Whether people are interested in review scores or not, it’s hard to deny that the review aggregator Metacritic is now a significant part of the gaming industry. The site’s scores can affect the sales figures of a new title and significantly alter a game studios’ reputation. Metascores can also affect developers’ pay, exemplified by Fallout: New Vegas‘ Obsidian Entertainment, who missed out on royalties due to being one point shy of their 85 target.
Despite the importance that Metascores can have, it should go without saying that they aren’t necessarily indicative of how much every person will enjoy the game. The ten games on this list all have their issues, and people should go into them with the knowledge that they’re rough around the edges, but every one of them can still provide hours of entertainment for anyone who is a fan of the game’s genre.
10 Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly (48 on GameCube)
Spyro and Crash have gone hand in hand throughout their careers; one similarity that they’ll want people to forget is that they both failed to impress with their highly anticipated PlayStation 2 releases, Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex.
Both games had very similar issues too. They simply tried to recapture their predecessors’ magic but lacked the proper execution and didn’t bring any impressive new features to the table. Despite its shortcomings, Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly was still thoroughly enjoyed by many fans of the original trilogy and was likely given such a low score due to unrealistic expectations.
9 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (59 on PS2)
When people look back at some of the memorable movie-tie in games that flooded the PlayStation 2, Return of the King and Two Towers spring to the minds of many, while Fellowship of the Ring is rarely discussed.
The main complaint that people had about Fellowship of the Ring was that it didn’t touch upon some of the film’s key moments, and a significant portion of the game is spent in the shire. There’s a good reason for this, as the game’s publisher, Black Label Games, only had rights to make a game about the book. If this was made more clear to people, and the game didn’t release so shortly after the first film, then the game would have been better received, as it’s an enjoyable rendition of Tolkien’s first book.
8 Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (47 on 3DS)
When Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was first announced, many fans hoped that it would be a return to form for the blue hedgehog. Instead, they got a game that somehow received even lower Metascores than the infamous Sonic The Hedgehog, a game that had one saving grace: it was enjoyable in a “so bad it’s good” type of way.
A Nintendo 3Ds game titled Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal was released on the day, and although it didn’t receive scores as low as Rise of Lyric‘s 33, it still didn’t perform well. When the dust finally settled, Rise of Lyric was still dismissed as a complete flop, but Shattered Crystal began to receive some retrospective praise. The game is far from being the best platformer on the 3DS, though it will provide a thoroughly enjoyable eight-hour adventure for fans of the genre.
7 Pure Football (38 on Xbox 360)
The FIFA series is one of the highest-selling video game franchises of all time, though much of its player-base would love to see a game come along that will provide serious competition to EA’s money-machine. Ears were perked when one of the few companies that can challenge EA financially, Ubisoft, announced Pure Football, though a poor reception meant that the game didn’t receive a sequel.
However, when looking past the game’s initial hype and judging it by what it is, an arcade-style spin-off to the more realistic FIFA, there’s a lot of fun to be had with Pure Football. This is particularly the case with multiplayer, which can be great fun to play with friends. Many people seem to feel this way as the game has a 7.9 user score on Metacritic, which is impressive as users tend to be quite harsh with their scores on the site; the 7.9 score is the same as the Xbox One edition Grand Theft Auto V, for example.
6 Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (58 on PS4)
Following the disappointment over the original Nickelodeon Kart Racers, many people weren’t expecting to see a sequel. However, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix hit stores just two years after its predecessor and managed to improve upon many of its shortcomings.
To say that the game can hold a candle to Mario Kart would be disingenuous. However, it’s still a thoroughly enjoyable, causal racer that will provide hours of multiplayer entertainment alongside its single-player Grand Prix events.
5 Super Lucky’s Tale (59 on PC)
A 59 score is certainly not as bad as some of the other entries on this list, though it seemed like a very harsh score for a simple but enjoyably well-designed platformer with a marketable roster of characters. The game’s hub areas and levels are littered with things to do and items to collect, which will satisfy fans of classic collectathons such as Banjo-Kazooie.
There’s no doubt that New Super Lucky’s Tale is the better game as it fixes many of the original’s problems, particularly the camera issues. However, Super Lucky’s Tale certainly doesn’t deserve to be remembered as a weak platformer, as it’s a fun and engaging game to complete 100%.
4 Spy vs. Spy (38 on PS2)
The fourth video game iteration of a comic strip by the same name, Spy Vs. Spy for the PlayStation 2 is the joint lowest-rated game on this list, with a score of just 38. The main issues that critics had with Spy Vs. Spy were its poor visuals and bland single-player campaign.
Although it’s hard to argue against these two points, the game does have a saving grace that may have been overlooked in reviews at the time and subsequently earns the game a spot on this list: the multiplayer. The game’s local multiplayer was hilarious fun with friends, and a glance at Google reviews of the game will show just how fondly some people remember it.
3 SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated (66 on Switch)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated‘s 66 Metascore is the highest on this list, though the game certainly deserves a spot due to the cult classic remake having an impressive user score of 8.6, an Overwhelmingly Positive All Reviews mark on Steam, and general high praise from many people who played it.
Gamespot’s video review best exemplifies the divide between fan and critic opinions of the game. The reviewer gave the game a brutal 2/10 score, which resulted in one of the most one-sided like to dislike ratios in the channel’s history.
2 Crash Twinsanity (64 on PS2)
Crash Twinsanity‘s faults are plain to see. There are many glitches, a short main story, and numerous control issues for players to contend with. Traveller’s Tales has a good excuse for this, as they had to complete the game in an extremely tight schedule after the original plan, a sci-fi adventure titled Crash Bandicoot Evolution, was scrapped due to its similarities with Ratchet & Clank, which hit stores during the game’s development.
Despite the game’s faults, Crash Twinsanity was a great attempt at creating a more open Bandicoot game. A handful of the stages, particularly the introductory one, are among the franchise’s best. Moreover, the game has some of the series’ best boss fights, such as the tricky battle with Dingodile.
1 Sonic Adventure (48 on Xbox 360)
There was once a time when ports, remasters, and remakes were all heavily looked down upon; this may sound odd today when fans are crying out for their childhood favorites to be re-released on the latest consoles, though this wasn’t the case when the classic Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure came to the Xbox 360.
The Xbox 360 iteration of the game received a brutal 48 Metascore, which is in stark contrast to its respectable 7.5 user score, indicating just how beloved the classic adventure still was in 2010.
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