PS4 Games Secure Highest Console Average Score on Metacritic

The whole system's a bit daft really. Like the article says, you can have a game on one platform that has a score of 91 and on another it has a score of 88, purely because it was reviewed less on the former. But what can you do? People like numbers.

Anyone paying proper attention will note the number of reviews, plenty won't. Just as many won't notice any difference between two versions of a game on PS4 and Xboxone. PS4 is hot sh*t and will continue to sell like hot cakes.

@ShogunRok There can (and should) be variations in scores between platforms if one runs better than the other, has more content or is presented better (i.e. frame rate, resolution etc).

If there's no difference then yes, it's daft...

Easiest way to sort it out is if the game hasn't been reviewed by the same reviewer on other comparative platforms then it's smooshed off to the side in a subset of reviews. This obviously need not apply if it's an exclusive.

@ShogunRok Yeah, I was about to say something like this.

A bit of a tangent here, but one of the worst things about Metacritic is how it converts all types of scores into a percentage score. That means that sites or magazines that rate out of 5 are going to be badly misrepresented. If Giant Bomb think a game is absolutely fantastic but not quite a masterpiece, they may give it 4/5. That's high praise in that scoring system. However, it translates to 80/100 which sounds a lot worse. Sites like Giant Bomb and magazines like Empire (films) can't go below a 100/100 without instantly dropping to 80/100. They also can't rate anything lower than 20/100. It's a really stupid system, Metacritic.

@Dodoo Sometimes a magazine may review a multiplatform game yet specifically mention they're testing a specific version. For example, Dragon Age Origins on Xbox 360. The bulk of the article can be negative about a wide range of things that are present, absolutely identically, in all versions. However, because it says "Version tested: Xbox 360", Metacritic only apply it to the Xbox version's score average.

So you have Edge's withering review of DAO, a mere 5/10, only being applied to the 360 despite everything they complained about being equally applicable to every version - all but the controls not being great.

If you constantly have to proof your platform had plenty of great games, or was "the best console to play on" with Metacritic scores and sales figures.... Maybe the year wasn't that great at all.

Obviously a lot of the games reviewed are 'indie' titles and in some cases only the PS4 version is reviewed. I do think that reviews don't always reflect the general opinion either as often sites pick a reviewer that is a fan of the genre/franchise. I am not saying Bloodbourne is 'bad' but because its a genre of game I don't enjoy, I doubt that I would review it as highly as others. I know its had 'patches' too but I also expect that I would notice its 'flaws' more because I am not a 'fan' - things like its long and boring load up screens - something I expect I would see a lot more of than others because I don't play that type of game and therefore expect to die more often.
I doubt that many reviewers play the same game on all major platforms too so you also get a difference in opinion between reviewers.
I use reviews to try and gauge a more rounded opinion. Often reading a variety of reviews though makes me wonder if people are actually playing the same game. You also have many different scoring systems which when converted to metacritics format don't always give a true representation. Things like 4/5 on one site that says the game is great/fantastic etc gets 9/10 on another will only get 80% accredited to the review bringing the average down.
We all know though that the games we ranked most highly over the year are going to vary from person to person. I can honestly say that apart from a 'remaster' collection, I have no interest in any of Sony's exclusives this year - certainly not at the asking price - 1-2 maybe if they were 'free' on PS+ or in a sale where as I have a few more games that appealed on XB1. I wouldn't say that therefore XB1's exclusive line-up was better this year overall but I would say they had more games that appealed to me!
I do have some games on both systems too and will admit that I prefer to play some on one system - often though that is down to circumstance and 'friends' rather than any significant differences. Because I started Destiny first on XB1 for example and have far more gear and more online friends playing it, I find I play it far more on that system although I would love to get my PS4 Destiny up to that point too but I bet Destiny has a higher PS4 rating even though fundamentally there is no difference (apart from a few extra bits of gear/strikes etc)

@Matroska Maybe what should happen to make it fair for each platform is for each publication/website submit a score for each version. That would eliminate the issue you outlined though would obviously be much more work for each reviewer so it's not a straight forward problem to solve.

Either way, people shouldn't give MC scores too much weight in their buying decisions and should be used as a general guide. If everyone does their due diligence before making a purchasing decision then there should be no issues. In other words, actually reading the detail in reviews to see if it's for them, rather than deciding based on a numerical average.

@ShogunRok @get2sammyb true fact - I found you guys through metacritic whilst browsing reviews were only a few people had reviewed it. PushSquare were one of them.

I've also recently noticed that alot of your reviews are not posted there anymore. Why is that? How do you get them on Metacritic?

@themcnoisy Our reviews should still be getting posted to Metacritic as far as we're aware. Which ones haven't you seen?

@get2sammyb @ShogunRok I'm unsure - a few of the download only games you reviewed in November. I noticed as I had read the reviews - scrolled the list and the games read N/A or something similar as not enough people had reviewed them. Going into the games there was maybe one review from a random website but none from pushsquare. You had definitely reviewed them as I rechecked. Forget to bring it up until now.

In other news; a butchered, microtransaction-heavy game was the Metacritic game of the year.

[sound of farty deflated balloon]

@get2sammyb @ShogunRok the bit trip and dragon fin soup.

What happens if you compare console exclusive scores?

@BAMozzy

Bloodborne scored so well because of it's combat system, level design & art work, Hidetaka Miyazaki is a master at building worlds & the main reason Dark souls 3 will review well also.

@banacheck Well I would say the art work would be about the only positive thing I could say about it. I can't stand the demon/dark souls games and have NO interest in 3 either. I know far more people that don't like these and that style of game than those that do but I appreciate the fact that of those that do like these, they rate them very highly.
My point is though that it depends on your gaming preference. I am certain that some games that are rated highly by others wouldn't score so well by you if you don't enjoy the gameplay. Its why there is such a difference between different reviewers and user ratings. It was evident during the recent forum users GotY thread as there was a lot of different games in that.

@BAMozzy Well contrary to what a lot of gamers seem to think, there's a difference between a critical review and an opinion. For example, I don't like racing games but I can tell that Gran Turismo is VASTLY superior to Big Rigs. It's ridiculous to even compare them. I wouldn't give them both 1/10 because "cars are boring xD". However, in relative terms I have a 1/10 level of interest in playing them right now. I wouldn't get that confused with their actual qualities and how successfully they achieve their goals, though.

@get2sammyb oh yeah, I could of sworn I read those reviews here. Maybe someone mentioned them in the comments or something. Or actually maybe I went to metacritic because you never reviewed them. Anyway in other news....

Idk, most of my top-rated exclusive games this year have been on Wii U, Xbox One or 3DS. Namely, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Splatoon, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Halo 5, Rare Replay, Ori & the Blind Forest and Super Mario Maker.

Although I did buy pretty much all my multiplats on PS4 since they almost always run better, some of my faves including Witcher 3, Divinity Original Sin, Metal Gear Solid V and Fallout 4. But it seems a tad unfair to attribute those games solely to PlayStation when they can be played on other platforms. Granted you can't play them on Wii U, so it certainly gives PS the benefit in that respect.

Tbh, I don't really keep track of which console currently has "the best lineup". All I know is there are enough games going around all platforms to be plenty satisfied.