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perpride on 18 February 2010
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starcraft said:
You realize that many of the smaller websites that review massive games like Mass Effect 2 (get it?) don't review less high profile games like FM2 and Geometry Wars right?

And you realize that the weighting is done to an EXTREMELY limited extent, generally just to normalize results soon after a review site has hit the Metacritic listings?

I assume by "know how Metascores work" you mean that I accept the notion that as more reviews are added the scores inevitably come down? If that is what you mean, then you have already disproven your own point. Mass Effect 2 has been on 96 since it had half that number of reviews. In fact, past a critical mass of reviews (normally around forty), I don't think it is fair to expect a general drop off with any increase of review numbers in anything like general terms.

How have I disproven my point at all? I've completely proven it if anything. I'm saying that Mass Effect is a true AAA game. It managed to get a 96 after 95 reviews. It may have been at that score since the very beginning...but this is Mass Effect 2 we're talking about here...games like this and Uncharted only happen two or three times a year and that's if we're lucky. The other two games I mentioned, however, only got 90's...with wayyyy less reviews then Mass Effect. What I'm saying is that IF those games had as many reviews as Mass Effect, their ratings would undoubtably drop. You can deny this fact...but it happens with 80% of games (probably even more).

And yes, I obviousley realize that many smaller websites don't review games like Gemetry Wars. But this only goes to prove my point. Even if this is the case, it is clearly creating an enviornment where 1 game gets a 90 because it is judged based on 52 reviews (Geometry Wars) while another game gets 89 because it is judged based on 95 reviews (Fable II). So we are supposed to accept that Geometry Wars is "AAA" while Fable II is "AA"? Give me a fucking break... If Geometry Wars was reviewed as many times as Fable, it would have (rightfully) been lower on metacritic. See it even applies to games on the same platform, no need to keep the debate about the consoles. And my problem with it isn't even when we get games like Geometry Wars ranking so high...it's when ppl start calling games like Fable and Left 4 Dead "AA".

Another extremely obvious case of this would be the second comparison I made. Portal: Still Alive on Xbox 360 currently sits at a metascore of 90 with only 21 reviews. Then we have a game like Demons Souls on PS3 which has been reviewed more than twice as many times as Portal. It currently sits at an 89. If we added another 23 reviews to Portal, there is no friggin way it would still hold at 90...That ONLY happens with games like Mass Effect...games that are clearly AAA and revolutionize their genre.

As a compelte sidenote, how could you possibly claim that Forza 2 is not a high profile game and use that as the excuse for the number of reviews it has on Meta? The first Forza has more than 70 reviews on Metacritic. Forza 3 has 89 reviews. Then out of nowhere, Forza 2, only has 66 reviews. There NEEDS to be a way of treating all games equally...untill the day Gamerankings and Metacritic can do that, their scores for games mean ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING when it comes time to argue. The only thing they are good for is to give you a general idea...not to have stupid debates about which console has more "AAA" games.