I know on my part, there’s always this incredible weight with reviews, I feel really obligated to figure out what the game is about and how well it’s going about being itself. I don’t have a bias with studios, but I feel responsible for giving their product a certain level of attention, and in fact never feel wholly satisfied with the results. The industry, and the people within it, get treated largely like crap. Does that mean we love everything that comes in? Of course not. But we owe a real explanation of why we feel certain elements or the overall concept fell short.

People wonder why studio PR aren’t always cheerful. Imagine dealing with the gimme gimme attitude of the “press” all day, and then having people turn in reviews that are undeniably based on a few short hours of interaction. Then imagine working years on a title only to encounter this growing trend.

When the game offers a lot of themes and ideas to work with it’s worth the time regardless of whether we’re giving the thumbs up or down.

The feedback on Velvet doesn’t irritate me for being negative, but just for a complete lack of engagement. If everyone is tired of reviews they should go find different work. We have exhausting days here, but this industry is so continually compelling and fascinating on a daily basis that I simply don’t know how that couldn’t invigorate people over and over again.

The main reviews for this game have been nothing short of insulting, that is, insulting bad, insulting badly written, and insulting to anyone who loves the gaming industry.

Velvet Assassin a refreshing and fantastic experience, and more than that, when talking about reviews, it demonstrates how corrupt and childish the “IGNs” and others of the world are becoming.

I really do think this review is brilliant, its mature, well written not afraid to have a real opinion, and for this I can only say THANK YOU.

I’m so glad you brought that score up, because their complaint was that the game was broken – which it is not – as I demonstrated to many people over the weekend by seamlessly slaying and endless slew of enemies from the shadows. I don’t know which instance I want to refer to more, the time they gave Godhand a 3, or the fact that they give a truly broken game, Force Unleashed – some parts of that game are nearly unplayable – a passing grade.

@Mike – We had a big conversation about features, and the Hitman series while playing Velvet. I agree about smoother transitions, some of the few cinematics can feel a little jumpy at times as well. If you’ve finished the game I wouldn’t mind hearing an opinion on the credit sequence, the mix of video and music really grabbed me there and I haven’t quite put my finger on it yet.