10 Video Games That Don't Deserve Their High Metacritic Scores
Riding the hype train can be intoxicating.
As a metric of quality, Metacritic should be flawless. You take the review scores from across the land, aggregate them into one final stat, and slap it on the requisite game's page - simple.
However, such a system is inherently going to derive a sense of objectivity from subjectivity - the stat you get implies "Look, this game is unanimously worth this", whereas the individual reviewing it could be championing any number of aspects through personal preference. I might decide Fallout 4 is a complete mess when reviewing it, but fans of Bethesda's unique open-world design would give it their own personal high score, resulting in a higher metric on Metacritic overall.
There's also the encroaching fact that a ton of outlets now score games markedly higher or lower than the competition just to stand out on the site's feed (just look at The Washington Post's 'comedy review' for Uncharted 4, giving it a 40) as somewhere buried amongst all these mixed messages, is the information you actually need before putting down any cash.
If reviews are fundamentally a representation of an individual's opinion, then how useful is an aggregate score, really? Well, in the case of the following games, not very...
10. Beyond: Two Souls
Metacritic Score: 70 (PS3)
One thing you'll immediately notice when delving into the wonderful world of review scores, is how much critics love to champion innovation over all else. Having played thousands upon thousands of hours of games and compiled various reviews myself, I can sympathise with the idea of wanting to support something that genuinely provides a refreshing break from the more formulaic stuff seen in the upper echelons of the industry.
However, in doing so, far too many reviewers supported the complete shambles that was Beyond: Two Souls, David Cage's fourth title that yet again attempted to blur the lines between film and game.
Ol' Cagey just can't help injecting his games with a number of jarring sci-fi elements, resulting here, in something that tries to weave a yarn about a girl living with a demon as her best friend, only to have you then fight a giant possessed wall of sand, before picking a life partner from a menu in the final few minutes.
Heavy Rain, this ain't, and aside from its graphics and 'unique storytelling' by way of jumping around through character Josie's life for no real reason, there's nothing left to sustain such a high score in the long run.