A Thought About Destiny's Reception (Destiny)

by ArteenEsben, Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 05:52 (3731 days ago) @ Kermit

This post feels disingenuous. Reviewers aren't "confused". They just don't like the game. Every negative review details unremarkable enemy design, bullet sponge boss encounters, repetitive missions and unengaging story. All of those are failing as an FPS.

Solid core mechanics can only take a game so far if it doesn't engage the player in interesting encounters or make the player feel invested in the story.

Geez, you keep saying EVERY negative review. Have you read them all? MANY negative reviews that I've read talk about how it's not what they expected, and what they expected is not what I expected. Who's wrong?

Every negative review I read, I should clarify, which were a handful of them from big sites like Polygon and Giant Bomb. They all said generally the same thing. Polygon even did a joint review from two different perspectives.

I've seen reviewers who completely contradict each other or even themselves in the same review.

It's not like subjectivity can be banished and expectations have no affect in the evaluation of the game. I sense an eagerness to take Bungie down a peg or two. I've seen the same thing happen with many successful artists. When a flaw can be found, it's magnified.

Even before the beta or final game came out, I saw some critics ready to dismiss it. Mass market shooter, nothing special. We can both keep pretending that the reviewers who agree with us are the objective ones who get it right, but the truth is we both could be overlooking the game's strengths or faults.

I'm sure there are lots of folks out there looking to be negative, but you don't get a metacritic score like that just from a few salty folks with a bone to pick. Pointing to those major review sites again, lots of folks seem to just be plain disappointed and underwhelmed.

I bet you this, though. If this game came out of left field, or if Activision had not yakked so much about the supposed half a billion figure, I think the reviews would be better. Expectation is a MF.

True, but it's hard to escape expectations with " Bungie" on the label.

I'm hoping this will be just like the first Assassin's Creed. Excellent core mechanics, but little in the way of variety or story, roundly criticised (and justifiably so). Then the sequel fixes all the problems and is universally lauded.