We all have varying opinions about video games, and then there are those that just completely bash beloved games, resulting in a public outcry. Michael Thomsen, video game critic for The Washington Post, has caused quite a stir on the Internet after writing his review of Uncharted 4.
The “Uncharted” games have never excelled at storytelling. Instead, they’ve used it an accompaniment to overwhelming visual technology. The games have always struck me as garish more than gorgeous, more interested in overwhelming the senses than communicating with them. “A Thief’s End” is overflowing with useless detail. – Robert Thomsen
Thomsen has been a video game critic for quite some time now, but he is known for giving poor reviews to very popular game with high ratings, such as Dark Souls II and Red Dead Redemption. Even though his personal review of Uncharted 4 does not have a score attached to it, The Washington Post submitted a 4/10 rating to Metacritic. This makes it the only score below an 80, currently giving the game an overall score of 93.
This negative review of an amazing game has upset a lot of gamers, and dimitris xorikos has started a petition in order to get the Metacritic review removed. So far, nearly 6,000 people have signed the petition. Even Troy Baker, voice actor that co-starred in Uncharted 4, has signed the petition and has been encouraging others to do so.
Fans of the game have also voiced their opinions on Thomsen’s personal Twitter account about the negative review. Thomsen has been called many things, such as “a pathetic game reviewer” and “attention seeking.” The insults have been piling in, clearly a result in many outraged gamers that love Uncharted 4. You can always count on social media to serve as a platform for opinions, both good and bad.
What’s unfortunate is that negative reviews on Metacritic can destroy a game. I’m not saying that Uncharted 4 will be significantly affected by this rating, because it has a large fan base and this is really the only negative review to cause such an explosion. However, Metacritic is used not only by gamers, but by game developers and publishers. Indie games can either be made or broken by these ratings since they haven’t created a fan base yet. There’s a lot more involved with a Metacritic score than most of us understand.
Will The Washington Post remove their poor rating of Uncharted 4? Who knows. Will this rating affect people’s opinions about the game and decrease sales? Probably not. I do understand the importance of free speech and personal opinions, but when you have a reputation for giving poor reviews to great games, it’s pretty inevitable for the community to speak out against you.