I said what I said! In fact, this statement “If you get paid to review games, easy mode is not an option” should be the least controversial thing I’ve written and discussed on this blog! Microsoft sent out a tweet saying “Beating the game on the lowest difficulty is still beating the game,” and that’s a fair statement for a certain group of people.
I’ve talked about if journalists and critics have to be good at games, and other blogs similar to this topic and I drew to the same conclusion last time. Now, I’m seeing the discussion surface once again, and this time the word “accessibility” has been thrown in the mix. Mention accessibility because some people like to use that as a shield to hide behind their argument. You, if you hate easy mode, you’re discriminating against people who may need accessibility. Listen, there’s a CLEAR difference between making a game easy and making a game accessible, and trust me, no one has a problem with the latter.
Look, I don’t know why people get so sensitive or emotional whenever the question of easy mode comes into question. It’s really quite simple actually.
If you are an average, run-of-the-mill joe, you can play whatever game difficult setting you to want. I don’t believe in telling the consumer how they should enjoy their games. However yes, I will argue and standby my argument that you’re just robbing yourself of the experience the creator intended you to have, but you’re the one spending $70 a pop on a game, so do you! However, this does not apply to game critics and journalists who are PAID to PROFESSIONALLY play and review games. As someone who allegedly calls themselves critics that has to plays numerous games over the years, you as a game critic should have built up a repertoire so proficient that normal mode should feel like easy mode at this point. It is your job to play the game as intended by the developers so that you can give the people a more accurate reflection of the final product so that you know, we can make an educated purchasing decision. Why is this such a difficult concept to grasps for them?
Any game critic who plays any game of easy mode, his or her review by default is basically nulled and void in my eyes. Think about it, why would I listen to someone give me an impression or review of a game he/she played on easy mode? Heck, I’m not even asking or demanding you to play on the highest difficulty as I understand time constraint and all, but normal should by all conventional means be feasible with adequate allocated time. But that’s just my opinion, let me know what you guys think!
