The internet is run by trolls. Metacritic makes me nauseous.

Written by Jim Squires

Monday, 18 August 2008 10:01

I love Metacritic. Like, love love. Most people will tell you that reviews don't matter, but as you've probably figured out in your short time on this planet, most people are full of shit. Obviously you can disagree with a review, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter. You can say anything you want to about how only sheep follow the status quo, but it sure doesn't hurt to see another persons opinion before you drop $70 on a game that might be crap.

That's why I love Metacritic. One person's opinion may not reflect the majority, but a composite score (and a list of the reviews that caused it) can give you a good idea of what a game is about. I'll read reviews at the high end of the scale. I'll read reviews at the low end of the scale. It helps me to have an informed opinion before dropping coin on a new product. Metacritic lets me do that all in one place.

Unfortunately Metacritic also lets people share their own opinions on a game. The flaw? People are dishonest scumbags. Too Human has a 7.1 user rating on Metacritic based on 75 reviews. The game doesn't ship until tomorrow. These people are liars. Hating on Too Human has become something of an internet past time as of late, and I'm beyond sick of it. If Metacritic expects me to value everything it has to offer, it should at least forbid user reviews until after the game has shipped. Is that really asking so much?

Comments (7) Add Comment

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written by Jeff, August 18, 2008

I don't think that the user comments are calculated into the final metacritic rating though, I have always ignored those anyways, it's either all 10's or 0's

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written by Peachey, August 18, 2008

I too love metacritic. I visit it for any movie/album/game I'm thinking of seeing/listening to/playing. And yes, user submitted scoring if fucking retarded. That said, it's the same on all major sites that allow for user input. It gets abused. Oh well. As you said, "most people are full of shit".

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written by MC, August 18, 2008

If it is any consolation, over at Gamerankings, it has an 82% from the users (who haven't played it yet)

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written by Ryan Hewson, August 19, 2008

Maybe they are rating the demo?

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written by HITnRUN, August 20, 2008

The game has now been reviewed and it looks like the official metacritic critic score is even lower. I think this might actually mean that most reviewers are trolls as well =

In all seriousness though, I liked the demo and will probably pick this up despite the low scores. This genre has always been niche and as Jim mentioned, everyone wants to get in on the Too Human hate. And who are some of these credible reviewers? I thought it was hilarious when I read the frankenview on that other game blog where 3 of their 5 reviews came from NZ Gamer, HD room, and The Guardian. Have I been just reading game blogs too long or are these now established bastions of gaming journalism? Whatever happened to ign and 1up?

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written by Trestre, August 20, 2008

@ Hitnrun:

That's cause that "Frankenreivew" is a fucking joke. Talk about skewing the numbers however they want. They cherry pick a few scores from some no name places and present the picture they want to see. It's a joke.

Just so everyone doesn't think I'm just re-hating on them for hating on Too Human, I'm not even picking up the game. I tried the demo and it really didn't jive with me. Not bad, just not my thing.