Home Gaming Polygon’s review has caused quite a stir

Polygon’s review has caused quite a stir

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As you saw earlier from Geoff’s The Last Of Us roundup there is one stand out review in there and that would be Polygon’s review with the very average 7.5 which has caused a bit of a controversy.

Now before we get into this, a review is a reviewer’s personal opinion and everyone sees an experience differently. But… ex PlayStation Social Media Manager, Jeff Rubenstein, wasn’t too taken with the review and how it stacked up with the score for other titles currently reviewed on Polygon.

He let his feelings be known by tweeting

“Per Polygon, TLOU is the worst reviewed game of month thus far. Right.”

JeffTweet

He was instantly replied to by two separate Polygon employees with Michael McWhertor going with the very straight forward “Dude” and Justin McElroy outdoing him by one character by saying “wow”. Now,  remember Jeff is no longer with PlayStation and actually now works for a mobile gaming moneytisation company so he really does have the right to share his opinion.

He goes on to state that he’s not judging the reviewer but the comparison is invited by the review carousel below the review score.. here you go.

PolygonReviewCarousel

In my mind the insinuation is obvious. Are Polygon making a stand against Sony for their lack of advertising or are they not getting as many hits as are required to sustain their huge financial backing?

We were chatting internally recently that Polygon appears to be moving more towards the Kotaku style of journalism and away from their initial goals. Which is disappointing because I’ve been a fan of how Polygon launched and it is sad to see them possibly  becoming a site that trolls for hits.

Oh and just to stoke the flame a little more; Polygon are now being accused of censoring the community who aren’t ecstatic about the score.

PolygonBan

So what do you think, are Polygon trolling for hits or have the rest of the gaming community just been overly kind to The Last of Us?

The current metacritic score is 96 with Polygon’s score being the lowest by some margin.

Last Updated: June 6, 2013

105 Comments

  1. Karl Thomson

    June 6, 2013 at 11:25

    Gavin, where do you see the insinuation that Sony isn’t advertising on Polygon thus TLOU gets a poor score?

    Reply

  2. Trevor Davies

    June 6, 2013 at 11:25

    I especially like the condescending tone of the notification.

    Reply

    • Ultimo_Cleric N7

      June 6, 2013 at 11:31

      Wow. Can you say power trip?

      Reply

      • RincemysoulXboxOne

        June 6, 2013 at 11:34

        I know hey?!

        Reply

    • RincemysoulXboxOne

      June 6, 2013 at 11:34

      Yeah, like they are speaking to a child…

      Reply

  3. Roger Zackey

    June 6, 2013 at 11:25

    Damn suckers can’t handle the truth remember me will never beat the last of us lmfao

    Reply

    • Argentil

      June 6, 2013 at 11:31

      I miss the days where reviews tried to maintain a level of unbiased professionalism.

      Reply

      • Charles

        June 6, 2013 at 11:44

        A review, by it’s very definition, is a biased opinion, since it’s a subjective view. Nothing wrong with it – reviewers build up trust in their readers, so they know they can trust them.

        Reply

        • Rinceyouropinion

          June 6, 2013 at 11:59

          Agreed. Hence Jimquisition!

          Reply

  4. Daniel Keevy

    June 6, 2013 at 11:29

    They gave Remember Me an 8, and thoroughly panned it. I don’t want to be that guy but Polygon is quickly becoming the snarky hipster of video game media.

    Reply

  5. Karl Thomson

    June 6, 2013 at 11:29

    Oh, for all those interested, SHIT GETS REAL in the replies. Arthur Gies gets involved too.

    https://twitter.com/jeffrubenstein/status/342394130497949696

    That is the first tweet, then read below for all the replies.

    Reply

  6. Mathias

    June 6, 2013 at 11:31

    Well, to be honest, I read a lot of reviews for TLOU, and this one pointed out a few things that other review didn´t. I disagree with 7,5 being the final score, because as you were reading you were foreseeing an 8,5-9 score.

    The “low” score was to draw people’s attention, and it always works…

    Now I tend to trust more in a less-than-10 review nowadays, because 10s are handed everywhere… I think this game will be amazing, but no idea if it will really be a 10.

    Also, I love the Kotaku review because they never gave it a score (at least at first), and people were like “where’s da score?? DA FUQ???”

    I hate this Metacritic age.

    Reply

    • Argentil

      June 6, 2013 at 11:32

      Me too :/ Metacritic has become another nail in a developer’s coffin.

      Reply

    • Eric Viljoen

      June 6, 2013 at 12:27

      If I remember correctly people got pissed because Mass Effect 3 didn’t get a perfect 10. And a couple of weeks later those same people were pissed at the ending of the game. I really don’t get how people go on like they’re personally offended by a review that differs from what they expected.

      People keep forgetting the REVIEW isn’t about just the score. Or else they’d have just put a score up.

      Reply

    • Purple_Dragon

      June 6, 2013 at 13:29

      10/10 means that it was a fucking brilliant game where the gameplay was perfect, story perfect, graphics perfect and absolutely no bugs in the game. I have yet to see a proper 10/10 game.

      Something is not right when Skyrim got 10s and it had a lot of bugs.

      I don’t mind metacritic too much if you read at least one review per good, med and bad section. What I don’t like is that if a game is below 8 it is automatically shit?

      Reply

      • Gustav Willem Diedericks

        June 6, 2013 at 15:32

        Purple_Dragon, couldn’t agree more. This whole 10/10 malarkey was good a few years ago, but I don’t think any game that comes with a day 1 patch should get a 10/10. Also agreed on the below 8 score. There are some fine games out there that score less than 7 on some sites but are still thoroughly enjoyable.

        Reply

  7. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    June 6, 2013 at 11:32

    Seriously…8 for remember me but 7.5 for Last of Us??????? NO!

    Reply

  8. Ultimo_Cleric N7

    June 6, 2013 at 11:32

    I think its both trolling and looking for site clicks. BUT lets be honest here. Most people have NOT played this game and yet are defending it to the death. Sometimes people just want to argue for the sake of arguing.
    Those people are annoying

    Reply

    • Argentil

      June 6, 2013 at 11:47

      I agree, but, this game has garnered a lot of positive reactions. It was sitting at 96/100 on metacritic when I last checked. This is including the negative 7.5/10 review from Polygon. How can one individual have such a vastly different opinion? Did he miss the point? Did he review a genre he hates?

      Reply

      • Ultimo_Cleric N7

        June 6, 2013 at 11:54

        Like I said….looking for clicks I think.

        Reply

        • Georgio

          June 6, 2013 at 14:06

          “Like I said….looking for chicks I think” – there fixed it for you.

          Reply

  9. Trevor Davies

    June 6, 2013 at 11:34

    I don’t have any problem with a reviewer giving the game a lower review than everyone else, because it is their opinion & that’s why we read reviews – to get an opinion. If the opinion is justified by what they say in their review then fair enough.

    What I don’t like about this is the hubris displayed reviewer’s tweets & the arrogant ban notification. That doesn’t seem like the best way to treat people who frequent your site, which drives ad revenue.

    Reply

  10. Nick de Bruyne

    June 6, 2013 at 11:36

    I don’t know who was right and wrong, but if he just pointed out that the 7.5 was the worst rated game of the month so far, and if his statement was accurate… well then, yeah… I guess he had some sort of point. Still, people shouldn’t really worry themselves over individual review scores so much.

    Reply

    • Spathi

      June 6, 2013 at 11:40

      For TLOU it is kinda irrelevant, but as you know, some developers has huge monetary incentives relying on the metacritic score. One review can be devastating.

      For us, the consumer, it is fairly irrelevant yes.

      Reply

      • Nick de Bruyne

        June 6, 2013 at 11:56

        You make a good point about the incentives, I do forget about that sometimes. However in this case at least, the Polygon review seems to be the odd one out. I haven’t read the review yet and I’m not really clued up as to what Polygon’s usual review scores are like… I mean I know that IGN considers a 7.5 a ‘good’ game.

        But still, it is interesting if TLOU really is their lowest rated game of the month, although I don’t know what else they have reviewed. Everyone has their own opinion, but its interesting when like, just one place has a huge difference. I remember seeing games where all scores were like 80s/90s and then Destructoid or someone will have given the game a 40/100. Its their right, it just makes you scratch your head.

        Reply

      • Mathias

        June 6, 2013 at 12:29

        That incentive doesn’t apply here.

        Reply

        • Spathi

          June 6, 2013 at 12:34

          Hence me stating: For TLOU it is irrelevant.

          Reply

  11. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    June 6, 2013 at 11:39

    Yes, we as gamers don’t care about scores, but don’t forget, Metacritic governs their lively hood, and I might not have played the game but I think ND deserves a high Metacritic score

    Reply

  12. FoxOneZA - X-Therminator

    June 6, 2013 at 11:44

    “The current metacritic” << You had me until I read this far.

    The flip side off your argument is whether gaming sites are throwing out perfects just to be up there on the top of the list on Metacritic? I stopped reading gaming reviews after seeing so many sites throw perfect scores at GTA 4.

    PS: 75% for a ND game is a bit atrocious.

    Reply

    • Argentil

      June 6, 2013 at 11:50

      This is true. I never base my purchasing decisions on reviews. I read them purely out of interest. All of the perfect scores this game is getting do not affect my will to buy the game. Only if a game gets critically panned would I reconsider my decision.

      Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      June 6, 2013 at 14:31

      we’re on Metacritic (never get tired of saying that).. and I can tell you the traffic it drives is CRAZY.. I’m talking 100 – 200 hits a month.. INSANE..

      Seriously though, I have no idea exactly how many hits we get from them but they don’t feature on our top 15 referrers.. so it’s not a traffic driver of any note. Posting a 10 to be on top of the list wouldn’t change your hits

      Reply

  13. brad coetzee

    June 6, 2013 at 11:46

    I think that rating it highly is too mainstreram and therefore they are being more punk rock. I support this. Even if they gave it a 1. Everybody already knows its a good game and will just think that particular reviewer didnt enjoy it.

    Reply

    • Argentil

      June 6, 2013 at 11:53

      This is how I feel as well. The issue is that the contrasting review score paints Polygon in a less professional light. A 7.5 review score in this day and age of 9s and 10s is really an implication that the game was mediocre.

      Reply

  14. CaptainNemo42

    June 6, 2013 at 11:56

    How the hell did they ban me? I wasn’t even on the site…

    Reply

  15. Nick de Bruyne

    June 6, 2013 at 11:58

    Was anyone able to actually say what that persons comments were before he was banned? I wonder, because if he disagreed and they banned him its one thing, but if he was saying a ton of inappropriate stuff and going crazy it would at least put some things into perspective… but one would think that the ban message would mention that.

    Reply

    • Rinceyouropinion

      June 6, 2013 at 12:00

      Actually good point. He could have said something anti-Semitic, racist, sexist etc Though I am sure that would have been included in why he was banned…

      Reply

      • Nick de Bruyne

        June 6, 2013 at 12:03

        Yeah I mean a huge difference if he was like “I think this reviewer is against Sony, it’s evident from his scores”. Or if it was like “ZOMG WAT R FAG HE OBVIOUS TAKES $$$ FROM MS WHAT A DICK I HOPE HE IS FIRED AND DIES”.

        Reply

        • Rinceyouropinion

          June 6, 2013 at 12:05

          HAHAHAHAHAH!

          Reply

  16. fred

    June 6, 2013 at 12:04

    haha , let me go and cancel my pre order quickly …………………

    Reply

    • Rinceyouropinion

      June 6, 2013 at 12:06

      Oi, careful, Gavin will read your comment as being a negative on the Holy Grail, and ban your sorry arse!

      Reply

  17. Nathan Horne

    June 6, 2013 at 12:12

    What’s the big deal. My mom was happy when I got 75% for a test…

    Reply

    • Brady miaau

      June 6, 2013 at 12:21

      Did you brother / sister get 90%? Or, and I kid you not, 105%? Schools today, eh?

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        June 6, 2013 at 14:28

        it’s possible to get over 100% if the test offers bonus questions.. I personally think it’s an awesome idea to make the top achievers strive harder.. but it can’t exist in formal end of term/year exams

        Reply

  18. Rinceyouropinion

    June 6, 2013 at 12:14

    I’m curious Gavin, has anyone ever been banned from LG?

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      June 6, 2013 at 14:11

      No. It’s been close twice but we will only ban for things such as hate speech, racism or sexual assault (verbal obviously)

      We’ve been called many bad things before but I very firmly believe in freedom of speech

      Reply

      • Rinceyouropinion

        June 6, 2013 at 14:14

        That’s good to know.

        Reply

  19. Macethy

    June 6, 2013 at 12:19

    Cheap trick by Polygon to get people onto their site. Happens every time a big game is released, someone has to go the other way to attract attention.

    Reply

  20. Lord Chaos

    June 6, 2013 at 12:23

    So by raising his opinion on the reviewers opinion he gets banned. Just… wow…

    Reply

    • Rinceyouropinion

      June 6, 2013 at 12:26

      Yeah, though I suppose it really does matter HOW he disagreed. If he used profanity and whatnot, I can see what he would be banned. But I don’t think so. We have heated arguments in LG, and we know what going too far is. Can’t imagine this chap would go that far… But then again, this is the internet 🙂

      Reply

    • dislekcia

      June 6, 2013 at 13:18

      Having an opinion is not a protected right, especially not on a comment system owned and operated by someone under no obligation to an opinion holder. Dude got banned because they didn’t like how he was interacting, that’s not a sin. The message sent wasn’t condescending either, it seemed pretty courteous. Chances are it was a hell of a lot more polite than the original comments.

      Reply

  21. CaptainNemo42

    June 6, 2013 at 12:31

    7.5/10??? DAFUQ?? DAFUQ??

    Reply

  22. Unavengedavo

    June 6, 2013 at 12:34

    Reply

  23. Umar Kiiroi Senk?

    June 6, 2013 at 12:36

    Boom!

    Reply

    • Rinceyouropinion

      June 6, 2013 at 14:21

      Boom! You brilliant man!

      Reply

      • Umar Kiiroi Senk?

        June 6, 2013 at 15:23

        If only I came up with this one loli…but 0111010001101000011000010110111001111000

        Reply

  24. The_Assimilator

    June 6, 2013 at 12:45

    No-one commenting here has even played the game, yet they’re all defending it. Let’s not forget that these big-name game review sites are the same ones that give the latest CoD game high scores year in and year out.

    Wait until you’ve actually played the game yourself before you decide whether it’s worth a perfect 10 or not.

    Reply

  25. Argentil

    June 6, 2013 at 12:58

    A list of the games Phil Kolar reviewed scoring higher than his review of TLoU:

    Darksiders 2 – 9
    Home – 8
    Theatrythm Final Fantasy – 8.5

    And for good measure

    Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes -7.5

    Reply

  26. OVG

    June 6, 2013 at 13:01

    Trolls

    Reply

  27. Verrayne

    June 6, 2013 at 13:21

    I went and viewed his video review. and to be perfectly honest if industry review scores weren’t so fucked up his is a decent summary of the game. The game pits you to care about the story and characters and if you kill 4000 people throughout the game then it breaks that immersion. I can’t comment too much since I haven’t played it but I’ll review once i have it 😀

    Reply

  28. Guest

    June 6, 2013 at 13:42

    Hey, @polygon! Move your The Last of Us score to a 10 or we’ll move your seats for our E3 press conference into the parking lot— CEO Kaz Hirai (@KazHiraiCEO) June 5, 2013

    Reply

  29. CaptainNemo42

    June 6, 2013 at 13:46

    This is what the CEO (Parody) of Sony have to say.

    Reply

  30. Voter

    June 6, 2013 at 13:50

    Why do people care? It is the same place that gave Diablo 3 10/10.

    Reply

  31. Tbone187

    June 6, 2013 at 13:56

    Well Bioshock was overrated I reckon…Certainly not a 10 like everybody gave it…Even an amazing story can’t make up for flimsy gameplay…It’s their opinion…Can’t always listen to people blowing sunshine…

    Reply

  32. Sageville

    June 6, 2013 at 14:02

    Semi-Off-topic question: How many 10/10 has LG dished out to date?

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      June 6, 2013 at 14:08

      2 I think… Skyrim and Super Mario Galaxy… I think

      Reply

      • Sageville

        June 6, 2013 at 14:18

        Hmmm, rare indeed…. I woulda went with 9.5 for Skyrim due to bugs though.

        GW LG!

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          June 6, 2013 at 15:00

          lol trust me Garth got hammered for that 10/10 by the community

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief Commander

        June 6, 2013 at 15:18

        FUS RO AWESOME!!!!

        Reply

  33. Yobokkie

    June 6, 2013 at 15:01

    If it was me to be honest I might have also given it the same score. Just because everyone is harping on and on about how this game is “totally gonna be the OMW_BIGGEST_BEST_AWESOMEST game like in the history of every game ever made and everything else pales into obscurity in comparison with the glory that is this game”. But what I’ve seen of it doesn’t really blow me away, looks just like any normal 3rd person zombie/ pyschos survival/ shooter/ adventure game. The likes of which we see so many of these days. Is it even open world or are you forced to do things a certain way? I think it’s been given more credit than it deserves just because it’s the last AAA exclusive release for the PS3. So yeah I’d totally punish it for the hype, just to counteract all the hype of drooling fan boys who can’t see that this is just another game where you shoot waves of bad guys/ things in the face along a very linear path. “Oh but there’s stealth…” I think what’s more telling is that so many reviewers gave this a ten but there have been better games which they have scored lower, especially in the past when reviewers were tougher/ less easy to buy off.

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      June 6, 2013 at 15:04

      Punishing it for hyper to counter act the hype is immoral… the rest of your comment is valid

      Reply

      • Yobokkie

        June 6, 2013 at 15:12

        😛 I know but I just can’t bear the thought that this game is going to have a much higher rating then some of my favourites… Besides, rating a game based on the hype surrounding it is also immoral, which I’m convinced a lot of these 10/10 reviewers are doing.

        Reply

      • Yobokkie

        June 6, 2013 at 15:20

        To put it in perspective. On gamerankings.com it’s currently on 96.24 percent. Which puts it at 12th on the list and above the orange box, portal 2, half life 2, mass effect, deus ex, metal gear solid, starcraft, goldeneye 007 (the original), and just about every other game that nowadays is considered a classic/ pinnacle of gaming. In 10 years, I doubt this game is going to have the same status as some of those but there it is, and they want to crucify the one website that offered a view as to why it might not be God’s gift to gamers. Shame on gamers…

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          June 6, 2013 at 18:10

          ah but the majority of sites scores aren’t loaded yet.. I don’t expect it to end up higher than Mass Effect or Starcraft.. but I haven’t played it yet so I can’t say anything for sure.

          maybe it will be an ultimate classic like Skyrim is quickly becoming?

          Reply

          • Yobokkie

            June 6, 2013 at 19:13

            Nah it’s about 30 reviews so far, I can’t imagine too many others will be deviant after this reaction. From what I’ve seen this game doesn’t really innovate it’s genre as much as something like skyrim did. I mean honestly it probably is a good game but it just seems to me like so much of the gaming world rewards publishers for doing the same thing over and over but doing it well. So there’s no innovation and no push to be creative, but a game can just rely on the same tropes and gameplay techniques and it’s lauded as the next big thing. For example, I honestly think reviewers gave zombieU a bad rap, because it wasn’t what they wanted it to be and it tried to give a different take on the zombie genre. Or like on this situation, with them giving remember me a higher rating, maybe they are actually rewarding innovation above style/ eye-candy/ execution. Eh well I guess it’s a good thing I usually actually read reviews before deciding if a games good, because often the things the reviewer didn’t like are the reason why I end up liking a game.

          • Gavin Mannion

            June 7, 2013 at 05:38

            For what it’s worth we gave Zombie U a 8.3 (http://www.lazygamer.co/review/zombiu-review-god-save-the-scream/)

            I do agree with you in most regards but the problem with innovation is that the mass of gamers don’t reward it.. Mass Effect is my go to example everytime. It was an excellent game with a whole new mechanic and yet it was sidelined at retail.

            Developers and publishers report to shareholders who just care about money. So it’s hard to innovate when the majority of new innovations aren’t accepted by the market

  34. R4geGam3r

    June 6, 2013 at 19:35

    Polygon is clearly M$’s lapdog and have been indoctrinated to hate everything Sony just follow Aegis (Polygon journalist) to see how he defended the Xbox One reveal. I’ll stick to unbiased review sites like Lazygamer.

    Reply

  35. watisgoinon

    August 17, 2013 at 07:28

    How can they give animal crossing a 9 and tlou a 7.5?! The graphics alone give tlou at least a 9, even if everything else was not as great as the reviewer thought they would be.

    Reply

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