While I can sympathise with the dev, flooding the App Store with hundreds of 5 stars from your Twitter followers is worse than ten angry but genuine 1 star reviews. What the dev has done would be considered vote manipulation on Reddit. I like arty games, I even like walking simulators on PC, but I'm getting fed up with developers of such games rejecting criticism. Monument Valley isn't just an art game it's also a puzzle game, so complaining about the puzzles being super easy and overpriced is a legitimate complaint.
I think all honest feedback is good. I agree asking twitter followers to put 5 star ratings is bad, but so are competitions like ones here where people put 5 star reviews to try and win a $1. I think the main issue was the 1 star reviews were mostly people thinking they should get everything for free and were quite 'shocked' when they had to pay a whopping $2 for the new levels. Again do we want freemium stuff or do we support indie devs with a few dollars every 6-9 months etc ? If people dont like the game fair enough but moaning they had to pay $2 for some new levels on their $500 phone i just dont get
The people that complain about the price about that are just kids. They parents give them all they want and thus they think that everything should be free to them and start moaning when they don't get something for free.
But what if they're kids on their iPod Touchs or grans on iPads they got for Christmas? Not everyone is urban hipsters.
Then they're spoilt But we knew the original was 'quite short', so people seem to act surprised that the new content is 'quite short' as well. Again i dont try and whizz through games, like to take my time with it and appreciate the graphics etc. As i always say, in the 80's games were expensive, all these years later and they're a few dollars. Dont see the issue, plus you can wait for reviews/opinions than just dive in blind. Think people expect 700 levels, infinite updates for their $2 forever nowadays
Hopefully people aren't leaving 1 star reviews for it just because they feel it is over-priced and easy. That should only knock the game back maybe a couple stars, leaving a modest 3 star review. It still is gorgeous and very well presented. Music and SFX are great.
The two 1 star reviews specifically say that it's a price vs length issue. I agree that 1 star is harsh, but the devs and Eli are trying to spin it that people are just freetards when it's pretty obvious that the reason Monument Valley is getting more flak than other games is not because of the price per se but also the length of the content. EDIT: Also, and you'll see this on Metacritic as well, people usually vote to affect the average score. So you'll basically always see ratings either high or low and not normally distributed. Case in point: Monument Valley gets lots of 1 stars, so people rush in to give it 5 even if they'd have only given it 3 or 4 if they'd voted in a vacuum.
It's not so much an argument for comparing the two, as it is to point out irony and/or hypocrisy. I picked the game up sometime ago and I dropped them a 5 star rating because they deserve it. I feel guilty for not dropping more star ratings on the App Store. Maybe I should do that more often, not necessarily write "reviews" as I'm not the guy who likes to do that much. I don't know if I'll buy the extra content. I enjoyed the main game and I don't feel cheated because they are selling what's essentially a new game. I haven't ruled it out. I'll put it on the back burner to think about.
I can't believe this discussion is really happening. It must be just a nightmare, I'll wake up and I'll find out that nobody is really giving 1 star reviews to one of the most polished, enjoyable and visually stunning games I've ever seen on my iPad.
Agreed. It wound appear a false sense of quantity in freemium games (endless runners for example, though, as a caveat, a few endless runners are excellent) is what people want rather than a high end quality, polished, extremely well crafted and designed experience at a premium (ish, still don't personally consider the original or dlc price to be premium, just excellent value for money) price. I guess all those that were out there crying out for quality games didn't really mean it or just didn't want to pay for them.
If you feel the expansion is over priced, don't buy it. If you felt the game was too short, you should have done more research before you bought it. Request a refund from Apple. Are you entitled to your opinion? Yes you are. But to knock a game to a one star rating because they are asking two dollars for more content is in my opinion, a bit harsh. If there is a silver lining to this it is that with all the bad PR you are giving UsTwo, it is having an opposite effect. They are #14 in paid apps for an expansion. People will always rally against a bully and unfortunately, that is how you are coming across.
I don't think one-star reviews given to protest the new DLC not being free are genuine reviews of the game, it's just people with an inflated sense of entitlement throwing a tantrum. In fact I think the reviews from people who were motivated to leave positive reviews by the developer's twitter post are more genuine, since those people are presumably motivated to support the game because they actually like the game. The developer didn't offer any sort of reward for leaving a rating.
Excellent news there Cygnet, may it climb all the way to the top again. There may be hope for iOS gaming after all.
If they were genuine reviews they would have reviewed the game themselves without being prompted to by the developer. The sample group for Monument Valley reviews is now wrecked by brigading which is exactly why sites like Reddit ban it. Whether or not someone considers something to be value for money is a genuine review criteria. The game is undeniably short and I don't understand why people's voices should be drowned out just because the developer disagrees with them. Saying it's "just spoilt kids" doesn't fly when we don't actually know who is complaining. Even games on PC and consoles get crap when they're $60 and only <8 hours long. It seems like the Monument Valley developers have stirred up a hate mob for their commercial gain, which so many iOS gamers have bought into because everyone likes to make fun of CoD kids.
I think you're point makes perfect sense myself and portrays the motivations of those leaving the five star reviews along with those leaving the one star reviews accurately.
