In the video game community, video game reviews are serious business, which could be a combination of the price of new games and the average gamer being a console fanboy who isn’t very mature. However, there is another aspect to this known as impressions that seem to be highly misunderstood and grounds for flame wars and ignorance, at least negative impressions. Reviews are simply enough, an evaluation of the product where the reviewer gives his/her opinion on the game, how much they liked or disliked it, usually a rating, and if you should buy it, rent it, or avoid it. This concept seems to be understood well enough, even if people don’t agree with the review. On the other hand, impressions tend to be quite misunderstood from my experiences within the gaming community.

Impressions are what we think of a product based on what we know about it. Impressions are mostly what determine if we buy or rent a game or at least would like to do so. That’s not to say people don’t buy or rent a game without a positive impression of it first, but that’s more of an exception than the rule. After all, there are tons and tons of games out there, and whenever we do buy or rent a game; we chose that over many other games for numerous reasons, impressions being one of the biggest reasons, not counting other issues like cost and stock. Previews are a major source of bringing in a positive impression to get people to buy the game.

Another factor in impressions is track records. By this, I mean what people think of an upcoming product based on previous products. Is it not natural that if a company keeps pumping out products that a person likes, they will have a good impression of that company’s upcoming products from the get go? This also applies in reverse, but this doesn’t always get understood so well. For example, the Call of Duty series has a very good track record, which is why Modern Warfare 2 (ignoring the publisher for a moment) has such a good impression right off the bat. A fighting game fan may have a good impression of an upcoming fighting game just because it happens to be in the genre that the person likes. Nintendo is a company that has set high standards for itself and by the fandom to meet with each of its games, which is why they can release only a teaser screenshot for the upcoming Wii Zelda game and already have fans with reduced bathroom visits. Movies based off of video games tend to have a poor track record since the majority of them are not very well received and it’s quite common to think “will this movie suck?” for any upcoming video game movie.

How often do you see people praise a game, saying it will be good before it’s released and hardly anyone has a problem with it? Now think how often that when someone is a fan of a genre, but say they think a particular game in that genre doesn’t look so good from previews, that they are quick to get flamed. They are often told “how dare you judge this game before it’s released”, “no one cares”, "you can't know if it will be bad before release", and other similar reactions. These same arguments could be appealed to positive impressions as well. It’s like you’re not allowed to have a negative opinion without automatically being declared a hater. Why do so many people get hostile and defensive if someone has a negative impression of a game? It’s like a lot of fans are really fanboys which seems to go mostly unnoticed. For reviews, negative opinions tend to be better received, but for previews and such, it’s like for whatever reason, you’re only allowed to have a positive viewpoint or none at all. How does such a double standard happen anyway?

Now to pick a game series to apply this to and I know just the one, even if it’s “too easy” to pick, but it’s the best example I can find. I think Sonic games are a perfect example of this trend where negative impressions are met with a fist of bricks to the face and track record means nothing. Let’s take a look at the Sonic Cycle. Surely by now people will be tired of seeing it…



With Project Needlemouse having been announced not that long ago, the cycle has officially started again and history repeats itself. Now the second and third phases didn’t happen, but the first one is already underway. People are already saying “it’s gonna be great because it’s gonna be classic and 2D” and among other such responses. Anyone who says they think it might not be so good due to a negative impression based on the track record is likely to get met with flames and “but give it a chance”, “it could be good”, along with other such responds. Really, didn’t Sonic had a bunch of chances already? What makes the series so special that different logic applies to it that basically makes you a hater if you didn’t overall like the newer games? It’s treated like a celebrity that can do no wrong and anyone that thinks otherwise is the problem. These people can be sane and reasonable, but all that goes out the window in cases like this. Would a less popular game series be allowed to get away with this if it didn’t have such a rabid fandom to defend it to the death? I’m not saying people are not allowed to still have hope and like the current games, but I won’t stand for these same people throwing a hissy fit over those who don’t share the same views.

So my point is, I think understanding the concept of impressions and track records, especially negative ones, and not going into NERD RAGE mode if someone has a negative impression of a game is another step toward a better gaming community.