Actually, a number tells you plenty of things - a consistent 90+ score tells you that generally speaking, that game is a strong representation of its genre, and is well liked by the gaming community. Saying "metascores suck" is pathetic, because it is just a compilation of loads of review scores.
OK, without backtracking over posts I'm sorry if I took your phrase out of context, but in my defense, saying "they mean nothing" and "they suck"...both very literal statements.
Well, I'll tell you why Metacritic sucks. It's because the general reviewer community has been loosing it's mojo and credibility over the past three years. It's not just the Gamespot incidents, it's the general fawning orgy over everything Microsoft ever since the 360 came out. It's why a steaming pile of silliness like GEARS! gets a 94, in spite of the fact that the game is nothing but a box of unimaginative cliche's, washed out old Unreal graphics, bad scripting, bad weapons, meh enemies, gameplay which is a series of wash, rinse and repeat slaughter of a few enemies in locations strung together by shadowy corridors. Oh, but Halo wasn't out yet, so the shooter fans needed something to glom onto.
Honestly, the only game I read reviews of for ages was Forza 3. I paid close attention to the physics and handling remarks, and when the demo hit, I thought sure a bag of white powder had been sent along with the game. Of course then I got the game, and suddenly I realized that the demo wasn't quite the final build. Or something was a little off. In any case, I agreed with the reviewers.
However, none of the other games I'm waiting on (Ratchet & Clank ACIT, Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, God of War - the real GoW, GT5, etc) am I reading reviews of, except on occasion to see how well they agree with me. Being PS3 games, I'm sure there will be divergence.
By the way, reading Jenius' remarks above, I'll have to say that Forza really does have some odd quirks to it. Some are from design decisions like the weird omission of public lobbies. Some are bugs, such as cars like the Golf GT1 and Trueno which have surfaces that don't get along with the livery editor. And then there's the online environment which is a minefield. But what's strange is how badly 4 wheel drive cars dominate. It was rather like that in the other games, and I'm surprised Forza 3 is the same way. There are advantages, but not overwhelming ones. Very odd, and something no reviewer likely would notice.
Oh I agree, I haven't really paid attention to any reviews for years now to be honest - all that matters are my expectations and how they are met, or not, as the case may be. Having said that, I'm not sure I'm totally with your analogy with GEARS there. Sure, it might be "unoriginal", but I played it, and had a bunch of fun doing so. 94% worth of fun? Nah, probably not, but that's irrelevant. Killzone 2 on PS3 was just as unoriginal. Forza 3 is also unoriginal, but it is a good racing game. Sure, it has flaws, but what game doesn't? It's about time people stopped crying about why reviewers do not agree with their opinions, and just enjoying their games for what they are.
But handling is affected by a lot more than just weight. Acceleration however... There is nothing more sure to stunt acceleration that weight. lower weight often results in quicker acceleration. RWD cars are naturally lighter than 4WD counterparts, so with the same engine, the 4WD will have the advantage at lower speeds, but the RWD car will have an advantage accelerating in 3rd gear and beyond.
Anyway...I was watching the bots race after I'd finished a run on Motegi, and it was three 3000GTs nose to tail. Very precise, just like a real race. I can sort of do that myself, but between still getting dialed in well, and adjusting to the driver view, it's still a touchy matter. The bots' erratic behavior doesn't help either. It's fun to race in the thick of a crowd of bots in Prologue, but these, I just want to get an overpowering car to escape from them. And wow, AWD cars are the bomb. All of the advantages and none of the drawbacks. Not a clue why.
Well, my post could have been better fleshed out concerning Gears. It's unoriginal in that the plot sounds like something from a junior high school comic club, so does the dialog. So do the weapons. So do the monsters. The whole thing seems like it was written for 13 year olds. Killzone in contrast is unoriginal much as Halo is. And yet the whole XBox world tilts on its axis over Halo.
I will say that if GT5 gets rave reviews, what it will mean to me more than anything is that finally the strange world of game journalists will have finally come to their senses. I still expect an anal exam which few XBox games will receive. Forza 3 is showing a lot of undiscovered warts and wrinkles, maybe intentionally.GAH... I keep forgetting that these games are out. Tekken too. I'm waiting till next payday to get them, as I'm still embroiled in Forza anyhow. Ratchet & Clank, I'm awaiting the arrival of an import special edition, woo!
Wow... that's pretty tragic.
I was watching the bots race after I'd finished a run on Motegi, and it was three 3000GTs nose to tail. Very precise, just like a real race. I can sort of do that myself, but between still getting dialed in well, and adjusting to the driver view, it's still a touchy matter. The bots' erratic behavior doesn't help either. It's fun to race in the thick of a crowd of bots in Prologue, but these, I just want to get an overpowering car to escape from them. And wow, AWD cars are the bomb. All of the advantages and none of the drawbacks. Not a clue why.
I can see why the cars are coded to be slightly different, because they are. But whenever you grab a car, unless it's out of the PI range by a fair margin, the game should do some sort of instant homologation, so that they're fairly well matched. Supposedly, this was going to be a part of these new games... but then, there weren't supposed to be these sorts of domination issues from a few cars like before. And this is after months of testing and tweaking. I'm not sure this can be patched all that well, but we'll see.
Well, my post could have been better fleshed out concerning Gears. It's unoriginal in that the plot sounds like something from a junior high school comic club, so does the dialog. So do the weapons. So do the monsters. The whole thing seems like it was written for 13 year olds. Killzone in contrast is unoriginal much as Halo is. And yet the whole XBox world tilts on its axis over Halo.
Yes, reviews are pretty pointless because they end up dissatisfying large groups of people on all sides. Now that we've resolved that Metacritic is fairly worthless, let's move on.
GAH... I keep forgetting that these games are out. Tekken too. I'm waiting till next payday to get them, as I'm still embroiled in Forza anyhow. Ratchet & Clank, I'm awaiting the arrival of an import special edition, woo!
True
In real life, the gap between mid-performance cars where drivetrain is concerned is actually quite small, if anything 4WD is faster all round. But like you said, with high performance cars, RWD handles the power better and is therefore faster around a track. Evidently 4WD is overpowered in Forza as 4WD in high performance cars has very few drawbacks, so RWD cars have no chance, but it should be the other way around for those higher classes.
