By Michelle Lynn Tackett
Would you give a game a great score if it was boring, repetitive and tedious? No, but a lot of journalists are giving Death Stranding great reviews. Death Stranding is a 6 at best. Yes, Death Stranding tries to be ambitious, however, it’s not well-executed. A lot of ‘positive’ reviews for Death Stranding have admitted the game is not fun to play. That is the point of video games! The video game media has shown itself for the joke they are. Here are other reasons that make the video game media, a joke.
Flash Over Substance
God of War is the perfect example. Ultra-simple puzzles, dumbed-down combat, and a focus on cinematics over gameplay. Look at the scores for games like Uncharted 4, Spiderman and Red Dead Redemption 2. All of these games have mediocre gameplay, but they have great presentations, and a strong story. The media falls for it every time. Games like Celeste, Dead Cells, and Hallowknight are much better games. They don’t get as good of reviews because they focus on gameplay. I am not saying video games shouldn’t have a good story, but it shouldn’t overshadow the gameplay. It is easy to let a story sweep you up and forget about the gameplay problems. If I wanted to watch a movie, I would boot up Netflix.
They’re For Dumbing Down Games
Monster Hunter World got the best reviews of any MH game to date. How pathetic is that? The game dumbed down the gameplay to oblivion. It took out a lot of classes, weapons, and monsters that made MHGU a great title. When PSP and 3DS Monster Hunter games have more content than a console game, that’s sad. Some critics slammed Xenoblade Chronicle 2’s combat for being too complex. Really? All the player has to do is figure out which elements chain together and you’ll create big combos that will help you defeat enemies. Seems like some gaming journalist doesn’t want to think while playing a game. I would hate to see these gaming journalists have to deal with a Rubix cube. Astral Chain got criticized for having deep combat and Fire Emblem got slammed (by a few) for not being fast-paced. At Least Fire Emblem isn’t boring like Death Stranding.
Final Thoughts
The whole media is a joke. Sports and political news are a disgrace, but you can add video games to that list as well. I have wanted to talk about this subject for a long time. The video game media has hurt really good games so they can promote more of the same. Especially from Sony. Most of Sony’s first-party games are the equivalent of Michael Bay movies. Loud, dumb, and have flash over substance. There is an uprising against the video game media. It’s about time! They have hurt video games for long enough. Let them go to a deserted island and watch reality shows forever. I want a video game, so I can have an interactive experience with fun gameplay that will make me happy.
Photo Courtesy of: https://news.game.co.uk/history-of-video-games/
