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It appears that gaming’s transition year has turned into transition years” – that’s the headline from Metacritic after a poor year for game quality.
The reviews aggregator said that for the second year in a row just 11 console games (and nine unique titles) scored 90 per cent or higher in 2014, and of those just three were original titles and not HD re-releases.
In total there were only 14 90%+ rated games throughout the year, representing the worst showing since 2006.
The highest scoring original game was Wii U title Super Smash Bros with 92 per cent, but even that it down on previous winners such as Grand Theft Auto V (97%, 2013), The Walking Dead (95%, 2012), Batman Arkham City (96%, 2011) and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (97%, 2010).
PS4 on average had the best rated games (72%) with five or more at 90%+ and a further four with 75%+. Xbox One was second with an average score of 72.4 per cent, although it had only one 90%+ rated title and six 75%+ games. Wii U came third with a 66.8 per cent average followed by PC (70.4%) although that had a whopping 45 games scoring 75 per cent or more.
Forza Horizon 2 (86%) was Xbox One’s highest rated exclusive title
The titles in Metacritic’s 2014 90 per cent club are:
1. Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One) – 97%
2. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4) – 96%
3. The Last of Us: Remastered (PS4) – 95%
4. Super Smash Bros (Wii U) – 92%
5. Dark Souls II (360) – 91%
6. Bayonetta 2 (Wii U) – 91%
7. Dark Souls II (PC) – 91%
8. Dark Souls II (PS3) – 91%
9. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition (PS4) – 90%
10. Rayman Legends (PS4) – 90%
11. Velocity 2X (Vita) – 90%
12. Fez (PS4) – 90%
13. Shovel Knight (3DS) – 90%
14. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (Wii U) – 90%
The year’s biggest critical flops included Activision trio The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (46%, Xbox One), Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (43%, PS4) and The Legend of Korra (49%, Xbox One) as well as Reef’s Rambo: The Video Game (28%, 360), Deep Silver’s Escape Dead Island (35%, 360) and Risen 3: Titan lords (36%, PS3), Sega’s Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (32%, Wii U) and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (46%, 3DS), System 3’s Putty Squad (38%, PS4) and Bandai Namco’s Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle (26%, 3DS)
