Making the grade: Why tying anything to aggregate review scores is bad

The culture around aggregate review scores, people being so obsessed with them and companies often tying developers livelihoods around them needs to change...

[Hardiman]

A review or meta score won't stop me from liking or supporting agame. Mafia III was a good game but it was repetitious. That being said I think it sucks bonuses are tied to scores!

Now when a game like GOW comes along and racks up the critical reviews it's hard not to take notice! I was hopeful it would do well(because SP games seem to be in constant danger to some in the industry) but I was not expecting it to be universally praised but I'll take it!

At the end of the day If GOW hadn't of reviewed as well I still be getting it on Thursday and be just as excited!

[xHeavYx]

I just wish people would stop worrying about Metacritic do much.
An article have GoW an 8.6 and people were worried about the score showing on Metacritic. It's just pathetic

[Silly gameAr]

Yeah, I thought that was pretty cringeworthy to be honest.

[rainslacker]

Not many companies for bonuses to review scores anymore. The review system became too fickle, and most devs had no control over the producers who did things which affected the score negatively.

Most bonuses nowadays are tied to sales, but a poorly revised game often doesn't sell as well.

[SegaGamer]

I just think the obsession with review scores has gotten completely out of control. It's gotten so bad now that even when a game get's an 8, rabid fanboys are going mental about it. It's gotten so bad that they can't even see their own hypocrisy. A few weeks back, IGN reviewed Ni No Kuni, it didn't score massively high so most fanboys started saying things like "this is why IGN shouldn't be taken seriously" or "IGN are a joke". Then God of War comes out and IGN give it a 10 and the fanboys love them again.

How can you even have an intelligent discussion with these people? they're insane.

Review scores are taken WAY too seriously. Just play your damn games, even if it was rated 1 out of 10, you're still allowed to enjoy it and it can even be your favourite game if you like it that much. All a review is is an opinion, can you really not look beyond somebody else's opinion of a game?

[letsa_go]

It is one of the only tools we have to fight the crap that companies like EA have been putting into their games. It lights a candle under the developers asses not to screw it up or they will be sent to the unemployment line. I don't know where this mentality came from that we have to coddle the developers and support them even when they put out shit games. That just encourages them and other companies to release more shitty, incomplete games with microtransactions. They need to be held accountable so we don't get a bunch of unfinished shovelware.

[chiefJohn117]

Preach!

[Razzer]

" A few weeks back, IGN reviewed Ni No Kuni, it didn't score massively high so most fanboys started saying things like "this is why IGN shouldn't be taken seriously" or "IGN are a joke". Then God of War comes out and IGN give it a 10 and the fanboys love them again. "

Uh.....did you go and check to see if the exact same people said these things about both games? Or are these just different people having different reactions to different game reviews?

[Inzo]

I dont trust average review scores for the most part especially user reviews and especially for exclusive games. GOW is sitting at 94 on Metacritic but I expect it to have a 7.0 to 7.5 user review, not because its a bad game but because it is going to be flooded by negative reviews from disgruntled and salty Xbox fanboys. This is a fact that history teaches us.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

It’s actually 95 on metacritic :)

[Razzer]

Well yeah, user reviews on metacritic are just trash. I don't pay them any attention at all.

[michellelynn0976]

Horizon got an 8.3.

[Inzo]

Go and have a look at how many of those user reviews are flat out 0/10 with no reason given as to why.

[michellelynn0976]

I know. Mario and Zelda got those as well. Seriously, people need to stop that. Both Horizon and Zelda are much better than their Metacritic fan scores say they are. Is it any wonder no one takes those scores serious anymore?

[CrimsonWing69]

It bums me out when a game I’m interested in gets a bad review score but I’ll still buy the game or check it out for myself. I’m usually 50/50 with review scores. Some games that review bad I thoroughly enjoyed while some that review good I didn’t like. So there ta’ go.