Good Games: Not as Good the Second Time Around?

It seems to me that quite often when an older game is re-released or ported to a newer system, that game doesn't receive as high a score as it originally did. The most recent example that comes to my mind is Skies of Arcadia Legends for the GameCube. This game was released for the Dreamcast a few years ago, but was a disappointment in terms of sales. However, Sega apparently heeded the widespread critical acclaim for the game and decided that a slightly enhanced port for the GameCube was in order. However, when the game, now re-named Skies of Arcadia Legends, was finally released, many websites such as Gamespot and IGN gave the game a significantly lower score than the Dreamcast version received.

I not only understand buy wholly support giving a game a lower score if the newer release is deficient in some way. For example, a poorly ported game might have control issues or could be so buggy that it crashed every 5 minutes. In such cases, a lower score is definitely in order. But in the case of Skies, the game was actually improved over its original version. I am therefore somewhat surprised and angered when I see many reviews from major websites lowering the score for games like this one explicitly because it was released earlier on a different system. The argument these reviews use to justify their position is that because they have played the game before, it doesn't deserve as high a score. I simply don't understand this point of view. Is your favorite movie any less enjoyable the second time you watch it? Do the special effects become any less dazzling, the story any less enthralling? How about your favorite book? Do you enjoy the book less or is it thought to be not as good just because it has been read before? Of course not. And yet, this is exactly what many reviews seem to believe.

Ideally, a reviewer should be able to put himself above any boredom or lack of excitement that he or she may feel for having played a game before. The experiences of someone who plays games as much as many professional reviewers do are bound to influence their way of thinking about a game, and they should take that into account. In the case of a game like Skies of Arcadia, the newer release, provided that there are no major technical problems with it, should get just as high a score as the original did. To give the game anything less is in my opinion wrong.

By: Andy Rucker