A benefit of reviewing indie games is that they pretty much run on anything, along the most indie devs caring about their game and, if any issues exist, they are fixed in the first year. :D
True. And I have a difference tolerance for indie game technical issues for various reasons, of course, but most of them get the issues fixed quite quickly.
Nice take on an area where I agree game reviews are lacking and can do better. Nobody wants to spend $70 on a game just to have the gameplay experience ruined due to bugs. I also recognize that there will always be technical issues when publishing a game, and getting them resolved soon after launch is understandable. But, those should be little issues that were missed, not ones that are rather obvious.
I personally experience janky gameplay due to me trying to play games on a pc that isn't equipped to handle it, so I wouldn't include that aspect in my reviews. For everyone else though, it's certainly an interesting point. I remember seeing reviews for the Oblivion remaster alongside complaints of crashes and thought it was odd that many werent taking that into account. Great post, Gonçalo! 👏
I saw some pushback online from the creator of Borderlands 4 when people pointed out the technical issues. Conan O'Brien played this game for a charity event and it crashed while he was doing it. Basically, fans were told that their machines were terrible and the game runs fine.
I think this isn't uncommon to be chastised for not having an up to date machine or whatever. So maybe people are reluctant to point it out.
If I bought a game and couldn't play it due to issues, then I wouldn't be able to review the game. Or, maybe I would and say that I got my money back. (Unless I got the game for free for my review).
But I think glitches should be revealed because it's part of the game play experience and is different than reading a book or watching a film.
That last paragraph is how I see it, too. In a movie it would be the equivalent of the scenes being recorded with bad equipment (not a great comparison but close enough) and in a book it would be something like the layout of the paragraphs and lines being inconsistent.
Performance issues and technical problems in general have an impact in my experience, that is for sure.
A benefit of reviewing indie games is that they pretty much run on anything, along the most indie devs caring about their game and, if any issues exist, they are fixed in the first year. :D
True. And I have a difference tolerance for indie game technical issues for various reasons, of course, but most of them get the issues fixed quite quickly.
Nice take on an area where I agree game reviews are lacking and can do better. Nobody wants to spend $70 on a game just to have the gameplay experience ruined due to bugs. I also recognize that there will always be technical issues when publishing a game, and getting them resolved soon after launch is understandable. But, those should be little issues that were missed, not ones that are rather obvious.
I personally experience janky gameplay due to me trying to play games on a pc that isn't equipped to handle it, so I wouldn't include that aspect in my reviews. For everyone else though, it's certainly an interesting point. I remember seeing reviews for the Oblivion remaster alongside complaints of crashes and thought it was odd that many werent taking that into account. Great post, Gonçalo! 👏
Appreciate your take, Laura!
I saw some pushback online from the creator of Borderlands 4 when people pointed out the technical issues. Conan O'Brien played this game for a charity event and it crashed while he was doing it. Basically, fans were told that their machines were terrible and the game runs fine.
I think this isn't uncommon to be chastised for not having an up to date machine or whatever. So maybe people are reluctant to point it out.
If I bought a game and couldn't play it due to issues, then I wouldn't be able to review the game. Or, maybe I would and say that I got my money back. (Unless I got the game for free for my review).
But I think glitches should be revealed because it's part of the game play experience and is different than reading a book or watching a film.
That last paragraph is how I see it, too. In a movie it would be the equivalent of the scenes being recorded with bad equipment (not a great comparison but close enough) and in a book it would be something like the layout of the paragraphs and lines being inconsistent.
Performance issues and technical problems in general have an impact in my experience, that is for sure.