Rise of the Ronin review -  brutally stylish combat is let down by bloated exploration | Video Gamer

Most open-world games suffer from oversaturation and needless bloat in the form of maps bursting with endless clusters of objective markers, and Rise of the Ronin is entirely guilty of this. While the open-world objectives become cumbersome, the undeniably stylish combat and gameplay do a lot of legwork to smooth over the bloating issues.

[badz149]

I didn't see they complain about the non-existent story in Zelda and Mario games. But when it comes to others, the story must be top notch and excellent or they will deduct points. Typical!

[Levii_92]

Oh for godsake would you stop. So embarrassing.

[badz149]

there's nothing embarrassing about pointing out the obvious double standard in reviews! if they want to be taken seriously, they should start with being consistent.

[SyntheticForm]

I'm glad reviewers are starting to crack down on bloat.

Also, copious map markers with explained objectives/activities really take away any sense of adventure and wonder, turning games into banal to-do lists. Games are so much more fulfilling and interesting without them.

[anast]

Too bad they won't crack down on live service elements and microtransactions.

[Ironmike]

100%

[SyntheticForm]

Absolutely.

[purple101]

Playing ghost of tushima at the moment, it get this right,

They have a map with “undiscovered locations” so you know you should visit, but don’t find out what’s there, until you arrive.

[Juiceid]

A developer builds a gameplay mechanism of “A”. And also includes “B”. When one game does a lot of “A” and less of “B”, people bitch. Then another game comes along and does more of ”B” and people bitch. There’s no winning, people are never happy. As long as whatever mechanic you’re complaining about is optional then enjoy everything else.

[Einhander1972]

This site gave Redfall a barely functional rushed out game a 70 (average was 50) that needed a sticker on the box to warn people the promised 60 fps mode wouldn't be in the game and wouldn't be released for nearly six months later.

I spent way too much time looking at their reviews on Metacritic for this gen and they have over 10 points higher than the average for Microsoft games and a 10 lower than average for Sony exclusives.

I haven't played this game yet, but I am certain it's better than Redfall.

I feel like this all fits an unfortunate pattern.

[spicelicka]

But they gave Spiderman 2 10/10 and Forza horizon 5 an 8/10 even though Forza horizon 5 is higher on meta. Anyone can do this.

You spent way too much time cherry-picking data to justify your fanboy outrage. It's embarrassing dude, if you don't agree just say it and move on. It doesn't mean the game sucks. You're literally on a website that has a much higher ratio of Sony fans.

[Einhander1972]

"You spent way too much time cherry-picking data to justify your fanboy outrage."

Actually you didn't spend enough time looking, I went through nearly every release on both platforms to get a feel for how they rated games in general. I feel like I made that clear in my comment.

[Ironmike]

Exactly it's cos it's a sony consoles exclusive the excuses start coming out cos it's not getting the scores they want

[Ironmike]

Now u just being stupid there's a least 6 or sites giving 6s and others 7s some 8 some nine it's mixed bag are all those other sites giving it a 6 xbox biased as well

[spicelicka]

You said yourself you spent way too much time, not you're saying you didn't spend enough time lol.

They would not give Spiderman 2 a 10/10 if your conspiracy accusation was true, way to ignore that. You know EXACTLY what you're doing. Your brain can't comprehend that an exclusive from your beloved piece of plastic got a low rating so you frantically investigated the website to cherry pick some point to make yourself feel better. We all do this to a certain extent for things we're fans of, you just went way overboard and it doesn't look as pretty as you think.

I'll say it as an owner of both consoles, this game looks good and I'll buy it when the price drops a little. People just need to stop with the outrage.