It’s not too uncommon that a game’s Metacritic rating will be high (in the green); yet the same game’s User Score will be a bit low side, or at the very least on the lower side of average (yellow and red). There are numerous causes for this effect. Many times a game’s storyline or characters will not be up to the players’ expectations. Other times there will be a problem with the game’s performance – an inconsistent frame-rate is a typical problem. There are also frequent occurrences of players giving games poor reviews because of its art style or soundtrack. Here are ten games that critics loved, but players hated (or at least strongly disliked).
10 Red Dead Redemption II For The PC – 92, User Score 4.1
Let’s start with a somewhat surprising entry. Red Dead Redemption II is, by most accounts, an excellent game. Its Metacritic rating for the PS4 is 97 with an 8.1 User Score, and for the Xbox One it has a 97 and 7.6 (which is still a significant gap). So why the wide margin between Metacritics’ rating and the User Score? Most of the complaints seem to be about performance issues regarding control. There were also numerous complaints about bugs, error codes, failing to launch, instances of the game crashing, and poor optimization options. The game’s online play was also heavily criticized.
9 Pokémon Sword & Shield – 81, User Score 3.7
This is another surprising entry. The above Metacritic rating and User Score is for Shield; Sword is actually doing slightly better with an 81 and 4.2. Pokémon games are legendary for their addictive gameplay, interesting stories, and simple controls. The hopes of the players don’t seem to be living up to the hype though.
There were many complaints about the game’s graphics being not up to expectations. Another huge complaint was that there are many game features and pokémon from previous Pokémon games that were left out of Sword & Shield. Many users also commented that the game was too easy and the plot being very boring and linear.
8 Skyrim For PS3 – 92, User Score 6.5
Skyrim for the PS3 is not nearly as beloved by players as it was for the critics. The most common complaint was about the game’s performance issues on the PS3. It is not unusual to see the word “broken” in the user reviews. The deal with the PS3 version is that the performance of the game worsens the further the player makes it into the game. By the time the player is nearly complete with the game the framerate is very low, and very inconsistent. A lot of the early reviewers had likely not made it far enough into the game, and had therefore not started having performance issues, before leaving their review.
7 DMC: Devil May Cry For PS3 – 85, User Score 5.5
According to many user reviews, it seems that if a player didn’t play the previous Devil May Cry games they might find this game mildly amusing. However, if a player is a fan of the series most user reviews warn them to stay away. The gameplay and battle system have been reduced to mindless button-mashing in the opinions of many players. The exclusion of the ability to lock-on to an opponent was particularly hated by players. There are also numerous reviews stating their hatred for plot, and the reimagining of the main character Dante by Capcom.
6 Mass Effect 3 – 93, User Score 5.7
The above rating and User Score is for the PS3 version; the Xbox 360 and PC versions did a little better, and had a narrower gap between critic and user review scores. The main complaint about this game can be summed up in three parts: the ending, the ending, and the ending.
After playing through parts 1 & 2 (if playing the trilogy boxed set), the players were expecting an ending that would be better reflective of the choices they made throughout the journey. The ending was incredibly hated by most players - who felt it was anti-climactic and lazy.
5 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 88, User Score 3.3
The above rating is for the PS3; the Xbox 360 User Score was 3.4, and the PC version had a 78 and 2.8. All Call of Duty games seem to have a rather gargantuan gap between the critic and user scores. Modern Warfare 3 is one of the worst though. Users felt that there weren’t enough new features, and that the series’ developer, Infinity Ward, was getting lazy with the Call of Duty series. A huge complaint was how much cheating and hacking took place in the multiplayer games; this complaint is mostly for the PC version.
4 Spore – 84, User Score 5.4
Before Spore released there was a fair amount of hype for the game, and gamers’ expectations were high. Gamers welcomed the prospect of playing a Will Wright game that let them control the evolution of a species on its path from a microscopic organism to being capable of interstellar travel. The game was immediately blasted for being way too simple after its release.
Users felt Spore lacked the attention to detail, and nuance, that was always a trademark of Maxis’ games. The game’s notoriously strict DRM, which only allowed three installs per copy, was another negative for users. The lack of clarity on what to do after building a spaceship was another major gripe among users.
3 Street Fighter V – 77, User Score 3.6
The above rating is for the PS4 version; the PC version had a 74 and 3.1. Street Fighter V’s bad User Score is mainly due to the game’s condition when first released. The game did not have a single-player mode initially. This caused most of the negative user reviews. It didn’t help that the reliability of the online mode was, according to users, not very reliable. Street Fighter V also drew numerous complaints that the game played too slow. Capcom learned from this mistake as last year’s Arcade Edition was much more positively received by players.
2 Dragon Age II – 82, User Score 4.3
The above rating is for the PS3; the Xbox 360’s rating was a 79 and 4.5, and the PC version had a 82 and 4.5. Like most of BioWare’s games the Dragon Age series are character and story-driven games. Users gave this sequel a low rating for making the story and characters “very generic”. Another phrase not too uncommon to see among the user reviews was that BioWare “ripped the soul” out of the franchise with Dragon Age II (which seems a bit extreme). The combat system was also reportedly buggy and not very user-friendly. Lastly, there were many users that complained the game’s graphics should have been much better.
1 Star Wars: Battlefront II – 68, User Score 1.2
This game was not entirely loved by critics, but a 68 rating is on the higher-end of average. Battlefront II’s User Score of 1.2 is one of the lowest on Metacritic – and this was a AAA game with the Star Wars license. Players were mad that the game was initially expensive, and then forced users who wanted to experience the full game to do so via micro-transactions or spend way too many hours playing to unlock all the content. This pay-to-win model might not have been too bad except EA made getting new content a gamble by having player’s buy random loot-boxes for awhile.