NZA
LOL
typically no major site i have ever seen has given an utterly trash game an 8.5 or higher. if there is fraud, i would have to assume it is to varying degrees, like making sure one first person shooter gets .5 higher than the competing shooter, or making sure a game you feel is actually a 7 gets at least an 8 instead. by taking the numbers out, most games are pretty much in a broad territory of "is it even worth trying or not". most games that i see gamers doing the payola conspiracy complaints about tend to be annual installment games where the gameplay is built on an old model so it is almost never a terrible game, so if you like the last one, you will like this one to some extent.How so? I don't believe in the 'buy reviews' conspiracy, but let's say for the sake of argument that it's true. Can't devs/publishers still pay off reviewers to write glowing reviews and give them 'recommended' or 'essential' ratings. I don't see how this changes anything.
by getting rid of numbers, you get rid of that whole temptation. you already know COD, BF, NBA2K, AC, etc. are "good" games, but how good is this year's version? theoretically payola may be pushing the needle a few notches, but no major site is willing to tarnish its credibility by making a game that should be a 2.5 have a 9.0 score. it's just a few points. three broad categories gets rid of that altogether. now, context is what matters.

all I gotta do is respond the way I always respond when somebody makes this claim


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