Half-Life: Alyx - Review Thread

[Twentieth]

Why? Games do not exist in a vacuum, they exist as moments of culture within wider society. There was a time while reviewing Alyx where, late in the night, it hit me that I needed to call my mother and tell her she was no longer allowed to see her grandchild. I cried into the VR headset, and had to give myself a moment of "What the fuck am I doing here?" before progressing forward. Reflecting that in your examination of the art makes perfect sense. You have plenty of extremely positive reviews from people who didn't have that hangup. Grow up.

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I get it. These are tough times. I suppose I'm not used to seeing reviewers considering broader aspects of the world influence their game reviews, but you're right, games/reviews don't exist in a vacuum and those factors can be considered. I don't have a solid opinion on whether they should or not, it's probably up to the editorial teams of each website, and whether they should impact the score and the perception about the game (perhaps it did here, I can't tell for sure).

From the outside, we often forget how deadlines/personal issues (in this case, global) can affect reviewers (and everyone around us, really). I don't mean to disrespect the author from VentureBeat's article, I guess I was just surprised at how clearly he expressed he wasn't in the right mindset to play the game.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

All people reviewing all games will bring in their real-world biases and the best reviews (in my opinion) recognise these exist and explore them in relation to what they're talking about

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A pandemic that is affecting the entire world is the most illogical thing to bring into a game review and have it affect the review, unless that game is somehow relating to real world events, in which case it makes sense to talk about it, and how it handles such events.

 

[ivan.k]

From the Venturebeat review.

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Why does it matter? It is not Valve's fault that there is a pandemic right now
And he gave it 8 out of 10 just because of this? What kind of nonsense is this

 

[Glio]

They should train with machine learning an AI that can analyze games objectively and systematically. It is the best system.

 

[WordsintheWater]

It's somehow a shitty take to find it bad that a review brings a pandemic into a game, saying they're jealous of people playing Animal Crossing and that this isn't the right time to play Alyx?

Era truly never fails to disappoint with the bizarre comments.

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Yes, it's a shitty take, I can use your same exact last sentence on you.

 

[Karak]

Looking at gameplay videos I don't think it has it. Teleport movement shouldn't normally make you sick since the world doesn't move around you. Also as DarthBuzzard mentioned it's a 60hz game which makes it more likely to make you sick just from moving your head. Most of the PC headsets support around 90 with the Index going up to 144hz (though almost nothing can run that high lol). The point being that some of your issues are likely already fixed and conditions should be even better 4-5 years from now. I'm also partially convinced that some of this brain interface stuff Gabe Newell has been talking about lately will go towards fighting motion sickness lol (but that's probably further out).

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Hmm stats on the 2 stat apps I use reported 90hertz on the reverb. I will have to look into this.
Edit.
Its reporting 90hertz headset, 60 on the external spectator window.

 

[Team_Feisar]

I am happy that a VR game gets thst kind of recognition. I love VR even if I only have a PSvr and buying a gaming PC + Headset is simply too expensive for me.
I hope for a PS5-Port down the line :)

 

[MillionIII]

Yoooo wtf I read some spoilers and I'm melting

 

[Kinthey]

No game is reviewed on its merits alone. You perceive all art and everything else through your own biases and an unwritten frame of context. The pursuit of objectivity is a worthless exercise and the best outlets have moved to engage with games as art and not products in the white vacuum of consumer oblivion.

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False objectivity shouldn't mean that there's absolutely no limit as to how much personal stuff should influence a product review.

 

[Deleted member 51789]

A pandemic that is affecting the entire world is the most illogical thing to bring into a game review.

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It's a hugely relevant thing to bring up in a review of a game being released at this time if it relates to the game's themes and affected how the reviewer felt. Many did the same for Animal Crossing.

 

[Deleted member 51789]

Why does it matter? It is not Valve's fault that there is a pandemic right now
And he gave it 8 out of 10 just because of this? What kind of nonsense is this

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There are more reason this reviewer gave it an 8/10. Read the review.

 

[Wok]

Great video, Karak, although the choppiness due to spectator mode at the start was terrifying.

 

[Bufbaf]

It's somehow a shitty take to find it bad that a review brings a pandemic into a game, saying they're jealous of people playing Animal Crossing and that this isn't the right time to play Alyx?

Era truly never fails to disappoint with the bizarre comments.

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" VentureBeat's review is pure garbage " is a very shitty take, yes.

 

[Karak]

Great video, Karak, although the chopiness due to specator mode at the start was terrifying.

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Ya killed me. I was back and forth with their contacts about it for awhile. Switched some things around and got better footage. Sometimes that happens with VR but this one was in particular a bit touchy at times

 

[DarthBuzzard]

Why does it matter? It is not Valve's fault that there is a pandemic right now
And he gave it 8 out of 10 just because of this? What kind of nonsense is this

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I'm actually completely fine with the score. Not bothered about that all. It's moreso that a pandemic negatively impacts the review, whereas if it was Animal Crossing, it would probably have scored extra points for there being a pandemic. (He mentions how he's jealous not getting to review Animal Crossing at this specific time)

That's the kind of logic the author is using, and it's just not good.

 

[Foxtastical]

It's somehow a shitty take to find it bad that a review brings a pandemic into a game, saying they're jealous of people playing Animal Crossing and that this isn't the right time to play Alyx?

Era truly never fails to disappoint with the bizarre comments.

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And you're suggesting that people that review games should be emotionless robots.

Reviews are opinions. Opinions are formed through life experiences. Life experiences are unique to everyone.

This is what it means to be human.

 

[Orayn]

Can't wait to be done working (from home) so I can start. My VR headset is taunting me from a few feet away.

 

[Glio]

To those who say "The state of the world should not affect a review".

Imagine if you were to release a movie today that was as sexist, racist and homophobic as was tolerated 40 years ago. Do you think it would have the same reviews?

 

[SonicFighterV]

There are more reason this reviewer gave it an 8/10. Read the review.

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Even those seem to be nitpicky at best(for a VR title). But that's just me. That review seemed more positive than the score and the negatives mentioned.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

Have Valve said anything about the possibility of a PSVR port down the line? If not PSVR I hope when Sony brings out PSVR 2 this game can come across then.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

And you're suggesting that people that review games should be emotionless robots.

Reviews are opinions. Opinions are formed through life experiences. Life experiences are unique to everyone.

This is what it means to be human.

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I already said that people should invoke emotion in their reviews.

 

[Draughn]

It's somehow a shitty take to find it bad that a review brings a pandemic into a game, saying they're jealous of people playing Animal Crossing and that this isn't the right time to play Alyx?

Era truly never fails to disappoint with the bizarre comments.

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It's not. Obviously, I haven't finished the game, but I really find it a stretch that he sees that much of a parallel between this game and what's going on it real life, and that's why I had an issue with him mentioning that way in the review. At this point, watching people stack supplies waiting for the Museum to open in Animal Crossing feels more Coronavirus to me than anything I've seen in this so far.

 

[Bruceleeroy]

That GameBeat review is the most ridiculous thing I've read in a long time.

To summarize - "Cause your stressed by the Corona Virus the immersive nature of the game proved to be too much for you"

 

[Rendering...]

This person was not in the correct emotional state to review a game. As a result, his own real world emotions made it's way into the review. That's not professionalism.

You absolutely cannot under any circumstances reflect your real life circumstances in a review. That's negative bias.

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Art isn't experienced in an emotional vacuum, so I'm not sure that it should always be evaluated from that artificial standpoint.

If engaging emotionally with something that you're reviewing is unacceptable bias, we might as well throw away Roger Ebert's life's work, and dump any media review that alludes to dimensions of human experience that art is expressly created to speak to.

I think there's room for reviewers who critically analyze from a place of emotional distance, as well as reviewers who report their full subjective experience, and allow their emotions to inform their analysis.

 

[Edgar]

And you're suggesting that people that review games should be emotionless robots.

Reviews are opinions. Opinions are formed through life experiences. Life experiences are unique to everyone.

This is what it means to be human.

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maybe that person is an undercover robot sent by skynet

 

[Nintenleo]

Persona 5 Royal, Animal Crossing, Doom, Ori and Alyx. What a greath month for gaming, what a bad time for everything else.

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Are people really getting bent out of shape for one, singular review that was an 8/10 (still great) for their pet game? The game is a triumph with a 93 aggregate. Is that not enough?

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Judging by every major AAA release in the past 20 years, its never enough. lol

A pandemic that is affecting the entire world is the most illogical thing to bring into a game review and have it affect the review, unless that game is somehow relating to real world events, in which case it makes sense to talk about it, and how it handles such events.

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Fighting a losing battle there. The reality of it is, that these things do affect human beings tasked with doing video game reviews.

I wonder how many reviews mentioned the pandemic in the Animal Crossing reviews. I know I saw quite a bit. You can argue thats why some of the scores were higher too.

 

[Deleted member 51789]

It's not. Obviously, I haven't finished the game, but I really find it a stretch that he sees that much of a parallel between this game and what's going on it real life, and that's why I had an issue with him mentioning that way in the review. At this point, watching people stack supplies waiting for the Museum to open feels more Coronavirus to me than anything I've seen so far.

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Ah cool, now we're questioning if the reviewer actually meant what they wrote.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

Hmm stats on the 2 stat apps I use reported 90hertz on the reverb. I will have to look into this.
Edit.
Its reporting 90hertz headset, 60 on the external spectator window.

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Are you talking about HL:Alyx? If so output will depend on your rig. For SteamVR if the game can't hit the target Hz it's set at, it will half the framerate and interpolate it up to target. So if it's set to 120hz but can't hit it, it will go down to 60 (at 90hz it will bounce down to 45 etc). All the headsets do some form of this interpolation though I think Index is the only one currently that can switch the target.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

This person was not in the correct emotional state to review a game. As a result, his own real world emotions made it's way into the review. That's not professionalism.

You absolutely cannot under any circumstances reflect your real life circumstances in a review. That's negative bias.

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Most users here didn't seem to have a problem with reviews for Animal Crossing: New Horizons speaking of the current world situation when it was used to put AC in a positive light.

 

[Deleted member 44371]

is there a spoiler thread?

 

[jviggy43]

This person was not in the correct emotional state to review a game. As a result, his own real world emotions made it's way into the review. That's not professionalism.

You absolutely cannot under any circumstances reflect your real life circumstances in a review. That's negative bias.

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There are bigger things going on in the world than worrying about this in a fucking game review lol. Least of all from an outlet that doesn't even give it a score. If the reviewer felt it was salient to bring into the conversation than thats entirely their right.

 

[GameAddict411]

So ready for this. My PC just unpacked the game.

 

[Wok]

Reviews are opinions. Opinions are formed through life experiences. Life experiences are unique to everyone.

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I think people are okay with reviewers giving their opinion about a game. The issue is that reviews are scored, and that we cannot have a perfect score because points are subtracted for reasons unrelated to the game itself. It is a bit annoying because the game might not make it in the top 5 PC games of all time. Currently, HLA is in the top 15, despite the 8/10 review.

 

[reKon]

Not sure how anyone could possibly justify the content of that VentureBeat review. What a strange review.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

Judging by every major AAA release in the past 20 years, its never enough. lol



Fighting a losing battle there. The reality of it is, that these things do affect human beings tasked with doing video game reviews.

I wonder how many reviews mentioned the pandemic in the Animal Crossing reviews. I know I saw quite a bit. You can argue thats why some of the scores were higher too.

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Mentioning as a personal remark is one thing. Negatively affecting the game in the review and then saying you will be negatively impacted in the same way (No, I won't, thank you author) is an entirely different situation.

People aren't even talking about how the author has suggested we're all going to have a worse time playing Alyx because of the pandemic, not just him.

 

[cakely]

Ok, we really got derailed here.

Let's get back to focusing on how good these reviews are in general.

 

[finalflame]

There are bigger things going on in the world than worrying about this in a fucking game review lol. Least of all from an outlet that doesn't even give it a score. If the reviewer felt it was salient to bring into the conversation than thats entirely their right.

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It's their right, as is the right of people on this forum to disagree. Goes both ways.

Mentioning as a personal remark is one thing. Negatively affecting the game in the review and then saying you will be negatively impacted in the same way (No, I won't, thank you author) is an entirely different situation.

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This is where I'm at. Using your unrelated emotional state to damage a game's review score seems unprofessional, IMO. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter nor will anyone care, though.

 

[Josh5890]

Q1 2020

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Crazy to think that we were supposed to get Last of Us 2 and Final Fantasy VII by now too.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

I get it. These are tough times. I suppose I'm not used to seeing reviewers considering broader aspects of the world influence their game reviews, but you're right, games/reviews don't exist in a vacuum and those factors can be considered. I don't have a solid opinion on whether they should or not, it's probably up to the editorial teams of each website, and whether they should impact the score and the perception about the game (perhaps it did here, I can't tell for sure).

From the outside, we often forget how deadlines/personal issues (in this case, global) can affect reviewers (and everyone around us, really). I don't mean to disrespect the author from VentureBeat's article, I guess I was just surprised at how clearly he expressed he wasn't in the right mindset to play the game.

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Apologies for snapping, the "grow up " remark was uncalled for and directed at people who were being bigger jerks. My bad.

I just saw a narrative snowballing pretty quickly about the angle of that review, and didn't think it was fair! The person liked the game a lot! They admitted the condition of the world around them impacted their experience! Valve chose to release this game right now, given everything going on! It's fair to amass all of that, I think, and make it part of your broader critical assessment. And I say that as someone who reviewed the game and enjoyed the escapism.

I also don't know where you draw the line? Are people saying to judge the "merits" of a game on...their own? Is that devoid of the context they're released into? We judge games based on what surrounds them. Is it a crowded marketplace? Have there been too many games like it right now, and it feels boring? Did this sequel change enough? No game is precisely judged on its "merits" because games are reacting and building on one another.

 

[WordsintheWater]

You all acting like the 8/10 at the end isn't bothering you, like really? It's pretty transparent that if it was a 9 or a 10, most of you wouldn't take issue.

 

[DarthBuzzard]

There are bigger things going on in the world than worrying about this in a fucking game review lol. Least of all from an outlet that doesn't even give it a score. If the reviewer felt it was salient to bring into the conversation than thats entirely their right.

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Naturally there are bigger things and certainly I'm far more worried about the real world right now, but this is afterall a discussion thread for these reviews.

 

[jviggy43]

It's their right, as is the right of people on this forum to disagree. Goes both ways.

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I never said otherwise tho.

 

[PennyStonks]

Writers are the worst

 

[CannonFodder52]

And you're suggesting that people that review games should be emotionless robots.

Reviews are opinions. Opinions are formed through life experiences. Life experiences are unique to everyone.

This is what it means to be human.

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It would be much better if journalists reviewed games the same way we review protein supplements or lawn mowers.

 

[Quad Lasers]

A pandemic that is affecting the entire world is the most illogical thing to bring into a game review and have it affect the review, unless that game is somehow relating to real world events, in which case it makes sense to talk about it, and how it handles such events.

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If you're fine with bringing up current world events that are relevant to a game, and given that headcrabs 100% are a pandemic in-universe to Half-Life, what exactly are you whining about then.

 

[Spider-Man]

Contagion is the number one watched thing on Netflix in Canada right now.

This game isn't even about a virus and that movie is. With that mentality then most games and movies are inappropriate at the moment. Doom is probably an offence to people as family die and we are playing around in Hell and they might be extremely religious and believe in Hell. Most seniors dying in Italy now probably have those beliefs. So stop playing Doom too. Animal Crossing is all about going out and doing things. That's not good. Stay in your home and don't leave to do anything in the game.

VentureBeat definitely derailed this themselves.

 

[marcbret87]

Why? Games do not exist in a vacuum, they exist as moments of culture within wider society. There was a time while reviewing Alyx where, late in the night, it hit me that I needed to call my mother and tell her she was no longer allowed to see her grandchild. I cried into the VR headset, and had to give myself a moment of "What the fuck am I doing here?" before progressing forward. Reflecting that in your examination of the art makes perfect sense. You have plenty of extremely positive reviews from people who didn't have that hangup. Grow up.

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While I can understand the feelings, that sounds a bit out of place. There are times in my life when my personal situation has hampered (or enhanced) my enjoyment of videogames in general, but as a reviewer I'd say one should try to abstract from this. Sure, gaming for most people is just a hobby, there are more important things out there and so on, but still, the "what I am doing here" could be applied to any game at this time.

 

[Sordid Plebeian]

Who wants to buy me VR so I can play this

 

[kpaadet]

I loved the game but then my gf broke up with me and then I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my leg, worst day of my life 0/10 would not recommend.