What the hell is going on with Polygon’s Doom gameplay video?

Yesterday Polygon, those shining paragons of video gaming journalism, released a clip showcasing the first thirty minutes of gameplay from Doom’s single player campaign.

[Iltapalanyymi]

well first of all its a video from polygon.

polygon tests children's reaction to violence by having a 4 year old play doom 4
oh that was an editor
oh no

[nX]

...though you'd probably get better footage from a 4 year old.

Not even the first time we've seen horrible brain-hand coordination from Polygon, the wackoes working there are clearly beta.

[jony_dols]

I remember a recent interview with Sean Murray of HelloGames. He couldn't get over, how rubbish the press were, when playing a demo of No Man's Sky.

Scary to think, that most of these clowns can destroy the sales & reputation of a game, because they have zero gaming competence!

[Kingdomcome247]

That really is a scary thought. Not only sales, but then you also have to consider potential bonuses lost due to inept reviews.

[Dee_91]

@jony_dols
Wow talk about being over dramatic. This guy sucks, that's obvious, but to try to make it seem like some mass problem in gaming journalism and reviews is a reach.

[Segata]

Same guys who said Mario Kart 8 would only sell lifetime 1 million. Now it's sitting at 7.5.

[Phunkydiabetic1]

Here, this makes the video a lot more palatable....

https://youtu.be/d3pQ0oO_cD...

[joab777]

That's spot on. My nephew is five and plays better than this. Probably that extra year of practice.

[rainslacker]

I always enjoyed watching video reviews where the reviewer is terrible at the game itself...then subsequently gives it a low score and claims the game is broken or poor in some way.

I at least try to be good at games. I don't always succeed, but don't criticize a game I'm inept at playing. If i spend enough time and the mechanics still don't work for me, that's a different story, but I find if I actually take the time to learn the mechanics well, and try to understand what the dev was going for with it, I tend to like it a lot better.

On a side note, I do like how they have the pistol aimed, but don't shoot until they move the cursor off the enemy and then empty half their clip. As well as the grenade throwing when doing mellee punches...but only after the enemy is already dead. And I thought I was a twitchy gamer. I bet the person playing can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Shubhendu_Singh]

Well it's Polygon.

They're a joke.

[Kornholic]

Two disagrees from Polygon, I presume.

[InMyOpinion]

I have a hard time watching "game journalists" play games because of things like this. IGN also tend to be horrible at the games in their videos.

[Stereotypical_gamer]

That's because ign and polygon are social justice sites not games journalism sites and everyone knows that SJW's suck at games.

[NotEvenMyFinalForm]

they disabled the comments and rantings on the video because people were putting them on blast. XD

[ChrisW]

OhMerGawd! Polygon used recorded gameplay of someone playing the game for the first time -- instead of having someone who has beat the game twice running through it like a PRO...

Honestly, at first it seems no worse than watching a friend play a game they've never played before, which, actually, kind of gives it a genuine feel. Mostly because I'm certain I'd lumber through the first time as well.

Also, the author of this article only concentrated on the first couple minutes of gameplay. As you watch, you notice the player getting better and more proficient. Just like any normal gamer on their first play through. ANNNND... As for the "Well it's Polygon! They suck! What do you expect?" comments here, I bet you don't even know, let a lone care, what Polygon did to deserve such derision.

[iNcRiMiNaTi]

I just started the game a few hours ago, picked nightmare difficulty and I was doing better than this guy. Playing the game for the first time isn't an excuse for the video, whoever is playing this looks like they've never played a videogame before or he just flatout sucks

[Kornholic]

The gameplay looks like the one who is playing has never played anything in his/her life. The player in that video can't use both of the analog sticks at the same time. Stop being intellectually dishonest.

[Stereotypical_gamer]

Actually, it looks like someone who wants to be bitching about inequality in games rather than playing them.

[Articuno76]

Your friends presumably aren't professional videogame reviewers who are expected to be half-way competent at videogames. Heck, even if they weren't the average casual gamer (the kind who buys the big advertised titles, consumes them and then moves on) is leaps and bounds better than this. This is staggeringly bad, even for if the player in question isn't the one reviewing the game (or even an FPS player in general) as dual stick aiming is a common feature even outside of FPS games now.

[rainslacker]

Game play looks like me with any FPS shooter game on a controller. I'm twitchy, have trouble aiming, and tend to shoot too soon or too late and often am not good at secondary weapons like grenades as I can never seem to get them to go where I want them to go. I'm terrible at FPS because of it, and it's one reason I don't get too much into the genre. I typically don't get much better with the game as I go on.

That being said, no matter how bad I am, I do not miss targets that fill up 1/3 of the screen, particularly when they're dead center of the screen right under my reticule, nor unload an entire clip of ammunition at every single enemy despite the enemy having been killed several seconds earlier. I also don't take several tries to interact with an interactive object.

This person is just really bad at FPS, and it's kind of laughable that they'd use this person to make a video of game play. I just hope this same person isn't reviewing the game. I guess I can give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were just hopped up on cocaine when tasked to make this video.

[wannabe gamer]

what?!?! lol playing the game more than once has nothing to do with basic motor skills of moving 2 sticks at once. seriously if you can play a fps shooter and walk and shoot at the sametime then that isnt something you have to relearn on the next shooter you play. this person in the video cant do the most basic movements of walking and aiming.....that has nothing to do with playing this certain game thru before

[zb1ftw777]

All i see is a bunch of kids crying over a non-issue is mho.

[DarkOcelet]

How is it a non-issue when its your job to play games?

Seriously, the person playing couldn't shoot and walk at the same time.

[zb1ftw777]

Because it's not their job to play games.

It's their job to form an opinion of a game they review and then present that review to people interested in that review.

The crying kids are unable to tell the difference.

Journalists do not get paid to p!ay games. They get paid to present reviews to the public.

[UnHoly_One]

You're missing the point, how can anyone give an accurate review of something when they can't use it properly themselves?

I can't ride a skateboard, so if you give me a couple of them and let me bust my ass trying to do it, then I go tell a regular skateboarder the pros and cons of each board, I'm pretty sure he isn't going to take my opinion very seriously.

That's just one analogy. Same could be said of any product.

You'd have to be a complete idiot to trust this guy's opinion on any game over someone else who actually knows how to play.

[kraenk12]

So you really think it's ok if a so called gaming journalist is bad at playing games?!

[NotEvenMyFinalForm]

not just bad but terrible. Like someone picking up a controller for the first time.

[Stereotypical_gamer]

And here you are crying right along with us. Here's a link to the definition of hypocrite:

zb1ftw777

[Articuno76]

Playing a game is a requirement to reviewing them. This shows that Polygon's reviewers don't necessarily do that because how else could anyone be this fantastically bad at a game?

Being able to review a game competently requires you to be able to play games with at least an average level of competence, in addition to writing skill and analytical talent. That is, of course, unless your reviews are designed to be read by people who are equally unskilled (which is fair enough).

Here's the problem though: Polygon does not cater to a crowd that is supposed to be that incompetent at videogames. Heck, even publications that do are far more skilled than this.

And this is from someone who was a paid videogame reviewer: If I couldn't play a game or was a genre greenhorn I'd throw up my hands immediately and let the readers know that was the angle my review was coming from. I'm betting the Polygon aren't going to do that: They'll run it like any other review piece, but without the competency backing the playthrough (that is, assuming the person playing is the reviewer. It might not be).

There's always degree of variation with how skilled reviewers are at certain types of games, but DAMN, this is so bad that even a reviewer that isn't an fps player should hang up their hat, go home. Heck, even if they aren't reviewing this game in question it's they're so staggeringly bad that they probably shouldn't be reviewing anything at all.

I was miles MILES better than this back when I reviewed Wolfenstein: A New Order (my first FPS review). Back then I was way out of my element with the genre and I would say I 'sucked'. But even then, I would look a god to the person playing in that video.

[Kingdomcome247]

How can you be expected to review a game properly if you can't play it properly? Developer's credibility, bonuses, and oftentimes their very careers ride on some of these so called,"Reviews." The fact that you can't percieve the inherent issues with that is staggering to me.

[WharenPeace]

It's Polygon after all, and they probably asked the idiot savant Tauriq Moosa to review the game.

[Kornholic]

I had to google Tauriq Moosa after reading your comment. What a despicable little "man".

[SirCharles]

I'm guessing you found the necrophilia, incest and pedophilia defense pieces?

[slappy508]

"Polygon, those shining paragons of video gaming journalism" I had to giggle at that

[Kreisen]

"So, should there be a skill threshold that must be met for members of the gaming press?"
My answer is, ABSOLUTELY! If you cant even manage to move properly in a shooter you have no place reviewing videogames. Thats like a virgin advising others on how to have sex.

[rainslacker]

First test should be can you shoot something that takes up 1/3 of your screen with your reticule directly over it for a second or two without missing. This person fires their gun like it's a parody skit where the person always shoots to the left of what they're aiming at. Christ, if there were NPC's in the back ground, they'd be the one's being shot for comedy sake.

[Activemessiah]

They finally exposed themselves, these people have no interest in gaming and would always back away from challenges too... would love to see them play the multiplayer lol

[kraenk12]

Why am I not surprised?!

[1nsomniac]

WOW,. that was embarrassing & he presumably gets paid to be a professional...

[annoyedgamer]

They are mad that they cant complain about the fact that this is a violant male character only game. So they uplpad terrible gameplay in an effort to dossuade would be purchasers.

I know it sounds like a stretch but after seeing what SJWs have done before, I wouldnt put it past them.

[shammgod]

This doesn't shock me one bit. It shows in their reviews

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Love the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' music . Fits perfect with the bad gameplay.

[Articuno76]

Wow... It's like they haven't realised they can use both sticks at the same time. I'm pretty sure even as someone coming to grips with dual analog controls in Halo: CE I didn't suck anyway near half this badly. And these guys have 15 or so years on the me from back then.

[rainslacker]

Well...it is polygon...and they were playing on the PS4....maybe the controller just burns their hands like holy water burns the anti-Christ. Maybe something MS injected into their blood when they sold their soul to them. Video would make more sense if they were using a stick they found on the ground to manipulate the controller.

Mental note: Send polygon a second twig

[Rivitur]

It's hard playing with elbows

[metalgod88]

Maybe this will force people to think twice about what reviewers say when they're reading their review. Unless there's video, how do we know if this is how they're playing the game?

[user81673]

Man, those controls are abysmal, i was thinking in getting the game but not anymore. I thought you could do more than one input at a time. /s

[secretcode]

And the sad thing is a lot of my favorite series are now done BY Polygon (Monster Factory, Griffin's Amiibo Corner, Cool Games INC.). I guess if the McElroy brothers aren't involved, everything falls apart over there. That might be the funniest game footage I've ever seen. How do you miss with the shotgun at POINT BLANK RANGE not just once, but MULTIPLE times?

[Codewow]

Good lord. I am pretty sure that is the level of a 4 year old picking up a controller for the first time. No joke.

[rainslacker]

My 5 year old cousin can play Halo better than me, and I'm 40. Don't insult the youngsters like that.

[CrimsonWing69]

Another drop in the bucket of reasons to never take anything serious from this joke of a site.

[MasterD919]

Why watch 30 minutes when you can just play 30 minutes of it? It's a great game.

[47]

Not surprised. Polygon isn't in the business to review games, or to help gamers make purchasing decisions, or to help them be more informed. They're a propaganda website with the sole intention of pushing an agenda on an industry and consumer base they despise. They aren't much different than Kotaku, the difference being Kotaku does a slightly better job at hiding their deceit

[Tankbusta40]

I don't know where these sites get their employees, it's why I read actual comments and reviews by my fellow games

[PistolsAtDawn]

I have no idea what's going on with their review...but I just traded UC4 for this game today and so far it's a REALLY pleasant surprise. The game runs so smooth and sweet. Great looking game...and fun so far...much better than I was expecting.

[Davi123]

It's very disrespectful! >:( That song is just to try, for those you read their review, agree with them.

[no_more_heroes]

Clearly this was the player's very first time in their life playing a videogame.

[Tehcnala]

Git gud! Sincerely, everybody and their mother

[Segata]

Polygon. What more reason do you need?