IGN is the gaming website that many of us love to hate, especially for its infamously inflated numerical scores. They even once got an angry letter about it that must be read to be believed. To be fair, it’s a bit less generous than its reputation would indicate, but it’s still a source of a problem so severe that you can’t trust an 8/10 in a video game review anymore. If you’ve ever wondered why we have no numerical scores in our reviews, it’s because IGN has ruined the entire concept (also it’s totally arbitrary, but that’s another conversation).
To give you an idea of just how humbling this sale would be, News Corp. has tried to find a private buyer and so far found no takers, so it’s putting IGN and its network of sites up for sale at $100 million. They paid $500 million for that network.
We thought we’d take a look back at IGN’s reviews, and see if we can’t figure out why the mighty have fallen so, so hard.
Samurai Warriors 3
Somewhere out there, some of you are giving them money to sell you the same game over and over again. If repetition and mindlessness is what you’re looking for in your life, go do some pushups or eat cupcakes till you’re sick – either would be more satisfying than purchasing and playing Samurai Warriors 3.
Understandably, the fans were a bit upset at being dismissed as stupid.
Kirby’s Return To Dream Land:
This needs a little explanation: The previews of this game on IGN were rather famous for pointing out that Kirby was returning to some much needed old-school gameplay. Then, when the review came along…
If anything, Return to Dreamland is mostly disappointing because it doesn’t really attempt to do anything we haven’t seen before. Maybe games like Mass Attack, with its clever group-based gameplay, or Epic Yarn, with its bold visual style, have spoiled me, but I want to see Nintendo take risks with this franchise.
Double Dragon Neon:
Let’s address a sad truth nobody wants to hear: The brawler genre is not very good anymore. … Double Dragon: Neon doesn’t bother to keep up with contemporaries such as Castle Crashers, Shank, and Scott Pilgrim – and you should let it fall behind.
Worth noting: 9/10, 7.5/10, and 8/10 apiece on IGN alone. This game got a 3.0. So the brawler is not very good because it comes from the ’80s?
OK, so beating on IGN for its… variable reviews is like beating a dog for eating its own vomit. And this sale is probably almost certainly going to herald a lot of people getting fired, which is unfortunate no matter what you think of the site.
Still, they totally should have seen this coming. Overall rating: 7.9.