Kane & Lynch devs talk pain of low scores

by Justin McElroy { Sep 10th 2008 at 1:50PM }

We fear the inevitable day when video games will be crafted by machines (besides the robot that adds $60 worth of "better" to Madden every 12 months, of course), but it will also have its share of upsides. For example, we'll no longer have to worry about hurting actual people's feelings when we say awful, curt, snide things about their labors of love.

Kane & Lynch dev IO Interactive recently spoke to Games Radar about what getting negative reviews feels like, and you'll never guess the one that "really" hurt: "Then GameSpot reviewed the game. And they didn't like it one bit. I'm not quite sure why, but I remember that review hit the team like a hammer."

A heap of heartache as a result of GameSpot's Kane & Lynch review? Wow, and we thought Eidos and Jeff Gerstmann would never find common ground!

Tags: eidos, io-interactive, kane-and-lynch

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Haggard (Free Mr.ESC!) @ Sep 10th 2008 1:53PM

The GameSpot review didn't hurt the developer's team as much as it did gamespot's.

Haggard (Free Mr.ESC!) @ Sep 10th 2008 1:54PM

No wait, you made that joke in the article. I pwomise to wead the whole thing in future!

Shagittarius @ Sep 10th 2008 1:55PM

This game was not ready for prime time when released, please read my poorly worded review from my classic gaming restoration site:

http://gamerez.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=5&Itemid=30

Anam @ Sep 10th 2008 2:29PM

I liked how you informed the readers about the video card issue. It'd be nice if most reviews gave out more specific information like that rather than "sometimes there are glitches but we won't tell you why."

Markez @ Sep 10th 2008 1:58PM

I'll go on record as saying I enjoy this game quite a bit, been loving it.

Have played it more than I ever played Halo 3.

AoE @ Sep 10th 2008 3:23PM

damn why the down-votes when all he's saying is he likes the game?

To be honest, I enjoyed it quite a bit myself.

Metal_Gear @ Sep 10th 2008 5:28PM

He put another game above Halo! Kill him!

I really liked K&L, much fun and a gripping storyline, apart from the ending, the ending was terrible.

Markez @ Sep 10th 2008 1:58PM

And why do we need to free Señor ESC??? What'd I miss?

Immortal Technique PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Sep 10th 2008 2:01PM

they dropped the banhammer on him.

Dirty @ Sep 10th 2008 2:01PM

He got the ban hammer for some reason.

Markez @ Sep 10th 2008 2:03PM

That poor SOB. How do you even now when someone gets the hammer?

FREE ESC

Dirty @ Sep 10th 2008 2:10PM

He creates another screen name and bitches about it. Thats how you know. The why is what I wanna know.

Delgado @ Sep 10th 2008 2:37PM

The last thing I read him write was when he went bats**t crazy about the competitive gaming stuff (the article about E-@thletes).

I'm not exactly sure what he did to get BANNED, but I do know I down voted the hell out of him for being ridiculous.

Markez @ Sep 10th 2008 4:34PM

Yeah I read that, and it was ridiculous on an epic scale.

Mr Khan @ Sep 10th 2008 5:24PM

Someone made some disparaging remarks about professional gamers, and he totally overreacted

I think it was the personal insults to the instigator in question that got him banned

But we don't know, because joystiq NEVER BOTHERS TO POST BAN CRITERIA!

arrrgh @ Sep 10th 2008 2:00PM

I think what hurt the game was

the game

KeenCommander @ Sep 10th 2008 2:11PM

Amen.

VoLiTioN @ Sep 10th 2008 2:46PM

... T just lost the game. Thanks. :*(

Neil @ Sep 10th 2008 2:48PM

Too true.

Deeznuts420 @ Sep 11th 2008 8:44AM

its funny because its true.

Immortal Technique PSN: johnnynumber5 @ Sep 10th 2008 2:00PM

I picked this game up used for around $20.00 at Gamestop recently. I have to say that while the game is not great it is also far from the terrible reviews it garnered. Probably a similar feeling to Too Human. It is a love it or hate it type of game. My only big problem outside of some technical issues was there was not a single character in the entire game that you could really root for as the good guy. It was like bad vs worse.

Boffo the Sock @ Sep 10th 2008 2:20PM

A review of six or seven is not a terrible review, and I think the reviews are fair for both games you mentioned. I didn't particularly care for Kane and Lynch, but I can see where people would enjoy it. I'd say the reviews were right on the mark. It's a fun enough game, but not everyone will like it.

Too Human I have been enjoying, but it's flaws are evident. While I think it's great fun, there is enough wrong with it that I personally wouldn't rank it higher than a 7 (using a 1-10 scale).

zuburi @ Sep 10th 2008 6:43PM

"I have to say that while the game is not great it is also far from the terrible reviews it garnered."

"It is a love it or hate it type of game."

Do you know what "or" means?

DangerMouse @ Sep 10th 2008 2:01PM

Gamespot? Really? I thought it had more to do with the controversy surrounding that review than the actual writeup. Had he not been forced to change the review or be let go because of it , everyone would've forgot about the review the next day. There's always one review that gets a low score for every game, unless it's utter crap. And it wasn't a REALLY bad score like H4.5E got.

deaftly @ Sep 10th 2008 2:01PM

Ya know, I played the demo for this on 360 a while back and I thought it was kinda fun. This reminds me to pick it up, prob like 15 bucks now heh

eugene @ Sep 10th 2008 2:02PM

All developers need to hire outsiders to come in a periodically take a look at what they're doing and provide some honest feedback.

I think too man games get ruined because the developers live in a closed loop system and get a bit of myopic vision when it comes to their babies. It's perfectly understandable, and that's why it takes an outsider to be able to make an honest assessment about what works and what doesn't.

Dirty @ Sep 10th 2008 2:07PM

They should hire me.... Dirty - Video Game Consultant.

"these controls blow. why cant I jump this fence? Your AI sucks. What this button do?"

YES.

Bass Masterson @ Sep 10th 2008 3:08PM

The idea you're suggesting is called 'focus grouping', which is the sole influence responsible for dumbing down both Hollywood and games. Every game that is 'focus grouped' before release becomes flavorless mush - like Bioshock - that appeals to lots of people but isn't much of a game.

silverwolf761 @ Sep 10th 2008 3:49PM

@Bass Masterson

Focus Testing also produced the monstrosity that was the Original XBOX controller.

Must have been a group comprised entirely of Gorillas and Sasquatch

Neon Jebus @ Sep 10th 2008 2:02PM

Man I was looking forward to that game. I had probably watched the trailer about 50 times. I had really high hopes.

Then the game came out all buggy and the controls blew goats. I was a sad marsupial.

j.howlett @ Sep 10th 2008 2:03PM

to me the demo felt alot like hitman. i don't like the controls so it's not a priority game for me. i like some of the ideas though and might pick it up one day. to bad about the whole review mess

Link408 @ Sep 10th 2008 2:04PM

i liked K&L, me and my brother beat it on co-op

Dirty @ Sep 10th 2008 2:04PM

If you going to put something into the public space prepare for it to be reviewed and probably ripped apart.

BlaznGoldstein (Electric 6 Defense Force) @ Sep 10th 2008 3:47PM

I agree.

If you (you're) going to put something into the public space(,) prepare for it to be reviewed and probably ripped apart.

Overall I give your post a 67.2/78. It makes a valid point, but a few grammatical glitches hold this back from being a truly memorable post.

(Disclaimer: I am only joking. Thank you.)

totoro @ Sep 10th 2008 2:10PM

from the original article "sales have been ok"

According to NextGen, they sold over 1 million copies of the game. Sounds like a pretty successful run, esp. given the reviews/controversy.

Titanium_Orchid @ Sep 10th 2008 5:38PM

I think Gerstmann was fired because of the tone of his work, not necessarily the 6.0 he gave Kane & Lynch. There may also have been some problems between him and management regarding how gamespot gathers ad revenue.

I wouldn't go so far as to call him an asshole though. I think he is someone who is genuinely concerned for the development of the video game industry. He an a few people who left gamespot have a new website called giant bomb (www.gianbomb.com). Its pretty good.

I usually use my own judgment when it come to buying games but like Snowblind, I no longer visit gamespot, and am very skeptical about reviews.

Titanium_Orchid @ Sep 10th 2008 7:29PM

Wow, the comment system has been spanking me today

jimmygotsmack @ Sep 10th 2008 2:23PM

I said it once and I'll say it again, we don't really know why they fried Jeff Gerstmann. Everyone just assumes it was because someone paid gamespot to do so "or other theories in that area".

To me, there is a good possibility that he is just an asshole. If you read his other reviews, you could certain see his "tone".

The game itself, I enjoyed it. It wasn't ground breaking by any means, but it was enjoyable. Around the same level as army of two, maybe worse in gameplay. However, the story was better, even though you didn't really like any of the characters "I think that was the point". I certainly wouldn't have given it that low of a score.

BlackDove @ Sep 10th 2008 2:39PM

I said it once, and I'll say it again.

"When there's doubt, there is no doubt."

jimmygotsmack @ Sep 10th 2008 3:05PM

what?

Snowblind @ Sep 10th 2008 3:23PM

No, we don't know why he was fired, but Jeff Gerstmann was a great reviewer, I think he's one of the few that didn't fall into the big hype traps of games like Twilight Princess, GTA IV or Smash Brothers - most reviewers gave these games extremely high scores, because they seem like such great games at first, it's not until later on you begin to see the flaws, and I think Gerstmann was one of the very few big reviewers that picked up on things like that.

And the fact Gamestop was plastered with ads for the game for weeks, and then he was fired and had his review pulled after giving it a low score was very suspicious.

I certainly avoided the game, and the site after that whole thing.

jimmygotsmack @ Sep 10th 2008 4:24PM

Again, speculation, even though, his reviews are, as you put it "I think he's one of the few that didn't fall into the big hype traps of games" Maybe, or maybe he just wanted to create controversy. So he would give those games a bad score, and more people would look at his review and complain about it, giving it a later view count. IE, similar to Cartman from south park. He lives for it. Maybe the higher ups got tried of negative feed back "that back fired!"?

In fact, that whole fiasco just reeked with it.

Again though, more speculation.

S7R1k3R @ Sep 10th 2008 2:25PM

I always wondered what it would be like if a reviewer created a game. Would it be perfect? because they seem to know what works and what doesn't. Also I know they need to be objective but still. Let's get these hard ass reviewers to direct one game and let everyone judge how it turns out.

totoro @ Sep 10th 2008 3:04PM

I think there is a difference between a critic and an artist. I think you can be a good critic in a field without having the actual talent to personally excel in that field; it is really two different skillsets.

I don't think it would hurt for critics to learn more about the *process* of game development, so they have a better understanding of what it really takes to get a game out the door.

Bass Masterson @ Sep 10th 2008 3:09PM

Well, look at that hack ZeroPunctuation. Guy never made anything but crap side-scrollers and the like, and he actually thinks he has the credentials to 'review' games (it's okay though since all his reviews are Americans=bad, all games suck except the latest art-house darling, etc, etc).

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Sep 10th 2008 8:30PM

One artists said long time ago something along the lines. He was asked how he reacts to what critics write about his works. He replied simply: "we do not see much monuments around to commemorate critics."

Analogy is of course false (artists vs. business) yet there is a grain of truth to it when applied here.