No one can apologize like Tom Chick. Swarmed by moronic comments after posting his lists of disappointing, overrated and top games for 2008, he feels the need to politely explain himself.
In short, overrated is not the same as bad. He liked GTA IV, for example, but thought it was overrated. I doubt anyone could disagree, given the breathless and mostly silly reviews that greeted Rockstar’s immigrant crime epic earlier this year.
Chick’s Picks are always a little eccentric; I doubt anyone else would consider Banjo Kazooie one of the top games of the year or even give The Club the time of day. But he always explains what he is saying and why he is saying it. For many gamers, “overrated” has become a shorthand term for “why did people like this piece of crap?”, not “this wasn’t as good as people said”.
I’m also linking because the post’s picture is how I feel some days, too.
i really don’t like the word ‘over-rated’. it smacks of self importance, “I AM RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG”. i don’t really see the need to go around labelling things as such. i either liked it or i didn’t, i don’t really give a shite if anyone else did.
I agree with him, although not with his choice of games (that is largely because I haven’t played obn half of them). I know where he is coming from, Super Smash Bros, Gears of War, Spore and Fable 2, while I enjoyed each one tremendously, they are seriously flawed and ultimately not good enough for the price or the time that has been spent on them.
It is very difficult to review titles like these. On the one hand, I feel obliged to recommend them on the basis they are great fun, on the other, GameSpot will give it a good review for people to make that judgement. What is the point of my blog if I am not saying anything different. Maybe I can use it to voice people dissatisfaction with a product. But then you get in to dangerous territory – being controversial for the sake of attention.
Tom Chick’s an excellent writer, and not least because he’s not scared to create a bit of controversy when he feels it’s right. I’m not saying I always agree – I frequently don’t – but I can usually see where he’s coming from and even from his negative reviews, if I’m going to like the game, I can generally tell.
I’m vaguely amused that Multiwinia was in his top 10, while Left 4 Dead was considered overrated seemingly because it may not have staying power, though.
I find myself agreeing with Tom generally, and more and more disagreeing specifically. I sure didn’t fall under the spell of L4D, but then in what conceivable universe, especially for an RTS afficianado, is BfME2 a great game?? But I have to admit that he’s always interesting to read, and brings up many points I tend to overlook.
He shouldn’t have apologized, though, just added his other comments (which were useful). Being Orestes hounded by the furies is part and parcel of a critic’s life.