I'm sure you've heard about the controversy caused by no-name websites giving low scores to Halo 4. If you haven't go back and read that last sentence and you'll know enough to get by.
Metacritic seems to allow bottom of the barrel blogs equal placement aside websites with at least a shred of journalistic integrity. I think the fatal flaw of Metacritic is it is too broad and takes into account too many little websites that may just want to trump up traffic. A big website like IGN or Gamespot will assign a review best suited for the job. They aren't going to give a the latest Madden to someone who hates football. They are going to pick the person with the most sports and sports game knowledge to do the job.
So I propose an alternative and I'm going to use Halo 4 as an example. Let's just use the top 10 review websites. I'm going to make up a list. You can argue for or against, but I'm not going to include any platform specific websites like OXM or PSM.
Ok, here's the list and scores:
Halo 4
98 --- IGN
90 --- Gamespot
90 --- Game Trailers
78 --- Gamefront
90 --- GamesRadar
91 --- 1Up
92 --- Game Informer
100 --- Joystiq
100 --- Destructoid
80 --- Giant Bomb
Ok, so let's do a little simple math. With a possible total of 1000 and an actual total of 909 it comes out to an everage of 92.33%. That is, If my rusty calculation skills have held up since I fell asleep in high school math.
Metacritic has Halo 4 at 87% right now, but respected editorial says it's 90.9%. Which number do you think is a better estimate of Halo 4's quality?
What do you think? Is there a better review website than one listed? Is this even a good idea? Should I buy a domain and get started? Should I give up gaming altogether and find a new hobby? You tell me.
EDIT: Updated for new reviews and reader suggestions.
