Let's not beat around the bush here: Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is no stranger to critical controversy. The publication's incredibly rare 40/40 "perfect" review scores always manage to spark debate, and in the past, Famitsu has been accused of being a little unethical. After all, this is pretty much the biggest gaming outlet in Japan, and its advertising space has been acquired by many, many successful titles over the many years that it's been in circulation.
Controversy has once again caught up with Famitsu this week after the publication gave Death Stranding a perfect 40/40. Not a huge deal in itself since numerous gaming sites -- including Push Square -- also gave Hideo Kojima's latest top marks. However, Japanese fans have started to question the magazine's motives after coming across a certain cameo character in the game.
As Kotaku reports, Hirokazu Hamamura used to be editor in chief at Famitsu, and is now the president of Enterbrain -- the company that publishes Famitsu. Hamamura appears in Death Stranding in the same way that Geoff Keighley and Hermen Hulst do; he's a character that you deliver cargo to. Naturally, upon this discovery, players began asking whether his inclusion is, y'know, a bit dodgy. Again, Hamamura's Famitsu gave Death Stranding the highest review score that it could -- and he also happens to be in the game itself?
Sometimes stuff like this is noted in any kind of critical observation, often as a disclaimer. However, nothing like that exists in Famitsu's review of Death Stranding. It's easy to see why some players are asking questions.
Things get even more questionable when you realise that Hamamura has a history of collaborating with certain games. For example, Hamamura appears in 428: Shibuya Scramble -- originally a Nintendo Wii title that only released in Japan -- and guess what? Famitsu gave that a 40/40 as well. On top of that, Hamamura's worked with Kojima before, at least to some extent. He appeared in the Famitsu ad campaign for PSP release Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a title which claimed another one of the publication's rare 40/40 review scores. It's difficult not to raise an eyebrow when you add all of this together.
According to Kotaku, there's quite a big stink surrounding this whole thing in Japan, especially online. It'll be interesting to see whether anything more comes of this over the next few weeks.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 39
So Death Stranding will also be GOTY at Geoff Keighley's Game Awards?
@Octane
Maybe, but whether or not there's bias depends on what the other nominees are. Pokemon, Star Wars, RE2, Katana Zero, Fire Emblem, Luigi's Mansion 3? Aside from maybe RE2, would it be a huge controversy if Death Stranding came out on top? For me, at least, this year in gaming has been kind of meh.
@Octane I'd be tempted to bet everything I own on Death Stranding winning GOTY at The Game Awards.
Does this mean Liam Croft is somewhere in Death Stranding too?
I jest.
@ApostateMage damn it, you beat me to it!
@3MonthBeef Come on now, it's very easy to say that if you haven't actually played the game. In no way does it substitute gameplay for celebrity cameos.
@Octane I hope so, it's good if a new ip that dared to take a risk wins the award
I mean....it wouldnt be Kojima without a sprinkle of scandal or grey area right?
Whether any truth to this or not I gotta admit it all does sound pretty shady indeed..
🤔
@ApostateMage Wait, you mean people haven't found me in-game yet!?
Quid Pro Quo!
(Oh how I envy anyone who doesn't get that reference.)
@Octane - Never. Any. Doubt.
@ShogunRok 3 years ago I mortgaged my house and bet it all on DS wining the GAs whatever year the game released.
In regards to the uh, actual quid pro quo - how the heck did that phrase not get used in the article? - while a quick reaction may be just a big laugh, if they have a history of 40/40 for games they are a part of but not too many others, well, then yeah, gotta take a look at it, if just for the optics.
And for the love of god mention in the review the guy plays a characters in the game if you have any self worth at all.
@LiamCroft Ha! Good man.
Eh, I don’t care either way, tbh.
@LiamCroft I tied you up and left you in your own mule camp 😆
@Arugula
Likewise.
Yeah this looks mad shady for Famitsu and Japan will sort it out but as the article states, several other websites gave it 10/10s too.
As long as you are enjoying the game, that is all that matters.
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence 😉
Sometimes I just don't get Famitsu. At times they give some really good games like Sairento a score lower than 30 while very flawed games like Umbrella Corps and Ghost Recon Breakpoint a score higher than 30.
Nah, the game is great, and deserves the 10s. Kojima is just incredibly popular, so it's cool to hate on him now.
I'm really enjoying the game and think it might be one of my favourite games this year however i do question this 40/40 from Famitsu considering how rare that score is and the games what haven't got it. Going by the fact this guy has appeared in other games what also got 40/40 its very questionable especially when Famitsu in Japan is like the gaming bible and can sell games based purely on it scores, 40/40 for DS would help sales over there.
Did they not disclose his cameo over concerns about spoilers?
Oh look!
Another useless controversy about critics being the centre of the world.
The whole pantomime around DS outside the actual game itself is becoming tiresome now.
To be fair, it’s not like they win anything other than kudos from having a 40/40. As a real game changer, yeah it’s perfect. From what I’ve played, it’s brilliant and refreshing but GOTY? Toss up between DS, RE2 and Untitled Goose Game
go & enjoy the game guys it is better than the majority of people who have not played it make out. can we give Death Stranding stories a breather for a bit. 🤔
@3MonthBeef There is a distinct difference between reading reviews and playing a game for yourself. Reviews are meant to give you an idea of what a game is like — you can't possibly apply one review to every possible taste that every different person can have.
So a game like Death Stranding gets a 10. Okay, it's supposed to be a masterpiece. But guess what? That's the opinion of one person.
You cannot read about a game or watch someone else play a game and then say that you know exactly what it's like. It's not possible. You can make generalisations, sure — you can say "this game isn't for me" based on what you've seen — but it's impossible to cast complete and total judgement on a game if you haven't played it yourself.
Games are not surface-level media, there are so many dimensions to them. How they feel, how they control, how the look, how they sound, the mechanics, the systems. A game like Death Stranding is a perfect example. You simply can't completely dismiss it if you haven't played it. Not for you? Fine. But that's as far as you can go, and reviews are an extension of that.
Can't wait to do all the game reviewers deliveries on my journey.
But is keannu in it?
@LiamCroft Liam maybe your just a side mission ? 😉😉
If people can rightly? kick off about their review being in some way biased then the same can surely be said about the gaming press in general overwhelmingly giving death stranding rave reviews.
This is why I don't want Death Stranding to be nominated or win Game of the Year at Game Awards, specifically.
Of course, in its own merit, the game may very well be GotY material, but under the "relationship" Geoff had with Kojima, it would be safer if it didn't get nominated at all. BAFTA is giving Kojima an award for Game Innovation at BAFTA Game Awards, if Geoff decides to compete with them, he may give it to Kojima.
They are probably friends and to be honest most other reviews are giving the game a perfect or near perfect score so I don't see the issue. If every other review said the game was terrible but they sag its great then something is wrong but I don't see a problem with this.
OK, so I understand that the game is not for everyone. I also understand that it is a completly New experience. But 10 in 10? No, not even close. I can't help to think that the "adoration" for Kojima has made all this great scores. But this game, at max, is an 8.5. Otherwise, if the next truck simulator comes out with great graphics, ultra realistic with high tension moments when doing very difficult manouvers, even if it is very very Boring, it has to have a 10 in 10.. Otherwise, this is just hypocrisy.
@ShogunRok Honestly a game like Death Stranding you really need to play yourself to truly know if its for you, i found a lot of the gameplay people posted extremely boring and still do however when i play the game i'm not bored and sink hours at a time into because i'm drawn in. I feel reviews and videos can't really give you a true idea if you will enjoy it or not because the gameplay is pretty niche really and a love it or hate it kinda thing, it can sound boring when hearing about it but when you play and do that gameplay loop you might find yourself enjoying it more then you thought you would.
Just wanted to pop in and say - you see that other 10/10 game mentioned in the article, 428 Shibuya Scramble? If you like VNs then it actually is a 10/10. Please go buy it so I can have someone to talk to about it.
Thank you for your time.
Haha conflict of interest anyone 😂😂😂😏😏
So, I just made a quick research:
Skyrim, for ps3, is a 8.
Death Stranding is a 10.
Really? I'm sorry guys, I love your work, I come to this website 3 or 4 time a day, and I really like the community that exists here.
But I've played DS. It is a good game, but a 10 in 10? Game of the year? You should do better. As said by @ShogunRok a game score is an opinion of one person. But it shouldn't. It should be the opinion of a group. I understand that there's no time for everyone to test all the games, but when we're talking about a 10 in 10 it should be from everyone that works there. Not just one person.
Sorry, but if I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything, so I had to get it out.lol.
@3MonthBeef I am also conflicted on the 10/10 scores. A perfect score insinuates that the pros far outweigh the cons for a game, but when the gap between reviews is so vast where some of the cons and pros interwine, it becomes a little suspicious to me. From various reviews reviews, I've seen the monotonously repetitious gameplay, weird cameos, and more be listed as pros and cons. Of course, that is expected from varying opinions. However, nearly every time I saw these things listed as pros, it's because of some kind of obsession with Kojima. It feels like a good amount of those perfect scores are biased, based on love for Kojima rather than the game. Most of the reviews boiled down to "boring, slow, and repetitive; 10/10 Great story, fun movie, love Kojima".
@LowTech We can't review games as a group though, primarily because we usually only get one review code. This goes for the vast majority of games across the vast majority of gaming sites.
And Skyrim was reviewed literally 8 years ago, back when this very website used a 4-star rating system. It was also reviewed by a different person. Also worth nothing that I reviewed the Special Edition (different person again) on PS4 and gave it a 7.
I get where you're coming from but we can't really enforce the perspective that you're asking for. Not many sites can.
@ShogunRok
Skyrim was an example. I could had given Mafia,The witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption or so many others as an example. Games loved by so many and didn't get a perfect score, that were amazing, still are today. No 10 in 10. No problem with that. Although, for example, so many people say that these games I just stated, are the best games they ever played (I personally also include them among my favourites).
Death Stranding getting a 10 in 10? That's kinda bold statment. I think that the users reviews is even worst than it should because so many people are angry that the game scored so high, when it shouldn't, and are actually scoring lower than it should too.
I only tried to give a solution, but I totally understand that is not that simple. The only thing I wanted to say was, when you give a 10 in 10, just think of the weight of that choice, and if you arrived at that conclusion, that the game is really a 10, maaaaybe talk about it with other people that played the game..
A score as high as this one in a game like this, just takes a litle bit of credibility from the reviewer.
I think I'm not alone in this one..
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