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Games that were punished too hard for small inconveniences and suffered more than they should on Metacritic

Which of these games do you feel were judged poorly?

  • Days Gone

    Votes: 73 45.6%
  • Ghost of Tsushima

    Votes: 16 10.0%
  • Cyberpunk 2077 (pc)

    Votes: 24 15.0%
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

    Votes: 7 4.4%
  • Assassin's Creed Origins

    Votes: 5 3.1%
  • Uncharted: Lost Legacy

    Votes: 3 1.9%
  • Doom

    Votes: 12 7.5%
  • Death Stranding

    Votes: 20 12.5%

  • Total voters
    160

Bragr

Banned
Sometimes you play a game and end up wondering why the hell the Metacritic score is so low. I usually find that long games get the shaft quite a bit, I don't know exactly why but I would imagine that some journalists lose patience with them and rush through them, stressing with getting the review done.

I also find that publications give review duties to people who specialize in genres. For example, they have an RPG guy who only plays Persona and Final Fantasy or whatever, and doesn't mind the length, but the more general action-adventure games that are just as long are given to people who get bored after 6 hours and end up harboring grudges for things that ain't that bad.

These are some games I find have unjust Metacritic scores:

Days Gone - 71
Perhaps the weirdest reviews I have seen for any game this generation, it was punished for things like length and side activities to a larger extent than any game that I can remember. It was given praise for its hordes but the story and gameplay were put under too much scrutiny.

Ghost of Tsushima - 83
83 is not bad, but I feel it's a lot better than that. The user score sits at a 92, and I feel that's more akin to the reality of the game. I know a lot of people view this as one of the best PS4 exclusives.

Cyberpunk 2077 - 85
No matter your thoughts on CD Projekt Red and the console versions, the PC version is a great game. It had a 92 or so early on, but once the reality of the console versions became a thing all the reviews took a massive dump as journalists seemingly tried to appeal to the anger out there and come off as "on the side of the consumers". It was a damn circus and it brought the score down almost 10 pegs.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 93 (pc), 92 (console)
93 is great and all, but this is a 96-97 easy. It should stand right next to the giants GTA V or Breath of the Wild, the criticisms of the game are weird as hell too. It was clear that a portion of the journalists didn't like the time it took to play through the game.

Assassin's Creed Origins - 84 (pc), 81 (console)
One of the best looking and unique open-worlds out there and one of the best protagonists of the generation. Sure, the combat was a bit weak, but I was really surprised that this one didn't get near a 90.

Uncharted: Lost Legacy - 84
It almost feels like since it was a shorter spin-off game the journalists refused to score it too high. It might not be Uncharted 4 but I loved every second of this. Again, I feel this is more of a 90-ish game.

Doom - 85
One of the best shooters of the last decade, this is a 91-92 type of game. Such a fantastic re-invention of the triple-A run and gun genre.

Death Stranding - 86 (pc), 82 (console)
Real gamers love Death Stranding. A legendary game that deserves 10 more points than it got.
 

McCarth

Member
Inequity amongst components discussed in games from game to game or publisher to publisher has been par for the course for 2 decades. And it goes both ways too, look at pretty much any review of a Nintendo game.
 
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World War Z at 65-70 metascore. I'll just comment on the criticisms from a low scoring review.

very little content,
There's not a huge amount of content but it isn't a full priced game either.

a lack of creativity,
Since when do reviewers care about creativity, and how is more of a good thing bad? It's been 10 years since L4D2.

a near non-existent story,
*facepalm*

and a disappointingly shallow progression system.
This is the case for countless games but I don't see them getting docked for it.
 
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rofif

Banned
Death Stranding for sure. Amazing story, characters, graphics, stable performance and most importantly - it is unique and tries new interesting ideas. It's just not for everyone but deserved better.

I liked Days Gone enough but it got what it deserved. 7s all around. It's a mediocre game that is better than sum of it's all mediocre parts. Bad story, stupid characters, bad stretched gameplay, terrible stealth sections, audio logs.... but somehow the game is still a 7 and I remember it fondly although I had a bad time playing it. And it ran like shit.
I like it's atmosphere and world but you people are crazy to praise the game so much. It's 7 at best
 

spawn

Member
Days Gone should have been higher. I know we're not talking about politics here, but I think politics played a big part in some of the reviewers scores by just looking at some of their twitter accounts
 
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Dr. Suchong

Member
Days gone has its flaws, but that metacritic score was way too harsh imo.
Agreed.
It's a solid open worlder with crisp mechanics, a decent story, likeable characters, impressive voice acting (O Brian especially, when he's a bag of nerves) I'm loving it so far (On plus) I feel bad for dismissing it at launch.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I just don't see scores this way.

Sometimes reviews say things that aren't really true.. or are just, fundamentally admitting to a flawed analysis.. but scores? Always just subjective.
 
Sometimes you play a game and end up wondering why the hell the Metacritic score is so low. I usually find that long games get the shaft quite a bit, I don't know exactly why but I would imagine that some journalists lose patience with them and rush through them, stressing with getting the review done.

I also find that publications give review duties to people who specialize in genres. For example, they have an RPG guy who only plays Persona and Final Fantasy or whatever, and doesn't mind the length, but the more general action-adventure games that are just as long are given to people who get bored after 6 hours and end up harboring grudges for things that ain't that bad.

These are some games I find have unjust Metacritic scores:

Days Gone - 71
Perhaps the weirdest reviews I have seen for any game this generation, it was punished for things like length and side activities to a larger extent than any game that I can remember. It was given praise for its hordes but the story and gameplay were put under too much scrutiny.

Ghost of Tsushima - 83
83 is not bad, but I feel it's a lot better than that. The user score sits at a 92, and I feel that's more akin to the reality of the game. I know a lot of people view this as one of the best PS4 exclusives.

Cyberpunk 2077 - 85
No matter your thoughts on CD Projekt Red and the console versions, the PC version is a great game. It had a 92 or so early on, but once the reality of the console versions became a thing all the reviews took a massive dump as journalists seemingly tried to appeal to the anger out there and come off as "on the side of the consumers". It was a damn circus and it brought the score down almost 10 pegs.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 93 (pc), 92 (console)
93 is great and all, but this is a 96-97 easy. It should stand right next to the giants GTA V or Breath of the Wild, the criticisms of the game are weird as hell too. It was clear that a portion of the journalists didn't like the time it took to play through the game.

Assassin's Creed Origins - 84 (pc), 81 (console)
One of the best looking and unique open-worlds out there and one of the best protagonists of the generation. Sure, the combat was a bit weak, but I was really surprised that this one didn't get near a 90.

Uncharted: Lost Legacy - 84
It almost feels like since it was a shorter spin-off game the journalists refused to score it too high. It might not be Uncharted 4 but I loved every second of this. Again, I feel this is more of a 90-ish game.

Doom - 85
One of the best shooters of the last decade, this is a 91-92 type of game. Such a fantastic re-invention of the triple-A run and gun genre.

Death Stranding - 86 (pc), 82 (console)
Real gamers love Death Stranding. A legendary game that deserves 10 more points than it got.

Played Cyberpunk on a 1070 and AMD Ryzen 5 3600x.
Game was running fine in terms of performance.
The Story was fine / well executed in my opinion.

But it was a fucking buggy mess and it should be rated accordingly.

Day Gone was in my opinion kinda mediocore , however since I didn't finish it because it git boring I can't be certain.
 
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If you want the aggregated scores to more properly reflect a game’s quality, filter out the conflicted reviewers (working for outlets that generate revenue from hyperbolic takes) and those who didn’t fully play the games they reviewed.

Btw, this is a problem that is not unique to gaming. All major entertainment industries have the same shade of challenge.
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Death Stranding - 86 (pc), 82 (console)
Real gamers love Death Stranding. A legendary game that deserves 10 more points than it got.
Death Stranding deserves the low 80s. I loved the game but the reality is that Kojima wasn't brave enough to push it into the next level (or maybe wasn't allowed to???). He famously claimed he had invented a new genre of game but at the end of the day, that wasn't the case. I love the world, enjoyed the characters the graphics, aesthetic, presentation and the story (even though it was bloated in classic Kojima style). What I didn't love and what I consider the main flaw was the reliance on traditional boss battles and combat. It was just really off putting to me. Similarly the combat mechanics were out of place, exploitable and downright janky. The worst moments of the game are the ones in which you abandon the exploration and traversal mechanics. I feel like they could have easily replaced these flawed sections with moments that highlight the traversal. Instead of shooting at a giant BT tiger in a marsh, make the boss battle about surviving though stealth, careful item management and navigating a treacherous landscape. Man verses nature. The battles should have been as much about the weather and terrain as they were about the BTs.
 

Bragr

Banned
Death Stranding deserves the low 80s. I loved the game but the reality is that Kojima wasn't brave enough to push it into the next level (or maybe wasn't allowed to???). He famously claimed he had invented a new genre of game but at the end of the day, that wasn't the case. I love the world, enjoyed the characters the graphics, aesthetic, presentation and the story (even though it was bloated in classic Kojima style). What I didn't love and what I consider the main flaw was the reliance on traditional boss battles and combat. It was just really off putting to me. Similarly the combat mechanics were out of place, exploitable and downright janky. The worst moments of the game are the ones in which you abandon the exploration and traversal mechanics. I feel like they could have easily replaced these flawed sections with moments that highlight the traversal. Instead of shooting at a giant BT tiger in a marsh, make the boss battle about surviving though stealth, careful item management and navigating a treacherous landscape. Man verses nature. The battles should have been as much about the weather and terrain as they were about the BTs.
I don't disagree, the combat suffered the most, but it wasn't terrible, and they made it relatively easy so you don't get stuck on it, and it wasn't the main part of the game.

Death Stranding's traversal focus creates such a special sort of vibe, I will remember it for a good while even if the story was extremely hit and miss. I don't really know what to take from the story.
 
Sometimes you play a game and end up wondering why the hell the Metacritic score is so low. I usually find that long games get the shaft quite a bit, I don't know exactly why but I would imagine that some journalists lose patience with them and rush through them, stressing with getting the review done.

I also find that publications give review duties to people who specialize in genres. For example, they have an RPG guy who only plays Persona and Final Fantasy or whatever, and doesn't mind the length, but the more general action-adventure games that are just as long are given to people who get bored after 6 hours and end up harboring grudges for things that ain't that bad.

These are some games I find have unjust Metacritic scores:

Days Gone - 71
Perhaps the weirdest reviews I have seen for any game this generation, it was punished for things like length and side activities to a larger extent than any game that I can remember. It was given praise for its hordes but the story and gameplay were put under too much scrutiny.

Ghost of Tsushima - 83
83 is not bad, but I feel it's a lot better than that. The user score sits at a 92, and I feel that's more akin to the reality of the game. I know a lot of people view this as one of the best PS4 exclusives.

Cyberpunk 2077 - 85
No matter your thoughts on CD Projekt Red and the console versions, the PC version is a great game. It had a 92 or so early on, but once the reality of the console versions became a thing all the reviews took a massive dump as journalists seemingly tried to appeal to the anger out there and come off as "on the side of the consumers". It was a damn circus and it brought the score down almost 10 pegs.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 93 (pc), 92 (console)
93 is great and all, but this is a 96-97 easy. It should stand right next to the giants GTA V or Breath of the Wild, the criticisms of the game are weird as hell too. It was clear that a portion of the journalists didn't like the time it took to play through the game.

Assassin's Creed Origins - 84 (pc), 81 (console)
One of the best looking and unique open-worlds out there and one of the best protagonists of the generation. Sure, the combat was a bit weak, but I was really surprised that this one didn't get near a 90.

Uncharted: Lost Legacy - 84
It almost feels like since it was a shorter spin-off game the journalists refused to score it too high. It might not be Uncharted 4 but I loved every second of this. Again, I feel this is more of a 90-ish game.

Doom - 85
One of the best shooters of the last decade, this is a 91-92 type of game. Such a fantastic re-invention of the triple-A run and gun genre.

Death Stranding - 86 (pc), 82 (console)
Real gamers love Death Stranding. A legendary game that deserves 10 more points than it got.
Actually, it's the other way around: shit like metacritic and digital foundry should disappear forever, it's way too considered and everyone who bases its gaming choice on a number ( either 59fps instead of 60, or a metascore) is a complete idiot in my opinion
 
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radewagon

Member
Lords of Shadow 2 got savaged for stealth sections that made up a tiny fraction of the game experience. Still can't believe how much people lost their minds over something so insignificant.
 
Out of that list tho, i'm torn between GoT, who deserves a minimum of 90 at the very least, and Origins, who got massacred 'cause is an Ac not Ac game, but as a standalone game per se is quite the beast
I' d go with GoT maybe, that score for such a monster masterpiece is a steal
 

CitizenZ

Banned
Lords of Shadow 2 got savaged for stealth sections that made up a tiny fraction of the game experience. Still can't believe how much people lost their minds over something so insignificant.

First one IMO is great, the 2nd was boring AF.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Death Stranding - 86 (pc), 82 (console)
Real gamers love Death Stranding. A legendary game that deserves 10 more points than it got.
Bullshit. Anyone who doesn't enjoy repetitive, unfun mechanics does not love this crappy game. It deserves a rating in the 70s at best. Decent story, good graphics, but really unappealing gameplay for a lot of real gamers.
 

small_law

Member
Fuck anyone that said Horizon Zero Dawn's open world was boring and empty. One of the most beautiful video game environments I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, but a contingent of beta males felt it was two or three mud villages short of reaching fetch quest critical mass. Idiots.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Fuck anyone that said Horizon Zero Dawn's open world was boring and empty. One of the most beautiful video game environments I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, but a contingent of beta males felt it was two or three mud villages short of reaching fetch quest critical mass. Idiots.
How does HZD's map compare to GTA or Bethesda games where the maps has tons of locations and random monster fights?

If HZD is claimed to be boring, either there's not enough action or not enough places to check out, and people are comparing to an Oblivion or Skyrim map with compass markers everywhere.
 

01011001

Banned
Days Gone score is a joke, reviewers should be ashamed

yeah it's way too high. 60 would be more fitting.

a shooter with bad aiming controls, and a game with a biker and the worst bike controls... can't make that shit up man

Fuck anyone that said Horizon Zero Dawn's open world was boring and empty. One of the most beautiful video game environments I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, but a contingent of beta males felt it was two or three mud villages short of reaching fetch quest critical mass. Idiots.

doesn't get more boring and empty tho. good looking =/= good open world. it's among the least interactive worlds in a modern game, and it didn't help that it launched super close to Zelda, which was exactly the opposite
 
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Corgi1985

Banned
Fuck anyone that said Horizon Zero Dawn's open world was boring and empty. One of the most beautiful video game environments I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, but a contingent of beta males felt it was two or three mud villages short of reaching fetch quest critical mass. Idiots.
Horizon deserved a 6 for Aloy being a stupid name
 

small_law

Member
How does HZD's map compare to GTA or Bethesda games where the maps has tons of locations and random monster fights?

If HZD is claimed to be boring, either there's not enough action or not enough places to check out, and people are comparing to an Oblivion or Skyrim map with compass markers everywhere.
The mystery of post-apocalypse future Earth being a natural wonderland filled with robot dinosaurs wasn't enough for some people I guess.

If anything, the open world was a little too full of robot tigers that would try to kill you on sight. Enemy density is so high in that game that traditionally safe areas like save points often have enemies patrolling within a few yards. There was a small village or two, but the whole premise of the game is discovering why there aren't many humans running around.
 

small_law

Member
yeah it's way too high. 60 would be more fitting.

a shooter with bad aiming controls, and a game with a biker and the worst bike controls... can't make that shit up man



doesn't get more boring and empty tho. good looking =/= good open world. it's among the least interactive worlds in a modern game, and it didn't help that it launched super close to Zelda, which was exactly the opposite
Different games and contexts. Zelda is Zelda and BotW is a once-a-decade kind of game. Horizon had to sell you on its premise, which was "where did all the people go?" Not having many around made sense.
 
yeah it's way too high. 60 would be more fitting.

a shooter with bad aiming controls, and a game with a biker and the worst bike controls... can't make that shit up man
One of the funniest games of the generation for me, had a blast playing it.
First few hours character without a bunch of level ups is slow and clunky, but when the game clicks it's an hell of a ride.
 

Fake

Member
I like to play with metascore and review stuff, but never let Metascore choise what game should I play.
 

SamFo

Member
Oh this thread should be dedicated to ARKHAM KNIGHT + The inclusion of the Batmobile.

I adored the first two Batman games (despite not being a batman fan).

I slept on Arkham Knight because of the comparatively lukewarm reviews. On metacritic you'd think the batmobile ruined the game entirely.

Ended up playing it on gamepass and that game is fucking great. Batmobile was a good inclusion too.
 

Bragr

Banned
Oh this thread should be dedicated to ARKHAM KNIGHT + The inclusion of the Batmobile.

I adored the first two Batman games (despite not being a batman fan).

I slept on Arkham Knight because of the comparatively lukewarm reviews. On metacritic you'd think the batmobile ruined the game entirely.

Ended up playing it on gamepass and that game is fucking great. Batmobile was a good inclusion too.
I completely agree and should have included that game. The batmobile was great, and even if anyone disliked it, it was not a big enough part of the game to ruin anything. This idea that it ruined the game is complete bullshit.

The story is a bit off, and its clearly behind the first 2 games, but Arkham Knight is a great game.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I completely agree and should have included that game. The batmobile was great, and even if anyone disliked it, it was not a big enough part of the game to ruin anything. This idea that it ruined the game is complete bullshit.

The story is a bit off, and its clearly behind the first 2 games, but Arkham Knight is a great game.
The game w/season pass were $10 on the PSN. Might still be. Stoked to dive in someday. My friend recently platinum'd it and has been raving about it. I want to finish Arkham City first.
 
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