Hold on he got death threats. Death threats? For his reviews? That is f*cking pathetic. If you guys feel the need to threaten some one with their life over a videogame go out back and shoot your self, your just waisting oxygen.

I mean I could understand an ass whooping, but murder? Nope.

DeathBeforeDishonor

Most people have never liked his reviews but after he got fired, a Gerstmania started.

Mara

The way people flip out about reviews is both hilarious and sad. Who cares what numerical score a reviewer gave your game. All that matters is that you enjoy it.

Wubbytoes

Hey look, its an 'Air' Gun.

Hyurk hyurk hyurk.

Komrade_Kayce

Oh god, now everyone is starting on the 8.9 again.

I mean seriously people, he reviews Ocarina of Time, gives it the site's first ever 10, he reviews Windwaker, gives it a 9.3, he reviews Twilight Princess, thinks the series hasn't evolved enough, and gives it an 8.9, and people go ballistic.

Seriously, it's his opinion, and it's a respectable one as well because he isn't just some crazy anti-Nintendo zealot coming in to bash the series, but rather someone who has reviewed the series for over ten years and then decided that the last one wasn't as good for its time, but still a great game, as it said in giant letters below the score.

You may not agree with him, but there's no reason to crucify him, call him an idiot, and apparently give him death threats over it. If you do, it's quite apparent who's the raving fanboy and who's the sane one here.

Nirolak

I like what Yahtzee said, "It's worth remembering that all reviews are subjective personal opinions, and if you personally enjoy the game then they really shouldn't get to you. Unless of course there is a despicable niggling doubt in the back of your mind that maybe you're not having as much fun as you've convinced yourself you are having..."

Replica23

gots one

GregoriRasputin

While I appreciate Gerstmann for his views and his journalistic integrity, the man really needs to learn how to write better. His video reviews were a bit creepy as well...

Datheron

yo shirtguydom opinions are like ass holes everyone got one.lol i love the movie platoon

GregoriRasputin

@ila: I see!
Reviewing Zelda game > 9.5 = incompitence, thank you for clearing that up.

The_nub_next_door

A wise man once said, "Opinions are like assholes... DELICIOUS!"

CountingConflict

My opinion is, your opinion sucks! That's about as grown up as people generally are.

As fas as Z:TP, I enjoyed it, it's wasn't ground breaking, it built on the already hard to improve formula of the current Zelda games, I agree with the 8.8. I've enjoyed many a shoddy game over the years and I will continue to do so, I enjoy many a shoddy pop song too, occasionally something just hits all the right buttons

Dannon

I gladly read or view any review by Gerstmann because he can motivate pretty much spot on to why he put the score he did.

I don't always agree with his reviews but he's damned enough competent for me to trust and understand why he thinks that.

People hating him are either the nintendo fan boys that went berserk over the Zelda review, which I think is a load of bull since he gave Ocarina of Time a full ten and could totally motivate why it deserved it, or just regular dumbasses who knows nothing about constructive critisicm.

phatseejay

That Zelda score still grinds my gears, but I think Jeff is an above average reviewer.

silkylove

It's funny to see that after the "OMG" raving about Twilight Princess at launch has died down, there has been a lot of people who have since voiced disappointment in the game's almost vehement lack of originality. Gerstman's score was perfect fair, and despite my love for the game, I'd probably rate it lower than if I were to professionally review it.

Ah, console launches. I always tell myself I'll avoid them, but the hype keeps sucking me in...

Darlan

the Simon Cowell of videogames

drunkentyger

Ugh, I remember the Zelda TP score. Fanboys wouldn't quit bitching for weeks.

WHAT? 8.8? DIS GAME HAS BEEIN GETTING 9.0s AND 9.5s BUT AN 88? HES JUST BEING A DICKWAD THERE RARHRHGRHRGHRGRG

not a fun time to be on a Nintendo blog or the Nintendo forums.

It's his OPINION, it's not going to kill how much you will enjoy the game, sheesh.

PAULINK

No doubt he secretly craves the attention he gets for his reviews. Good or bad attention makes whores of many of us.

Connoisseur

"I've always thought that some people take personal offenence to reviews. They are just opinions. Everyone's got one."

Yeah, but everyone's WRONG except me! [/sarcasm]

Good for Gerstmann, sticking to his guns.

ShirtGuyDom

Even before Zelda, he was never competent enough to be reviewing games.

ila

Viva lá Jeff!

The_nub_next_door

The truth is, we shouldn't care about reviewers or their reviews. Personal opinions carry no weight but for the person. Tell us what the game is, how to play it, how it plays, how it doesn't play. No trying to convince us if it's good or bad, no telling us if we should play it or not, no scores. If the review can't be broken down into graphs and spreadsheets, it doesn't properly serve us consumers.

justhesh

8.8 was generous for a last gen game popping up on a next gen console. You think GTA:4 would have gotten 10's if it had PS2 graphics?

Tyrannical

@Replica23: Truth. Read it.

DeathBeforeDishonor

Man, TP didn't even deserve the 8.8 in my opinion. 15 hours into the game I hit my 3rd fetch quest as a wolf, and that was it for me--haven't touched it since. I can appreciate craftsmanship in games and nostalgia for a classic franchise and all, but if I'm not having fun, what does it matter?

I like Gerstmann as a game journalist more for his readiness to buck conventional opinion on a game and that his tastes are similar to mine than I like him for his writing style, which isn't anything special. He's also a good personality which makes his podcasts something special as far as videogame podcasts go.

pico77

@Tyrannical: Yes. Yes it would.

I don't think it was graphics that took away from the scoring though on TP, more the fact that the combat wrist-twitching wasn't necessary, and what started off as an interesting storyline got shoehorned into a 'It R gannonz, keel hims!' twist toward the end. They had a good chance to make it into a much more memorable game, but they flopped on it.

Ampillion = That Man.

Twilight Princess' score was fine. That game was underwhelming and should've been much more. Gerstmann's the man for sticking it to the man and losing his job over giving his honest opinion.

Mit

I find it odd how he suddenly became an icon of integrity in videogames journalism. Not to suck up or anything, but has he done anything that Kotaku doesn't do every day (and with much better writing)?

Mara has a point: how many people loved and respected the guy before he got fired?
I don't know, to me he was yet-another-reviewer, nothing special, unremarkable writing skills, no effort to bring a particular insight into the medium, nothing that made him stand out. Funny how the internet works.

(Still, not as funny as death threats over a score.)

Antiterra

Uhhh, howsabout his rating of a perfect 10 to THPS3? I thought that was the worst in a very bad career.

AnthraxJunkie

At this point it might be a good idea for the Multiplayer blog to shift its focus to games and developers and away from worrying about game reviewers.
Seriously - they have great informative pieces like how publishers try to predict demand for games and the logistics involved and their interviews are some of the better ones as well - so they should interview people who matter.

Videogame journalists interviewing video game journalists is OK when it's called for - like when Gamespot imploded. Otherwise it doesn't help the craft to be taken more seriously.

El-Suave

@AngryTankManMax:

Itagaki would try to touch his boobs

Nihon no Purin

Now here's another distinguished individual who isn't afraid to speak his mind.

Gerstmann and Itagaki should have a conversation over a coffee sometime.

AngryTankManMax

Ban all males under the age of 21 from using the net - voila 90% of all fanboyinsm, negativity, hate and retardedness gone in an instant. Anyone left behind is too old to be acting like that and should be mocked. Suddenly game reviwes can be appreciated for what they are without having to trawl 1000s of idiot comments.

Fwiffo

I think Twilight Princess game was awesome and the backlash is just that - backlash, for a game that's cool to hate. Sure it didn't do anything particularly original (nor was it any less original than any other Zelda game, except possibly Wind Waker - it contained new-to-Zelda elements like every Zelda game does, the wolf mode in this case) but games aren't rated on originality alone. It was fun, the environments and areas were great, and I think the visual design is the best I've ever seen in a video game.

That said, 8.8? Not only is that a 'very good' score, it's a perfectly fair one. I love Zelda games, and the fact that a little more change would probably be a good thing doesn't mean I personally would make that a negative point in a review - i.e. could it be better if they changed some more aspects, probably, but do I still think it's better than virtually everything else anyway, yes definitely. But not everyone loves Zelda games - maybe some people are more tired of them than I am. (Me I don't have time to get tired of them - they come along at what, one every three years or so?)

quen

I can see rating TP an 8.9, looking back at it. I kind of fiddled my way through the game playing in spurts - but Zelda DS is CRACK.

phinehas

You know what? I'm all for rating games lower that deserve it. TP deserved to be rated lower... it just wasn't consistent... a lot of his reviews weren't.
It was like "This is too Zelda! LOW SCORE!"

"Holy crap, this game.. LET'S YOU SHOOT THINGS... and let's you play with others.. WHILE SHOOTING THINGS. What? It's the same old? THE SAME OLD SHOOTING? AWESOME! 10 10 10 10 10 10!!!"

otimus

@Fwiffo: Think that would be enough? You're an optimistic one!

Antiterra

@phinehas: Hm, just goes to show opinions are different. I liked Phantom Hourglass, but personally (using an integer scoring system, because come on) I'd have given Twilight Princess a 10 and Phantom Hourglass more like an 9.

I was a little disappointed by Phantom Hourglass, to be honest. Not that it wasn't very good, it was, but although the ship-controlling system was clever and worked reasonably well, I much preferred Wind Waker. Not only were the graphics obviously much better in Wind Waker (and I think in the sea part the graphics actually mattered, a bit), you really felt in control of that little sailing boat - it was great. In Phantom Hourglass it kind of felt like you weren't quite there (for the sea bits) - in contrast, the touchscreen control did work perfectly well for the 2d parts.

quen

The problem is, no one looks at reviews to see who it's written by. To me reviewers are faceless entities who have been given the privilege of writing up an opinion on a game. I hadn't even heard of Gerstmann until he was fired, and I had been reading his reviews for some time.

Zelda got a fair score, I think people just expect new games of an established franchise to automatically deserve a 9+ based solely on hype; sadly reviews are based on gameplay and evolvements in the series, and people regularly forget that.

Fallible

I still remember the gamespot forums the day that Jeff gave it an 8.9. Before the review was posted nintendo fanboys were saying it will get a perfect score after the review came out...well that is best left to people imagination. Suffice to say a lot of enemy's of Jeff were made that day.

dsmx

You know...I thought Windwaker was better than Twilight Princess and an Leap forward from Ocarina of Time. Also, A Link to the Past was the best Zelda.
COME CRUCIFY ME NOW FANBOY BITCHES!

neoepochx

HE IS NOT SPECIAL, JUST HONEST.

Kempatsu

I think the Zelda 8.8 controversy is a perfect example of why review scores suck. If you read the text of Gerstmann's review, he brings up some valid points about the game that might be negatives for some people such as a MIDI soundtrack, lack of voice, and tacked on Wii controls, but he ultimately said he enjoyed it and it was a game worth playing. Fanboys conveniently forgot all that and seized upon a meaningless number to vent their rage.

Hmm, looking back on that, it's not so much that review scores suck, but it's that people on the Internet suck. I hate you all! :)

Darth Navster

The Zelda review backlash made me hate Nintendo fanboys.

WatershipDown

@Darth Navster: "If you read the text of Gerstmann's review, he brings up some valid points about the game that might be negatives for some people such as a MIDI soundtrack, lack of voice, and tacked on Wii controls, but he ultimately said he enjoyed it and it was a game worth playing."

Everything you stated there sounds like an 8.8... Not everything needs the all mighty 9 or 10 score to be a great game.

iamspoo

@Mit: Agreed. Having finally played it recently for the first time, I think that an 8.9 was probably overly generous.

The Wreckard

Gerstmann reviews are fair. Stop worshipping this dude like he jesus or something.

Earthslide

@drunkentyger: Minus the charisma.

The_Foo

um, I dunno why no one has pointed this out, but Gerstmann gave it an 8.8, but it says 8.9 in the text up there. Not a big deal, just pointing it out

PoorPensive

I love it. So often I'll write something on Kotaku expecting a backlash, but compared to other game sites the people here are really understanding.

But I never let it alter what I write, other than adding more explanation at times. Discussions online may be important and valuable, but the fights that break out are just words on the internet. Emotions can flare, but ultimately when is it a serious important issue convincing others online of your opinion of a game? I do it for fun...

fuchikoma

I dunno why, but all the mess about Kane and Lynch, Zelda and stuff, always seemed to me like the doing of someone who wanted the spotlight by pissing fans or making controversy, for me, he´s just the equivalent of paris hilton or kim kardashian of videogames reviewers.

Sorry pal, but all that controversy is not enough to turn you a Crecente or a Totilo...

Daisuash

after he lost his job I read threw a number of his reviews, and i thought he was really good at reviewing. But I'm sure he can find work elsewhere.

@Daisuash: He reviews games, a 6 for Kane and Lynch is hardly controversial, it was about the standard rate, they got rid of him. And as many people have said here, the Zelda scores is fairly just. Hardly 'Paris Hilton' esque, the guy did his job well.

TearsandScreams

Sorry for the off topic, it was the first thing I thought of after reading the story.

Acute Gamer

Death threats from gamers?....oh yeah, I almost forgot about the person on GTA IV last night.

"I hope you die tomorrow" he angrily told my friend.
Why?
Because he wouldn't let him drive the fire engine! WTF? LMFAO!

Acute Gamer

stay strong Gerstmann

Zombie_Moogle

What's wrong with an 8.9 for Twilight Princess? That game doesn't deserve any higher than that considering how the story fell apart at the end.

hansamurai

it's good he shouldn't let the internet get to him, but isn't that 1 of the things you should all ready know on day 1?

D-Sovereignty

Why should he regret it? Getting fired was the best thing that could happen to him. Now he's starting a new site, giantbomb.com and it's going to be better than GameSpot could ever hope to be.

mikeha

GOSH DARNIT!!!!! hasn't this stopped yet???????????? what is the fascination with this guy, SERIOUSLY???????? who cares!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

freespeech