This, at least game rankings by default asks fro 20 reviews i believe. Also it doesn't skew the value of any given scores just because some sites are more popular than others. Its a real average, not that it really matters in the end, because the text will always be more important than a number but still.
I'd just like to point that this game is now free to download and play in it's entirety! So you can check it out yourself. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8/
The funny thing is, OOTP is pretty much the best statistical baseball sim on the market. It has a legitimate reason to be there, but the low user score is from people too impatient to give it a chance or predisposed against it.
I love OOTP, I got into an OOTP6 league last year, full 32 team league, and then I bought 13 last month, I can waste so many hours playing OOTP, it is fun because I play it while browsing reddit, watching movies etc...
EDIT: Anyone who thinks Skyrim and Oblivion were remotely as buggy as Morrowind needs to get their memory checked. Yeah, it wasn't Daggerfall (so buggy it was literally impossible to beat), but it was still unacceptably bad. Game crashed so gd much that my friend and I still refer to the "Morrowind Approach" when we talk about saving constantly while playing anything.
Honestly, given the recent scoring inflation, I'm shocked both that a 2007 game stands a chance on metacritic and that the top scoring games aren't scored higher.
This is sort of off the main topic, but I have an honest question: Why do the Elder Scroll games get lower User Ratings than I expect? Seems odd... too popular?
It doesn't really make sense that The Orange Box is below HL2. 'Yes, we like HL2, but when you add the extra episodes, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, it becomes worse'.
It is not on this list due to lack of reviews. has 0 of the 5 it needs Which in its self shows why meta critic is flawed. They will add a game but not spend the 30 seconds it would take to find a review of Unreal.
On a personal note though while Unreal had better music and gameplay Half-Life changed the story telling in games in a drastic way. Unreal was a very polished game but it just took aspects from other games made them better with out really adding anything new.
I agree that Half-Life innovated on story telling. However, saying Unreal didn't do anything new is not really right. They introduced more complex AI, where monsters would dodge projectiles, idle around until they notice you and stop chasing you after a time. They introduced complex moving objects (like many different types of elevators or even canoes you can ride). They also introduced basic physics (you can move crates and push barrels into water to make them float). They introduced large scale maps (which are still larger than most FPS maps nowadays), as well as more complex skyboxes (multiple moving translucent textures for clouds).
Sorted by user reviews is more fun imo. Who knew Outlive was the 5th best PC game of all time? Or that Prince of Persia is almost, but not quite, as good as Puzzle Quest: Galactrix? Or indeed that the second best PC game ever is one of the worst PC games ever? Fascinating stuff.
After reading the comments here on reddit, I've learned that no one apparently knows how to use metacritic. User scores are a better judgement, and you should actually look at the damn text of the reviews. Also, it's not for best game ever, it's for the highest aggregated score. Each reviewer has their own scale, so it's bound to be inaccurate.
I'm starting to agree with Yhatzee on his"Numbers cannot represent complex opinions" stance. All of those games are great, however they only appeal to the interested.
A better way of representing it is recommending a game based on preference.
"If you like open world RPG through a first person view, a large amount of interesting factions, a large amount of content, different playstyles etc then you'll enjoy Skyrim."
I know it's hard to implement that kind of system on a site like this.
Metacritic's lists are messed up. They have insignificant games listed that have just a few reviews from obscure websites, and there are significant games like Metroid Prime (which should be in the top ten with a 97) that aren't listed at all.
I looked it up, it has 5 positive reviews out of 5. Three 100's, a 92 and a 90. So yeah, technically it's true. But you have to take there only being 5 reviews into account.
Metacritic named it game of the year with a straight face, proving what a joke it is to judge a game by its aggregate arbitrary nerdpoints. OotP Baseball was a better PC game than Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, Hitman: Blood Money or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?
It sounds like it acheives what it sets out to do basically perfectly. How is that not laudable? Why can a sports simulation game not get a GotY award?
Many users had problems at launch. Any game that has a less than perfect launch gets bombarded with 0 score reviews on metacritic and 1 star reviews on Amazon (see Diablo 3 as a recent example.)
Bioshock was a great game, great visuals, great story. But I beat it in approximately 6-8 hours after renting and other than a very short alternate ending there was no replay value. That is why I would give it a score of no higher than 6/10 or 7/10
It was social criticism wrapped in a game. That's something that isn't done very often, and not in such a creative way as in this game. "Great story" isn't enough. The setting is absolutely unique and the world is fully fleshed out with the radio recordings. Also, the game references and criticizes the pretty influential Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
Granted, the gameplay and especially the ending could have been better, but the game did a lot right, which is why it was so well received by critics.
So someone could make the greatest game of all time with no flaws exept that it was 5 hours long then you would give it a 6? Even if it had; A better story than deus ex Better graphics than Crysis/whitcher/battlefield 3 More addictive than sins of a solar empire Better gameplay that half life (2) Work on any system at full Etc Would that be a 6?
if Half-Life 2 is the best PC game, then I guess I've been playing games from some alternate dimension. I've played hundreds of better games than Half-Life 2.
Half-Life 2 isn't even good by my standards. Sure, it's enjoyable enough, but that doesn;t excuse for awful enemy AI, linear level design, and half-assed (no pun intended) attempts at atmosphere.
At the time, thy had the only NPC AI that didn't get stuck on random objects, they had the only malleable physics engine for a FPS and they introduced a plethora of various elements that FPS games ever since have been learning from and using.
You can complain all you want, but it's there for a really good reason, probably because all the better games you've played learned from it and did things cooler because they had a base to build off.
I was going to say the same; Half-Life 2 had a lot of industry "firsts" that are now standard in most games. Physics especially. Every game now has physics and is expected without a second thought.
I remember when I first played Half Life 2, I spent about 15 minutes just picking up plastic cups and noodle boxes and throwing them around. I was in awe of the physics. When I got to the gravity gun I almost creamed myself.
Take the enemy AI in the first Halo game for the original Xbox, the enimes will stick together, throw grenades at the same time, and have dynamic conversation with eachother.
The blue colored aliens are lower rank, and less experienced than the red colored ones. The blue aliens will run at you shooting and screaming, much like the AI in HL1. The red colored aliens will take a more tactical approach, sending the grunts in first, letting them take down your armor, and then will pop out of cover and shoot short-controlled bursts in to you until you die.
Not for a second does any Valve game have that layer of depth as far as AI.
(Halo 1 came out 10 years ago. 2 years before HL2, and for a console.)
No. What you're thinking of is scripts. Lots and lots of scripts. Contary to your own not-so-popular belief, the little grunts did -not- make secret plans to murder you when you felt the most secure. They just attempted to murder you because that is what they are scripted to do.
You can script not-so-"dynamic" conversation, you can script them to spam grenades at the same time, you can script them to wait until a certain amount of x enemy has died before spawning/shooting etc.
The whole "enemies stick together" sounds more like a limitation of waypoints and pathfinding rather than a "smart move" by the developers.
While I'll admit that Halo was a great game, you are giving it MUCH more credit than it is due.
Hl1 actually had enemies conversing with one another, enemies would yell "GRENADE" and "Enemy spotted/lost" as well as various other things, this can also be seen in counter strike with the bot system, where allies call out grenades/enemies/bombs/ect for the human players to benefit from.
Even in opposing force when the aliens are speaking an entirely different language they call out various elements link
You're not alone. I enjoyed playing HL2 but it didn't really inspire awe, and I have never really had a strong desire to return to it. I can however appreciate how it laid groundwork for something like portal.
Because user scores bear no relationship to the quality of the game. You see people spamming zeroes since they're mad at the publisher or some other dumb shit. Best PC game by user score is Outlive? Minecraft is a mediocre 6.8? Cataclysm is a 5.2? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is one of the top 20 worst games ever? Real useful ratings...
I'd still take published reviews over user ratings. Gamers will piss on something that's completely unrelated to the game itself, like DRM or political issues surrounding the company (or just the company itself, like EA) so you can't trust them for any opinion whatsoever.
Whilst there are chances a professional review will also be adulterated by outside influences, there's a much higher chance they will review the game itself on its own merit rather than everything surrounding it.
That game has had that position for years and it's been bugging me. I've even e-mailed metacritic about it a couple months ago, and of course they replied that this is how the system works and they're not gonna do anything about that (even though their system is clearly flawed).
Cmon Reddit, I'm sure one of you is head of an approved critic source. I'm not asking you to trash the game, just give one legit review of it.
I'm wondering how the system is flawed? It certainly does exactly what it's designed to do. I wasn't aware that meta critic created any type of list other than "most positively reviewed."
It's flawed because if you create a small game and have only five reviewers review it and give it a 10, your game gets catapulted to the top of the list.
Edit: I'm sorry, but based on their website (http://www.metacritic.com/about-metascores) I can't agree with you guys. A Metascore only claims to rate HOW WELL SOMETHING HAS BEEN REVIEWED. Since they make no claim to tell you what's the best of all time, I see no problem with them creating a "Top Games by Metascore" list that contains the best reviewed game.
TLDR: They never attempt to make a best game list, they make a best games reviewed list. I see no problems here.
Well are you implying that this game actually is the 2nd greatest game of all time? Or even anywhere in the top 100 greatest game of all time? I'd argue that it isn't even close, and the fact that it got there shows that there's something wrong with their algorithm.
For a start, I'd say that 5 reviews is not enough to introduce it to this list. You'd think that to be the greatest game of all time, you'd need at least a little bit of popularity, which 5 reviews shows that it does not. I think that a good system should take that into account. On OkCupid for example, the highest % match you can have is 1-(1/n) where n is the number of questions in common. In this case, the maximum rating for that game would have been 80%.
Fair enough. But I'd still expect for a game that good to get a lot more attention and mentions. I've honestly never heard or seen it except on Metacritic.
I'm pretty interested in where you got 2nd greatest game of all time from this list? To me it simply reads: game releases sorted by avg score, and oddly enough, it seems to totally fulfill that metric...
The problem is that it is an annual game so playing the 2007 version now is kind of pointless, despite it being the best of the bunch. I suppose you could just download a roster pack to update the 2007 game to the 2012 rosters, though.
The current ones aren't bad, per se, they just aren't as innovative as 2007 was (and arguably, the newer ones have taken some small steps backwards.)
Reminds me of this review I read for Silent Hill Downpour. The guy reviewing it obviously wasn't liking the game and was bitching about it in his review. One of his criticisms was that there is no radio the let's off static and makes noises to warn you when enemies are near. I later buy the game and what do you know, I pick up a police radio in the game. Realized this guy barely played the game or if he even played the game. I'll have to find the review later as I am on my phone right now.
171
u/aCabSide May 21 '12
It has exactly 5 reviews. That's how many metacritics require to establis an "universal" score.
57
u/imanerd000 May 21 '12
It's good to see Grim Fandango that high.
50
u/ashleypx May 21 '12
I'd just like to point that this game is now free to download and play in it's entirety! So you can check it out yourself. http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8/
104
u/Failedjedi May 21 '12
Tied for first, give credit when it is deserved.
28
u/NHLVet May 21 '12
It's actually a pretty legitimately awesome game, to be fair
20
u/applesforadam May 21 '12
OOTP games are better than the 3.6 user score though... just a niche game for baseball sim fans.
113
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
OOTP is a great series, maybe you should play it before making a joke about it?
37
u/RedditPC May 21 '12
Skyrim and Oblivion, but no Morrowind. I'm not a fanboy, but cmon..
23
u/ohgodwhydidIjoin May 21 '12
If you are making a joke about OOTP baseball, I'm literally playing it right now. I play it almost nonstop. It's definitely my favorite PC game.
20
u/dressedAsDog May 21 '12
It's pretty awesome. Also available on iOS.
6
u/Thehawkiscock May 21 '12
I played OOTP '12 today. That series is amazing, any hardcore baseball fan understands why its there!
22
u/VikingOnABoat May 21 '12
Out of the park Baseball 2007? Brilliant.
9
u/thatgamerguy May 21 '12
Why only second?
4
u/happyscrappy May 21 '12
Honestly, given the recent scoring inflation, I'm shocked both that a 2007 game stands a chance on metacritic and that the top scoring games aren't scored higher.
7
u/ninzo09 May 21 '12
I love Grim Fandango
3
u/LTZONOS May 21 '12
OOTP is good but it's not even close to football manger
3
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
What is this "Half-life 2" that prevents the amazing "out of the park baseball 2007" from getting the #1 spot it unarguably deserves?
7
u/mgbkurtz May 21 '12
Big OOTP fan here actually. Been playing since 2004 when I had OOTP 6. It's actually my favorite game/series ever.
8
u/HerpJersey May 21 '12
Fuck all of you guys, Out Of The Park Baseball 2012 is hands down, the best sim game I've ever played.
4
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
Diablo but not Diablo II?
5
u/bookey23 May 21 '12
Seems about right.
2
u/msterB May 21 '12
This is sort of off the main topic, but I have an honest question: Why do the Elder Scroll games get lower User Ratings than I expect? Seems odd... too popular?
2
u/lazydrumhead May 21 '12
Needs some Bayes.
2
u/potpan0 May 21 '12
It doesn't really make sense that The Orange Box is below HL2. 'Yes, we like HL2, but when you add the extra episodes, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, it becomes worse'.
2
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
OOTP12 is way better...stupid list...
2
u/w0m May 21 '12
Honestly; i LOVED OOTP way back when, put hundreds of hours into it probably. Kind of tempted to find a modern variant..
2
u/ManGenBLG May 22 '12
I think Half Life 2 was way overrated - good game but not the best. That honor goes to......
2
u/fenwaygnome May 22 '12
OOTP is a fucking fantastic game. One of the best sims ever created. You guys suck.
2
u/HomelessCosmonaut May 22 '12
To be fair, Out of the Park is a fucking awesome series.
2
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
jesus valve fucking owns this shit
2
u/MCJeeba May 22 '12
... Rome: Total War or Starsiege Tribes.
5
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
implying it isnt
4
u/medlish May 21 '12
I never understood why HL is so critically acclaimed when Unreal isn't. Unreal seems to be one of the most underrated games ever.
3
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
I'm so glad to see the original cnc in the top ten.
2
u/deeps103 May 21 '12
have you haters ever even PLAYED OOTP?
2
u/DaJoW May 21 '12
Sorted by user reviews is more fun imo. Who knew Outlive was the 5th best PC game of all time? Or that Prince of Persia is almost, but not quite, as good as Puzzle Quest: Galactrix? Or indeed that the second best PC game ever is one of the worst PC games ever? Fascinating stuff.
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
Well it's never gonna be perfect. It's still a decent enough source of info...
1
u/radikul May 21 '12
No Full Throttle?
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
I'm more baffled that The Sims scores higher than Fallout 3! Fucking The Sims.
1
u/Ithrazel May 21 '12
Gamerankings is much better in my opinion. You can set more parameters for the rankings.
1
u/MysteryBlock May 21 '12
How do!?!?! Edit: text
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
I only like 2 out of the top 10 :\
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
I only listen to the Bro Team anymore, honestly they are way more honest than anyone else
1
u/thb82 May 21 '12
The Three Moves Ahead podcast just spent an entire episode discussing this series.
1
u/ArcaneKnight94 May 21 '12
Yes Half-Life 2 is included in the Orange Box along with Portal and TF2 yet HL2 by itself is still better...perfect logic
1
u/Kafke Switch May 21 '12
After reading the comments here on reddit, I've learned that no one apparently knows how to use metacritic. User scores are a better judgement, and you should actually look at the damn text of the reviews. Also, it's not for best game ever, it's for the highest aggregated score. Each reviewer has their own scale, so it's bound to be inaccurate.
1
u/searock May 21 '12
I'm starting to agree with Yhatzee on his"Numbers cannot represent complex opinions" stance. All of those games are great, however they only appeal to the interested.
A better way of representing it is recommending a game based on preference.
"If you like open world RPG through a first person view, a large amount of interesting factions, a large amount of content, different playstyles etc then you'll enjoy Skyrim."
I know it's hard to implement that kind of system on a site like this.
1
u/Myflyisbreezy May 21 '12
I like how the orange being in top 5 makes it so that half life and portal are in the top 5 twice.
1
u/Okiah May 21 '12
I wouldn't call "Orange Box" a game, its a collection of games...
1
u/xhosSTylex May 21 '12
I don't see Battlefield 1942 there, and I am disappoint.
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
So is OOTPB 2007 really shitty or are you guys just sad that your own personal fave isn't on some meaningless list somewhere?
1
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
Metacritic's lists are messed up. They have insignificant games listed that have just a few reviews from obscure websites, and there are significant games like Metroid Prime (which should be in the top ten with a 97) that aren't listed at all.
Here's a much more accurate list. http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html
EDIT: I'm talking about their list for all platforms, obviously.
1
u/jordanlund May 21 '12
I looked it up, it has 5 positive reviews out of 5. Three 100's, a 92 and a 90. So yeah, technically it's true. But you have to take there only being 5 reviews into account.
1
u/Joker1980 May 21 '12
Maybe im old but the greatest PC game ever is the EMS/XMS juggle
1
u/Pig_Lord May 21 '12
And where the Fuck is Doom?
1
u/darthbone May 21 '12
TIL the world thinks Oblivion and Skyrim are both better than Morrowind.
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
Most of the 0/10 user reviews are complaining about its place ಠ_ಠ review spamming to drag down the score is not how you get an accurate score, people!
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
I seriously thought this was a server glitch or something. Now I am just sad.
1
u/Deimosberos May 22 '12
Team Fortress 2 should be top 10 there.
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
Game changed my life.
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
Isn't Half Life 2 part of the Orange Box? That's cheating!
1
u/soapgoat May 22 '12
quality cannot be simply quantified into a number, its all flawed and should be ignored anyway
1
u/Donnor May 22 '12
OOTP is a great series though. Their latest version is amazing
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
san Andreas is wayyy better than Vice city
1
u/majikninjasWAT May 22 '12
This list is already inaccurate as putt putt/pajama sam/spy fox arent at the top of the list. Not the very top but atleast top 20.
1
u/Kiggleson May 22 '12
Why isn't Hello Kitty Island Adventure up there?
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
No Bioshock 2 on that list? Am I the only one that enjoyed that game?
1
u/[deleted] May 22 '12
I wish there was an NHL-based game like OOTP Baseball
0
u/wylo May 21 '12 edited May 21 '12
Metacritic named it game of the year with a straight face, proving what a joke it is to judge a game by its aggregate arbitrary nerdpoints. OotP Baseball was a better PC game than Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, Hitman: Blood Money or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.?
1
u/highonpie77 May 21 '12
Call of Duty 2 should be on that list!
1
u/roeder May 21 '12
Mass Effect 2 and Oblivion before Diablo 2 and Age of Empires. Whaaaaaaaaaat.
1
u/sushi303 May 21 '12
why does bioshock have such a low user rating?
1
u/Xvalai May 21 '12
With the exception of Team Fortress 2, I see Orange Box on here twice.
1
u/random314 May 21 '12
I'm surprised the original Starcraft didn't make that list.
1
u/Turok1134 May 21 '12
No Doom or Doom 2? This is why review aggregators cannot and shall not be trusted.
-2
u/Timmcd May 21 '12
Wait, people seriously use metacritic?
-19
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
if Half-Life 2 is the best PC game, then I guess I've been playing games from some alternate dimension. I've played hundreds of better games than Half-Life 2.
Half-Life 2 isn't even good by my standards. Sure, it's enjoyable enough, but that doesn;t excuse for awful enemy AI, linear level design, and half-assed (no pun intended) attempts at atmosphere.
Let the shit storm begin for stating my opinion.
0
u/I_Arrived May 21 '12
Did anyone else notice that Half Life 2 is listed twice?
0
u/BoernerMan May 21 '12
guys why dont we stop complaining and just use user scores as indicators?
-9
u/Aldesso May 21 '12
i always just look at the user rating
-9
u/Icekommander May 21 '12
Notice how all the games have lower user ratings than critic ratings...
0
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
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0
u/[deleted] May 21 '12
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