Community backlash leads to Global Agenda review score being pulled

Think to fairly assess GA you have to put things into perspective.

Once you get past the oh-wait-this-isn't-planetside-ragequit and the oh-wait-this-isn't-WoW-ragequit crowd, you'll see a lovingly made game that while not perfect, certainly deserves some praise.

Gameplay is TF2-like and as polish goes it comes pretty damn close to Valve's classic. Add talent trees, interesting abilities, customizable looks and a social framework and you have a pretty interesting game.

Its not massive because you are never with more than 40 people in a room, but unlike TF2 you actually have an incentive to find 9 other people and hone your skills, AvA. While I don't think that the game will earn my subscription now that SC2 beta is out, the game gets a lot of unwarranted crap because a lot of people go into the game with wildly misinformed expectations. HiRez made what they thought was right and you can see that they really care about making the game great, unlike some "real" mmo developers out there. I'd understand of the game got a 7, I'd give it a 7 perhaps, but a 5.5 is either a nerdrage or plain unprofessional scoring.

Eurogamer also gave GA a lower than expected score, a 50%, and I'm sure they did the same thing, as they've done it before (Fallen Earth) with many other games.

Fact is, most of these game review sites aren't very reputable and they just hire some random person who isn't really qualified to do reviews properly.

The only review scores worth looking at are on Metacritic. And even then only the actual user reviews.

With reguards, once AGAIN FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, GA mmo status, sigh, can people not just make up their minds one way or another and then shut up?

the standard game is not an MMO, its a tps with jetpack. A great, superfun game, MMO, no.

Conquest, well, I play it, I lead an alliance, I fight over space and play with and , mostly, against 100s of other players in a map with 1000s on it. if thats MMO or not, thats up to you to decide.

Either way, massively is covering it, and frankly the c/p arguements from every sodding article on GA is getting tiring. You dont see 3 pages of "waaa mmo" whenever massively covers a guild wars event.

I was vastly surprised too to see GA got 5.5 from GameSpot and wonder about the site's standard.

Because I was expecting a solid "5" for this crapatulla game.

Tyr you speak of a specific case in which you have invested the time necessary to make a complete decision. I must express my concern for your fear as I do not feel the same way.

You have expressed exactly what I wish for game developers to do. I do not wish for them to give good reviews for the sake of it. I just would hope they would give the game the proper play time to discover all elements and THEN and ONLY THEN make their final decision.

Please take time to digest and understand what you are saying before you say it as I believe you have just reinforced my point rather than squashed it.

I'm honestly pretty shocked by the hatred some players show towards this game. It's always the same thing too, people complaining that it's not an MMO. There are actually threads on the GA forums from angry players who couldn't believe that they purchased the game and there are no wizards handing out quests to go kill 20 rats in the sewers and come back to receive a health potion and the next quest. Is this just the generation of WoW players that instantly equates "MMO" with grind a lot of quests in an open world?

I mean there is some truth to it, it's obvious that the aspects that were meant to bring players together in this game weren't fully developed, it's definitely something that was likely pushed to the backburner during development while things like game balance, character progression and gameplay were emphasized, imagine that. "MMOFPS" may of been a bit of a misnomer to coin for the game, perhaps RPGFPS would be more accurate at the moment, but if you've read the recent announcements by the developers, they very soon plan to implement open world areas where you can leave the current station and try to attain resources, and get PK'd in the process. The MMO aspect is definitely being developed still.

But ignore the MMO in the title, hell, completely ignore the Agency vs Agency content that is pay per month, it's not even needed. I've participated in some AvA, it's certainly not worth a monthly fee (which they aren't charging yet.) But there is PLENTY of content in just the PvE and PvP matches. People still play TF2 for countless hours to this day, TF2 a game with such high ratings. GA has everything that TF2 has, adds Agencies, Alliances, PvE content, weapon load-outs, Skill tree's, Player hub, dyes, gear upgrades, and more.

Is the game perfect? No. Was it rushed out the door? Most likely, but they are working hard to meet player demands at the moment. The game doesn't deserve such a low score as a 5.5, or any of the rage from people who never bothered to read what the game was about before purchasing it.

Bottom line as far as I'm concerned. I've NEVER played an FPS game for more than 10 hours without getting bored, until Global Agenda. I've logged 40+ hours on the game so far, and I'm starting to build up my next character, and loving every minute. There are flaws, but the fun times far out-weigh those. Once the next patch goes in, it's going to be a very solid, and enjoyable game, with room to grow.

I use Gamespot quite a bit for their reviews to see if a game I am remotely interested in is actually any good but after this I dont really trust them any more...!

Obviously I try to judge a game on its own merits without anyone elses opinion but that isnt always possible without spending (and possibly wasting) a load of money! Can anyone recommend another popular trustworthy review site that I can use?

This just makes me pissed off at HiRez and the fanboys.

We don't know anything about the guy beyond what you see. And they pull "MMO" rules on a game that doesn't qualify for MMO classification beyond the marketing department's "BUY ME NOW!" blurbs.

This is an attrocity and even more so that people are militantly defending it.

Almost everything said in the review was spot on, and didn't require 30 hours to verify. It was plain and simple truth.

Is this what we've come to? Viciousness and attacking critics if they speak against our products?

Nice one HiRez and G-A fankids.
You're further illustrating what kind of product & community you represent.

1) GLOBAL AGENDA IS NOT AN MMO. IT SHOULD NOT BE REVIEWED AS SUCH.

2) GLOBAL AGENDA HAS THREE ROOMS. ITS NOTHING BUT A 3D LOBBY FOR INSTANCED PVE AND PVP MATCHES.

BAD GAME IS BAD.

I give it a 3.0.

I agree 6 hours is definitely not long enough to write an entire review on the game, but it seems like MMOs aren't trying hard enough to get people engaged right from the start.

6 hours should definitely be enough time to get a solid impression on the game.

Gamespot has always been very good at dropping their company logo over game screen shots and allowing the public to see these along with lots of advertisements and links to other useless stuff such as their game reviews.

Pro tip for Gamespot review writers: Log on to the game being reviewed and make your lv 1 character run against a wall or a rock for 24 to 36 hours. Then, write your review.

Unless the reviewer was dumb enough to say he only spent 6 hours playing, every side has earned a heaping bag of Fail. One little violation of Gamespot's S&P doesn't fully vindicate the GA community from being compared to Darkfall's community. If that 5.5 was really an 8.5, would they have bitched? Likely no. It just so happened that their nerdrage was against the "right" person.

And people wonder why video game journalism isn't taken seriously.

well thats it with most review places they spend a few mins to couple hours on the game get stuck then right a review say its dumb cause they dont know how to play lol

So what's an MMO? I'm going to go out on a limb and break each letter of the acronym down (cue nerdrage)
M=Massively...how many is massively? More than 10...how bout 100...1000? Where is the line in the sand to cross to know we got here?
M=Multiplayer...Technically more than 1 player at the same time is multiplayer...am I wrong?
O=Online...I need internet access to play...can we agree?

Based on the above criteria...looks like GA is an MMO...technically. Definitely not an MMORPG. Or is it. If you have played the game, you would know that there are party dynamics/roles that your class excels at. It's just the holy trinity...wait a minute. I've seen that before...IN EVERY FRIGGIN MMORPG THAT I'VE EVER PLAYED!!! (which is quite a few, but not all)

MMORPG is not a clearly defined term. Personally, I think WoW everytime I hear MMORPG. I know that is incorrect, but it is still the thought process that occurs. Kinda like Kleenex. All Kleenex is facial tissue, but not all facial tissue is Kleenex. Ya dig? (i know, i said facial) If Kleenex has started making hot dogs or whatnot, just substitute Jell-O.

And why is a game crap just because not everyone loves it? Avatar is a crap movie...just substitute John Smith for the dude and Pocahontas for the blue kitty chick and viola...you have Pocahontas. However, Avatar has forever changed the way movies can be made and THAT is really cool. THAT is the point. GA is not redefining anything, but it is helping...and THAT is cool.

Gamespot used to be the best site to go for a review or information on games.....
Now... they are total trash......