Edge Magazine Review Scores: Issue #413 — Death Stranding 2, Mario Kart World, The Alters, MindsEye & More

Mostly in-line with my experience with the game.
Edge's Review Score Raises Eyebrows Once Again.
A 7/10 is still a good score on paper , but it's significantly below the collective sentiment, especially when the game in question currently averages around 90 on Metacritic. Once again, Edge Magazine stands apart from the critical consensus, and it raises a fair question: why such a drastic difference ?
This isn't the first time Edge has gone against the grain. Over the years, they've gained a reputation for controversial scoring and, some would argue, a tendency toward deliberate contrarianism that borders on click-bait. Just to name a few examples:


  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess8/10, while most outlets gave it 9s and 10s
  • Grand Theft Auto IV6/10, versus dozens of perfect scores elsewhere
  • Halo 37/10, considered low at the time compared to its critical acclaim
  • Bayonetta 27/10, again out of step with the general praise

This pattern suggests that Edge scores are best understood as an outlier, rather than a reflection of a game's objective quality. That said, it's perfectly fine to be more critical , but when the tone starts feeling deliberately provocative, it's only natural that the community starts questioning the intent behind the score.
What are your thoughts , is Edge holding onto old-school critique values, or is this just modern-day contrarianism dressed up as journalism ?
 
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess8/10, while most outlets gave it 9s and 10s
Zelda fan here; I have to agree with this score for Twilight Princess. That game had a lot of very obvious flaws that other publications did not want to acknowledge. So their trademark prickliness does have value at times when a second opinion is needed.
 
Oh yeah, edge, the guys who couldnt finish death stranding 1 in time of the publishing deadline and gave it no score, and said they couldn't bring themself to finish it because it was so boring.

well atleast they finished it this time.. right?

And while DS2 is a totally love it or friggin hate it with every fiber in ya body type of game, giving it a 7 is really not deserved, im only 30 hours into ds2 and im having some of the most fun times since its more action orientated and way more streamlined into feeding me dopamine in to my brain.
 
Zelda fan here; I have to agree with this score for Twilight Princess. That game had a lot of very obvious flaws that other publications did not want to acknowledge. So their trademark prickliness does have value at times when a second opinion is needed.
Zelda might be the exception that proves the rule, and if you ask me, I don't like them at all. They have zero credibility in my book.
 
TBF Mario Kart World is an 8 if you do not have friends or family to play with. If you do, then of course it's a 10, but what are the Edge journos supposed to do about it?
 
Got to be honest and say giving DS2 a 7 seems like proof to me that numerical scoring is sometimes utterly useless.

7 makes it seem kinda mid, when the reality is that its a game full of 10/10 moments but the rest is very much in YMMV territory.

For me, flaws and all its a 9. But I wouldn't complain if someone was to give it a 5 or lower because they don't see the fun in the primary game-loop or Kojima's earnest but overblown plotting and characters just irritate.

7 though... that's just not reflective of what the experience *is* , in my opinion.
 
3/10 for Mind's Eye? That seems unusually generous for Edge. I was expecting a 1/10 personally, especially as the game is basically a graphics demo first with buggy, unfinished gameplay hastily shoehorned in just before the shareholders pushed for it to be released...

Also, Edge magazine has been around for decades now and their scores use a proper 1-10 system of 5 being mediocre rather than the 7 that GameSpot and IGN typically reserve for middling games. As such, an 8 from Edge is a very good score. Mario Kart World is a very good game but it is not worthy of a 'perfect' 10 in my opinion as it doesn't really push the genre forward in any way. Likewise, Death Stranding 2 is just more of the same and I'd agree with that 7 score. It's good but it's not amazing, at least what I've played of it.
 
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