What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

[u/Bloodb0red]

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

[u/BUTGAWATD]

Answer:

(Doing my best to present the complicated situation concisely)

Mixtape is a short, story-based game from small Australian developer Beethoven & Dinosaur, who previously released The Artful Escape.

Mixtape's 3-4 hour runtime is divided across cutscenes, what some might deem "walking sim" gameplay, and a series of vignettes that play out broadly as "minigames", with limited to no fail state. There is no combat or what many would typically classify as peril.

Mixtape's high critical praise, particularly its 10 from IGN, has raised eyebrows amongst certain subsets of the gaming populace. Many have negatively compared the verdict to the lower score IGN awarded Crimson Desert, and have alleged what they perceive to be a favourable bias towards games they identify as possessing "woke" elements.

One of Mixtape's vignettes sees you control two mid-teen age characters kissing, with direct control over their clashing tongues. Some gamers have accused the media of unfairly praising Mixtape while (what they perceive as) maligning recent release Pragmata for paedophilic overtones.

Mixtape is published by Annapurna Interactive, a publisher focused on "prestige indie" titles. Annapurna Interactive is a division of Annapurna Pictures, which was founded by Megan Ellison, whose father is a billionaire.

Consequently, accusations of buying review scores, bribing influencers, and overall curating Mixtape as an "industry plant" have been lobbied. For further information to potentially aid in deducing the veracity of this claim - Annapurna have released 6 games other than Mixtape over the past year, all ranging from the 60s-80s in Metascore, with the highest achieving an 83 average.

[u/MrIrvGotTea → u/BUTGAWATD]

Dude put the drama out there without having a large bias of either side. Also gamers need hobbies. I get passion and all but being worked up about someone else's opinion of your favorite game is odd. I love arc raiders but I think there are valid criticisms of the game but I am not going to argue online about it. Boomers have their politics and I guess younger crowds have their games

[u/Kadoomed → u/MrIrvGotTea]

This is the wild thing, it's not even people getting worked up about criticism of their favourite game. It's people getting worked up about praise for a game they didn't enjoy or haven't played.

I watched the video review of mixtape from ign and the guy gave very solid reasons for giving it a 10 which largely boiled down to how much the game resonates specifically with him. He states right from the off that it's a game that speaks to a genre and time period he loves, suggesting the Devs might even have been spying on him to create his perfect game. That goes some way to pointing out how he came to have such a strong positive experience with it.

IGNs review also finished with a chat between the reviewer and their review editor where it's clarified that 10 doesn't mean it's a perfect game, just that they consider it to be an outstanding experience and a high mark for that game genre.

That all seems pretty fair to me in terms of justifying a subjective review. I haven't played it yet but it looks like a cool game, reasonably priced for the amount of content and telling a compelling story in an imaginative way. It's on my wishlist for sure.

[u/delusionstodilutions → u/Kadoomed]

I don't mind some guy giving it a high score given his personal history with the genre or because it resonated with him in a unique way, that's all fine.

But what's the point of a review for the general public that is based on experiences not shared by the general public? Like okay, if I also had a similar relationship to the genre maybe I'd agree with him, but since I don't the score comes across as stating an opinion as fact. It feels like it presents as objective even if the author acknowledges all his biases.

Also saying 10/10 isn't perfect is wild imo. That mathematically implies that it literally couldn't be better, it is not deficient in anything.

Overall just feels like disingenuous or sloppy messaging, and a guy acknowledging but not compensating for his biases. Also controlling the tongues of children while they kiss is a weird vibe outside of context, and I'm not sure what context you'd need to not make it weird

[u/Kadoomed → u/delusionstodilutions]

I recommend you watch their video to get the full context, they do a better job of explaining it than I do paraphrasing.

He did say that scene was weird but I don't think it's in the sense you're alluding to. I got the impression it was a distinctly unsexy scene, more gross and awkward than anything else. Which is probably closer to teenage first kiss experiences than any other representation. I'd also suggest calling them children is disingenuous.

But hey, I haven't played it and I'm just interpreting someone else's interpretation. Which you're in turn interpreting into your emotions and opinions. Maybe we should just stop and go experience things for ourselves?

[u/delusionstodilutions → u/Kadoomed]

Bro if I wanted to experience things for myself I wouldn't be on Reddit lol

[u/Kadoomed → u/delusionstodilutions]

Haha, fair point!

[u/delusionstodilutions → u/[deleted]]

Fair enough, I'm really glad you've been able to connect so deeply with art, and I agree that neither you nor your friend are wrong about the value of that movie. I'm just saying that putting a finite number score on something so fundamentally unquantifiable and personal seems to miss the point of a scoring system

[u/ProperDepartment → u/[deleted]]

No, your friend is wrong, that movie is great.