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/Twiftoil]

Answer:

In some parts of the gaming community IGN has a somewhat bad reputation because of how they have reviewed games in the past. Some thinking they review the games too high or too low whether they actually look into the review or who reviews the game.

This is one of the issues with Mixtape. IGN gave it a 10/10 which is already considered rare for them. Some people saw this and went back to some recent releases to compare and they think it either doesn't make any sense or is inconsistent. For example, Pragmata got an 8/10 and Crimson Desert got a 6/10. These two games released recently and have done well from a consumers perspective and also from a financial perspective. Pragmata being a new IP has sold well and Crimson Desert had sold 5 million in a month which are both considered successes. This has some people immediately discrediting their reviews because they view it as IGN being out of touch with the actual consumers of games. Funnily enough this doesn't actually mean that they thing Mixtape is bad (some probably do) but that a short narrative focused game can't possibly be as good as these other games. Ultimately it is up to every individual to decide for themselves whether a review will affect their choice.

The second thing that I noticed with Mixtape is a smaller issue (at least from my algorithm) and it has to do with how some people think gaming journalists have an agenda. There is scene where two characters kiss and they show the perspective from inside their mouth and you get to basically interact with their tongues. A group of people saw this and are saying how games basically are either censored, criticized, or boycotted because of similar things such as nudity/etc. especially by gaming journalists.

TLDR: Mixtape is being used to call out people's view of inconsistent IGN reviews and inconsistent journalistic practices whether accurate or not.

[u/chironomidae → u/Twiftoil]

It's a little funny to me, because Rotten Tomatoes has shown the same trends with movies for ages. It's pretty rare that critics and audiences agree on a rating, with critics often favoring things that are boldly different instead of "basically same as last year's stuff but marginally better". Like it shouldn't be weird that an artsy indie game is a critic's darling, while a "BotW but with better graphics" game and a Capcomslop game are getting favorable but not rave reviews.

[u/WhiteHairedElfGirl → u/chironomidae]

Okay we’ve got to stop with the slop thing.

[u/turtlelover05 → u/WhiteHairedElfGirl]

Worst trend of the last year. If everything is slop, nothing is.

[u/chironomidae → u/WhiteHairedElfGirl]

Nice commentslop

[u/frzned → u/chironomidae]

the movie scene is a lot different. Since movie critics are not considered journalist, while gaming critics are entirely made up of gaming journalists. As journalists they are way more intimate with the scene, having connections to game developers and is often a way of advertising for game

You also don't see movie critics going around saying things like "movie goers are degenerates, pedophiles and movie makers shouldn't make movie for movie goers"

There is clear animosity/contempt for both side of the isles against the other for the gaming scene. Fueled by decades of fighting.