• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Forbes: A Warning About ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Reviews (Franxico, GET ITT!!!™)

When Cyberpunk 2077 finally comes out on December 10, it is destined to be among the biggest games of the year. Not just in terms of sales—that’s more or less inevitable. But also in terms of conversation: especially since this is happening in December with less competition, expect the discourse to go hard and not let up for months. But also, and this is an important point, in terms of sheer scope. A few weeks ago, a QA tester pointed to a still-unfinished 175 hour game, and while this is definitely on the high end, nothing that we’ve seen indicates that this will be anything less than a massive experience. And that matters for reviews.

So far, code distribution seems a little scattered for this game: I obviously can’t speak for every outlet, and I feel confident that some people have probably had a bit more time with it. But I have yet to receive code, and I know that a lot of other people are likely in the same boat. So at that point, even if I get that code right now, as I type this article, it makes it functionally impossible to get a review out for release. Even a little more time—a week or so, maybe—would make the process of slamming through this game in time before either release or an embargo a few days before release a nightmare.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been the subject of plenty of scrutiny regarding crunch in development, but it happens on a much smaller scale when it comes to reviews. Everyone wants to get their reviews out as soon as possible, to hit embargo if that’s a possibility, or release if it’s not. And that means a lot of reviewers are likely powering through a massive experience in ways that few other gamers could ever hope to replicate, pulling multiple 12 hour sessions, mainlining story content and ignoring side stuff, or just sort of warping the experience in manner of ways. Yes, people are going to work hard and do their absolute best to evaluate this game in a reasonable way for you. But there are hurdles along that path.

These journalists & gamers gotta chill out a bit with this game and maybe just smoke a blunt with Keanu Reeves' African American cousin:
pOVF0pm.jpg
 

Stallone

Neo Member
Can't wait to hear what people that work in factories lifting heavy charges have to say about this
 

ExpandKong

Banned
Oh wow game reviewers have to crunch too by playing a videogame so they can review it in a timely manner our job is serious y'all

Shit like this is why everyone hates game journalists now.
 
I bet most real (and with real I mean "not Forbes contributors") reviewers have been playing the game for a while now.

They should have given Dunkey a key though. I kinda want to see him break the game in the glorious way only an Eurojank game can break.
 
Last edited:

Matt_Fox

Member
One of the reasons why Edge Magazine controversially refused to review Ghost Stranding is that Kojima had stipulated journalists had to complete the game before reviewing it.

Heavily hyped games do strange things to journalists at the best of times, but between the short window, the length of the game, and the more controversial so-called sjw / gender politic issues around Cyberpunk 2077, I fully expect the reviews for this game to be a horror show and best steered clear of.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I don't care what they say. Its like spoiler culture. Who benefits from seeing the FINAL BOSS YouTube video the day the game gets released? Yea, we aren't entitled to an early copy because we don't review games for a living. We all know what a shitty experience we can have when someone gets offended too easily.

I have an idea..

Once its all installed, go offline, so some dumb Twitter user doesn't get something patched out.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Oh wow game reviewers have to crunch too by playing a videogame so they can review it in a timely manner our job is serious y'all

Shit like this is why everyone hates game journalists now.

Why? It doesn't seem like he's saying anything crazy. Just that the code for many reviewers is coming in days before the embargo is up. Meaning most reviewers scores probably shouldn't be paid attention to, because they wouldn't of had enough time with the game yet.
 

Nymphae

Banned
They seem to think not having reviews out on day 1 is some tragic occurrence.

But what if someone buys a game that sounds interesting to them, and they aren't happy? We have to prevent these tragedies!
 

trikster40

Member
I do get his point: a lot of reviews are going to be rushed with most reviewers most likely not able to truly experience the game, so be mindful of reviews since they may not truly reflect the game.

As if we already weren’t aware that most reviews are bullshit.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
You could apply this warning to any game.

Reviewers don't need to have gotten a code late to only have powered through a game and not actually thoroughly reviewed it.

Feel like most of this thread didn't bother reading their point lol
 
Last edited:
Game reviews used to be so simple:
Is the game fun to play? Then it gets a good score.

Nowadays, it's more like this:
Is the cast of characters mostly comprised of women, LGBT+, POC, minorities, people with disabilities or some other BS that social media just came up with? Are the developers known for supporting whatever the current Twitter trend is, and do they have at most 2-3 white cis hetero men working for them? Did the studio ever even thought of implementing crunch time to finish the game on time (because that's a definite no-no as well! How could they)? Then it gets a 10/10 for inclusiveness, and sticking it up to racism/transphobia! Black Lives Matter, lads!
 
Last edited:

NickFire

Member
Why? It doesn't seem like he's saying anything crazy. Just that the code for many reviewers is coming in days before the embargo is up. Meaning most reviewers scores probably shouldn't be paid attention to, because they wouldn't of had enough time with the game yet.
The article / statement suggests people work hard reviewing video games. Regardless of intentions or whether it is true or not, people will read that and naturally scoff at the idea. What some people call work (playing 12 hours straight), many of us call the weekend. I'm not taking a dig at the author or anyone else for that matter.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
The article / statement suggests people work hard reviewing video games. Regardless of intentions or whether it is true or not, people will read that and naturally scoff at the idea. What some people call work (playing 12 hours straight), many of us call the weekend. I'm not taking a dig at the author or anyone else for that matter.

Maybe you're right. Just seems weird that people can't seem to understand how there's a difference between playing a 100 hour game in 4 days and playing a 100 hour game in 4 days and "THEN" needing to write about in 6 hours for your job.
 
Top Bottom