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Do LoZ games get inflated review scores just because it has Zelda in the title?

Do zelda games get inflated review scores?


  • Total voters
    138
  • Poll closed .

SantaC

Member
I am thinking mostly from the Gamecube and Wii generation. Yes, Wind Waker was an achievement in graphics and deserves its high scores, but Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword did bring nothing special to the table imo. They are not 90-95+ games. It felt more like, here is a brand new zelda, it will score 10/10 automatically. yes some Zelda games are really awesome while it seems that others just surf on the brandname.

Do Review publications have a tendency to overscore Zelda games? What's your thoughts.
 
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GymWolf

Member
Some rockstar games, some sony brands and some nintendo brands get favourable scores from reviewers, not really a new thing.

They ignore gigantic flaws that are considered super important in other games but when it comes to these brands the reviewers suffer a collective loss of memory.
 
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Kazza

Member
Yep:

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fatmarco

Member
Nintendo in general, but that's been the case for like, at least 25 years so it's just something you expect.

Nintendo games are primarily reviewed by Nintendo fans, and Nintendo fans tend to not play outside the ecosystem.

Nintendo games are special true, but they still mostly exist in a space external from the rest of the general gaming sphere.
 

Three

Member
I am thinking mostly from the Gamecube and Wii generation. Yes, Wind Waker was an achievement in graphics and deserves its high scores, but Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword did bring nothing special to the table imo. They are not 90-95+ games. It felt more like, here is a brand new zelda, it will score 10/10 automatically. yes some Zelda games are really awesome while it seems that others just surf on the brandname.

Do Review publications have a tendency to overscore Zelda games? What's your thoughts.
Twilight Princess I can kind of agree with but Skyward Sword at least had the relatively decent waggle combat.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Yes. Reviewers who give each and every LoZ game a 9+ review are not much different from the fans who demand that each LoZ games deserve nothing but 9+ scores - or else!
 

Robb

Gold Member
Not sure why you’d have to ‘bring something special to the table’ to be a fantastic game. Loads of very safe games get high scores all the time and both TP and SW are fantastic games imo.

SW is probably my least favorite 3D Zelda ever and I still think it’s a great game. Has some of my favorite temples in the entire series and a great soundtrack as well.
 

Skelterz

Member
Nintendo in general, but that's been the case for like, at least 25 years so it's just something you expect.

Nintendo games are primarily reviewed by Nintendo fans, and Nintendo fans tend to not play outside the ecosystem.

Nintendo games are special true, but they still mostly exist in a space external from the rest of the general gaming sphere.

Never read so much bullshit in my life, Most people I know game mainly on a PS5/PC/Xbox and they all own a switch as well for the first party offerings which mostly stand head and shoulders above any of the major console devs exclusives to this day.

Not only that but if the numbers are correct then we should be led to believe the switch has sold 100m units or something crazy like that you think even a 1/3 of that number only play the switch 😅.

The fact of the matter is there’s two camps, people that like the hardware/software that Nintendo produce and the camp that don’t, the issue is the people that don’t also hate the fact Nintendo play to the beat of there own drum and are successful it’s sad really makes no sense to me.

It reminds me of the FromSoftware situation when elden ring came out you had other developers venom spilling out all over Twitter because of there uncontrollable jealousy for elden rings success, it’s very much the same dynamic FromSoftware do what they want and win and so do Nintendo and people hate it. Somethings aren’t for everyone people.
 
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It's not just Zelda, but pretty much any game with a lot of expectations behind it. Could be because it has a long history like Zelda, or it could just be hype like Cyberpunk 2077.
 
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TonyK

Member
Same for all exclusives. I think Gears, Halo, Zelda, Horizon, Uncharted... a lot of them would have lower scores if they were multiplatform. Don't get me wrong, they are great games, but scores are a bit inflated for exclusives.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Yeah, but so do a lot of other games. It's nothing to do with a single IP or publisher.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.

01011001

Banned
No they don't, notany more than other games do.

Mainstream game reviews are a joke most of the time, so it's not like anyone should care about their scores in any way.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
No they don't, notany more than other games do.

Mainstream game reviews are a joke most of the time, so it's not like anyone should care about their scores in any way.
their scale is broken and their whole business model is to not piss off the publishers that give them those games for free to review. If they actually bought the product or had an agreement in place it wouldn't be an issue and we would've seen a lot of 5/10 games as that is what it is for most of them which is average. Not talking about Zelda here as I've enjoyed all the Zelda titles I've played from Oceania to the small DS titles all impressed me. The only one I disliked is Twilight Princess.
 

01011001

Banned
their scale is broken and their whole business model is to not piss off the publishers that give them those games for free to review. If they actually bought the product or had an agreement in place it wouldn't be an issue and we would've seen a lot of 5/10 games as that is what it is for most of them which is average. Not talking about Zelda here as I've enjoyed all the Zelda titles I've played from Oceania to the small DS titles all impressed me. The only one I disliked is Twilight Princess.

Exactly, and in addition there's the pressure to have a review out by the time the embargo is lifted, meaning most reviews are extremely surface level.
It usually feels like if the reviewer had a smooth ride through the campaign it automatically means the game gets a good score. Doesn't matter how well it's actually designed. So a super highly polished turd will often get as good a score as a less polished diamond in the rough, even tho the latter one has more intricately designed mechanics and concepts than the polished turd
 

Elfstar

Member
There are definitely games from certain series or developers that get extremely inflated scores: Mario and Zelda mainline console games, Rockstar Games, probably Naughty Dog and From Software, maybe some other ones. Most reviews for these always have an over-the-top, almost evangelical tone, any real critical thought is nowhere to be found, and big flaws get happily overlooked.
Whoever tries to deny this is deluding themself.

Zelda is such an excellent example of this, since it struggled so much during the 128 bit era: Wind Waker was vary apparently a rough, unfinished game filled with shameless padding, and Skyward Sword was even way worse than that, and they both got a load of those braindead 10/10 scores, just because of the brand and the "prestige".

I say NEVER trust reviews for these games.
 
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ironmang

Member
their scale is broken and their whole business model is to not piss off the publishers that give them those games for free to review. If they actually bought the product or had an agreement in place it wouldn't be an issue and we would've seen a lot of 5/10 games as that is what it is for most of them which is average. Not talking about Zelda here as I've enjoyed all the Zelda titles I've played from Oceania to the small DS titles all impressed me. The only one I disliked is Twilight Princess.
A lot of reviewers also view being a critic as just a stepping stone that could possibly lead to them working on the public side of one of these game companies. In general to just being sheep who give a score that's expected instead of one they legitimately came to on their own.
 

T4keD0wN

Member
Yes, but this applies to all franchises with big fanbases. No reviewer is objective, they are all fans of things too. This applies double if the franchise is old enough for people to feel nostalgic about it.

They might also do it to protect themselves... can you imagine the amount of death threats you would get from losers if you gave a fromsoftware or god of war game even just an average score? Its better to criticize the game and give it a high score regardless to appese people than to deal with that (most of those weirdos dont read, they just check the scores). I remember getting death threats just for mentioning that i played dark souls with a keyboard on steam forums. "GaMeRz" are radical crybabies.
 
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Gaiff

Gold Member
Same for all exclusives. I think Gears, Halo, Zelda, Horizon, Uncharted... a lot of them would have lower scores if they were multiplatform. Don't get me wrong, they are great games, but scores are a bit inflated for exclusives.
I'd say it's no longer true for Xbox games. Gears and Halo no longer have that factor that makes the gaming world at large stop paying attention to everything else to focus on them. Whenever you got a new Uncharted, Zelda, TLOU, Smash, or Super Mario, they become the most talked about titles for weeks leading to their releases and are pretty much a shoe-in for GOTY.

The only Xbox franchise that still carries the seal of ultimate quality is Forza.
 
Overall it should even out somewhat with people who expect more (r)evolution in a new entry in a series.

Some people might think "finally, another game of my beloved series" and without knowing ignore some faults because they are just happy while testing.
Others might think "goddamn, again the same crap from Nintendo" and have to force themselves to be decently objective to not appear too clickbaity, avoiding figthing against a disagreeing crowd.
Though the first group probably is the majority.
 
Like you said OP it's your opinion. That's your taste. Other people will say Twilight princess was their favourite one. There are also people who think skyward sword is the best one.

I'm not saying you have to trust journalists and their reviews, I don't personally, but saying some big Zelda title is objectively bad isn't the same as you didn't personally like it. You point to windwaker as an example of a zelda that deserves it scores - I love that one too, but there are already people in this thread saying that it's trash
 

SF Kosmo

Al Jazeera Special Reporter
I think so, particularly the 3D games. BotW and Ocarina of Time are good games but nowhere near the conversation for greatest of all time.
 

Skelterz

Member
Another thing you have to remember is the intuitive nature of BOTW physics are unrivalled in the industry the game didn’t get tens based on its open world alone but how parts of the world responds to you when you interact with it, the game isn’t perfect by any stretch however it yet again pushed the boundaries a little bit further for industry.

The moment you realise it’s a special experience is when you start being rewarded for understanding the engine and how it ticks. I’ve never felt so good applying simple common sense in a video game it rewards study.
 

mxbison

Member
Yes. So do plenty of others but Nintendo and Rockstar are probably the worst.

RDR 2 had plenty of obvious flaws like mission design and controls, but barely any reviewers even mentioned them.
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
Never read so much bullshit in my life, Most people I know game mainly on a PS5/PC/Xbox and they all own a switch as well for the first party offerings which mostly stand head and shoulders above any of the major console devs exclusives to this day.

Not only that but if the numbers are correct then we should be led to believe the switch has sold 100m units or something crazy like that you think even a 1/3 of that number only play the switch 😅.

The fact of the matter is there’s two camps, people that like the hardware/software that Nintendo produce and the camp that don’t, the issue is the people that don’t also hate the fact Nintendo play to the beat of there own drum and are successful it’s sad really makes no sense to me.

It reminds me of the FromSoftware situation when elden ring came out you had other developers venom spilling out all over Twitter because of there uncontrollable jealousy for elden rings success, it’s very much the same dynamic FromSoftware do what they want and win and so do Nintendo and people hate it. Somethings aren’t for everyone people.
Another thing you have to remember is the intuitive nature of BOTW physics are unrivalled in the industry the game didn’t get tens based on its open world alone but how parts of the world responds to you when you interact with it, the game isn’t perfect by any stretch however it yet again pushed the boundaries a little bit further for industry.

The moment you realise it’s a special experience is when you start being rewarded for understanding the engine and how it ticks. I’ve never felt so good applying simple common sense in a video game it rewards study.

I stopped reading your posts after I saw your avatar.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
A lot of reviewers also view being a critic as just a stepping stone that could possibly lead to them working on the public side of one of these game companies. In general to just being sheep who give a score that's expected instead of one they legitimately came to on their own.
Exactly. It is just a carrier path working for a publisher then the big job working for one of the 3.
 

Neff

Member
Could it be... that they are extremely good games? Too radical an idea?

Zelda is beloved by many. Just by releasing a new mainline entry, fans are expecting something that reminds them of why they love the series so much. So, if a title releases and it hits all the quintessential Zelda "beats", then it's considered a good game (musical instruments, themes of nature and the elements, peaceful exploration, puzzle solving, eastern influences + philosophy embedded in a somewhat western fantasy setting, etc.) and amounts to extremely satisfying gaming comfort food.

This is why a title like Twilight Princess (admittedly, this is my favorite) and Skyward Sword gets high review scores. They all capture something of that unique Zelda essence that so many other devs try to copy nowadays. There's a reason why these games are so influential.

Good answer. I would also add that the dedication to craft is also a major factor. Everything is, hardware permitting, of a very high standard, from design, to art, to controls and the robustness of the engine/code itself. The quality level for Zelda titles is difficult to match and you can see that in its many inferior clones.

Nintendo games are primarily reviewed by Nintendo fans, and Nintendo fans tend to not play outside the ecosystem.

I feel like this is mythic cope. I haven't met a gamer who exclusively limited themselves to Nintendo since the SNES. And that was rare even then. The vast majority of people I've encountered who play Nintendo games also participate in Sega, PlayStation, Xbox and PC markets.
 
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DeaconOfTheDank

Gold Member
To an extent, I agree. However, I draw the line at thinking a game needs to be "revolutionary" to be considered a 10/10 game.

Zelda is beloved by many. Just by releasing a new mainline entry, fans are expecting something that reminds them of why they love the series so much. So, if a title releases and it hits all the quintessential Zelda "beats" (musical instruments, themes of nature and the elements, peaceful exploration, puzzle solving, eastern design + philosophy embedded in a somewhat western fantasy setting, etc.), then it's considered a good game and amounts to extremely satisfying gaming comfort food.

This is why a title like Twilight Princess (admittedly, this is my favorite) and Skyward Sword gets high review scores. They all capture something of that unique Zelda essence that so many other devs try to copy nowadays. There's a reason why these games are so influential.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
Zelda SS? Maybe, but for some people it's the best game ever even tho it's controls are shit to me, though I've seen some people mention they didn't have problems, maybe a matter of case by case... TP is one of the greatest games ever, what some consider problems in the game, others don't care about and not because they're Zelda, they just don't care about details on games.

also, Zelda Spirit Tracks is pretty damn meh and it sitting at 87 at MC lol.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/the-legend-of-zelda-spirit-tracks
Say whatever but I've never seen someone IRL that didn't like DS games, just online troops hating on them, specially the controls, me and everyone in and out my circles IRL live those games
 

Azurro

Banned
Absolutely, I have never thought any Zelda game was higher than an 80-85 at best, but I see them get a 100 automatically, so I don't take reviews for it very seriously.
 
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