Japanese magazine Famitsu's review scores have long come under scrutiny for being, shall we say, less than honest. Nevertheless, it's still a big deal when the legendary tome dishes out one of its top scores. Death Stranding is the latest recipient of the publication's infamous 40/40, making it the 26th title to achieve the score after Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age.
Hideo Kojima's latest has been described by some as divisive, but the reality is that the vast majority of its reviews are favourable. We also awarded the title a 10/10 in our Death Stranding review, so we're not going to take issue with Famitsu's score here.
[source ryokutya2089.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 45
It's not because there's a tentacle monster in DS, right? RIGHT?
"Death Stranding is the latest recipient of the publication's infamous 40/40, making it the 26th title to achieve the score after Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age."
They gave 25 titles a perfect score between the release of DQ11 and Death Stranding?
„bUt It’S oNlY a BOOOrInG UPS-SiMulAtOr!“
@sensechat the ip belongs to Sony, so yeah it is a Sony game.
@steel76 he's not referring to all fanboys of xbox and nintendo, he's only mocking the ones that are hating the game.
Perfect score for perfect game
@Lobbo95 He uses the word 'every'. That means all, not some.
That's 15 perfect scores now right? Not many games achieve that so the game is doing something right.
I meant fanboys. Not fans. There is a difference between being a fan or a fanboy. Fanboys badmouth every other system/game they don’t like and often even insult gamers with different opinions. And if you take a look at some YouTube comments, regarding Kojima's newest game, there are an awful lot of them.
Personally, I prefer playing on PS4 Pro and Vita, but I also own a Xbox One X and a Switch. Every system/game has its pros and cons. But being a fanboy and doing things like downvoting a game on Metacritic (Astral Chain; I’m sure, this will happen to Death Stranding as well), for instance, or insulting other people’s opinions is just laughable and can influence decisions in a negative way to buy and enjoy certain titles.
@MadAussieBloke See? It’s one hell of an action packed job! Smashing people with delivery boxes! Fanboys don’t know what they are hating on! ;P
@Lobbo95 Exactly, thanks. I think, there is nothing wrong with mocking some haters. :>
All of their perfect-scored games, for reference:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Soulcalibur
Vagrant Story
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Nintendogs
Final Fantasy XII
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
428: Shibuya Scramble
Dragon Quest IX
Monster Hunter Tri
Bayonetta
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Pokémon Black and White
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Yakuza 5
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
Grand Theft Auto V
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Dragon Quest XI
Death Stranding
What how come this be the first game to get perfect score what about God of War, The Last of Us and Knack this guys know nothing about video games
Final Fantasy XIII-2 was one of them....
@ApostateMage The one that always gets me is Nintendogs!
@GKO900 GoW and TLOU got 38 and Knack got 28.
@Ralizah Despite there reputation that's a hell of a lineup of Japanese games, except GTAV.
@Lando_ hahaha you're welcome. I agree with everything you say, especially the comments in every news/article and youtube videos about death stranding saying "boring", "ups simulator", and so on.
@AdamNovice Don't forget Skyrim, either.
It's hard to imagine someone playing KI: Uprising at giving it a perfect score. It's a fun game with utterly horrendous controls.
Ign gave it a 6.8. Wrong as usual
@Ralizah Ah yes of course. I did play kid Icarus and like you the controls put me off.
I'd love to see a new Vagrant Story, especially on next-gen.
@Ralizah they gave Nintendogs a perfect 40/40? I’ll take their Death Stranding score with a pinch of salt then.
@Ralizah 428:
Shibuya Scramble
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Kid Icarus: Uprising
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle
Perfect my A$$
FF13-2 is laughable as a story driven game. I played this on the back of ME 1 and 2. It's definitely not perfect. I would give it 22/40
Shibuya Scramble, I bought this recently. Finished the first chapter and went back to polish off the other endings within that chapter - encountered a bug so I was going in a loop and couldn't get back to chapter 2. Its not perfect at all. Although the story is 50x better than ff13-2. 30/40
Let's not talk about Kid Icarus and a writer of famitsu....
Anyway I can get Death Stranding for £30 from 'Very' straight after it releases, my wife has a £20 off voucher so I will get it regardless.
@Lando_ Sony people have been saying it too. I’ll probably buy the game, but I’m glad I know what I’m expecting regarding the actual gameplay. Even PushSquare’s review called the gameplay tedious, and it felt tiresome when you’re doing the same thing in chapter 7 that you did in chapter 2. So, yeah — just because it’s a PS4 game doesn’t mean “Sony fanboys” can’t find flaws in the game. The game is apparently very lengthy. For some, I can see why it might seem like a chore to finish this game.
@Ralizah https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masahiro_Sakurai
I wanted to find a better source but this will do. Famitsu writer. Worked on, would you believe it;
Smash Bros Brawl
Kid Icarus Uprising
Hmmmmmmm.
@Nerdfather1 To express criticism and concerns is correct. I'm not saying that there don't exist nagging PlayStation fanboys either. But to badmouth a game, just because you do not have the chance to play it, is just stupid. And that is exactly what many comment writers are doing on YouTube. I'm looking forward to the Metacritic User Score.
@Lobbo95 Thanks. I also find it amazing that there is an extreme outcry when a Nintendo exclusive title gets badly rated by users (Astral Chain, Zelda BotW); but regarding PlayStation exclusives getting mediocre/bad reviews, you hardly hear a beep. Illustrates well which people are active in the YouTube comments.
To people going on and on with 'fanboys' this...'fanboys that. Just stop pls. its really silly. Not only a lot of people are projecting (it's never ending) and cant see the beam in their eyes, but it's never great to call people you don't know in real life with childish, derogatory names. ask yourself how you'd feel calling someone fanboy and finding out they are heros in real life. People like DS characters maybe haha
Think about the game s philosophy
@Ralizah I thought they gave Mario 64 perfect score back in the day also?
I don’t get how it gets a ‘perfect’ score when most reviews say ‘it’s quite boring in the middle’. Doesn’t scream perfect to me.
@Koops_0 I can't believe God of War or TLOU didn't got a 40 and knack is just a joke not that is bad but not amazing either
@JJ2 Can’t argue with that. True. Sorry, I was just upset about people badmouthing things they’ve never even touched - just to ruin someone’s potential fun. You’re right though. People’s minds are too complicated to put a label like „fanboy“ on 'em.
@Dodoo Mario 64 got a 39/40 from Famitsu. Clearly not as timeless a game as Nintendogs and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, in all fairness.
I just realized there is a ignore button on this site brilliant bye sensechat 🤣
Death Stranding is getting so many cut your nose off despite your face comments IMO.
I look forward to playing it on Friday & seeing how I feel about it.
@FinneasGH Because a review is subjective just because games get "perfect" scores doesn't mean it is. The scoring system isn't always ideal but it's the best that these sites think they can do.
@Lando_ I find Nintendo fanatics to be worse then other platforms, I always look back at what happened to Jim Sterling when his own website Dossed just because he scored BotW a 7. I think they were also miffed that he scored Horizon Zero Dawn a 10.
@AdamNovice I can confirm that. I also had the most bad experiences in the Nintendo camp, regarding YouTube channels. :/
What happened to Sterling is a sad example of where fanaticism can lead.
@David187
That seems to be best. Seen so many 10/10s. Then i see people who hate it. Gonna have to just try it for myself and see what the fuss is about.
@Lando_
Oh that wasnt aimed at you in particular man.
It's just ridiculous so many people going on calling one another that. Totally agree people are more complicated than that. Sometimes it can happen to anyone not using their brain, or some people are frustrated for some reason. Theres also fanaticism which is a real thing with people you cant reason with like terminator haha.
Still, I personally hate the fanboy calling because it's trying to deprive a man of his dignity for futile reasons, in intent at least.
@Ralizah haha very true! Everyone knows Nintendogs and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle are the two best games ever made!
And once again this article's response illustrates why games should not have scores. Imagine how much more pleasant gaming comment sections would be if games only had a verdict opinion like "highly recommended" and people had to read or watch the review to understand why.
No more "but they gave X game .2 higher of a score, that's BS!" "No way it deserves X, I'd give it a Y" I'm sure people find a way to complain anyway, but sure would cut down on a lot of it.
Man, all the salt this game generates is making me want to play it whereas before I really didn't give a toss.
@Gumbopudding you've not been on Eurogamer have you 😂
Tbh publications which routinely give out perfect scores should be taken with a few grains of salt. More than a few...
I can think of a handful of games over the last 30 years which id rate that highly.
If it’s given out too freely it loses all meaning.
Like the idiots on metacritic that give either 0/10 or 10/10. Not to be taken seriously.
Kid Icarus: Uprising definitely should not have gotten a perfect score anywhere. I'm left-handed, so I had to completely remap the controls just to play it, and those options were pretty poor. The original controls were horrendous otherwise. The game's story was fun, but it lacked a key areas. Not as bad as Kid Icarus, but Monster Hunter 3 should not have gotten a perfect score either. The normal gameplay was fun enough, but those underwater hunts were terrible.
They made the already iffy controls so much worse.
I think the problem with these "perfect scores" is that reviewers are just awarding these games the score they want them to have, rather than scoring the games on their own merit. I've watched and read a lot of Death Stranding reciews, and I've seen so many reviewers gloss over the obvious flaws of Death Stranding because it's a Kojima game. I struggle to see how something labeled as "boring" and "not fun" on multiple occasions should be getting any number of perfect scores. None of the reviews I've seen, aside from the ones gushing about Kojima, even read like they were for a 90+ game. Being bold enough to try something different, fetch quests obviously aren't new, doesn't mean something is good.
Still not impressed. I think if they are honest with themselves, most people will find DS to be a pretty good movie and a pretty bad game. If it weren't from Kojima, it would be reviewing a whole lot more poorly.
@Sensechat
I have to agree with you there. Death standing does not feel like a Sony game. It's a Kojima game.
@Ralizah
Grand Theft Auto V and Nintendogs! If ever there were an argument that reviews are subjective.
@Gumbopudding I do agree that scores should go away though I can understand why places like Push Square use it because it probably gets them on Metacritic which gives them good exposure but the likes of IGN don't need that.
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