Ready Up

Who are YOU to judge?

Get ready! I summon the power of the ‘Diablo fanboy’ attack from behind my shield of some kind of magic + random stat!

I have been poking around the internet looking at all the information and opinions on Diablo 3. Personally, I think it looks as though its going to be amazing. The graphics are cool, the trailers and gameplay demos look awesome.

I was reading up about the fanboys and they were saying that the colour pallets are all wrong. A few of them even went to the extent of taking screen shots and changing the colours to a darker version to help set the mood. They feel as though the colours don’t represent the previous iterations of Diablo and that changing to the new scheme will break the game.

I started to think who the best people are to review games. There are reviews on Ready-Up.net that people can read and make up their own minds on but are we the best people to write them? Of course we are (corporate kiss ass). There are a good mix of reviews on the site ranging from people who have played previous versions of the game they’re reviewing and others that are avid followers of a series.

The Ready-Up Juniors section of the site gives young kids the chance to play some new games and give their opinions on them. We get some crazy answers to the questions but its an honest opinion coming from the age group that the game is intended for.

As far as I can see games can be reviewed by anyone who has an interest, but should the reviewer have played all the previous releases of that title? An ideal example would be Valves Half Life. I think the whole Half Life series is excellent but I have been around long enough to appreciate the original and the advances made in follow ups. I can express my opinion on how Gordon Freeman has advanced, on how the story has progressed and everything else like graphics and sound improvements. This is all good and well if you have played the first but I like to hear what people who haven’t played the first one have to say about the game.

Unless you know that you’re going to buy a game on release date you should troll the internet and gather opinions and perspectives from the experienced to the new people. At least then you know you’ll have an informed opinion.

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6 responses to “Who are YOU to judge?”

  1. Emily avatar
    Emily

    I have to say I do have mixed opinions on the whole diablo colour scheme thing. When I first saw gameplay and screenshots I thought it looked lovely, but at the same time I’ll agree with some of the fans in that it’s lost some of the ‘dark’ feel to it with all the bright glowing colours.

    I also think you could combat that by just turning the saturation and the brightness down…

  2. Kirsten avatar
    Kirsten

    As a journalist I can’t help but think that the best person to review a game is someneone with an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming, a good knowledge of the industry and developers and a background in writing and media who knows how to present an unbiased case based on observation and experience.

    A journalist should be able to consider the views, notions and needs of the hardcore gamer, the casual player, those completely new to gaming, children and adults and make a recommendation that’s fair to the whole readership. In a way this would discount the idea of checking a broader range of views from across the internet as you suggest. Of course I can’t help but see it that way become I’m coming from a very particular stand point in this debate.

  3. Tony avatar
    Tony

    I think as long as you state your position ie. “Having played all of the previous games in this series…” or “Although I’ve never been a fan of football games…” then at least people can judge your opinions based on these bits of background info.

    Let’s face it, I’d love to have played every game ever to come up with the fairest and best review, but it simply isn’t going to happen.

  4. Skill avatar
    Skill

    I’m just a lowly game-player. No industry experience or anything.
    But for me, I gotta agree with Kirsten.
    Pro reviews every time.

  5. Laura avatar
    Laura

    Wow I haven’t played the original Half Life for years, is that really what the graphics were like!!? 🙂

  6. Michael avatar
    Michael

    But, um, isn’t a review biased by its'(?) very nature?

    I have never played Half Life… I saw it played years ago, tried it and was absolutely shit at it. True story.

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