10 Biggest Recent Fan Critic Divides In Video Games
The divide between fans and critics is becoming a canyon.
It's beyond time to admit that there's a big problem with game criticism. And no, it's not "ethics in games journalism" - it's deeper than that, in the DNA. The fundamental issue is that game reviewers and regular gamers have vastly different experiences.
Playing a game for review is hardy ideal. In fact, it's often the worst way to play: Cramming it into a timeframe between receiving the review copy and hitting a deadline. And as games get bigger and bigger - well... the burnout is real. It's hard to marathon your way through a number of 60-plus hour open world games and still see them as anything but a particularly gruelling work day.
Of course, the rest of us don't experience games that way. We experience them as developers intended: A hobby enjoyed in free time. We get to experience games any way we want - in long marathons, small bites, and everything in-between.
With games getting bigger, longer, and deeper, the growing rift between what critics like and what fans like is only going to get wider, as we can already see happening with the following ten titles.
10. High On Life
High On Life was the first major release from Squanch Games, the studio co-founded by Rick And Morty co-creator Justin Roiland (although the less said about him for now, the better). Rick And Morty fans were understandably very hyped. Critics, however, slightly less so.
While praising the story and voice acting, reviewers chaffed at Roland's sense of humor which is, well, not for everyone. They also came away unimpressed with what they considered to be dated gameplay mechanics, likening the sandbox-ish adventure-shooter to a weak imitation of Metroid Prime, settling it at a tepid 69 on Metacritic.
However, this is one of those rare cases where you can argue that a piece of media was made for fans, not critics, and it wouldn't just be an excuse for mediocrity.
While its only racks up a 7.5 user score on Metacritic, most of those reviews are 9s and 10s, brought down by a handful of bombs.
Ultimately, fans appreciated that the game had simple, dated mechanics because that made it easily accessible and familiar. They came for the jokes and the voices, and the rest was just a fun and relaxing way to unwind. When you look at it that way, "dated" doesn't sound so damning.