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[GinoFelino]

Giving 1/10 is not really using the lower half of the scale properly, is it? It's more like a statement.

Unless the game is actually 1/10 and every time you start it up your PC catches fire, that is

But anyway, do you know of any industry where products get reviewed and reviewers consistently use the full scale? I don't. Everyone just uses 5-10 scores.
There probably is a discussion to be had on how people generally evaluate enjoyment intuitively on a much smaller scale than what we've grown accustomed to use. I'm starting to think the five star (with halves) scale would be much more suited for entertainment products.

I've seen plenty of films get a 1/2 star rating.

In this case, though, it's a technical malfunction holding back the score.

I think the only sensible thing to do is withhold a rating until it is either fixed or proven to be a prevalent bug that most people playing will experience.

 

[Gurish]

MC got a nice bump since initial score, 81 now, which is an excellent score, hope it can stay around the 8.

 

[Markitron]

Sounds great, I'll be picking this up for sure.

 

[Acquiescence]

Is it widely-known that the 1/10 score has been removed from Metacritic? Just noticed it myself.

And with good reason I'd say. Giving a game the lowest possible score just because you encountered a bug (that no one else did) in the last moments of what was otherwise a positive playthrough was some major attention-seeking antics.

 

[BeeDog]

Much better than I anticipated, sweet. Overloaded with my backlog right now so gonna hold off, but definitely a candidate for purchase.

 

[Savantcore]

Metacritic have removed Jim's review (after he himself took it down) and it currently sits at 81.

 

[Tapejara]

Don't know if it's been brought up but Metacritic has changed Jim's score to "In progress and unscored." http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice/critic-reviews Edit: beaten!

So it seems they will change scores in some instances, which is a much better policy than refusing to ever alter them if the publication does.

 

[cripterion]

What I love best about it is how he states it's a waste of "everyone's" time.

Who put this guy in charge?

Its a shame he's always gone for max abrasiveness, tonewise. He has done some good work, i just can't deal with it anymore.

He has done some good content but he's always bitching about something, kinda making himself the de facto guy on how pc ports should be and what not. Something about an air of superiority in his tone, the way he talks that gets to me.

 

[Deathknell]

Dear god this is so ridiculous..

 

[Hanmik]

it seems like the game is trying to tell Jim something...

(the captioning in the game seems pretty bad)...

 

[WAR recon zero]

Oh Jim

I'm sorry but that score is bollocks.

 

[Angel_DvA]

Giving 1/10 is not really using the lower half of the scale properly, is it? It's more like a statement.

Unless the game is actually 1/10 and every time you start it up your PC catches fire, that is

But anyway, do you know of any industry where products get reviewed and reviewers consistently use the full scale? I don't. Everyone just uses 5-10 scores.
There probably is a discussion to be had on how people generally evaluate enjoyment intuitively on a much smaller scale than what we've grown accustomed to use. I'm starting to think the five star (without halves i guess?) scale would be much more suited for entertainment products.

EDIT: whoops

1/10, wtf ? a game with such a low score should be for a game as broken as AC Unity, not a complete functional game.

 

[Alienous]

The scores of 1-5 basically exist for broken games, and even a game with a late stage game-breaking bug seems like it ought to get more than 1/10. It doesn't render the whole experience moot, surely.

 

[Gurish]

Is it widely-known that the 1/10 score has been removed from Metacritic? Just noticed it myself.

And with good reason I'd say. Giving a game the lowest possible score just because you encountered a bug (that no one else did) in the last moments of what was otherwise a positive playthrough was some major attention-seeking antics.

Good job MC, usually they are really strict with changing or removing reviews but this time it was really necessary, Jim fucked up and he knows it as well.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

1/10, wtf ? a game with such a low score should be for a game as broken as AC Unity, not a complete functional game.

It literally completely broke for him...

 

[truestatic]

Is Jim's review mirrored anywhere? I'm curious what exactly the issue is and what his opinions were besides the issue. As it stands it seems like all that's left is that the game broke at some point and it had to do with a torch and so he gave it a 1/10 which he now regrets.

 

[f@luS]

Coming in. Game is good then shall order ?

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Metacritic have removed Jim's review (after he himself took it down) and it currently sits at 81.

Good.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Is Jim's review mirrored anywhere? I'm curious what exactly the issue is and what his opinions were besides the issue. As it stands it seems like all that's left is that the game broke at some point and it had to do with a torch and so he gave it a 1/10 which he now regrets.

He enjoyed the game. Would have been ~8/10 but he ran into a gamebreaking bug that made his save unplayable. Game only gives one save so he would have to restart the whole game.

 

[jacobeid]

Is it widely-known that the 1/10 score has been removed from Metacritic? Just noticed it myself.

And with good reason I'd say. Giving a game the lowest possible score just because you encountered a bug (that no one else did) in the last moments of what was otherwise a positive playthrough was some major attention-seeking antics.

Apparently this very dangerous line of thinking will encourage publishers to create even more Metacritic-based bonuses and bring the entire industry to ruin, according to some here.

I completely agree with your sentiment. Let alone the fact that Jim himself thought better than to keep the review up.

 

[More_Badass]

At first glance, I thought Jim's score was ridiculous but thinking about it more, I ended feeling it was understandable, in the context of what a review actually represents

A review score isn't a measure of quality, at least for entertainment mediums. It's very much a representation of the individual's feelings towards a work, and more specifically an individual's feelings towards a work at a specific moment in time. It's how a reviewer can dislike a movie at release and then change their mind after a few watches, or months or years later; it's how cult classics exist

It's also why a 1/10 and 8/10 are equally valid scores from the same person for the same game; given that they're both reflections of the writer's feeling towards the game at different times and under different mindsets

 

[Gurish]

1/10, wtf ? a game with such a low score should be for a game as broken as AC Unity, not a complete functional game.

Unity didn't deserve such a score as well, even at release before all the patches. A 1/10 is something you would give to a barely functional game like Big Rigs or Ride to Hell, the game needs to be EXTREMELY offensive to earn such a score.

 

[benzopil]

The scores of 1-5 basically exist for broken games, and even a game with a late stage game-breaking bug seems like it ought to get more than 1/10. It doesn't render the whole experience moot, surely.

not really, look at Troll and I, completely functional game with 1/10 scores

 

[Neptonic]

He has done some good content but he's always bitching about something, kinda making himself the de facto guy on how pc ports should be and what not. Something about an air of superiority in his tone, the way he talks that gets to me.

he's no Durante

Dear god this is so ridiculous..

PLS FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER GAF
@REDNEPTONIC

 

[Mdk7]

To me bigger issue is this TB opinion

Spoiler

For a person who said multiple times that he will do his work as he wants to come and call out other people who did their work how they wanted is just sad.

The thing is, to actually run into permadeath in Hellblade you should turn the console on, run the game, get to a fight and the leave the house for half an hour with the controller standing still on the floor.
At that point, when you're back home, you'll probably run into permadeath.

Seriously, it's not a problem, like AT ALL. Permadeath here is more of a suggestion rather then a gameplay mechanic you'll effectively encounter (even at hard).

 

[Filthy Casual]

Thought this would flop, good to see it turned out well.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Apparently this very dangerous line of thinking will encourage publishers to create even more Metacritic-based bonuses and bring the entire industry to ruin, according to some here.

I completely agree with your sentiment. Let alone the fact that Jim himself thought better than to keep the review up.

Protecting developers and publishers by giving a disingenuous score to protect a metacritic score is dangerous.

 

[arcticice]

Why are people talking about that one 1/10 review. wat about other reviews that actually talk about the game?

 

[Fess]

Wow at that Jim score. Sure there are times I can agree with his opinions or consider his review content to be on point, but his scoring 'system' has always been garbage. Always seems like a cry for attention/look at me!

For that I can and will never take him seriously as a reviewer/journalist.

Yeah he's no better than the extreme posters you see here, he's just a grumpy old loudmouth who's always exaggerating to get his point across. His way of highlighting something he don't like is always to drop the whole score. That's not unusual among forum posters but even if you don't like something in a game you simply can't score it 1/10 without getting laughed at if reviewing games is your job. What did he score No Man's Sky, 0/10?

 

[WAR recon zero]

@twitter

After hours of arguing and thought, I'm displeased with how I've handled the Hellblade thing. Stand by.

0.1/10 incoming

 

[Kareha]

I never had saves in my games back in the 80's on my Spectrum and C64, don't see what all the fuss is about having to start over once you die.

 

[LinLeigh]

Honestly this thread is another reason I think the 1-10 review scale does not work. People can't use the full scale without fans and non fans going into a frenzy. What's the point using a ten point scale if using half of it is considered "unprofessional"?

Would a proper 10 scale score have resulted in a 1 though? Is this one of the worst games ever made?

I'm all for the 10 point scale but this is no better then giving a 10 to a game you enjoy.

I expect more from someone who makes a living scoring games. This feels a bit imdb user rating to me.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Would a proper 10 scale score have resulted in a 1 though? Is this one of the worst games ever made?

I'm all for the 10 point scale but this is no better then giving a 10 to a game you enjoy.

I expect more from someone who makes a living scoring games. This feels a bit imdb user rating to me.

Jim does use a ten point scale. The game broke for him. It was unplayable. So yeah why not a 1/10 if that's what it is on his scale.

 

[cheesekao]

"I think Jim removed as it been point out the game may not be broken but in fact Jim miss a torch on my wall .
And he's hopeful going back and checking if it was his fault or the games ."

From a comment on Jim's site. Let's see how it pans out.

 

[OléGunner]

Is Jim's review mirrored anywhere? I'm curious what exactly the issue is and what his opinions were besides the issue. As it stands it seems like all that's left is that the game broke at some point and it had to do with a torch and so he gave it a 1/10 which he now regrets.

Jim's review on the whole was headed for a 7.5-8 according to him before he hit the breaking bug. He was very much enjoying it on the whole before that, maybe why he felt really disheartened when that happened and dropped it to 1 (combined with the perma-death system).

I don't blame him for that even though I think it's a little harsh, he's free to attach any score if his reasoning is good enough.

 

[jacobeid]

Protecting developers and publishers by giving a disingenuous score to protect a metacritic score is dangerous.

I'm not talking about protecting developers and publishers, I'm talking about having your review score match the text instead of giving a 1/10 for clicks. This is something that could have happened with typical editorial review.

"I think Jim removed as it been point out the game may not be broken but in fact Jim miss a torch on my wall .
And he’s hopeful going back and checking if it was his fault or the games ."

From a comment on Jim's site. Let's see how it pans out.

Oh boy. I kind of hope this is true to make the situation even more comical.

 

[Savitar]

@twitter

After hours of arguing and thought, I'm displeased with how I've handled the Hellblade thing. Stand by.

0.1/10 incoming

0.08 you mean.

 

[Papercuts]

Unity didn't deserve such a score as well, even at release before all the patches. A 1/10 is something you would give to a barely functional game like Big Rigs or Ride to Hell, the game needs to be EXTREMELY offensive to earn such a score.

People have different ideas of what a game needs to get a score that low. Frankly stuff like Big Rigs shouldn't even get a point, that isn't even a finished game in any way. For most people 1-4 basically are all unused and have no difference but that doesn't mean everyone has to abide by that, I always look at 5 as a personal average.

A save wiping bug is the most egregious thing you can have in a game and is absolutely going to ruin the entire experience. Ultimately a reviewer is looking from their own personal perspective so I can pretty easily see that. Any time you hit a save corruption bug in a game that's gonna be a dead game for pretty much anyone.

It's unfortunate but hey.

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

After watching a lot of gameplay footage, I'm surprised this is scoring so well, I expected another Rise or The Order but I'm glad it's turned out to be better than that. I love the look of the game, it looks fantastic with it's intense atmosphere and psychological horror aspects.

The combat they've been showing was the main problem for me, as it looked very repetitive, doing the same block + counter combo over and over, maybe it was just the person playing it, that made it look worse than it really is. I will be picking this up for the story more than anything though.

 

[Altairre]

At first glance, I thought Jim's score was ridiculous but thinking about it more, I ended feeling it was understandable, in the context of what a review actually represents

A review score isn't a measure of quality, at least for entertainment mediums. It's very much a representation of the individual's feelings towards a work, and more specifically an individual's feelings towards a work at a specific moment in time. It's how a reviewer can dislike a movie at release and then change their mind after a few watches, or months or years later; it's how cult classics exist

It's also why a 1/10 and 8/10 are equally valid scores from the same person for the same game; given that they're both reflections of the writer's feeling towards the game at different times and under different mindsets

I agree with that assessment. Well said.

 

[AlanOC91]

Would a proper 10 scale score have resulted in a 1 though? Is this one of the worst games ever made?

I'm all for the 10 point scale but this is no better then giving a 10 to a game you enjoy.

I expect more from someone who makes a living scoring games. This feels a bit imdb user rating to me.

1/10 should be applied to stuff like Bubsy 3D and Superman 64. It's often used too frequently on people who don't enjoy a game or don't like something the dev implemented etc etc. Been a broken system for years to be honest but it's what we have and it's what we have to make do with for now.

 

[Kinsei]

"I think Jim removed as it been point out the game may not be broken but in fact Jim miss a torch on my wall .
And he’s hopeful going back and checking if it was his fault or the games ."

From a comment on Jim's site. Let's see how it pans out.

Either way the game still broke and made it impossible to progress by warping him ahead to an area where he needed the fire.

 

[Acquiescence]

Edit - Nevermind. I misinterpreted things.

 

[BassForever]

"I think Jim removed as it been point out the game may not be broken but in fact Jim miss a torch on my wall .
And he’s hopeful going back and checking if it was his fault or the games ."

From a comment on Jim's site. Let's see how it pans out.

Oh wow if true

 

[Savantcore]

"I think Jim removed as it been point out the game may not be broken but in fact Jim miss a torch on my wall .
And he's hopeful going back and checking if it was his fault or the games ."

From a comment on Jim's site. Let's see how it pans out.

How would it be his fault if the game deleted his save? He could be holding the controller upside down and running into walls - the game still deleted his save.

I never had saves in my games back in the 80's on my Spectrum and C64, don't see what all the fuss is about having to start over once you die.

Yeah, I was always under the impression that Jim liked Spelunky.

Difference between a story-led game and an arcade game.

 

[pswii60]

I never had saves in my games back in the 80's on my Spectrum and C64, don't see what all the fuss is about having to start over once you die.

Yeah, I was always under the impression that Jim liked Spelunky.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

1/10 should be applied to stuff like Bubsy 3D and Superman 64. It's often used too frequently on people who don't enjoy a game or don't like something the dev implemented etc etc. Been a broken system for years to be honest but it's what we have and it's what we have to make do with for now.

Each person's scale is different, that's a major problem with reviews now. You see 1/10 as a broken game, I could see it as a very fucking bad game. Broken going unscored. There's nothing wrong with either scale, they're just different.

 

[Hanmik]

I never had saves in my games back in the 80's on my Spectrum and C64, don't see what all the fuss is about having to start over once you die.

those games did not make you start over a 8-10 hours long NARRATIVE video game..

those games where made to enjoy in small dozes.. like Impossible Mission, Rainbow Islands etc. Other games like Bard's Tale had a save system.

 

[Tapejara]

How would it be his fault if the game deleted his save? He could be holding the controller upside down and running into walls - the game still deleted his save.

I think there's some crossed wires here.

The game deleting saves is an intentional feature that Total Biscuit was talking about.

Jim's issue is that the he encountered a bug that wouldn't let him progress forward in the story, not that his save was deleted.

 

[Steroyd]

The scores of 1-5 basically exist for broken games, and even a game with a late stage game-breaking bug seems like it ought to get more than 1/10. It doesn't render the whole experience moot, surely.

It kind of does if there's a permadeath function that gets triggered because of it.

Jim isn't a beta tester, and we've had enough games that had day 1 issues where the public was pissed that the bugs were not reflected in reviews due to hype cycle.