Mark Bozon should be a role model for everyone at IGN…
As you know I’ve become more and more agitated with the lack of talent at IGN and have become more inclined to start looking elsewhere for game coverage. I’ve been going there for more than 10 years now, and a lot of the people there are just completely inexperienced with journalism and gameplay let alone the ability to give an unbiased review. These ARE two different things, but when you clash the two subjects it needs to be able to flow extremely well with an unbiased opinion.
I’m very sorry to say that as IGN has grown in size, they are proportionally growing less appealing to people that really care about video games and aren’t fanboys or just playing them for the sake of pop culture. As for knowledge of their competition, it feels like IGN has completely failed when it comes to this aspect of their industry. Most of the time the coverage and/or content is completely equal to that of Gamespot’s; the articles are nearly the same with a few words and emphasis changed here and there.
Mark however, is a shining star in a universe of darkness. I’m not sure I’ve seen much of his stuff, nor has it been very easy to look up more reviews or articles written by Bozon thanks to IGN’s stellar organization of content, but what I just read and saw in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed review is exactly what I want to hear when I go to that site: an honest explanation of gameplay mechanics, annoyances, pros, cons, and overall feel of the game being reviewed. A fanboy’s pants-wetting excitement has become much more commonplace at IGN, where Mark cuts through all the bullshit and tells it like it is.
Obviously this is only one game, but I definitely look forward to more of Mark’s talent at IGN. Hopefully he’ll be able to influence enough people there to start doing the right thing and giving games honest scores as opposed to a higher, more biased score from a zombie’s obsession with a franchise.
Thanks Mark! Keep up the awesome work!