14 Most Surprising Metacritic Scores Of 2017

5. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (85)

Mario rabbids kingdom battle
Ubisoft/Nintendo

Much like Arms, a lot of people - press and fans alike - had seemingly made their mind up on Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle the moment its existence was leaked online.

And that's totally understandable, because on paper, why would a Ubisoft cross-over game starring Mario be anything more than a lazy cash-grab?

And then the reviews dropped, and it turned out that Kingdom Battle's "XCOM with Mario" label fit better than just about anyone expected. Visually dazzling, surprisingly challenging and unexpectedly lengthy, this clearly wasn't just thrown together in a few months by the dregs of Ubisoft's dev teams, and was absolutely deserving of all its shock praise.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.