Note: This article was written on Tuesday, Oct. 3rd. As of writing this article, I have no idea whether or not Resident Evil 6 is bad or good. What I do know is bad writing, and this is a commentary on such.
More often than not, any time I write an editorial, I have an incredibly long-winded opening paragraph about the necessity of something intellectual, while breaking down the necessity of something or other, usually in more words than are appropriate. Today is a different case. I’ve come to the conclusion that the game media, as a whole, has no idea as to how to keep their stories straight. Why? It’s because the video game media, as a whole, is a bunch of fanboys.
Has anyone had an experience when they’ve been absolutely shocked at the inconsistency of the nerd subculture? This whole situation with Resident Evil 6 is taking me back to a moment I had in a Gamestop around 2009. At the time, Resident Evil 5 had been released, and as per usual, I heard a bunch of whining nerds with neck beards complaining. As I overheard the complaints about a lack of exploration and such and such about it not being survival horror, I felt the need to ask these gentlemen what their favorite Resident Evil game was. Their answer? Resident Evil 4.
This is where the main problem begins to rise up within the game media. Often times, game bloggers (I refuse to call them journalists from this point onward) will outright refuse to keep their story straight, depending on the mood they are in. Many of the same complaints that bloggers had about Resident Evil 5 in their reviews have returned for their “articles” about Resident Evil 6. Thing is, if you look at reviews of RE5, you see eights and nines abound. In RE6’s reviews, the scores are significantly lower. Well, if they’re guilty of the same crimes, then why is one so highly regarded and the other terrible?
Quite frankly, it’s hard to pick one particular reason why the game is getting reviewed this way. One trend in game blogging is to pick one game to “bury” (as pro wrestling fans would say), and the collective blogging mind decides to give the game a bad rep, while ignoring what the game brings to the table. Fallout: New Vegas stands as such an example, and the game’s success in spite of this brings a warm feeling to my chest. Another trend is simply to complain about either menial things, or to give blatant indicators that the particular writer should have passed the review on to someone else.
In regards to the latter, often times I’ll read reviews by “critics” that have particular criticisms about one game, but when the same criticism can be levied against another title, it is ignored for whatever reason. One particular example I saw not too long ago was a Mariokart 3DS review by Jim Sterling, where he complained that the game was just “following the same formula” and whatnot. Yet, the exact same complaint can be levied against Modern Warfare 3. Destructoid’s official score of Modern Warfare 3 was a 9.5, while Mariokart 3DS has a 5.0. For gamers, by gamers, provided you’re satisfying the advertisers.
Gamers, I’m going to be as honest as humanly possible. The popular games “press” are unreliable, uneducated, imbecilic, and inconsistent. These people do not care about informing you. They care about inflating their own egos because they think they’re special if someone hears what they’re saying. Here’s a news flash: You can stand on a soapbox in downtown Chicago while reading Twilight out loud and be heard, but you’re still spewing crap. Play the game yourself, decide if it’s for you, and wait about ten years until the video game media goes from being a group of terrible writers to a group of decent journalists.
Voice of the Voiceless
-Micah C.