VideoGame_Discussion

sefjwm wrote:

This is part of why nobody really trusts reviews anymore. When publishers are free to give or withhold copies so that only their preferred outlets have the game in time to review prior to release, that's a problem. Early reviews equal website views equal ad revenues so the review sites are incentivized to keep the publishers happy even if it is to the detriment of consumers.

Note I'm not saying that every highly rated game that was released this year just has inflated review scores, but why aren't review sites fully independent? The video game industry in the US had $97.67 billion in revenue in 2022 (an all time high) which makes it bigger than the movie industry ($27.3b), the music industry ($15.9b) and the book industry ($28b) combined.

Why aren't game review sites fully independent?

They only didn't give a review copy to ONE outlet. And its one from the UK. One that no one trusts anyways. And one that goes out of their way to dog on every game they can, just to get clicks. People in the UK don't even really care about that site. And it seemed more like an oversight, not something intentional. Not that I could really know for sure. Because as soon as they complained about it, they got it immediately. And they did this all via social media to be pricks on purpose. It was a hey look at us, click on our site links and read our article about this. Here is why we will purposely give this game a bad review. Their exact words. They said we will give this game a bad review because of this in an article on their site. Loaded with ads. Not hey, wonder why we don't have a copy yet, just asking a question kind of thing, I think you forgot about us BGS. They could have just contacted Bethesda about it as well instead of using social media at all. But doing what they did gave them more exposure, which gave them more ad revenue. Which is also to @benstylus point above. The whole thing is a joke in my opinion. And people getting mad at Bethesda about it are just as silly to me.


This is also why youtube is now full of garbage video game content as well. Its nothing but click bait and rage bait content. And every channel has the same exact videos about the same exact games. Because they all want a share of the ad revenue. I can't stand youtube video game content now days.

The confirmed outlets were Eurogamer, Edge, Metro, Kotaku, and The Guardian and those are just the ones that spoke publicly. As more late reviews come in it's likely that's also because those places didn't get codes. It was a little odd since Bethesda gave out way more codes than they normally do and earlier than they normally do. They also gave codes to lots of smaller sites, streamers, and fans. I wasn't saying if it's right or wrong what happened, just why we are probably going to see more score movement than normal for Starfield.

Regardless, nobody should just go off number scores alone. Read multiple reviews from varied outlets. Do they like things you like? Dislike things you dislike? Make your own judgement based on the content of the reviews form both high and low reviews. And remember a 7 at almost every outlet is considered a good game.

Archer wrote:

Maybe we should start a thread on worthwhile YouTube VG content. Because behind all the crapface clickbait thumbnails, there are some great channels out their doing great work.

Honestly, I still watch/read a lot of the mainstream reviews still (IGN, KFG, DF, Gamespot, etc) I also watch youtube groups like Escapist, Jimquisition, and PSVR Without Parole. Heck, I still read Kotaku reviews. I may not always agree, and sometimes rarely agree, with some of the reviews but it provides a good idea of what the game offers and then I make my decisions based on that.

Having a good circle of friends that game also helps. Word of mouth from friends is also huge in my choices.

I don't remember anyone having it on their list, but I feel like Lies of P has come up in discussion some. I'm surprised at how good the reviews are for it (low 80s).

A lot do people I think were expecting it to be very high... It's higher than I expected it. High 70's was my guess. Demo sad pretty meh.

I don't really like that new site they have.

Archer wrote:

Yeah the new layout is terrible

Lies of P looking like a great game. 82 and could go higher still. May have to check it out at some point. Wasn’t a huge fan of bloodbourne myself but love the souls series

Yeah, the new site layout is annoying but I’m sure we’ll get used to it in time.

Definitely surprised to see Lies of P review so well. I didn’t enjoy the demo at all. It felt like a Bloodborne knockoff and all it did was make me want to go play Bloodborne instead. It’s a pass for me but maybe the demo wasn’t representative of the final product.

Anyway, I’ll have the OP updated later today.

I’m shocked. I thought Lies of P would have been like high 60’s low 70’s. I’ll game pass it one day maybe. Demo did look blah tho. Maybe they stepped it up since then.

Starfield at 83 now.. yikes

83 is still good???? Bethesda haven't made anything new in.... forever. It's the same game. Instead of making the same game every year like Call of Duty, somehow it takes them 8 or so years to make the same all over again.

GG @Best1989 with Lies of P out I'm not going to be able to pass you.

Kommie wrote:

I just meant yikes in regards to the scores of the league in this thread lol

Boss wrote:

Yeah I was hoping it would score higher so you would have a chance for a close finish but it looks like it’s gonna be a close finish with Spider man and Forza. Alan wake 2 could also be a surprise that jumps someone up a bit

Anyone have Mortal Kombat 1? I know it was a late entry that kinda popped up after we placed our bets, but it’s currently sitting at an 85 on MC with 18 PC reviews. I guess they just started trickling in.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

I had an ad for it pop up when I was watching a YouTube video... it brought back the "MORTAL KOMBAT!" shout and had hints of the legendary song.

Hey guys the OP should be completely up to date now with the current Metacritic scores for each game. It's a nightmare going through each game and updating them but it's done! There are a couple of us with an outside chance to overtake @Best1989 but @Shane12m definitely has the best shot. As long as all the scores hold, he'll need 85 from Spidey 2 to move into 1st place.

Nice! Something really crazy would need to happen for that game to not get more than 85, I think. I wonder why I didn't add it to my list.

Best1989 wrote:

Yeah, I regret not having it on my list either. I just wasn't sure it'd make it out this year, but Insomniac churn out games like crazy so I shouldn't have doubted them.

Having 2 games delayed going to win it this year heh

sefjwm wrote:

That’s why alternates matter

And beastly alternates they were :)

Forza currently at 84 with 60 reviews. That’s a good score but I was expecting higher tbh
I wonder how it will run on steam deck.

Shane12m wrote:

Dude same! Really thought I had a chance to catch @Best1989 but looks like I'm going to finish behind both you guys. Hopefully I'm able to hold on to 3rd place.

OP updated with scores for Forza Motorsport and Assassin's Creed Mirage. They are currently sitting at 84 and 77 respectively on Metacritic.

Mirage getting the scores of Unity and Syndicate, and sounds as boring as 3. Probably going to be a single month of ubi+ for me to check that one out.

Yeah, I was expecting Forza to be around 88.

I never play Assassin's Creed games on launch anyway, so Mirage's score is fine for me.

I hope Ubi finally learns that this is what the majority of folks now wants. Middle of the road AC games at 20 hours in length at $50. But they won’t. The next AC game set in Japan will be a 250 hour slog.

Since Silksong isn't coming out, I'll get the 88 for Sea of Stars, bringing me up to 785. From there, it just comes down to Spider-Man 2 for my final score. I definitely can't reach Best's score, and would need a 97 to tie Heavyd. That's very unlikely, but a 94 would tie me with Boss, so I'm hoping for at least that much! I'll definitely make top 5 though.

I really thought Forza was going to do better, that would have put me in a much better position here.

Like @Scott , I'll also take one of my backups in place of Silksong. May I choose my second backup, Street Fighter 6? Or do I have to go with FE Engage first, since I listed it as #1?

Silksong is basically like the Cuphead DLC at this point. It's coming out but no one knows when. Cuphead DLC did eventually come out....

I just need Spiderman to score 107+ and I've got this

I just need my game list to magically change into top 10 scoring games this year and I got this 🙃

It comes down to Spider Man. Will rendering parts of Brooklyn and Queens be enough of a gimmick to save the day...

Spider man 2 at 91 with 63 reviews

Still can't believe I don't have Spidey 2 on my list...sigh. Updating OP now...

Okay peeps. OP is up to date. Spidey 2 is still at 91 from 112 reviews.

Top 3 is almost set. Shane is going to win, Best has 2nd place all but wrapped up, but 3rd place is still up for grabs. I'm currently in 3rd, but if Alan Wake scores higher than 88 then Pizza finishes 3rd. If it scores higher than 93 then Pizza finishes 2nd.

This is easily the best and most competitive year we've had. Tons of people are going to finish with 10 games and for reference, I won last year with 863 points but 863 points this year will finish in 8th or 9th place I think once I do the final tally at the end of the year.

Game Over @bonham2