Who's the best judge of a game?

[vic oakland]

For me, hands down, gamers, and in particular fans, and especially fans writing about the game somewhere where they aren't likely to get flamed, are the best judges.

And for a close second, reviewers who are writing long after the game has been released and have fully played the game. (Which means they pretty much fall into the first category.)

Commercial game reviewers? Not so much, but I love reading them.
Banter on a podcast? Not usually, but sometimes hell yes, however often hell no.
Discussion on high volume game forums? Eh. Sometimes, but not when it's all about smackdown.

For me, the best sources I've found to unearth hidden gems and assess the worth of a game are:

a) Racketboy lists
b) Poring through Gamespot user reviews (which usually have one or two well-informed fans writing to explain why a game is great...simply to let the world know.)
c) RPGamer review archives, Fighter's Generation etc.
d) NeoGAF LTTP threads, SomethingAwful, etc.

Point is, I'd rather hear from someone who has played the hell out of something and is writing to tell the world why...than to hear from almost anyone else. A lot of times, games are simply misunderstood.

It's easy NOT to like a game for some reason. It's harder to play the hell out of a game that not everyone likes and want to share what you found with the rest of the world.

Are there any games / reviews that fit this description for you?

[isiolia]

Usually more a matter of finding like-minded people. Games are subjective.

They can be easy to dislike, sure, and not always for the right reasons. The opposite is true as well though. Nearly every game released probably has someone that played the hell out of it and liked it for some reason.

[DinnerX]

Sonic R

Best cartless cart racing game ever.

I've spent hours playing that game. Love the courses, love the glitches, and love the soundtrack. I played time attack so much I could complete several of the races in under a minute. I still get the game out and play it every so often.

[vic oakland]

Funny how Pete Dorr's video review of Sonic R expresses the same sentiment!

This review of Unholy War by dryden555 at Gamespot is an example of what I'm talking about.

Also, this PS1 collection video entitled "My PS1 Collection" from techromancer1 expresses something of that true "gamer" appreciation for games in a way that's just real.

[Tempest]

I don't mean to derail the topic or harshly criticise anyone, but in the Sonic R review the reviewer states that there is no acceleration button in the game. However, if you press the B button (I think that's the correct button, I haven't played it in a long time) then you can accelerate and steer individually. And pressing the L and R buttons assists your steering. If the reviewer had read the manual (or FAQ if they didn't get the manual with the game) they would have realised that. To me, this ignorance classifies the reviewer as a poor judge. But hey, at least he gave the game a fair review.

[vic oakland]

Haha! Not derailed at all. That's a great point. I noticed that, too, but didn't realize that it undermined my original post.

All the examples have aspects that weaken my main point, I guess!

The Sonic R reviewer loved the game but is playing it wrong; I discovered the Unholy War review because I had been playing it 1P, but the reviewer who really "played the hell" out of the game likes it for its 2P mode and thinks Unholy War 1P is a waste of time, and the Playstation collector, who clearly loves the system, has some duds in there with his gems.

I don't know, maybe that says something interesting about games and gaming, too.

Your point about Sonic R reminds me of something I've never understood about how people play Maximo.

I was never good enough at platformers to attempt to play Maximo straight through, so I developed an approach of playing every level without caring about losing my lives and powerups and really taking the time to discover every enemy and secret on every level.

Then I'd go back and play the level as near to perfect as I could with my main game save and kept on building a "perfect game."

It turned out to be quite fun. I'm probably playing the game wrong, but I can't imaging playing Maximo any other way. Exploration first with a care-free powered up Maximo, then attempting a perfect play through level-by-level.

Saves on a lot of the !

[DinnerX]

I don't mean to derail the topic or harshly criticise anyone, but in the Sonic R review the reviewer states that there is no acceleration button in the game. However, if you press the B button (I think that's the correct button, I haven't played it in a long time) then you can accelerate and steer individually. And pressing the L and R buttons assists your steering. If the reviewer had read the manual (or FAQ if they didn't get the manual with the game) they would have realised that. To me, this ignorance classifies the reviewer as a poor judge. But hey, at least he gave the game a fair review.

I always play the GC port. No pop up, slightly nicer looking graphics, weather control, and a 4-player mode. And you get to use an analog stick.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I don't mean to derail the topic or harshly criticise anyone, but in the Sonic R review the reviewer states that there is no acceleration button in the game. However, if you press the B button (I think that's the correct button, I haven't played it in a long time) then you can accelerate and steer individually. And pressing the L and R buttons assists your steering. If the reviewer had read the manual (or FAQ if they didn't get the manual with the game) they would have realised that. To me, this ignorance classifies the reviewer as a poor judge. But hey, at least he gave the game a fair review.

I always play the GC port. No pop up, slightly nicer looking graphics, weather control, and a 4-player mode. And you get to use an analog stick.

The GC version is a port of the PC release as I understand it. Sonic R does support analog control on the Saturn as well.

[DinnerX]

The GC version is a port of the PC release as I understand it.

It is a port of the PC version. I can't recommend the PC version though. I think the PC version is supposed to have red book audio, but my CD didn't have any audio tracks at all so no background music for me.

It's also more inconvenient to play 4 player on the PC.

[J T]

I am.