After The Last of Us 2's Review Bombing Scandal, Metacritic Paused Ghost of Tsushima Verdicts

It's a shame this had to even be done but it's for the best really. I never even look at the user reviews on MC anymore but this is a step in the right direction

Always nice to remember there is always positive review bombing... lots of 10s on there when it really isnt deserved

@redd214 I do, but only to see what petty nonsense is going on with any particular title... They're useless for anything but comedy really.

I did chuckle when someone shared this over on Twitter.

I have an inkling that Ubisoft's games will get review bombed and Cyberpunk 2077 will also.

To stop this sort of behaviour why don't they require proof of purchase?
They could link up with your PSN and then detect that you've played it.

that won't make a lick of difference. if there is a game people are ready to pounce on for whatever reason, they will continue to review bomb. what metacritic should be doing is working together with the publishers to verify a proof of purchase before a review can be submitted. how hard would it be to provide users with a unique code at the time of purchase? that code could then be verified when submitting the review and we would reduce the baseless, toxic reviews by 95%. or, even better, find a way to link psn accounts to metacritic which would verify that the user infact owns the game. there are many solutions to this problem, but there doesn't seem to be a will from anybody to make improvements.

@Deljo 100%. This happens way way too
Often.

@Deljo
Thank you, this is an overreaction to stuff that has been going on for a very long time (positive and negative 'review bombing') because the rhetoric, on all sides, got out of control. It's also funny they're holding 'users' to standards but there are plenty of 'professional critics' out there who have admitted to playing games on Easy, rushing through or in some cases not even fully playing a game all the way through. User scores never meant anything to me, but 'professional' reviews are nearly on that same level now. Hell I only trust this trio of websites, Victor Lucas and Johnny the 'Happy Console Gamer.'

@Stocksy doesnt seem to be talked about as much though, sites like this pretend it's only people out there with a negative agenda but theres just as many out there working the other way. PSN is great example of 5 star reviews weeks before a title is even released... wtf

I no longer read reviews because of stuff like this. If i see a game i think ill like ill eventually get it. Glad they paused use reviews though.

And by the TLOU2 sale numbers... most do not care about verdicts.

Took them long enough. I still don’t think that’s good enough. They need to link it with your PSN like someone said because there are also positive review bombs.

@Agramonte Not that it matters, but it’s at 4 stars on the PlayStation store.

@Agramonte
Of course, most normal people just buy games that look interesting to them and TLoU 1 was a huge hit so naturally 2 was going to sell big as well.
Really all that reviews are used for at this point are numbers in sad, pathetic fanboy wars fought by people way too old to be participating in such nonsense.

I noticed they first started to do this last week for Deadly premonition 2's release.

You would think that after years of crap like this they would figure out by now to disable reviews to games that have not been released yet. And keep it off for at least a few days after the release, only having the first few days open to legitimate game reviews (some of them are skewed enough as it is already) before opening up to the public comments.

Reasons like this is why I have not once paid any attention to Metacritic or anything else that gives "review scores". If a game actually caught my eye to begin with, then I look into some of the critic comments, but don't let it influence my interests just because somebody else did not like it. Some people put way too much faith into this system and cannot think for themselves.

not really a scandal, just lots of fans of tlou part I venting their anger towards an unsympathetic studio, welp

TLOU2 deserves negative reviews but not for the reasons why people are giving them

@GAMER-GlRL No its bunch of babies "reviewing" a game they haven't played because they're too fragile to handle a character dying.

@WallyWest maybe it's both? People weren't just angry about the death of a character, but ND abusing the copyright claim system on YouTube and dismissing most criticisms of the games narrative as "right wing sexists".

There's a middle ground that no one seems to see.

Personally I loved the game, solid 8/10

@oldschool1987
Yup, whenever people love something they can't take the blinders off and label anybody who is even slightly critical a 'hater' or 'baby' or go into more dumb stuff like this-ist or that-a-phobe. The game community, all the way around, is pathetic at times.

@WallyWest or they just hated it. I believe them before I believe the 10/10. Because its definitely not a 10.

Agreed. Critics are useless.

@Gamer83 agreed, it's a shame. We all enjoy the same hobby. Some people just have genuine criticisms and get unfairly demonised as some sort of "ism". If that was the case then Horizon, Tomb Raider, Metroid, etc would all recieve the same type of "hate".

Some people definitely go over the top with their criticisms, but it's definitely a minority.

@Porco my PSN account does not show games bought on disc as 'purchased' and if uninstalled disappear entirely.

They would avoid most of those reviews if they could track the trophies/achievements on people's account. Unfortunately, it's not a viable option since Nintendo, Epic and GOG didn't implement this system yet.

I said it many times already. Reviews and user reviews are not the problem. The problem comes from the 'score'. (Yes most of the time its BS from every source) Reviews are not supposed to be read as a random BS score.
Metacritic summarises what is wrong with reviews nowadays. It glorifies the score and downplays the review itself. Publishers and gamers who live by it are just eating their own poison.

last of us critic is not offensive or scandal thing. simply the director went so far in the story in a way hurt our nature and a beloved character.
Ghost of tsushima fighting for land and impressive side stories

If you hate TLOU2, I wont say youre a "That-ist" or a "This-a-phobe." I just think youve got bad taste because that game is ***** fire.

In both games there is going to be bias, for whatever reasons the media gave TLOU2 10/10, very best a 9 the story was worse than the first and gameplay mechanics only slightly improved, because of a combinations of the media scores, the major story decisions that made alot of people feel betrayed and the YouTube attacks people lashed out and gave it rubbish scores.

With GoT it will be the opposite the media giving a more fair review and I do think the scores are more accurate, it's more beautiful than TLOU2 graphics wise with a story at a similar level i.e a big revenge story though the game mechanics still need a bit of polish, I suspect it will gets Days Gone level of improvements over time. This time the user reviews will be 10/10 due the above bits about TLOU2 along with rubbing it in against the culture appropriation Twitter trolls even though Famitsu and the Japanese love it, white people get offended on behalf of others again.

Personally I dont trust meta like I don't trust media sites or rotten tomatoes for review scores, I'll make my own decision on whether I buy based on other information like screen shots, gameplay vids, content breakdowns. Like everything I may enjoy something others hate or vice versa so for me there is really no point worrying about reviews of other people whether they are 'professional' or amateur.

@WallyWest
Holy Moly calm down buddy. Step out of your bubble you sound absolutely insane

Tiny step. Amazon does verified purchases but it still shows none verified so don't see the point.

Good for them.

@starbuck2212 I would give the game 10/10. Everything about it blew me away including the so-called controversial moments.

I've never known so much fuss over nothing!

@Darklordcreeper Spot on. As an actual game (which it still very much is) it's absolutely brilliant.

Anyone that thinks this game is 'trash' has really bad taste in games and I would hate to see the state of their collection.

😉

Finally, we all know that the vast majority of fake reviews on The Last of Us Part II are overwhelmingly negative. It's a bit of a joke that some on here are trying to claim otherwise.

Anyway, why would anyone leave a review of something they haven't even played? Very strange.

Hope Ghost sells really well, will definitely pick it up at some point. This was a long overdue decision on the part of Metacritic but better late than never.

@Col_McCafferty I am very glad to see that you have exceptional taste sir!🤗

@Darklordcreeper It's just common sense mate, ND deserve all the credit for making such a masterpiece in the first place.

👍

When you say review bombing scandal, do you mean the 2500+ 5* ratings last of us 2 receive on the playstation store back in May? Or does journalism only report what it's comfortable of reporting?

It's still not enough there needs to be a purchase verification system.
About TLOU2, imo it's one of (if not The) best of all time i think the story was a very dark an brutal take on a revenge story with so much humanity and depth the graphics were insane the gameplay was the best in a third person shooter and the soundtrack is legendary.
I don't think u have a bad taste or you're a bigot for disliking it, i'm sorry if u didn't like it but for me personally it was one of the greatest gaming experiences i ever had.

“Spend some time playing”

They must know that’s not going to work? All it’ll do is delay the review bombing by 36 hours!

Why not lose the out of 10 user rating altogether and just have written user reviews only?

I don't think a grand game like this has to fear any review bombing. We live in a world where the "rules" are changed in a whim to fit a certain narrative. Either it's the same rules for all at all times or none at all.

This is ridiculous.

@thefirst That's my impression as well.

Can only reiterate what others have said.

Review bombing is a disgrace and reviews should require some proof of purchase.

But also that a lot of false positive reviews were also proven to have been made too.

Then you have the further issue of the questionable wave of 10/10 reviews from official outlets, and ND calling up outlets that didn't give a high score in what I perceive as a tacit threat.

I don't believe that reviews are "bought", but I do believe reviewers are under pressure for fear of being denied the advanced review copies that their livelihood depends on.

That must be addressed. Reviewers can't be under a sword of damocles.

Verified purchase only section on metacritic is needed. Metacritic could check PSN Xbox and Steam accounts to verify ownership. Also allow a comment section for opinions that will not count as part of the games rating for none purchase.

Just shows that Naughty Dog messed up and dropped the ball hard with this game's story.

lol

I doubt this game would have had negative review bombing anyway.

Actually Metacritic was not allowing ANY negative review of TLOU2 including genuine ones, so it’s review score is entirely fixed and manipulated, it is a fake useless website that has no Morales and sells out to the big companies (Sony) rather then support the consumer. Despicable IMO.

@starbuck2212 you're right! I would give it 12/10 👍😃

@BruceStraley Look up the word insane because you clearly don't understand what it means.

As I said on Twitter (yes, I still use it occasionally)...

It should be at least a week, not one day.

But it won't stop them. They've mashed out their hate piece on Notepad already and will just copy & paste at the earliest opportunity.

I don’t think this strategy is really good enough. Metacritic really need to reform their system or they will never be taken seriously.
Proof of purchase or link with PSN to show you have the game in your library or you don’t get to leave reviews. This might sound drastic but it’s the only thing that will stop the waves of idiot reviews giving 0 or 10 to every game.

@stefan771 It should receive negative reviews because some people didn’t like the story? It’s this kind of hyperbole that is the problem.

I read that Paper Mario was the first to get the leeway. Either PushSquare or Nintendolife is lying to us. Get the pitchforks!

@Tacktful hahahahahaha erm OK then.

@Arnna It never has and it never will be taken seriously. Same as reviewers/critics in general. No job more usless than a critic.

Remember folks. Metacritic is just as useless as your opinion.

It's a good game. Not by any means best game ever but it's a thing of beauty and the gameplay is like alot of other open world games.

The Last of us 2 was'nt review bombed though it was genuinely ***** and over hyped I was stupid enough to pre order it digitally so I couldn't even sell it 2and hand to get a bit of cash back and I was a big fan of the first one so yeah it got bad reviews cause it was a bad game they just moaned cause they dont like what people think

Push square proves it's white knighting for TLOU 2 and it's left wing politics yet again. There was no scandal with the user reviews for TLOU 2. It is a divisive game that disrespects it's characters and players who liked the first game. As well as being boring and stuffed with identity politics. All significant males die while the stunning and brave and diverse female characters survive. The scandal is that 47% of the positive reviews for TLOU 2 are exactly the same. The exact same words for 1000's positive reviews. Where's your story on that Pushsquare? That's the scandal. And now it's happening again with salty TLOU 2 fans bombing Ghost of Tsushima. You gonna cover that? The scandal is that critics and industry insiders are deciding when we can see user reviews. Talk about a conflict of interest!! Critics get 3 more days of exclusive game review content and therefore more views and ad revenue. Developers get to silence users for 3 days and get more sales if the game is bad and preventing users from commenting. This is a joke. Many people don't trust critic reviews because they sre loaded with SJW's and don't give accurate reviews because they are paid off with early access. They get review and preview code before the rest of us and don't pay for the game. This leads to ad revenue. It is an incestuous relationship that dies not lead to truthful reviews. You don't need to complete a game to give your thoughts. Now I can't know what users say upon release. And it's nonsense. Do the critics have to prove they have played the game? No. This would be like users deciding how and when critic reviews were made available. It is complete crap!! The industry protecting itself. No surprise pushsquare is for censorship and extending it's exlusive time. Bravo.

@starbuck2212 stating that an entire section of journalism is useless is a little hyperbolic. Video game journalism especially seems to be targeted by a certain section of gamers. Funny that non-gaming journalism isn’t attacked in the same way...

@thefirst good lord... a lot to unpack here. Censorship? Get a grip. If anything the general conduct on metacritic shows that people in fact cannot make informed decisions, or even rational ones. It’s like reading the incidental thoughts of a group of pre-schoolers.
Metacritic trying to curb garbage behaviour has nothing to do with censorship. Getting rid of morons who don’t even play the games and then write 2 line reviews with either 0/10 or 10/10 based on nothing but their infantile sense of justice or ridiculous bias, is a good long term goal for any review aggregator. Because then we’d have a more accurate cross section of actual reviews and not the ravings of sad little neckbeards.
Your support for this behaviour/general tone of your message suggests you might be one of them.

@thefirst of course it matters if you’ve played the game or not. Are you dense? Look up what review means in a dictionary.

@thefirst your analogy about the KKK is utter nonsense and a straw man argument. So using your own logic, what abhorrent part of the story are the ‘legitimate critics’ that you describe so opposed to? Remember it needs to be comparable to Ellie joining the KKK and killing blacks since that’s your moral point of reference.

@RIGORR_MORTIS yeah ok buddy. I’ll refer you to the literally thousands of 0/10 and 10/10 ‘reviews’ which appeared on metacritic within 10 mins of the game releasing. Smh...

@RIGORR_MORTIS you pre ordered a digital special edition of a game which is a a sequel to another game you didn’t actually like... there is little hope for people like you.

@Dodoo yep I agree. If they don’t do a proof of purchase system then not allowing a score would be a great idea. But the site would cease to be a review aggregator then and they wouldn’t have any visitors.

@DotM wow you’re clutching at straws.
1. The PSN rating system has no real use and can’t be searched by game or rating. It is not a review aggregator it’s a pointless time waster with no purpose. You also can’t write any text.
2. Refer to point 1 if you’re confused.

@Arnna
Relax Arnna, its an opinion, not something else, don't take it so hard.
I am not clutching at anything. I am simply pointing out that media reports what its convenient for it to report. Unfortunately. As you said in your reply to Dodoo, proof of purchase would be a great idea. That should happen in PSN. Just because the PSN rating system has no real use to you, it does not mean it does not have value to others.

@Arnna Actually your wrong, they were allowing them, say you gave the game an 8 or 9 with a positive review they would allow it, if you gave the game a 5 or 6 with a negative review they would not allow it, that’s not review bombing these are genuine reviews, the sites fake. More fool you if you believe it.

@Arnna all the MSM is useless. Noting but lies and misinformation.

@Arnna Lol you don't like people to have their own opinions do you?

@Arnna agreed though I only meant to drop the aggregated user reviews, not the websites/magazines aggregated score...

@thefirst not playing a game all the way through is a bigger scandal than not playing it at all?

Funny how some people start placing labels on people they disagree with, sadly this is what passes for objectivity.
Maybe instead of labeling people miscreants, they should actually listen to them instead of belittling their opinions.

@Gamer83
It will be interesting to see how Naughty Dogs next game sells at least initially. They managed to annoy a lot of people with the story choices. Me included. Any right thinking person who’s actually played the game though regardless of whether you love the story/decisions or not can’t deny how good it is for nearly all aspects of its design and execution. The rope physics alone add to its score 😂

@RIGORR_MORTIS
How is TLOU2 a bad game. I personally didn’t like the direction of the story in TLOU2. That aside every single aspect of the game is improved over the original. By your own admission you were a massive fan of the first game. So what’s not to like? Were you that butthurt by the story not being what you had hoped you’ve turned into the very person the article’s talking about.

@Paranoimia I don’t know about time frame but I think providing your PSN etc as many others have said would be a. decent step forward. If you’ve spent the cash then your entitled to your opinion and if you haven’t you can jog on so to speak. Not sure how much would change though. The mentality of people now is crazy. We live in a world where we are given so much information and everybody thinks their the expert. I am a bit of an expert though. 🤦‍♂️😂

@WallyWest
I agree in some part. That’s the Snowflake Karen generation we live in I’m afraid. Everyone’s a warrior (keyboard) we’ve become soft fat and lazy.
God help the west if we are ever invaded again. We are screwed 😂🤣😂

@Kunfoostu Yes, they could definitely require a PSN/Xbox login to post a user review. The functionality exists... you can use your PSN/Xbox ID to login to sites like Rockstar, Ubisoft, etc.

Not sure just a login should be considered 'enough' to post a review, though. They should also check for a minimum of 5 trophies/achievements from the game a person wants to review, to ensure they've spent some time actually playing it.

@Kunfoostu
I always buy Naughty Dog's games day one and that will probably hold true for whatever its next release is as well, whether TLoU 3 or something entirely new. But, yeah, it will be interesting to see how much, if it all, ND's next game is effected sales wise.