Like it or not, games are heavily dependent on attaining that holy grail of a high Metacritic aggregate.
Personally,The What Culture find this heavy focus on dictating a game’s worth based on a numerical value as immensely disappointing. Not only does it deprive many gamers of a worthwhile experience, the industry’s unrealistic belief that a game must reach a ‘90’ or higher has formed an attitude where perfectly acceptable and genuinely good releases are dismissed as mediocre, despite reaching scores averaging in the 70s and 80s.
Unfortunately, this can also lead to the making or breaking of a perfectly capable studio in the process. No other console library experienced this unrealistic attitude more than the Xbox 360, which has rather sadly led to a long list of games whose praises simply aren’t hailed enough as they should be.
Plenty of unforgettable games have completely messed up their players throughout the years, all the way back from the PS1 days to the dark recesses of the modern internet.
Huzaifah from eXputer: "Sleeping Dogs from the early 2010s is one of the best open-world games out there but in dire need of a resurgence."
You say "yet" as if it's even possible anymore. United Front Games is gone, along with anyone that made this game what it is
That’s what happens when games sell poorly. And I’ve seen people wonder why people cry when a game sells badly… this is your answer.
Majority of the time it's true but if a company/publisher is big (in terms of money), they can take a hit or 2. e.g. I am not worried about Rebirth sales as Square will make Remake 3 anyway but if FF 17 doesn't sell then Square might need to look for alternative. <-- my humble opinion
Oh okay, Activision owned True Crime, but when that didn’t sell as intended it was canceled. Six months later Square Enix bought the rights and changed the title to Sleeping Dogs.*
*As per Wikipedia
Sleeping Dogs was a sleeper hit back then. It was fantastic. It actually still is. Would love a sequel to this, or at least a revive of True Crime series.
Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II was an intriguing and unique RTS title, that sadly suffered in its console port.
Was just thinking about this game and wishing I had a way to revisit it. The way EA scrubs these titles from existence once their licensing runs out is horrid.
Indeed. The game can still be played online on PC.
Xbox 360 players, though? Bang outta luck.
I agree with most of this list. Mafia II was good, but it wasn't great. I was expecting an overall bigger game, but it was fun while it lasted.
Also, Sniper Elite V2 is one of my favorite games. I might have to check out some of these other games.
Enslaved was amazing frame rate issues aside but got panned pretty badly. It was around that time I stopped buying games soley on review scores.
Tenchu Z, one of my favorite 360 games
Nier would fit into this category. Unfairly dismissed by critics at launch due to visuals and lame side quests. Also most reviewers probably never played the two extra new game +'s that added heaps to the narrative.