Games Inbox: Are user reviews for video games reliable?

Splatoon Raiders – do you trust its user score? (Nintendo) The Thursday letters page is frustrated at August’s release schedule for new games, as one reader calls for Assassin’s Creed to renew its present day storytelling. Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Surprise scoreI’m as confused as anyone about the Splatoon Raiders user reviews and becoming the seventh best game of all-time. I haven’t played it but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s not actually better than The Last Of Us and every Zelda game ever made. But then I’ve never put any stock in user reviews. Things like Metacritic are questionable enough given some of the no-name websites they include in the total, which seems to make everything a green score. But the user scores are all just fanboy wars, with people either marking games down for some imagined slight or boosting it just because they like the company (but not necessarily the game). Look at the scores and somehow half of them are always either 10 or zero. It’s like this with user scores on other sites too. Less than 4 out of 5 seems incredibly rare on the PlayStation Store and the only one that actually seems to have sensible scores, that aren’t based on review bombs or trivial complaints, is Steam. And I think that’s because it has much more people voting in it. So on this occasion I will say that I am not convinced Splatoon Raiders is the best Nintendo game ever and I’ll stick with the regular reviews for my advice.Wotan Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Co-operative argumentsVery happy to see Capcom already talking about Pragmata 2 but I am never going to get used to the time it takes to make a game now. Oh, they’re fast-tracking a sequel? Yep, so fast that it probably won’t be out until next decade and the PlayStation 6. Seems crazy that as recently as the Xbox 360 era we were getting sequels every year and waiting three years was seen as a pretty extreme gap. I can’t really talk about what I’d like to see for the sequel without getting into spoilers, but the game did set itself up well for a follow-up, even if it’s hard to say what the specifics will be. It’s pretty obvious that the only real problem to solve is variety, but I’m sure they’ll be on that. More enemy types, more weapons, and more complex hacking puzzles and I think you’re golden. I’d also be interesting in seeing if a co-op mode would work, although you’d probably end up getting very angry with your teammate.Korbie Slow monthI know August is not traditionally a busy time for buying games – who wants to be playing games when you can go outside in the burning sunshine, right? – but given what’s happening with the release dates this year, did no company think that maybe they should move one of their September games to August instead? Although there’s some that might be all right, I can’t say I’m all that excited by any of the games in your list of the best for August. It’s barely any better than July and that’s really disappointing. There’s going to be so many flops in September and October, because they’re too grouped together, but I’m not sure how much sympathy I’m going to have considering how they’re just blindly walking into the meat grinder.Cubby Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Play lessVery interesting that Shigeru Miyamoto’s advice for making a game is to base it on a hobby you’re interested in. I feel that if you asked a Western developer for similar advice you’d get much more technical advice and probably a shopping list of games to use as inspiration. I doubt Miyamoto has ever looked at any Western game for fun or work. In fact, the only one not by Nintendo I’ve ever heard him talk about positively was Pac-Man, which apparently he’s a big fan of. I’m not sure there’s any evidence he’s liked anything else since. This to me is all a very clear explanation for the quality and imagination of his games, and Nintendo in general. He’s not chasing trend or trying to emulate something someone else has already made, he’s just coming up with ideas and making things he thinks will be cool. I’m not saying he always gets it right – I never really liked Pikmin – but I suspect if more developers played less games they’d probably make something more interesting.Londi Don't miss Gaming news! Add us as a Preferred Source As a loyal GameCentral reader, we want to make sure you never miss our articles when searching for gaming stories. We have all the latest video games news, reviews, previews, and interviews, with a vibrant community of highly engaged readers. Click the button below and tick Metro.co.uk to ensure you see stories from us first in Google Search. Add us as a Preferred Source GameCentral has been delivering unique games news and reviews for over a decade £5 offWas in town the other day and decided to take a look in CeX, because we all like a physical game, especially in the current climate/incoming situation annnnnnnd… Mario Kart World, 60 quid, used you know, second-hand, refurbished… £60. Now a quick look on Google and I found it in Currys for £65, brand new, sealed, with that (I presume), new game smell! Is it any wonder second-hand games shops are dying out, that’s lack of competition, I guess.big boy bent Radio silenceI was wondering, what with all of this furore about Sony calling an end to disc based games, what’s your level of access to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo? Do you put in interview requests? How often do you communicate with the high-ranking decision makers of these corporations? I found an interview that you did with Jim Ryan from 2015 and in that interview you didn’t hold back at all with regards to asking difficult questions. Instinctively I’m guessing that any high-level employee of a company would be significantly guarded even if a journalist did succeed in cutting through layers and layers of public relations minions to talk to them. It’s all about the share price isn’t it? One wrong answer and the value of stock can plummet. It would be nice to read an interview with someone at Sony at this, apparently, emotionally charged time, but I suppose there’s no advantage to any representative from that company putting their head above the parapet.Michael Veal GC: Microsoft and Sony haven’t given proper interviews to gaming press since before Covid. It’s not just us; they hardly speak to anyone anymore. Sony’s plan at the moment is clearly complete silence. But who knows, if the dissent about physical media goes on maybe they’ll be forced to make a statement. Trucking onWill you be reviewing Truxton Extreme? I’d love to hear your opinion, I hope it’s good. I’ve been hoovering up horizontal and vertical shooters recently and such a respected game getting a new entry is exciting. Thanks again for being the best source for reviews out there, you guys and gals are the best.Beastiebat GC: Thanks very much. We’ll try to, although we haven’t got a copy in yet. Start from the beginningI’m a huge Assassin’s Creed fan and have been since the very first game. I’m also one of the few people who actually enjoyed the modern day sections. Personally, I feel the overall story disappeared when Desmond died. The modern day storyline was what tied everything together and gave the historical stories a bigger purpose. What made Assassin’s Creed special was that the whole point of using the Animus was to go back through your ancestors’ memories to discover clues about Pieces of Eden and other First Civilization secrets. The modern day Assassins were reliving those memories to find where these artefacts had been hidden in the present day, before the Templars could get to them. I’d love to see Assassin’s Creed return to its roots. Bring back the mystery surrounding the Pieces of Eden, the conflict between Assassins and Templars and a strong modern day narrative that actually matters. Most importantly, I’d like to see a young protagonist who learns the ways of the Assassins throughout the game. Watching characters grow and develop was a huge part of what made Altaïr and Ezio so memorable. These days, many of the protagonists seem to begin their journeys already as elite warriors, master assassins or highly skilled fighters. This removes the sense of progression and discovery that made the earlier games so rewarding. I still enjoy the games, but I miss the feeling that everything was building towards something bigger.Adam_Lion_23 (PSN ID/gamertag) Inbox also-ransWhat EA Sports FC needs is a simple yearly update rather than releasing a brand new game every year. What do you think?Henry GC: We think EA would prefer you give them £70 every year. Or even better, £140. So read this yesterday, it’s everything that’s wrong in the games industry, just disgusting: EA boss got £29 million bonus for Battlefield 6 while the devs were laid off.TWO MACKS Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. 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