What is Your Metascore?

July 31, 2008 by Panzer Pev

Yes we are talking to you. We are not interested in what developers and publishers are shooting for (obviously they want a very high score). Whether the gaming community (hardcore at least) likes it or not, Metacritic has changed gaming in profound ways. Developers now use Metascores as a benchmark for measuring the success of a game and in some instances peg staff bonuses to achieving a high enough Metascore. But we aren’t interested in the Metascores that the developers are aiming for. What really matters is the Metascore a gamer is willing to accept and still buy the game.

We can all deny it, but when a game that we have been waiting for ends up with a Metascore below our predetermined expectations we tend to write it off as a “failure.” I remember a time when there were only a few game reviewers, so few in fact that you could identify most of them by name. Once you found a reviewer whose tastes you liked, you could pretty much stick with them and trust their opinions to reflect what your own would be (having not yet played the game). But today that system and relationship between game reviewer and gamer has changed. Now reviews are aggregated into a single score that reflects what ALL of the reviewers (good and bad, similiar and dissimilar tastes) think about a game.

Having an aggregate score is an easy way to justify game purchases. If a game gets that green number it means that generally people liked it. Surely that means that I will too, right? The score is green, it has to be good. For everyone, because everybody has the same tastes and interests. No wait…

We are all guilty of it. I know I am. I’ve caught myself second guessing buying a game just because the Metascore was below 80. Is a game that gets a Metascore of 77 really worse than a game that gets 80? What if I really like the genre, style, gameplay, and characters in the 77 score game but opt instead for the 80 score game simply because it’s been rated “better.” This example may seem ridiculous but if you are on the fence about two games the chances are you will go with the game that has the higher Metascore. It happens all the time. Pick the game that scores better. That will be the game you enjoy more…right?

Unfortunately, Metacritic has become a trap that punishes not only gamers who want to buy games, but also developers who fail to achieve the baseline Metascore that is deemed to be acceptable by gamers. It’s lose-lose on both sides. A Metascore that is below your predetermined expectations may result in a decision to not purchase the game, or you call all of the reviewers idiots (depends on how passionate you are about the game of coure). Not only does the developer lose a sale, but the gamer may pass on a game that they may have liked after all.

Further complicating the matter of Metascores is the clear division of opinion that arises between the “critics” and the “users”. It is very rare that these two numbers are the same. You can see that disparity just by looking at the screenshot for Haze about. So what does that tell us? Are games being judged more harshly by critics or by gamers? Are fanboys artificially pumping up the scores of games on systems they support, thus skewing the numbers higher for “users?” While there are many factors that may account for the discrepancy between the numbers the point I’m making is that the score you would assign to a game is likely different than both the “user” and “critic” scores you use to make game purchasing decisions. At the end of the day, everybody is different with unique tastes, likes and dislikes. An assigned Metascore does not indicate how much YOU will like the game. Yet still many people use these numbers as gospel.

I won’t bother getting into how marketing changes the dynamic, value and influence of Metacritic scores (a recent example would be the huge success of Assassin’s Creed – a game that didn’t get the high 90’s Metascore that everyone wanted it to) because that is another discussion entirely. What we want to know is what is your personal Metascore? What is the lowest possible number (or colour even) that will encourage you to try the game? I like to think that I’m immune to the Metacritic craze, but I’m not. However, I do like to think that when a game is released that I’ve been eagerly anticipating that I’ll still buy it, regardless of what the Metascore may be.

Do you have any examples of Metacritic changing your mind about a game? Tell us your story! Are there games you feel have been unjustly slammed by the Metacritic machine?

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Buy PS3 – Top 10 Reasons to Buy PS3 – http://www.metacritic.com/games/xbox360/scores/ BioShock Average reviewer score 96% The Orange Box 96% Gears of War 94% Halo 3 94% Mass Effect 92% …

Metal Gear Solid 4 vs Grand Theft Auto IV – Loading Fetching blurbs now… please stand by ….. on review aggregator sites Metacritic and Game Rankings for over a month after it was launched. …

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