ELEX's treatment by the mainstream gaming media

[PorkyThePaladin]

It's not news of course in 2017 (soon 2018) that the mainstream gaming media, ie the IGNs, Gamespots, and the Polygons of the world, write reviews and coverage heavily biased toward the larger publishers, who pay their salaries with advertising revenue. Nor is it a new thing that these hacks tend to overcompensate for their lack of professional integrity by being overly critical of smaller companies. But I have to say, the way ELEX was treated surprised me.

For instance, while Gothic 1 and 2 were great games, most of these publications gave very lukewarm reviews, from which you would never suspect the actual quality of the games. But even so, the reviews were still probably somewhere around an 8/10. Risen 1 also scored a somewhat respectable grade in that area.

But ELEX received a 4.5/10 from IGN and a 4/10 from Gamespot. These aren't "glitchy but fun" or even "mediocre" scores. These are "absolute crap" scores. And this is from the same websites that give out near perfect scores to trash like Fallout 4. Check out this gem of a review from IGN:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/11/09/fallout-4-review

You can't read through two sentences in a row without breaking out into body shaking laughter. How can you compare the simplistic mind-numbing gameplay of Fallout 4 with the fun of exploration and the depth of quests and interactions in ELEX and give the former 9.5 and the latter 4.5?

Again, I understand that this has been going on for a while, but it seems like the intensity is definitely increasing.

 

[cvv]

Yes it's been a long standing tradition Kwan journalists are super-lenient towards Bethesda. As for their treatment of Elex, I don't get it either. I think most of the mainstream journos haven't actually played it more than a few hours. They just remember Risen 2 was crap, Risen 3 was crap and so they boot up Elex, play a few hours, it's weird and complex and they have just started Cuphead yesterday and wanna continue with that because it's cool and all their friends talk about it.

So bam, 4/10, quit, uninstall, who cares, it's just some little game from Europe, it's not Facebook popular and nobody talks about it.

 

[Paul_cz]

Fuck mainstream game press.

 

[Tigranes]

Presumably the dudes working there back then could fire up G1/2 and at least understand that they are supposed to learn how combat and controls work. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they mashed attack button until they died then watched some videos to check the polygons on faces.

 

[Valky]

I can't read the job title "Video Game Journalist" without breaking up into laughter.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I agree, but it may also have something to do with different tastes and audiences - ELEX is an Mid-European style game, so on average, Euro scores should be better (though I remember a French site thrashing it). German GameStar give the game a very favorable treatment - likely for the same reasons IGN did not ("patriotism", "exclusive access", ...).

 

[Geckabor]

The most fascinating part about this was how a majority of things the journalists considered as "flaws" actually made me want to play ELEX even more.

 

[Dyskolos]

Maybe this is a painfully obvious point or maybe it's too subtle to phrase well. It is possibly retarded either way because most reviewers are just plain dumb. But in many instances it seems that the 'journalists' game their scores to be in line with what they expect from their audience's response - so instead of giving a rating that reflects the game as it ended up relative to what it strove for they give one they think will capture what their average readers would think of the final product. I tend to think of this as a pre-emptive defensive technique for them - that they worry over losing readers to other sites if their scores are too out of sync with what their readers find enjoyable and lead them to dump $60 on something they uninstall after an hour. And in instances like this where the game is at the fringe of a popular genre from a developer with a spotty history they lean to flat rejection over nuanced caveat recommendation.

 

[gestalt11]

Put two and two together, man. These outfits arent just plain stupid, they are utterly corrupt. This is an obvious fact across a lot of media.

Not only would they give undeserved high score they will also keep you on the reservation by making it look like there is no real alternative. ELEX is a pretty obvious direct competitor to a game like fallout 4 of course they try to play it down.

The press in general cannot be explained purely by stupidity, they are scum. The things they purposely ignore or undermine is every bit as important as what they prop up. Most of their lies are lies of omission. For what reason they do these things varies its a weird conglomeration of pure money and/or ideaology, some of this varies by publication. Some things are incredibly consistent across publications due to various forms of influence peddaling. In the end they are dishonest scum and they are working angles ob both sides.

 

[Luckmann]

• Fuck the jewish media, all they do is lie and manipulate, manipulate and lie.
• Even with no ill will (which is unlikely; ELEX was developed by a German studio), it's unlikely they gave it the time of day to even play it out properly, and it takes quite a bit of playing to give it anything higher than a 6. The game is severely flawed and suffers from numerous major issues (which may or may not have been mitigated since release, I don't know, I eventually stopped playing) that aren't easy to ignore. Let's not pretend otherwise.
• The fact that trash like Fallout 4 got so much higher just makes it all the more evident that they give scores based on public appeal and who favours them, and what signals they want to send and how they want to manipulate the market; it is less that they think that ELEX is crap (they likely don't know nor care), and more that they force FO4 as the "Doubleplusgood" of the day.
• Intensity is indeed increasing, this is nothing short of total cultural war.

 

[Iznaliu]

Maybe this is a painfully obvious point or maybe it's too subtle to phrase well. It is possibly retarded either way because most reviewers are just plain dumb. But in many instances it seems that the 'journalists' game their scores to be in line with what they expect from their audience's response - so instead of giving a rating that reflects the game as it ended up relative to what it strove for they give one they think will capture what their average readers would think of the final product. I tend to think of this as a pre-emptive defensive technique for them - that they worry over losing readers to other sites if their scores are too out of sync with what their readers find enjoyable and lead them to dump $60 on something they uninstall after an hour. And in instances like this where the game is at the fringe of a popular genre from a developer with a spotty history they lean to flat rejection over nuanced caveat recommendation.

You can also realise that journalists threaten ad revenue if they give scores that are out-of-line (mainly to AAA games, but they need to make them stand out to the rest of the crowd). As a result, they get ifred if they give inappropriate scores. I doubt they straight-out lie about their opinions, as that would make them go insane, but they look at AAA games more favourably without any explicit lying so they can feel good when they get home at the end of the day.

 

[HoboForEternity]

mainstream game media have the collective IQ of <90 and an empty wallet and ramen dinner and lunch so if a corporate lapdog mouthpiece shows up with a sammich they all get excited and willing to lick ass.

what is new? fire is hot?

 

[Antigoon]

Not surprised by that treatment. Elex is just a perfect candidate to show how critical your esteemed journal is. Too big to be a kewl indie, too small to pay your bills.

 

[fantadomat]

Meh,it is no different on the codex really. If it was ELEX would have been voted GOTY.

 

[Sigourn]

I understand that we all have opinions and no one's opinion is inherently more correct than someone else's, so IGN is in their absolute right to call Fallout 4 "near perfect" and ELEX "fairly crap".

But some people are retards and shouldn't review games clearly not made for them: only a moron can claim Fallout 4 is one of the best games ever made and call ELEX "mediocre" just because they are way too casual to recognize a proper RPG when it hits them in the face. (I giggle as I call ELEX "a proper RPG", but you get what I mean)

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Christ, who gives a shit? Gaming isn't horse racing. Your game doesn't have to come in first for you to enjoy it.

Jeez laweez.

 

[Shinji]

Christ, who gives a shit? Gaming isn't horse racing. Your game doesn't have to come in first for you to enjoy it.

Jeez laweez.

I agree with you, but unfortunately bad press usually affects sales and consequently developers as well, either by making them go bankrupt or by forcing them to dumb down their future games for the masses (i.e. copy/clone mechanics of more popular and well received games and live under their shadows forever).

 

[Zarniwoop]

I knoe rite. It's almost like the gaming media is massively corrupt and no one with a brian takes them seriously.

It's like that thing gamergate was talking about.

 

[ShadowSpectre]

Mainstream Gaming Media is FAKE NEWS like Mainstream News Media.

The mainstream reviewers clearly no longer play the games they are reviewing and just give high ratings to whoever pays and probably even get paid to give competitor games that are from a less popular developer shitty reviews (a la Fallout 4 compared to Elex). The independent review sites like Codex are good, but we need to expose some of these IGN & Co. shills for what they are if we plan to get anywhere. Then again, people also reverted on Battlefront 2.0, so stupid is as stupid does. Best to do what you can by putting your money where your mouth is and not jump at the next piece of shit that rolls out of Bethesda's ass labelled Fallout, TESVI or similar from EA, Ubisoft, etc. Same shit, different pile.

 

[Suburban Sasquatch]

Game Journalism is not what it used to be. You either bribe them or show extreme virtue signalling or else you will be thunderously panned. Probably doesn't help that PC gaming has now been dead so long it's unlikely the 25 year olds they employ have ever played a PC game to completion, either.

 

[Junmarko]

• Fuck the jewish media

Location:
Scandinavia

 

[DosBuster]

The mainstream reviewers clearly no longer play the games they are reviewing and just give high ratings to whoever pays and probably even get paid to give competitor games that are from a less popular developer shitty reviews (

If they're actually getting money then I have no idea whose hands it ends up in considering how many mainstream journalists struggle financially. Game companies do hand out free items often to journalists but it's hard to eat a bunch of gaming headsets lemme tell ya.

 

[DosBuster]

Also, I thought the IGN review was fair, the author admitted there was some great game and narrative design here but the bugs and technical issues bring it down.

Besides, that review isn't aimed at anyone here or anyone who is a fan of the Gothic games. It's aimed at the everyday man who doesn't want to spend money on a broken game.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Also, I thought the IGN review was fair, the author admitted there was some great game and narrative design here but the bugs and technical issues bring it down.

Besides, that review isn't aimed at anyone here or anyone who is a fan of the Gothic games. It's aimed at the everyday man who doesn't want to spend money on a broken game.

oh please, fuck that shit.

ELEx at launch is alot more stable than any of bethesda's burning turd. Played since launch to finally finished it last week, it never crash, never freeze, or had any major problems.sure there are clipping, and sound issue, but otherwise it is fucxking stable.

The only major glitch i had is the chem dealer quest line in hort wont finish properly (which was retroactively patched with the latest update)

bethesda and ubisoft games for examole have shipped with a much worse condition and still get 7-9 across the boards.

Dont use that fucking idiot excuse because anyone with half a brain know thats full of crap

 

[Jenkem]

Nothing causes mainstream vidya game journalists anxiety like having freedom of choice, multiple ways to approach quests and the ability to fail them, etc. this is why they shit on the ELEX. They only prefer the illusion of choice which is why they love Fallout 4. The graphics don't help either because most of them are graphic whores