@crqos007 If you've ever studied the basics of writing a review, you learn that there are two things you'll do when writing: either you'll simply give out your opinion or you'll be criticizing. Naturally you want to avoid simply giving out your opinion because opinion are fundamentally subjective whereas critical reasoning wants to be as objective as possible. Objectivity is what a good critic wants because it lets the reader/viewer decide for himself whether or not he likes what he sees. Opinions only corresponds with those who like the same things.
@FighterforJC @Birth00 @petry05 I'm not going to pick apart your entire reply because there are so many things wrong with it that I'll be writing until tomorrow morning. I will agree that a score works in terms of recommending a game. From a pure critical standpoint, it really fails to encapsulate the actual value of a game which is admittedly unquantifiable.
@chuckles471 That's less and less the case as compagnies like gamespot now tend to hire actual gamers. Also a critic's skill at playing games shouldn't factor into his or hers ability to analyse write a coherent review.
As for the portrayal of women, I'll admit that I've yet to play the actual game so I'm mostly going on what I've seen and heard of and I don't feel confident discussing this matter. Let's just say that you got me on that one for now.
@petry05 @FighterforJC @Birth00 In academia, critics have forgone giving score to movies and books because of how it suscitates comparision between works that would score equally. Yet it cannot be done because most works of art are completly different and cannot be given the same standard of appreciation. So yes, scoring is ultimetly flawed if only to express ones apreciation.
Even my favorite games of all time have flaws. I'm ready to overlook them when playing them but, objectively speaking it doesn't mean that it deserves a 10/10.
@FighterforJC @Birth00 That's an excellent point you're making except that these are professional reviewers and should be tasked with being as objective can be in order to give the game the fairest review. Perfect shouldn't be part of a reviews vocabulary if you ask me.
I completly agree with Johnny about the whole political discours and misogyny thing. If you want to appreciate the game only for the sake of gameplay that's fine if you're casually recommending the game to a friend. Gamespot are professional reviewers and veteran gamers who have probably played more and know more about games than 90% of any gaming community. Not criticizing aspects of the game like it's story and the message it communicates to the player is not something that a professional can allow him or herself to ignore for the sake of pleasing the legion of fans GTA has garnered over the course of the franchise's existence. In fact, I find it even more relevant that we point out and chastise Rockstar for it's portrayal of women. GTA 5 is a game that's been in development for over 5 years and benefitted from the biggest budget ever alotted to a game. It isn't much of a stretch to think that the script has gone through many revisions and overhauls during those 5 years and yet it still retains the subversive discours towards women. Red Dead Redemption had many strong female caracters which leads me to believe it was done on purpose. I find it disgusting and totally fair to harp on.
Furthermore, 9/10 is a really high score. 10/10 is synonymous with perfection and no one could ever make me believe that this game is perfect, failing that, at least the best game ever (which I'm sure it isn't).
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