As the coming months roll by, we are getting an increasingly steady stream of quality entertainment. This year alone, we have the likes of Arkham Knight, The Witcher 3, Mad Max, Just Cause 3, and Metal Gear Solid V to look forward to throughout the year. The floods gates of this current generation slowly swing open, but what flows forth isn’t exactly being met with celebration.

No. What we’ve been hearing is something of a growing uproar as people take to message boards and article comment sections to take a kick at whatever titles they can. This isn’t to say all of it isn’t justified. To be fair, the beginning of the generation was fairly rocky. AC: Unity had issues at launch as did Battlefield 4 and Halo: MCC while Watch Dogs, despite impressive sales figures, didn’t really strike true with core gamers; shipping with visuals that weren’t quite on par with the initial reveal of the title. While we commend Sony and Microsoft for bringing loads of indie titles to their consoles that aid in filling the gaps between major releases in this stage of infancy, gamers criticize the companies for not having that many big budget AAA offerings at the same token. The issues consumers raise are very real and the overall message is that as a community, we’ve come to expect a little more from developers.

But in the extreme, developers receive a stream of hate sometimes before the product is even completed. The following games are very different from one another, but have received a disproportionate amount of criticism whether their flaws truly merit it or not.

When The Order 1886 was announced, it was met with intrigue and curiosity. “Is that gameplay?” “No way they’ll give us those visuals.” Statements like this were common and legitimate. As development continued and information was released, gamers began to take issue with the developer’s design choices. This initial doubt centered primarily on the usage of letter boxing to deliver what the developer (Ready At Dawn) stated is a more cinematic feel. “Why does it have black bars? I want to see the whole screen.” This design choice resulted in an image that was sub 1080p at a time when resolution and frame rate were the talk of the town. A benefit of this move meant the additional resources could be funneled into what are probably some of the most impressive raw visuals of the current generation. The more vocal critics seemed to clamp down on this detail as false advertising and a reason to bash the game for allegedly cheating it’s way there instead of celebrating the image quality RAD was able to produce.

This was just one of a few complaints. Of course the game was target practice for everyone with a shadow of a doubt or chip on their shoulder. Things were called into question from a supposed downgrade that was proven to be false, shooting mechanics that were labeled bland and generic, the delay, and disdain over QTE implementation for some major conflicts. Even the press got in on the action when an outlet encouraged consumers to not pre-order the title. That seemed a little out of the ordinary more than anything, but another more practical complaint emerged after a speedrun was completed in an elapsed time of roughly 5 hours.

The key word here is most obviously “speedrun”, yet certain slivers of the community were unable to distinguish that qualifier from the news. Instead, comment sections and discussion threads were plagued with repeated reminders that “the game is only 5 hours long”, how people “would never pay full price for a game that can be finished in one sitting”, and declarations that The Order is a “confirmed rental”. To be clear, a speed run entails skipping over all possible content, so that the player can focus on completing only the essentials in the shortest amount of time. In reality, The Order is somewhere in the realm of 8-10 hours to complete, especially for completionists who want to find every collectible and even get the platinum. For those who weathered the storm of negativity in order to play the game for themselves, we hear impressions of a well done, cinematic experience that may be worth the price of admission to those looking for exactly that. Overall, RAD delivered on what they set out to achieve, but the damage was done far in advance of the title’s release.

Lower than average reviews began to pour in from one site after another. Normally, this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, but because so much doubt, debate, and criticism was heaped upon one of the first exclusives for this generation of Sony hardware, this only validated the naysayers who continued to drown out the voices of everyone else. This was an extreme situation, but it was not the first nor the last. A few months prior, another Sony exclusive came under tremendous fire. A fire that still burns.

With the reveal of the PS4 came the announcement of a new driving game from Evolution Studios, the makers of the beloved Motorstorm series. This new IP was Driveclub. It boasted social connection by way of numerous challenges that would take place at various locations on the tracks as you raced. Not only would you be racing against others and/or the computer controlled AI, but you would also be competing against your friends as well as the rest of the world for things such as longest drift, highest average speed, and who could follow the driving line best among other smaller goals on your way to the finish line. Driveclub intended to occupy the space between arcade and sim racers by offering easy accessibility while rewarding more advanced driving techniques. Then hardship hit in the form of two delays.

What was slated as a PS4 launch title was pushed back to “early 2014”. No biggie, right? Wrong. A little later, the game was not only delayed again to October of 2014, but it would also be getting a new director. Naturally, the community gets skeptical, but Evolution continues to update us and show clips of jaw dropping gameplay footage. On top of that, they also promised a free version on PS+, so we could get a taste and decide whether or not we want to pay the price of admission to gain access to the full game. In spite of the developer’s efforts, the community was slipping. More and more people proclaimed their intent to get the free version, nothing more. Confidence in Evolution wavered, yet people were still willing to give the title a chance although lovingly referring to the game as Delayclub (Can I trouble anyone for just a smidgen of originality?).

With the release drawing closer, another community concern emerged due to a double edged bit of news. A somewhat critical element of the game would be missing at launch. Leading up to release, Evolution demonstrated weather effects that were by far the most mouth watering visuals we (The crew) have seen on this side of the screen, BUT…they wouldn’t ship with the title. These effects would be included in a patch released shortly after the game hit shelves. I guess this hearkens to the old adage that time heals all wounds. Time passed and these effects were eventually released as promised. As far as anyone is concerned, they’ve been there all the time since gamers opted to hold out for the free version. However, leading up to that time was a different story. The promise of the effects post-release conjured criticisms of developers shipping unfinished games and relying on patches to complete their products. Of course Evolution was then labeled as “greedy”, “incompetent”, “lazy”, etc. This was a popular talking point on the net by concerned consumers as well as those who put in a considerable effort to knock the PS4 down a peg in light of astounding sales figures…for a console with “no games”. Evolution had an uphill battle ahead of them on the way to the game's eventual release.

And when that day arrives, Driveclub, the game which promised social connection, was immediately crippled by network issues. Evolution was confident the servers would be alright, but were embarrassed when the game's online functions weren't operating as advertised. So much to the point that the free version gamers were waiting for was delayed until Evolution is sure it won't experience issues (At this point in time, it is still in development). To be fair, the game could be played at launch offline without all the bells and whistles. It’s situations like this that make you realize how important bells and whistles are to some of us. The community that had already taken a pessimistic outlook on the game once it was delayed erupted. Users were verbally insulted in discussion forums, the PS4 lineup was derided for having such a light showing in the fall period (Including the lukewarm reception of LittleBigPlanet 3), review scores were waved about like the flags of an invading army. Needless to say, it was a rough time for Sony fans and online communities alike.

After all the arguing and nitpicking settled down, the reality of situation was able to be seen. The game received average reviews, but it was still a solid offering as we’ve stated on the show. The visuals lived up to all the calls of being bullshots, the online was eventually patched into working order, and Evolution provided a continuous helping of free content ranging from new vehicles to new tracks. Driveclub wasn’t necessarily on the level of a Forza or a Gran Turismo (Games that have been around for multiple generations with multiple numbered entries), but it wasn't supposed to be. In the end, Driveclub was exactly what was advertised and we’ve personally enjoyed the title quite a bit for its more accessible play style that rewards speed and daring. Driveclub was the focal point of another situation that would normally be dismissed on the optimism of the next big title, but was blown far out of proportion. Much like The Order, there was justification for some of the unreasonable backlash that took root, but our next example demonstrates exactly how unreasonable the community can be in response gaming issues.

In the first year of the PS4’s existence, a very refreshing and unexpected partnership was announced. From Software and Sony Japan Studio would be teaming up for a then unannounced title only known as Project Beast. As copyrights and footage slowly leaked, the eventual announcement of Bloodborne was made. A new PS4 exclusive from the acclaimed creator of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, Mr. Hidetaka Miyazaki, would release in the first quarter of 2015 to resounding critical praise. And boy was it praiseworthy. To fans of the Souls titles, this game was near flawless from the astounding visuals to the deep lore that is being picked apart as I type this. There was almost nothing to sully the experience of this tough as nails Victorian gothic epic. Almost.

While the community gleefully dove deeper into the city of Yharnam, a few criticisms managed to materialize concerning this otherwise pristine example of what the current generation has in store for us. A slight hitch in the frame rate, a game breaking bug that was quickly patched post-release, and the most discussed flaw. Long load screens. Full disclosure for those who aren’t aware:

1) This game involves A LOT of trial and error that results in numerous deaths, especially early on

2) These deaths result in a load screen that just says “Bloodborne”

3) This load screen was roughly 40+ seconds in length

Now we understand how immersion breaking load screens can be. Elder Scrolls and Fallout (Those fantastic games) can be the most prominent offenders in this category. We also understand that in a game where you die fairly often, it can be disappointing to spend a great deal of time waiting for the action to reset. What is difficult to understand is how that takes away from the overall quality of the game. When the only flaw in your product is a loading screen that is less than one minute long, something went horribly right in your studio, if you ask us. To date, From Software has released a patch to reduce the load times and add item descriptions that cycle in place of the “Bloodborne” loading screen. It’s not a mighty difference, but From made good on their promise to do something about it.

As noted earlier, Bloodborne was extremely well received across the net with high marks from just about any outlet you can pull off the top of your head. The title also managed to cross the 1 million sold marker in less than two weeks after release. Luckily for this game, it enjoys a highly dedicated community that dissects every bit of lore and content while turning a blind eye to any criticism coming from the uninitiated or the "discouraged". With the title getting in so many hands so quickly, there were quite a few people who had little to gnaw on beyond the minor discomfort of the load screen, try as they may. Remarks of it being “just another Souls game”, “poorly designed” due to players who weren’t able to easily find their way around as well as approaching the combat too lightly, and “lacking in story” by players unfamiliar with From’s style would fall away like so much dust from the shoulder of an east coast rapper. Gamers even questioned how the game could receive such praise when it was “broken” at launch. Despite being assaulted in this way at every weak point, Bloodborne would be one of very few titles that not only lived up to the hype, but also silenced the naysayers in its wake.

Conclusion

By now, it is understood that there are members of this grand community that can grasp just about any flaw (Rhymes with straw, oddly enough), whether real or imagined, as if it’s poking them in the back of the neck with a sharp stick. Some of us are more sensitive to these things than others. If you’re like us, you’re pretty much immune to it. But what isn’t completely understood is the sheer force of negativity that is circulating among gamers that's focused into a beam aimed at almost every game that approaches our hands. It is very natural to have concerns about news and design choices that may not jive with our preferences. The great likelihood that Star Wars: Battlefront won’t feature a dedicated third person camera perspective has us skeptical. Personally, I’m worried about the CQC of The Phantom Pain since that is the one thing I’ve wanted improved upon the most in the Metal Gear franchise. Should these concerns turn out to be unfounded, they won’t necessarily diminish the quality of either product. You won’t hear us hand down final judgment of a game we haven’t played nor try to downplay a title based on a personal gripe or two.

The problem is when we as consumers take our concerns, our dislikes, our biases, all those little pet peeves that nag us from the back of our minds and turn them into the wrong course of action. If a game isn’t for you, that’s perfectly fine. When we try to convince others that a game isn’t for them or begin a crusade to bash it, that’s when we go out of bounds. This is article is mainly focused on Sony titles, but Microsoft wasn’t free from the negativity either. The community railed into the Xbox creator when Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced exclusive, yet that same backlash was absent when Sony obtained exclusivity of Street Fighter V. Even further back was the borderline mutiny in response to the initial reveal of the One that resulted in some promising features being put on the back burner in order to appease the angry mob. There are players who seem to have a hard time enjoying a product that is anything less than what they want in every imaginable way (Which is impossible) or is too different than what they've grown accustomed to. This means that there are players who are not only unsatisfied with pretty much every game that comes along, but that feeling is weaponized into crystalline hatred that’s launched toward these products as well as those that enjoy them.

We here at Control-Issues expect a little more from developers just like the rest of you, but if we don’t get it, we don’t get it. Until the money is exchanged, what harm has been done? It’s disappointing when a game experiences issues or falls short of what was promised, but we don’t lose anything as consumers. With that said, what’s the point of the anger and insults? What do we gain from electing EA as the worst company in America two years in a row or by not pre-ordering The Order or sending threats of violence to a voice actor because an exclusivity deal was cut for the sequel to Tomb Raider? What is really achieved from the derision and ridicule piled upon these studios when they slip or make a decision we don't like? The only answer I have is nothing. In fact, whenever certain issues are blown out of proportion, we end up losing in the end.

To some degree, we should be able to criticize developers, but the line gets crossed far too often, especially now that we have so much access to their ivory towers. Like church and state, there needs to be some separation between developer and consumer. Rampant criticism and moment to moment bellybitchin’ from players last generation resulted in developers changing characters and even endings. Since happy folks don’t complain, happy voices aren’t being heard and that is probably the biggest disappointment in all of this.

That's just my opinion, of course.

A-Dub