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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Critic vs User reviews of ps4/xb1 exclusives

So I have noticed some people mentioning that game reviewers are doing a bad job scoring exclusives this gen. I wanted to look at the numbers and see if this was actually true. I compared the critic scores for the major xb1 and ps4 retail console exclusives to amazon and metacritic user reviews. They had to be retail games so that I could get user reviews from amazon as well. I think this gave me a good sample size for user reviews to hopefully negate all the trolls that plague metacritc. Hopefully I didn't miss any retail games but please let me know if I did and I will add them to the list at some point.

The review scores are very close to each other. While there are a few outliers, on average there is less than a 3% difference in critic scores versus user scores for both XB1 and PS4. I didn't expect the scores to be so close but there you have it.

PS4

Killzone: Shadowfall

Meta 73 0.7% higher than user scores
User 69 5.4% lower than meta
Amazon User 76 4.1% higher than meta

Meta score is about the same as the average user score.

Knack

Meta 54 36.15% lower than user scores
User 65 20.4% higher than meta
Amazon User 82 51.9% higher than meta

Meta score is lower than average user score

Infamous: Second Son

Meta 80 4.4% lower than user scores
User 79 1.3% lower than meta
Amazon User 88 10% higher than meta

Meta score is about the same as average review score

The Order: 1866

Meta 65 8.5% higher than user scores
User 57 12.3% lower than meta
Amazon User 62 4.6% lower than meta

Meta score is higher than average user score

Last of Us

Meta 95 3.7% higher than user scores
User 87 8.4% lower than meta
Amazon User 96 1.1% higher than meta

Meta score is about the same as the average user score

DriveClub

Meta 71 13.1% higher than user scores
User 57 19.7% lower than meta
Amazon User 66 7.0% lower than meta

Meta score is higher than average user score

For 2 ps4 games the critic score is higher than the average user score
For 3 ps4 games the critic score is the same as the average user score (less than 5% difference)
For 1 ps4 games the critic score is lower than the average user score.
On average critic score is 2.4% lower than user score.

XB1

Titanfall

Meta 86 18% higher than user scores
User 63 26.7% lower than meta
Amazon User 78 9.3% lower than meta

Meta score is higher than average user score

Sunset Overdrive

Meta 81 5.6% lower than user scores
User 77 4.9% lower than meta
Amazon User 94 16% higher than meta

Meta score is lower than average user score

Forza Horizon 2

Meta 86 2.9% lower than user scores
User 81 5.8% lower than meta
Amazon User 96 11.6% higher than meta

Meta score is about the same as the average user score.

Halo: Master Chief Collection

Meta 85 22.35% higher than user scores
User 72 15.3% lower than meta
Amazon User 60 29.4% lower than meta

Meta score is higher than average user score

Dead Rising 3

Meta 78 1.3% higher than user scores
User 67 14.1% lower than meta
Amazon User 88 12.8% higher than meta

Meta score is about the same as the average user score.

Ryse: Son of Rome

Meta 60 15.8% lower than user scores
User 59 1.7% lower than meta
Amazon User 80 33.3% higher than meta

Meta score is lower than average user score

For 2 XB1 games the critic score is higher than the average user score
For 2 XB1 game the critic score is the same as the average user score (less than 5% difference)
For 2 XB1 games the critic score is lower than the average user score.
On average critic score is 2.9% higher than user score.



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Are you really going by user reviews on Meta critic?



When the order got scores like 5 and under, the review system just proves it's not based on real reviews anymore. if people know what 5 and under means, they shouldn't take them seriously either. A review should come without a score, so people can focus on the verdict



 

PSN: Opticstrike90
Steam: opticstrike90

No one should ever take user reviews seriously cause there is no way to verify that they even have the game as well as the whole "troll/fanboy/biased" aspect



                  

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Baryonyx said:
When the order got scores like 5 and under, the review system just proves it's not based on real reviews anymore. if people know what 5 and under means, they shouldn't take them seriously either. A review should come without a score, so people can focus on the verdict

5 is average, right?



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Low user scores for platform exclusives, relative to professional review scores are indicative of ballot box stuffing, i.e. biased company/platfrom fan users who haven't even properly played the game they posted a score for if they even played the game at all.

At least with Amazon, there are confirmed buyers for products being reviewed.

Even with "professional" reviews, scores are typically skewed by small time reviewers for relatively or completely unknown sites that will do anything to create controversy to generate clicks.



It takes more effort, but consumers are really better off finding a handful of specific reviewers (if you don't know the reviewer by name, it's not specific enough; going by review sites alone doesn't cut it) whose opinions and tastes suit them in helping them create an informed opinion of whether they would enjoy X game they are considering buying.



What I remember from this, nothing worth playing in this gen on the PS4 or Xbone. Still waiting for the first must own on those consoles......



I believe that the majority of gamers don't really care about reviews in general. Reviews are degenerating into click bait, proverbial ammo to be used in forums and in the console wars. The age of the average gamer is in their 30's, so I'm sure they know what games they'll like and won't like.



Baryonyx said:
When the order got scores like 5 and under, the review system just proves it's not based on real reviews anymore. if people know what 5 and under means, they shouldn't take them seriously either. A review should come without a score, so people can focus on the verdict

I agree, if any recent release shows how flwaed the review score is its The Order and maybe even Evolve. When I do my game reviews I never add a score, I'm just careful with what I say in the conclusion to give an overall idea of the pros and cons. Especially considering the review score system is skewed to the one we use in schools. (7-10 = Good - Perfect; 6-0 = All Garbage)