Killzone Drops to 92%
Metacritic score seemingly holds more weight than we first thought. Crazy people.Published 10/02/2009 at 8:07 by nofi
Killzone 2 Clan Wins Award [34]
TSA King of Killzone March: Result [26]
TSA Killzone 2 Clan Awards: The Results [16]
Metacritic [link] is a review aggregator; it collects all the reviews from sites like ours and bundles them together to give an overall score for a game. It’s a useful guide when looking to purchase a new title, and it’s always wise to read a few reviews before splashing your cash. But that’s it – don’t use Metacritic for your own ridiculous fanboy reasons.
Why are we going on about this? Well, although we won’t print any names, we’ve had a couple of emails over the last day or so asking us to give Killzone 2 a 10/10 score in our upcoming review, mainly to balance out Edge’s 7/10. This, according to one reader of ours, could bring its meta score to 93 again, apparently KZ2 needs just a 96% from us to get back up to 93%. We don’t care. Sony might, but we don’t.
The emails go on, one even suggesting that a 10/10 score wouldn’t hurt the credibility of TSA and may well encourage other sites to score it highly too. We’re struggling to see any logic behind this. Is a 92% meta score really so much worse than a 93% one, or is there something else on the other console that’s getting better reviews? The funny thing? The TSA review is done and queued, and no, it’s not a 10.
Stick that in your grenade launcher and smoke it.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
mrwonderr | 10/02/2009 08:12
Member
34 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Though I’m disappointed to hear that you guys didn’t find Killzone near-perfect, I really appreciate your honesty. Really. Keep it up. It’s awesome
Pixl1983 | 10/02/2009 08:16
Member
487 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
But you guys gave Tomb Raider a 10 right?
Radboud | 10/02/2009 08:30
Member
966 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Damn, had a whole epistle written here, I click the submit button, lost my internet connection…… grrrrr…
Well, all I wanted to say: In my opinion a 10/10 score is never in line with reality. Just because game got a 9/10 and this one is better, doesn’t make it worth 10/10. I have yet to find a perfect game… It just doesn’t exists (in my opinion). Sure, there r some really really really cool games out there, but perfect??? 9/10 would be near-perfect.
.
Come to think of it, I just wished I had a 9/10 score at all my exams at school, I would be the best there was
But really, just giving 10/10 score cause something is better than something that recieved 9/10 is plain stupid. All the games are getting better and better (hardware is getting better and better). Doesn’t this line of logic comes to a point where all games just recieve 10/10 scores???
djhsecondnature | 10/02/2009 11:30
Team TSA: Media
847 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I disagree. In the Olympics a 10/10 is not a perfect score, it’s near perfect. They can have tiny tiny mistakes but still get top marks. I don’t believe that a 10/10 is a perfect score for reasons I will get into more shortly.
3shirts | 10/02/2009 13:35
Member
2421 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I’m with you. If you consider 10/10 infallible then no game will ever get it and thus having it would be pointless. I think of it like this:
Less than 5% = 0/10
5-15% = 1/10
16-25% = 2/10
.. ..
86-95% = 9/10
95%+ = 10/10
Thus a game has to be exceptionally near perfect to get 10 and exceptionally sucky to get 0.
cyax | 10/02/2009 08:30
Member
94 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Sad hearing about all the fanboys placing so much emphasis on metacritic. Games aren’t perfect, neither are reviewers, and everyone has a right to their opinion. Thank you TSA for keeping it real.
Lorcan | 10/02/2009 08:31
Team TSA: Writer
1244 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
After all the hype about Killzone here, it’s good to hear it’s not affected the review.
I can’t wait for it
The IGN reviews were poorly written and annoying and while I’ve read a few, I’ve stopped because they were all spoiling things just a bit too much.
One of my favourite things about Metal Gear Solid 4 was that there were so many surprise elements of gameplay.
The reviews were spoiling it, so I’m waiting for this one for the definitive view.
nofi | 10/02/2009 08:40
Wants a custom tag.
4259 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
There are no spoilers in the TSA review. Because we’ve not rushed it to make some ridiculous embargo deadline, we think we’ve covered everything in the game without falling victim to hype or tried to get hits with a daft score. There’s still over 2 weeks to go to the game’s launch, so there’s no rush.
xvLIAMvx | 10/02/2009 08:45
Member
481 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Whilst I think Edge is fishing for hits, being that kid at school who always wore trainers, not shoes, to make a statement of being different. I’m kinda glad they did, as the reader comments made for fun reading. But i’m happy with anything above 80. Happy as in it’s enough to confirm a purchase. Any game that’s above 80 is worthy of a play through. Reality check people: the demo is a good little taster. The graphics and gameplay are solid. The multiplayer is said to be top notch. But do you, deep inside, hype aside, really think it will be a perfect 10? IMO 10/10 should never be given to any game ever!
And guys, emails to raise the score is pathetic!!! Let’s all email in to tell them how to run a website, what news to publish, what members to ban for being to individual. PATHETIC!!!!!!! This site is a collection of great minds, individual opinions, and trust worthy unbiased reviews. Anyone wanting this site to abandon such qualities should feck off.
Now where’s my bludy T shirt!!!!!!
Pixl1983 | 10/02/2009 08:55
Member
487 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Here bloody here! Well said.
cyax | 11/02/2009 09:46
Member
94 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
I don’t see a perfect score for a game as a statement of the game being perfect. In my opinion it merely means that the issues with the game are negligible compared to the highlights. A game so involving and rewarding that you don’t notice the problems while playing could very well deserve a perfect score.
That said I agree that review scores are inflated to the point anything below 90% is considered bad, which is crazy. People are missing out on some of the best games simple because they put too much emphasis on aggregated review scored, which most certainly includes many reviewers having completely different views of what constitutes a good and enjoyable game.
Divine | 10/02/2009 09:11
Member
731 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I’m kinda speechless about the emails revelation. Considering the political & economic issues our society faces atm, people actually feel it’s necessary to harrass you guys to up KZ2’s Metacritic score.
Who cares if the economy is on it’s knees? Someday SCE will break even…
artefx | 10/02/2009 09:17
Member
910 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
the only way, imo, to stop fanboyism of this caliber is to not give a final score at all. Reviews should be judged on the quality of the writing and the validity of the reviewers opinions. the final score is ball-plop imo.
piekat | 10/02/2009 09:34
Member
111 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I partially agree, but for KZ2 we have even a better way to judge by ourself; Sony, in an unprecedented showcase of marketing knowledge, released a demo that, even if short, is the best way to make yourself an opinion. Download it, play it and decide if you like it or not… I like it, I’ll buy it and I don’t give a f**k about metacritic (or any other score).
I said I partially agree because I’ve been more than once surprised by reviews (there’s an European website that’s famous for this) where the scores they give are by no way justified by what you can read in the review, in either way up or down.
Cubed | 10/02/2009 09:24
Member
0 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
It’s kinda sad to see this game not hang with Metal Gear Solid 4 or Halo 3(yes I played it)
I wouldn’t be surprized if it went down to 90 or 91 when The Onion AV or Variety reiviews the game.
Metacritic=serious business!
Double standards=Sun!
toutski | 10/02/2009 09:35
Legend
4140 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
I’ll take all these other reviews with a pinch of salt. I mean totalvideogames score each individual area out of 100 then the overall score out of 10. (Score should be 88.4% rather that 8/10) Thats just silly.
As far as Metacritic go, I would prefer KZ2 to be a 92 that blew you away rather than a 98 that was a bit… meh!
(P.S. Don’t get me wrong though. I loved Grand Theft Auto IV and I queued to get mine on release day and enjoyed completing it. It just seemed like the same agin with better draw distances… but anyhoo…)
oMega-W | 10/02/2009 09:40
Member
2447 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Not as good as Singstar then?
masoke | 10/02/2009 12:47
Member
318 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
What is?
xvLIAMvx | 10/02/2009 09:41
Member
481 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Guys, do yourselves a favour. Don’t review killzone 2. Whilst us members that respect your opinions will read with a sensible head on. You know there’s gonna be a bunch of simple minds waiting to rip your review to pieces.
I say you guys enjoy the game, play it for what it is, don’t play it in review mode. I’m not hungry for a sixthaxis review, and would rather know you guys are having a laugh and playing it how it’s meant to be played. If you feel you must review it, sod the scoring system off and sum it up in a couple of sentances. Good or bad or anywhere in between, as long as you enjoyed it and it doesn’t seem like work for ya. Damn I’d hate to be a reviewer.
thelastguy | 10/02/2009 09:41
Member
0 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Is this the site that gave Quantum of Solace an 8 ?
I just hope you review it fairly and not be affected by the whingey CoD brigade who cannot take any change or dare I say evolution in control. Just like the GTA4 whingers “i cant control the car its shit” NO YOU ARE SHIT !!!
The reason Resistance2 failed so badly was that it abandoned what made the first game great. It did not have the strength of its own conviction and just turned into its own criticism it became CoD with aliens copying its 2 gun system and health
Killzone 2 has had so much more effort and work poured into it, it was a real shame to see the hacks at Edge use it for their pseudo elitist and publicity garnering agenda, they are the very worst hacks in the industry.
This site shouldnt issue numbers anyway…. You are actually better than that.
tantalus_blank | 10/02/2009 10:31
Member
743 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
I’m with you on the GTA car physics, when I first played it I was really pleased with how they handled, because it was a challenge and felt like a good balance between arcadey and realistic.
Also yeah Resistance 2 was a bit balls from what I played, didn’t they take out 4 player splitscreen? I’d say lack of local multiplayer is a perfectly good reason for KZ2 to get a less than perfect score.
cc_star | 10/02/2009 11:10
Team TSA: Writer
7624 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
There can be a whole debate about ‘lack of’ features affecting a review score.
My 4.4l X5 has a distinct lack of economy but I wouldn’t mark it down for it.
Nobody marked down Sonic or Mario because they had a lack of ‘gun action’
But with the modern FPS, features like either local multiplayer or Co-Op are becoming expected, and competing games have these features, so does that make KZ not as good as these? possibly
djhsecondnature | 10/02/2009 12:44
Team TSA: Media
847 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
The lack of 6 arms and 4 legs on you makes you a rubbish person. It’s not fair to judge like that is it?
Person678 | 10/02/2009 10:15
BOOM! Headshot!
1782 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
A similar thing happened with LBP, with the metacritic user review score dropping to a 6 thanks to Xbots stuffing the ballot box. Some people are just sad…
cc_star | 10/02/2009 11:12
Team TSA: Writer
7624 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
That is user reviews, by comparison Halo Wars is currently 0.8/10 because idiotic Sony fans have crashed that review.
LivedeviL | 10/02/2009 10:20
Member
300 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
I always convert %age game scores to a fraction out of ten anyway so 92% is still 9/10. In my eyes, if the game was 98-99% it would only just warrant a 10/10, but surely that can never happen?