Jason Scheier: "Starfield 83 Metacritic Score was only possible because of Xbox outlets"

[Zzero]

Maybe in part, but Nintendo has published nothing as bad as Starfield, Redfall or Halo:Infinite only to hype them as genre and generation defining games all by themselves.

The Nintendo games have a legit audience, like some types of movies or TV shows (Anime is not liked by everyone, yet we should all be able to recognise that some of it is amazing in its own way, same for rom com or sci-fi in general).

This goes beyond the actual crowd, people should be able to recognise mastery of a craft even when it does not fit their personal tastes. Their games work, often offer simple hooks and responsive controls and appealing graphics (even if they are simple).

How far back are you going, because go back to the Wii era and there's stuff like Donkey Kong Bongo Racing (or whatever its called) that just fundamentally did not work or Wii Music which at the time lagged far behind the rest of the rhythm genre. More recently Everybody 1/2 Switch released only six months ago and is far worse than any of the three games you mentioned.

 

[FatKaz]

Some really sus early reviews and Xbox branded sites reviews. But say IGN Japan review is also super sus, specially when the game didn’t hit in Japan at all.

Ign japan seems to be up Microsofts ass for a while now.

If they aren't being paid off, then what are they getting out of that wierd relationship.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

How far back are you going, because go back to the Wii era and there's stuff like Donkey Kong Bongo Racing (or whatever its called) that just fundamentally did not work or Wii Music which at the time lagged far behind the rest of the rhythm genre. More recently Everybody 1/2 Switch released only six months ago and is far worse than any of the three games you mentioned.

Nobody is setting the forums on fire and arguing that these games should be goty or something... Which is the point of the scores.

 

[Zzero]

Nobody is setting the forums on fire and arguing that these games should be goty or something... Which is the point of the scores.

Nobody's defending Redfall either, and Starfield probably got a fair score. Compare it to typical Ubislop or whatever and its 83 makes sense to me. I don't remember what the discourse around H: I was but good luck scoring a live service game, thats all on community and updates.

 

[Sircaw]

You forgot about adults who acts like children

I'm 50 but still act like a child most days.

Damn you!

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Nobody's defending Redfall either, and Starfield probably got a fair score. Compare it to typical Ubislop or whatever and its 83 makes sense to me. I don't remember what the discourse around H: I was but good luck scoring a live service game, thats all on community and updates.

Starfield is a failure as a game, not even because of the bugs. Ubisoft's games at least provide actual entertainment.

I mean a space travel game that is mostly empty, ridden with menus and loading screens, has limited exploration, offers extremely repetitive mission structure (even when comparing to other games of the genre), looks a gen or two behind. So maybe kind of fun at times, but fails in too many areas to be called good.

Then you have a bunch of Xbox aligned sites /influencers who get their review codes early only to give the game extremely high scores (compared to the average review of the same game)... Remember at first their hand picked reviewers had it close to 90 on meta.

This game would have been a solid 70 if there was no meddling with the scores. Or maybe even it could have been as low as Ryze Son of Rome (which is arguably the better of the two).

 

[Zzero]

Starfield is a failure as a game, not even because of the bugs. Ubisoft's games at least provide actual entertainment.

I mean a space travel game that is mostly empty, ridden with menus and loading screens, has limited exploration, offers extremely repetitive mission structure (even when comparing to other games of the genre), looks a gen or two behind. So maybe kind of fun at times, but fails in too many areas to be called good.

Then you have a bunch of Xbox aligned sites /influencers who get their review codes early only to give the game extremely high scores (compared to the average review of the same game)... Remember at first their hand picked reviewers had it close to 90 on meta.

This game would have been a solid 70 if there was no meddling with the scores. Or maybe even it could have been as low as Ryze Son of Rome (which is arguably the better of the two).

Never played Ryse either but doesn't the game practically play itself if you get up to take a piss? I was told it was all QTEs and they were impossible to fail?

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Never played Ryse either but doesn't the game practically play itself if you get up to take a piss? I was told it was all QTEs and they were impossible to fail?

I don't know what you are talking about QTEs are pretty hard if the timing is short enough.

I think you outed yourself.

 

[Zzero]

I don't know what you are talking about QTEs are pretty hard if the timing is short enough.

I think you outed yourself.

I was told the event would literally just repeat infinitely. So yeah, okay, it doesn't play itself while you piss but you don't come back to a game over screen either. Curious as to what I outed myself as since I literally opened the post by saying I never played the game.

 

[Nimrota]

Never played Ryse either but doesn't the game practically play itself if you get up to take a piss? I was told it was all QTEs and they were impossible to fail?

It's also 6 hours long. Premier exclusive of new gen and it wouldn't even last an entire day.

 

[KiryuRealty]

It's also 6 hours long. Premier exclusive of new gen and it wouldn't even last an entire day.

Let’s not forget the game about historical Ancient Rome that had an art director who redesigned the legion armor “to make something unique”.

God, Crytek sucks at everything.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Let’s not forget the game about historical Ancient Rome that had an art director who redesigned the legion armor “to make something unique”.

God, Crytek sucks at everything.

I still give it more credits than Starfield.

 

[KiryuRealty]

I still give it more credits than Starfield.

That’s like comparing prostate cancer and recital cancer.

Even if one isn’t quite as bad as the other, they’re both still cancer.

 

[anonpuffs]

That’s like comparing prostate cancer and recital cancer.

Even if one isn’t quite as bad as the other, they’re both still cancer.

I once got recital cancer, but I wasn't invited back to play the church organ the week after

 

[laynelane]

I don't always agree with Scheier, but when he's right - he's right. I remember way back when all the bs about reviews came to light in the video game industry (writer was fired for giving a bad review to a bad game), there was a lot of discussion around this topic. It seems much of that was forgotten over the years, but we can always count on MS to bring back shitty practices. From the manipulation of the early Meta score (by only giving review copies to select outlets), the sheer number of Xbox sites which inflated the score, and the "engagement" numbers being touted as a smashing success - it's clear the image of a great game is far more important to MS than an actual great game.

I know it's too late for a wish for them to leave gaming completely, but I hope they at least don't buy more publishers/developers and ruin them.

 

[KiryuRealty]

I don't always agree with Scheier, but when he's right - he's right. I remember way back when all the bs about reviews came to light in the video game industry (writer was fired for giving a bad review to a bad game), there was a lot of discussion around this topic. It seems much of that was forgotten over the years, but we can always count on MS to bring back shitty practices. From the manipulation of the early Meta score (by only giving review copies to select outlets), the sheer number of Xbox sites which inflated the score, and the "engagement" numbers being touted as a smashing success - it's clear the image of a great game is far more important to MS than an actual great game.

I know it's too late for a wish for them to leave gaming completely, but I hope they at least don't buy more publishers/developers and ruin them.

When you don’t have a steak to sell, you can just try to sell the sizzle.

MS does this in every aspect of their business. One of my colleagues has been testing Co-Pilot for a client who is interested, and $6000 a year per user gets you something that isn’t even up to the level of what ChatGPT does for free!

 

[Loy310]

“They will evangelize”