Kane & Lynch in a bit of a Pinch

mrk · 2 Dec 2007 at 17:35

I don't know if many of you guys have been keeping tabs on the current affairs with this game and "GameSpot" so I'll cliff it out.

Gamespot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann was recently fired for giving Kane and Lynch a bad review. It would appear that the big bods behind K&L had a vast pot of money invested in advertising with Gamespot so a shining review was expected.

Not so.

The game is bad and the majority of us know it already, Jeff spoke the truth in his review since all the bad points he mentions can be observed full on. They clearly spent more money and effort on marketing the game than developing it from a good idea for a game INTO a good game.

Anyway, gaming news sites all over the web have gone on fire with talk about this incident and looks like Gamespot/Eidos & co just don't know how to handle it. Whilst one has disabled all comments and reviews on the game the other is deleting threads on first site relating to this situation.

I think it's terrible how the people funding a game can influence something like this - what were they expecting?

KNiVES · 2 Dec 2007 at 17:37

Yeah, it's extremely bad at the moment, Gamespot just don't know what to do. Sites like NeoGAF are boycotting and censoring anything to do with Gamespot and Eidos, and rightfully so. Reviews and journalism should never be influenced by moneyhats or developers; it's a solid iron wall that should never be breached.

HighlandeR · 2 Dec 2007 at 18:36

I just completed it today, was a fun game.... similar to hitman, I dont see whats all the bad vibe about it

But definatly no one should get fired over an opinion or bad review of the game.....

Marky · 2 Dec 2007 at 19:06

I completed it yesterday and I have to say it was the worst ending in a game I've ever had... It's a shame because the storyline was good but it just wasnt long enough

steve258 · 2 Dec 2007 at 19:59

Good start to the story but rubbish ending, feels and look like hitman blood money so nothing new. Fragile alliance is an excellent idea for multiplayer though.

stealthgeek · 2 Dec 2007 at 20:10

My Ex's brother is/was the editor of cdrinfo.com. He once said that a certian hardware company was giving x amount of $ to sway a better review on the site. he then said a competitor was exceeding x to sway a review of a competing product. He just laughed and rubbed his hands together - beware unscrupulous review sites!

titaniumx3 · 3 Dec 2007 at 13:53

Then they moan when people download games illegally! :mad:

scorza · 3 Dec 2007 at 14:03

It's a real shame when a company's efforts to stop bad PR happening result in even more bad PR

Mr-White · 3 Dec 2007 at 14:08

if every game is rated good whats the point of writing a review, surely everyones allowed their own opinion ?

MW

bfar · 3 Dec 2007 at 14:13

The gaming industry has been going down this road for a while now. Can't trust anyone. Only real opinions you can get are on forums like this.

Fubsy · 3 Dec 2007 at 14:22

bfar said:
The gaming industry has been going down this road for a while now. Can't trust anyone. Only real opinions you can get are on forums like this.

Until they start throwing money at Spie. Then we will get banned for saying something negative about a game.

Muppets. There should be regulations put in place to stop this, it's just out of control by the looks of things. Deception isn't the way to treat potential customers.

divine` · 3 Dec 2007 at 14:32

Hmm... though, the trouble here is, as a lot of people are pointing out, it was an appalling review and he seemed like he'd only played the first level at most.

If this is the case, he can't expect to do his job so half assed and not get fired really.

alastair79 · 3 Dec 2007 at 15:56

Problem with all reviews is that it’s entirely one person’s point of view, so if he doesn’t like a specific type of game he’s going to mark it down even if it’s a really good example of the type.

And user reviews are not much better as they have one of two views, it’s rubbish or it’s amazing. Only way to see if a game is for you is to play it.

I happen to really like Kane and Lynch, but this is based on the fact it’s basically Hitman after the poop hits the fan and I liked that and so unsurprisingly I like this.

.

HAz · 3 Dec 2007 at 16:17

HighlandeR said:
I just completed it today, was a fun game.... similar to hitman, I dont see whats all the bad vibe about it

But definatly no one should get fired over an opinion or bad review of the game.....

Yea its simular to Hitman in the respect that there both 3rd person.

Vanilla · 3 Dec 2007 at 16:21

I refuse to even consider buying it because of all this hoo ha. I tend to trust the gamespot reader reviews over official ones.

Neil79 · 3 Dec 2007 at 16:26

Joystiq has published a brief Q&A with recently fired GameSpot executive editor Jeff Gerstmann:

"I stand behind my work, regardless of where I do it," Gerstmann told Joystiq in an e-mail. "If there was content that I felt I couldn't support, it wouldn't see the light of day." Gerstmann did not comment specifically on the edits made to his text review of Kane & Lynch, or the site's removal of the video review, but he did support the editing process in general. "If factual errors are made, I have no problem owning up to that error, correcting it, nothing that a correction has been made, and feeling like an idiot for making the mistake in the first place," he said. Gerstmann also directly addressed the somewhat pernicious rumor that he did not complete Kane & Lynch before he finished his review. "A reviewer's Xbox Live Gamercard is rarely a good place to look for answers about how much that reviewer has (or hasn't) played a game," he said. "For the record, I saw both endings in Kane & Lynch before writing about it."

As for his future plans, Gerstmann seems to be keeping his options open. "I'm not really sure what I want to do next," he said. "This whole situation has left me with a lot to think about. While this sort of clean break would be an acceptable time to think about trying game development, I feel like I still have more to say and do on the editorial side of the fence, too."

Surprisingly, the experience doesn't seem to have soured Gerstmann on video game journalism as a whole. "Despite the number of people who are taking these rumors ... to mean that game writing is ethically bankrupt, I don't feel that's the case," he said. "Either way, I'm currently keeping my options open and have been in contact with interesting people on both sides."

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/03/exclusive-gertsmann-speaks-about-kandl-review-future/

HAz · 3 Dec 2007 at 16:33

Vanilla said:
I refuse to even consider buying it because of all this hoo ha. I tend to trust the gamespot reader reviews over official ones.

How can we trust any review site/mag after this?

Last Kronin · 3 Dec 2007 at 16:41

HAz said:
How can we trust any review site/mag after this?

You dont, just listen to ppl on here who have the game and played it, take The witcher thread, some review sites gave it a bad review but many ppl after reading the thread have went and bought it and have liked it.

bfar · 3 Dec 2007 at 17:05

Last Kronin said:
You dont, just listen to ppl on here who have the game and played it, take The witcher thread, some review sites gave it a bad review but many ppl after reading the thread have went and bought it and have liked it.

None of it seems to add up. Just look at the difference between the critics score and the users score on metacritic. The Witcher is the only one where the User score is far higher than the critics score. Every other game its the other way round.

Fireblade2K4 · 3 Dec 2007 at 19:22

Well I happen to have had this game arrive today and think its pretty good, however I would love to make it to the doughnut shop before i get a CTDP however it just ain't gonna happen, is anyone else having issues running this on Vista?

I really regret buying this O/S!

Stu