thecynicscorner:

I’ve got a lot of pet peeves when it comes to critics. Though that’s obvious to anyone who has been reading this little blog of mine, something has just been bugging me lately. A couple people on my twitter feed consistently recommend or praise certain critics who I’m not a big fan of. Let me tell you why.

If I can’t trust a critic, it ruins the ability for me to read anything they write and take it seriously. There’s quite a few critics I can’t trust, but there are some that have committed the one sin of video game reviewing that I cannot forgive: not finishing a story-based game.

The reason that this is a problem for me (and many others) is that storyline has become a huge part of the video game experience these days. Whether people realize it or not, most games out there are driven by the storyline in all directions. Without storyline, gameplay mechanics aren’t justified, the levels have no purpose, etc. If you can’t finish the game, how can you tell me about the entire experience and how it all weaves together?

Simply put, you can’t. At all. At any point. Ever.

Some folks have been outright caught not finishing the game, and there are others that you can tell didn’t finish the title when you, the audience, plays it. It sickens me to see things like this, and sickens me even more when people call these folks “good at their jobs.” No, they aren’t. If the guys at fucking IGN and Kotaku finish the games they review, there really isn’t an excuse for anyone else. If the bottom of the barrel is required to do it, then we all are.

I don’t like a lot of critics, but I can respect the ones who take the time and energy to put what they have to the side to finish a long story-based video game to review it for their audience. Even if they aren’t the best writer, you can tell they at least want to make an effort at doing what their community (who ultimately pays their bills with the site hits they deliver) asks of them.

Simply put, I can’t trust someone to tell me how good a game is if they don’t finish it. Would anyone trust Roger Ebert if he walked out of movies? Would you trust a music critic if he stopped listening to an album halfway through and called it crap? No. 

Don’t celebrate people who half-ass their work.

Wise words there from Blistered Thumbs’ Micah C.