By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
AngryLittleAlchemist said:

I hate to be a stick in the mud, but I've seen a few people in this thread make fun of IGN for the fact that it's score is lower than Smash 4's, and I think to some extent it's unfair. While this will no doubt be the definitive Smash game for 99% of people, and it will have the most content of any Smash game up to this point, I don't think it's fair to just say that any Smash game that has more content should automatically get a higher score or else the reviewer is being ridiculous. If that was the case, then Smash 7 would have a 100 score on Metacritic. That's simply not how reviewing sequels will always work. It's been four years since Smash 4, and expectations may be higher. 

There's a few things to consider: 

-Smash Ultimate has the least amount of new characters of any Smash game in history (11)

-Smash Ultimate has the least amount of new stages of any Smash game in history (4)

-Smash Ultimate is missing 4 modes (Stage Builder, Break the Target, Target Blast, Home Run) 

-Smash Ultimate's single-player content is being received as mixed, with reviewers saying World of Light is disappointing and a grind and that Spirits mode is basically just World of Light but worse

-At this point, having more characters and stages is not a huge accomplishment, that's been true for EVERY Smash sequel. The most significant achievement is bringing back every character and nearly every stage, but that's returning content. 

-Smash Ultimate doesn't have trophies 

-Expectations are not linear. Things do not just get better because there's more of it. The time and place changes the expectations. It's been four years since the last Smash game. Maybe improvement in other areas were expected.

-The reviewer is not the same person as the one who reviewed Smash 4. 

When all these things are considered, it's actually not that surprising. Smash Ultimate is better in all the key areas (movement, movesets, amount of characters and stages), but not necessarily in every other aspect. 

This is exactly what people should really start to figure out at this point. I'm just tired of seeing fans get angry at reviews because they don't line up with their own opinion. After all, reviews are essentially opinions, and different people look for different things in games and will often have very contradicting opinions about the same game.