[General Discussion] Video game review reform idea.

I'm pretty sure that this already plays into a games "value" for reviewers that have a score for that. If it's the exact same game as last year's product, it's probably going to get a low value because for the same price, you can pick up the same basic game for much cheaper.

But as mentioned, how to you decide what qualifies as a big improvement? For example, take the Splinter Cell series. The basic gameplay is the same between all of them: if you've played one game in the series, you can play any other one and you'll be able to grasp the same gameplay right away. But Pandora Tommorrow introduce competative multiplayer and larger environments to the series. Then Chaos Theory added coop and more equipment options, as well as a totally new engine. Then Double Agent introduced new elements into the stealth gameplay and mixed up the gameplay mechanics a bit as well as extending the competative multiplayer.

So...where do you draw the line? Are all of these original enough to count? None of them? Some of them? Something can look like a world of difference to one person and no different to another. To fans of the original Deus Ex, Invisible War was a huge change. But to the somewhat more casual player, someone might go "biomods, gun upgrades, dialog options and multiple objectives/optional objectives...seems like the same game to me".

Frankly, I'd rather developers do what they're good at than feel like they NEED to try something new for the sake of review scores. I mean sure, Oblivion was pretty much the same type of game as Morrowind...but I think that was a much better sequel than games that try to introduce "new" concepts into a series like Star Fox Assault did.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Omnislash124

Will next gen have demos? Because those are good indicators for people to see if they really want to buy it or not. PC games already do this. Console games need to catch up since they now boast wifi.

Err, there have been demos for systems ever since the PSX/Saturn era. The PS1 and PS2 each probably had a few dozen demo discs at least (I remember the Playstation Underground subscription where you got a two-disc set of demos and some media every 3 months), and with some magazines like OXM they would have a demo disc every month. Some actual games even have playable demos included on them, either right from a menu or hidden with a button combination (like the Sly 2 demo in one of the Ratchet and Clank games).

As far as downloadable demos go, all the next-gen consoles and the PSP are capable of that. So far quite a few have been released on the Xbox 360, even though OXM still gives out demo discs with every issue.

There's nowhere I can't reach.