Gone Home Indie Game Review: Is it worth the price?

[lexietanium]

Gone Home Indie Game Review: Is it worth the price?

 

Full breakdown review of the game and my conclusion on whether or not it's worth it's price tag. If you is broke like me and considering the game =) I hope this helps!

 

Review can be found here: http://wp.me/p3tkgy-j5

 

PS: I humbly thank you in advance for reading my outlook on the game. -bows-

 

[Capn_Jamerica]

I was thinking about buying it but then i decided "hey i know theres not really any gameplay mostly story so i will watch a full playthrough ." so i did and i thought the story was awesome so do what you wanna do i chose that.

[lexietanium]

I was thinking about buying it but then i decided "hey i know theres not really any gameplay mostly story so i will watch a full playthrough ." so i did and i thought the story was awesome so do what you wanna do i chose that.

 

=) no I totally understand. Who's youtube didja watch?  also, my focus was whether its worth the price yet I also thought it had a good story.

[MashPotato]

I've been staying away from any reviews about this because I heard it's REALLY short and I don't want anything spoiled

[lexietanium]

I've been staying away from any reviews about this because I heard it's REALLY short and I don't want anything spoiled

 

=) I made sure there's no spoilers at all. I always stay away from any spoilers on my review. > actually made gone home harder to review *shakes mash potato* So much things I wanted to further explain D:<

[Xydonus]

Haven't heard a thing about this at all (being away from civilization for a few days has its perks!) so just read your review in its entire form, because I usually like games like this that has a good story attached to it.

 

Not sure how I feel about the price. Valuation in a game is very subjective. The graphics are surprisingly good for such a short game, so I wonder if that's playing a factor in the price along with the atmosphere and voice talent. Still, I wouldn't fork out 20 quid for a short novel experience unless said novel experience had an impelling story, and judging by your review, that isn't the case.

 

So the game will be a miss for me. Won't go into any more detail about your review for the sake of Mash

[lexietanium]

Haven't heard a thing about this at all (being away from civilization for a few days has its perks!) so just read your review in its entire form, because I usually like games like this that has a good story attached to it.

 

Not sure how I feel about the price. Valuation in a game is very subjective. The graphics are surprisingly good for such a short game, so I wonder if that's playing a factor in the price along with the atmosphere and voice talent. Still, I wouldn't fork out 20 quid for a short novel experience unless said novel experience had an impelling story, and judging by your review, that isn't the case.

 

So the game will be a miss for me. Won't go into any more detail about your review for the sake of Mash

 Yeah the game was short. 2 hours and that's with me pausing every couple minutes to write down notes. . Ya already read my thoughts on it. Some parts I felt bad pointing out but I feel like the readers gta know. Btw =) thanks for reading the review in its entirety~ Also, I was messaged by people who read my review and played the game. They also seem to come to the same conclusion.  In terms of graphics, I don't know, I actually think games that aren't in godly 3d graphics but has a great and compelling story makes the game more charming to me you know? But in terms of it being a contributing factor for the price, well...I already know a couple games that are cheaper with the same graphics/better. But who knows -shrugs- >_< I can't say much on here *shakes Xydonus*

[zombo]

Critics are going crazy about this game, they love it.  Personally I am not big on the interactive story kinda thing, I prefer more active gameplay in games.  I believe critics often rave about story heavy games because they themselves are writers to varying degrees, possibly coming from very literature focused backgrounds, and so they have a passion for that field.

[lexietanium]

Critics are going crazy about this game, they love it.  Personally I am not big on the interactive story kinda thing, I prefer more active gameplay in games.  I believe critics often rave about story heavy games because they themselves are writers to varying degrees, possibly coming from very literature focused backgrounds, and so they have a passion for that field.

Oh speaking of that, I was browsing through the comments, and this one person claimed that he got banned by gone home on the steam forum by speaking his opinion on the game. He claims he's been a reviewer for many years and even wrote for big sites (guess that's how he's showing why he felt slighted when he got banned and his accounts removed). The quote is below. I found it interesting, personally I'm not even going to pursue this issue to form my own judgement because we all know how it can be in this industry (heck it's why I started my blog because I wanted to write honestly and with an open mind without any "outside influence" if ya know what I mean; or just by going with the hype) I did however, found this very interesting. I could honestly say though I saw the developers retweeting people standing up for their game and I got disappointed because it looked like they're hiding behind those people. They said they wanted to make a stand, if that was the case, I think they should have let people speak and kept goin on their way, just tweeting positive things that didn't have people defending their game against those who thought otherwise ya know? xD anyway yeah end of rant, here's the quote --> (also what do u guys think about it, just curious)

 

(btw my review/thoughts on the game isn't exactly on the same boat as this person because I also gave credit where its due in terms of how the game was.  it's all on my review)

 

"Sboriky

4

I don't think that the game deserves his high votes from the "official" reviewers. The game is afflicted by severals issues.

But what made 

me upset about the high score, is the approach that the developers had against me. I've written a couple of thread in the Steam Forum, and the developers banned me and my accounts permanently from their boards, saying that I had some sort of "gay reviewer conspiracy" ideas... excuse me? What is wrong with you? Who would think something like that without any real reason?!

I've only stated that the "official" reviews have been superficial omitting a lot of negative aspects of the game, and I consider Gone Home, one of the most overrated game ever. But I haven't said that the game or the development team "suck". I've only stated some objective negative aspects that afflict the game, basing them on my personal gaming knowledge. I've been a reviewer for a national big website, and there are some standards that a reviewer should follow evaluating a game.

Why you had to delete my opinion from the official boards? Now you really made me think that there is something strange about those high scores.

But hey... That's the way to treat a customer that paid 18 euros for your mediocre game. Good Job guys, that's the perfect way to go.

[zombo]

Wow, I didn't know about this stuff.  It's surprising, almost like a conspiracy .  I also noticed reviewers and other staff on gaming sites were praising the game but not even mentioning one single negative, which might be because there are none, but that's just not likely to be true.  This is surprising though, the banning and such, because a game like this you don't expect that kind of behaviour from the makers.

 

I think a situation like this is a perfect example of a problem in game reviewing that probably also happens in any art communities.  Reviewers feel like they have to educate the masses about why the masses should like a game, basically like a personal agenda rather than just simply doing a review the way they normally would for other games.  The game review turns into something like a political statement.  The problem isn't really about the merits of the thing being reviewed itself, but rather with the fact that the reviewers are not willing to even consider alternative opinions or any conflicting criticisms.  

 

Reviewers expect a certain level of trust from their audience, but then no trust is given to the audience that maybe they are not ignorant and maybe they actually have some valid arguments for why the scores are too high.  A few rants here and there are one thing, but when there are hundreds of criticizing comments, you should at least give it good amount of consideration, not just brush it off as ignorance which is many reviewers are doing.

 

Gamespot gave it a 9.5 and only days later they stopped doing decimal scores.  I joked that it was a conspiracy to keep Gone Home undefeated by any future game unless a 10 happens which is nearly impossible .  They didn't announce the policy change afaik, it was brought up in another review about a week later when someone suggested a x.5 score, to which the reviewer stated they no longer give half (0.5) score points.

[Xydonus]

Not surprising, its how the industry is at the moment.

 

Hell, who was the developer that got caught out boosting themselves up in Metacritic, by having staff pose as new users? Can't remember the name of them, but they were fairly big. In any case, reviews to a game developer is like honey. A good review will attract the bees to feast upon the delicious honey ... While a bad review will naturally cause the bees to go elsewhere.

 

Sometimes developers like to perforate the honey with artificial meddling. It happens far far more often than one would think. Friends, family, associates in the business, certain brown envelopes stuffed with money making their way to prominent reviewing establishments...

 

Regardless, I'm not saying that the Gone Home devs are in anyway up to no good, just stating that it's a common thing within the industry. A good review does wonders for a game's sales.

 

 

O btw lexietanium, I'll be sending you a basket of cookies, flowers and a wad of money when my indie game gets completed. It's not a bribe ... honest!

[blindcoder]

Honestly, these days I'm not buying most games on a whim, but instead put them on the steam wishlist and wait for the "a game on your wishlist is discounted" mail.