down the rpg mechanics of mass effect 2 because i couldnt find out how to use skill points in my mass effect review" in what i assume was a "look fellow consumer, i am helping!" play which has only lead to even more people going "THAT WAS YOU!" and just starting the "why are modern games journalists poison for games" debate all over again.

Good lord what a shitshow.

https://twitter.com/deantak/status/906768747720974336

Link for context.

He's really making all of this so much worse, both with the "apology" piece and now this kind of stupidity on Twitter. This is why PR teams tell people to shut the fuck up during controversies, because generally continuing to engage just adds more fuel to the fire rather than letting people rant and let whatever it is lose steam normally. Oh Dean.

[Elim Garak]

Why do game journalists even exist in the epoch of "let's play"?

[dope_danny]

Why do game journalists even exist in the epoch of "let's play"?

Because tech websites need the pageviews videogames bring and dont themselves know much about games and need a 'that guy' to do it for them.

[Thelyron]

I firmly believe that you can't adequately judge things you yourself are not proficient at. That goes for game journalists, movie critics, food critics, sport reporters, and so on. You can state your opinion about something, but you can't give objective judgement, and if you try to do, it should be discarded.

So yes, gaming journalists should be good at games. You don't need to be a pro, but you should be able to grasp the general gameplay concept within a couple of minutes, and then execute it.

[Varitok]

Its like if someone is critiquing food but can't taste it so he just goes off of texture.

[Deleted]

https://twitter.com/deantak/status/906768747720974336

Link for context.

He's really making all of this so much worse, both with the "apology" piece and now this kind of stupidity on Twitter. This is why PR teams tell people to shut the fuck up during controversies, because generally continuing to engage just adds more fuel to the fire rather than letting people rant and let whatever it is lose steam normally. Oh Dean.

So, he has the balls to say Mass Effect 2 was changed because of his inaptitude, AFTER the Cuphead video debacle? And then gaming journalists wonder why gamers react like this...

Dean, ask to shit and go the fuck out, seriously, you are making it worse.


But there is more!



I guess ME: Andromeda was as hard as MA1, right Dean? Dear God...

[Jester Joe]

Because tech websites need the pageviews videogames bring and dont themselves know much about games and need a 'that guy' to do it for them.

Also it's far easier to read a quick article and avoid actually seeing any footage of the game play than to watch even a single "Let's play" video.

[Strangebrew]

[RobertoCarlos]

I never gave much attention to game reviews in the first place but I didnt know the bar was THAT low honestly.

The most annoying thing as well is that once this blows over people will forget and he'll keep pumping out those reviews and games will continue to be more singular hallway platformers with giant green arrows pointing where to go. What will they think of next to make it even easier! Only this guy can help decide

[Edge-]

I never gave much attention to game reviews in the first place but I didnt know the bar was THAT low honestly.

The most annoying thing as well is that once this blows over people will forget and he'll keep pumping out those reviews and games will continue to be more singular hallway platformers with giant green arrows pointing where to go. What will they think of next to make it even easier! Only this guy can help decide

This wasn't a review, it's a preview.

Dean doesn't really handle reviews too often anymore, thankfully, so there's not too much to worry about on that front. That being said the freelancers they often pick up for their reviews do leave plenty to be desired.

[Sparklelord]

However, I do think reviewers should finish games when applicable, especially story based games, so you may need a minimum level of proficiency to do that.

This basically happened with a recent remaster/re-release of Phantom Dust, didn't bother making it through what's basically the tutorial and didn't touch the main component (being the multiplayer) and it's already kind of a niche game to begin with.

[Nathanyel]

Why do game journalists even exist in the epoch of "let's play"?

Let's Plays without commentary, ok, but I take bad game journalists over attention-whoring "streamers".

[Cosmic Janitor]

Still better than most science correspondents..

[Elim Garak]

Let's Plays without commentary, ok, but I take bad game journalists over attention-whoring "streamers".

You can choose streamers. You can also turn the sound off.

[Nathanyel]

You can choose streamers. You can also turn the sound off.

You can also choose which game magazines/websites you read, so that doesn't really matter in this discussion.

[Lahis]

Man, watching the video again I think Takahashi needs to play through the whole game and a drinking game needs to be made out of it.

Every time he turns around and starts shooting at enemies that are only spawning because he's turning around, take a shot.
Every time he crouches instead of jumping over an enemy, take a shot.
Every time he meets a new enemy and immediately plows into it, take a shot.
When he just stops and runs back in forth in place for no reason which allows to respawn around him, take a shot equal to the number of times the enemies respawn.
Every time he turns around and runs away from a projectile instead of jumping over it, ducking under it, etc. but still gets hit by it, take two shots.
When he finally remembers that he can dash, take three shots.
When he successfully pulls of the parry ability, finish the bottle.

Are you trying to murder someone?

- - - Updated - - -

So, he has the balls to say Mass Effect 2 was changed because of his inaptitude, AFTER the Cuphead video debacle? And then gaming journalists wonder why gamers react like this...

Dean, ask to shit and go the fuck out, seriously, you are making it worse.


But there is more!



I guess ME: Andromeda was as hard as MA1, right Dean? Dear God...

Dear god. Seeing how much the Fiend takes damage from rank 1 M-8 Avenger, this must be on the easiest storymode difficulty.

It's like he is lacking basic motor skills and spacial awareness.

[Soxoffender]

I firmly believe that you can't adequately judge things you yourself are not proficient at. That goes for game journalists, movie critics, food critics, sport reporters, and so on. You can state your opinion about something, but you can't give objective judgement, and if you try to do, it should be discarded.

So yes, gaming journalists should be good at games. You don't need to be a pro, but you should be able to grasp the general gameplay concept within a couple of minutes, and then execute it.

I agree with the general sentiment that games reviewers need a certain level of competence to be fair to a game. I wish people would stop demanding 'objective judgements' though. It doesn't really mean anything useful in the context of reviewing a piece of entertainment and in fact I want reviewers to express personal opinions about games as long as they're honest about them and broadly consistent. If I know an individual is a fan of hard Metroidvanias and I've got a few examples of them reviewing games I've played before then that makes their next review more useful to me because I've got some idea what they mean by 'hard' and I know to factor in that they're well-disposed to the genre. Similarly, if they hate JRPGs and somehow end up being given one then I know that I can either ignore them altogether or at the very least give less weight to their review.

[dope_danny]

I agree with the general sentiment that games reviewers need a certain level of competence to be fair to a game. I wish people would stop demanding 'objective judgements' though. It doesn't really mean anything useful in the context of reviewing a piece of entertainment and in fact I want reviewers to express personal opinions about games as long as they're honest about them and broadly consistent. If I know an individual is a fan of hard Metroidvanias and I've got a few examples of them reviewing games I've played before then that makes their next review more useful to me because I've got some idea what they mean by 'hard' and I know to factor in that they're well-disposed to the genre. Similarly, if they hate JRPGs and somehow end up being given one then I know that I can either ignore them altogether or at the very least give less weight to their review.

I think honestly a good critic gives two reviews of a game. Like Twin Perfect said about their Silent Hill critiques "first is the work functionally good, then is it contextually good" A game that plays like shit can have a great story, soundtrack and characters like Nier but a game that runs well can be a burning trash fire in every other regard like Battleborne. Games should first be judged on 'does it work' because sadly -in AAA especially- QA has been sorely lacking in recent years and that isn't a garauntee for a review at launch. Second should always be the opinion of the writer. What did they like and what did they dislike.
Then of course you can only aggregate a number of different opinions and parse the bullshit to see if it might be worth checking out a demo for your personal taste test so to speak.

Honestly its why i feel i can trust Jeff Gerstmanns judgement on a game even if i dont often agree with what he thinks is contextually good based on tastes. But i still at least am confident his opinion is sincere and thought out without the political soapboxing of modern 'journos' because he has been in the game a long time and even got fired from gamespot for not giving a better score to an average game because its publishers were paying for adspace on gamespot. You dont have to agree with a game critic, just figure out if its a talking head shill or not at the end of the day.