14 Most Surprising Metacritic Scores Of 2017

13. Need For Speed: Payback (60)

Need For Speed Payback
EA

After 2015's Need for Speed reboot scored middling critical reviews (60), 2017's new entry was marketed as a pulsing return to form for the franchise, taking clear influence from the Fast and the Furious movies and intending to take the series in a cinematic new direction.

Though Payback was praised for ditching the widely-reviled always-online gameplay of previous titles, it nevertheless introduced a whole new means of actively annoying players, with an over-abundance of micro-transactions causing most critics to knock the game down a few notches.

Less-surprising was the criticism of the cinematic story mode and linear campaign gameplay, but even so, just about everyone expected Payback to be a decent improvement on the 2015 game, right? Instead of racking up a decent 70-ish score, it scored exactly the same as its maligned predecessor. Oops.

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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.