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curl-6 on 29 October 2024
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firebush03 said:
curl-6 said:

The reception of any game is a product of its time and context; a big part of why Skyward Sword mostly reviewed very well as it realized the concept of motion-controlled swordplay in Zelda that had been teased since before the release of the Wii, so it was seen as the fulfilment of a generation-long promise.

Game quality is also inherently subjective and depends on individual taste; I thought Skyward Sword was a great game for instance, but I was never impressed by the likes of GoW, GTA, or many other highly rated titles. No two people's experiences will ever be exactly the same, so at the end of the day a review is simply an opinion.

eh…I feel like the reason SS reviewed as well as God of War 2018 is b/c 3D Zelda up until that point was always 95+ on MC, so reviewers were a little cautious/confused when the new mainline 3D Zelda didn’t quite match prior entries in quality. By certain observable metrics, such as sluggish pacing throughout the opening sequence, relentless hand-holding, and potentially distracting motion controls, it should be reasonable to expected SS to have scored in the mid-80s had it not been labeled with such an acclaim franchise. Of course, the experience is subjective, though weak game design increases the likelihood of one getting a bad experience out of a game…but then the question becomes whether game design choices can objectively be labeled as “weak”….hm.

In any case, to backtrack on my previous comment, I really don’t feel like Nintendo has been treated unfairly well by critics: They are genuinely just a powerhouse of the industry. That’s not to say I don’t think 3D Mario and 3D Zelda sometimes get inflated reviews b/c the quality assurance tied to their respective mainline installment, though I don’t believe it’s a Nintendo-wide issue.

stupid thing to even be talking about. “Nintendo bump” just sounds like somebody is having a temper tantrum when a Nintendo game reviews well lol.

The thing with Metacritic is that it's ultimately an average of the opinions of like 50-200 people out of the entire human race, in a certain moment in time, so it really shouldn't be taken too seriously or treated as any kind of objective gospel.

We're agreed on the Nintendo bump; the fact is, Nintendo games simply appeal to a broad range of people, which makes it more likely that the people who do the reviews will be among that range.