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Vi O | ence * PiayStationsNetwork

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“heen ae eae, PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SENIOR EDITOR: Brady Fiechter MANAGING EDITOR: Marc Camron NEWS EDITOR: Kyle 0 REVIEWS EDITOR: Mark Bozon REVIEW CREW: Danny Boutros.

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CONTRIBUTORS: Dan “Shoe” Hsu.

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PRESS START

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RED STEEL 2

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Ww IGM SPRING 2010

May contain content inappropriate for children. Visit www.esrb.org for bay «ating information.

_ FROM THE MAKERS OF GRAND THEFT AUTO

RED DEAD REDEMPTION

UTLAWS TO THE END

ROCKS TARGAMES.COM/REDDEADREDEMPTION 2 a i XBOX 360. ie

PlayStationsNetwork ©2005;2010 Rockstar Games, Inc. Rockstar Games, the §, logo, Red Dead Redemption and all related marks and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, inc. in the U.S.A. and/or foreign countries. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks antl “PS3" is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The PlayStation Network Logo is a service mark of Sony Computer Entertainment inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. Ail other marks property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

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89 | CIMLIZATIONV ane aC GAME OVER

92 SHOE

94 KEEFER 96 BRYN 97 SEANBABY

t was a little more than a year ago that an

unsolicited email popped into my computer

containing an unexpected proposition: Did | have

an interest in reacquiring the publishing rights to Electronic Gaming Monthly?

That message would reshape the next year of my life.

For those who don't know the finer intricacies of EGM's history (which, for those who care, is laid out in a piece that begins on page 24 of this issue), | was the publisher of EGM prior to its sale to Ziff Davis Media in 1996. | operated a company called Sendai, that produced EGM and many “sister” magazines over the years like, Super NES Buyers Guide, Mega Play and Computer Game Review.

| was also EGM' first Editor-In-Chief, shepherding (with the assistance of many talented writers and gamers) many of the familiar sections and editorial elements that survived right up and until the magazine was shuttered, during the first week of 2009.

So, as you might expect, this opportunity held a different meaning for me than it might for someone simply looking to trade on the name of a once proud publishing franchise.

Before acting on the offer, however, | did my research. | met with many people—including former editors and those who had helmed the magazine or contributed in senior positions prior to the ZD/UGO purge—to get a sense of whether or not a market even existed for EGM. | heard many different opinions, but one in particular stuck with me. James Mielke, who had edited the magazine up until it suspended publication after the January, 2009 issue, expressed his belief that EGM was still a valuable brand—and ripe for a relaunch. It was that conversation, more than any other, that convinced me that resurrecting EGM was a risk worth taking.

Now, that’s not to say that there weren't detractors (there were). Many told me that bringing a magazine back to life in the same format as before was contrarian, a fool's errand. | agree with those people wholeheartedly.

Because what few knew, when the announcement of EGM's return was made on the eve of the 2009 £3, was that it would be something different than before. Something that takes advantage of new technologies and acknowledges

The Only Constant

ls Change

the world in which we now find ourselves.

The industry insiders who warned me that getting into print, at precisely the time when most were scrambling to get out, would have been correct in their conclusions if my idea was to bring EGM back in the same form. Especially with the same business model that has proven to be so difficult for other publishers in the magazine space over the past few years.

There is still a market for print. But I’m also not trying to convert anyone who prefers to find content that is indexed on a website or presented in a digital format, on the iPad or a computer. You can make money in print provided you don’t make the mistake of giving your product away (or, worse yet,

newsstand) you can enhance your digital experience by inputting the special iPASS code (emailed directly to subscribers or found on the bind-in card located in the middle of the magazine if you bought a single issue). This service brings you more content, more video and more special features that readers of the basic version of EGMi won't be able to access.

Of course, the best publishing brand in the world—even with the fanciest technology—is worthless without editors and writers who can give it a true voice. In that regard we have assembled a group of veteran gaming journalists that includes EGM alumni like Dan “Shoe” Hsu and Demien Linn, Michael Donahoe, Ryan 0’Donnell and Matt Chandronait, as well as new faces like Brady Fiechter

Many told me that bringing a magazine back to life in the same format as before was contrarian, a fool's errand. | agree with those people wholeheartedly.

paying for people to read it—standard operating procedure for years in the magazine business) in exchange for heady circulation numbers that don't ultimately benefit the magazine or the advertisers that support it.

We're taking a different approach, by producing a high-quality product for those that enjoy the experience of turning a paper page. And we're focusing on what print does best by playing to the strengths of the medium.

Our plan also integrates digital and print in a brand new way, using technology that allows us to present content on computers and tablets that is not just linear, but also has depth that you can control, to dig into the areas of a story that interest you most. Our digital companion, EGMi: The Digital Magazine, uses new technology that literally brings pages to life and allows us to present gaming information in brand new ways.

Another way we're integrating EGM in print and EGMi digitally is via a new feature called the iPASS. With every copy of the print magazine (either as a subscriber or when you purchase a copy on the

(formerly EIC of Play magazine), Mark Bozon (former editor at IGN), John Keefer (formerly EIC of Crispy Gamer), Arnold Kim and Eli Hodapp (operators of the popular TouchArcade.com), and many other names you'll recognize and respect. | plan to continue the same editorial philosophy that has served every one of the 25+ magazines I've launched in the past well: Know your audience and write for them. Now, as was the case in past iterations of EGM, you the reader are the audience we will cater to without exception. If we succeed in that regard everything else will work out fine.

Finally, before | let you crack open the first issue of EGM you've seen in awhile, I'd like to extend a very special “thank you” to everyone who has offered encouragement, and sent letters of support. | really appreciate all of the kind words that have poured in from the thousands who have followed my Twitter and Facebook announcements over the past months. Your continued interest and enthusiasm are very much appreciated.

Enough of my rambling on. | hope you enjoy the new EGM. Dig in! G2

© Copyright 2010, EGM Me )

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EGP SPRING 2010

It seems

only fitting that Street Fighter IV oroducer Yoshinori Ono's

latest chapter in this seminal Fighting game series paints the cover of our relaunch issue.

Journeymen

lectronic Gaming Monthly's been

on quite the journey these past 20

years, not unlike the game biz itself.

I was gearing up for my last year

of junior high when EGM launched in the summer of 1989. Videogame magazines at the time were... | dont even really remember what they were, other than nothing much what I wanted out of a magazine dedicated to covering my growing interest in all things Sega and Nintendo. But then along came this awkward, earnest, awesome love letter to the fledgling games industry, giving it the new and exciting voice it deserved.

A few years later life took a strange and unexpected turn, forcing me to sell off every last game in my collection. (Curse you McVan's Video Game Trader!) As issues of EGM continued to roll in, | remember ca- sually flipping through a holiday issue and came across 1992's game of the year, Street Fighter I. Something about the images of Capcoms infectiously colorful fighting game prompted me to take whatever scarce money I had, speed to Kay-Bee Toys, and purchase a Super NES and a copy of the game that would bring my withered obses- sion roaring back to life.

The pages of life keep turning, and here we are at the rebirth of Electronic Gaming Monthly, with a massive Street Fighter cover feature standing at the heart of the issue. Street Fighter debuted just two years before EGM, and they have quite a storied history together. Their influences have touched a long line of gamers and game makers alike, so it seems only fitting that Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Onos latest in this seminal fighting game series paints the cover of EGM 238.

‘This feature is an example of the kind of coverage youll find in the new EGM. Introspective, retrospective, and defini- tive features on games and the people who make them are at the core of what we hope to accomplish within these pages.

You'll find evidence of this approach on page 64. There you'll read the first in our series of interviews with the people behind the biggest games, beginning this month with a profile of David Jaffe, the guy who created God of War and Twisted Metal. He

talks about his new game, past mistakes, and how he got his first industry job thanks, in part, to reading an issue of EGM.

Every month we'll bring you a similar interview that looks beyond the basic details of life on the job and deeper into what makes a particular game maker tick. Of course were also sticking to all the stuff that youve come to love about EGM over the years. Everything from the Review Crew to Next Wave to Seanbaby’s The Rest of the Crap, which wraps up the issue on page 97.

You ll also see some new and expanded sections that reflect the changing nature of the games industry and how we think it should be covered. More commentary and opinion, more features and interviews about the games and game creators who breath life into your favorite titles.

The stories in this special issue reflect the spirit of big comebacks. Like the 2D Revival feature, beginning on page 56.

Dwelling in the past and enjoying nos- talagia is alwasy fun, but looking forward is what our industry is all about. ‘The way were presenting coverage is all about letting the games show themselves off while offer- ing up the kinds of insight and opinion that youve come to expect from EGM. Among the titles we're profiling in this issue include Alan Wake, which you can read about on page 72, as well as new information on a slew of others. Our plans are to always high- light the big games youre interested in, as well as smaller titles deserving of attention. As our editorial calendar catches up with these game releases you can be assured that we'll have detailed coverage on the games that matter most to you.

The new EGM steps into this climate of aggressive change, where old media arche- types are disintegrating all around us, giving way to awesome new prospects like the iPad. As a gamer who is intrinsicly drawn to evolving technology, it's exciting to say the least. There's a wider variety of people playing a wider variety of games than ever before, and making a little sense of it all is where we come in. The issue you hold in your hands is the warmup, but know that as we cement our return it’s only going to get better.

Free to download, free to play, no monthly fees Extensive dual class system

Versatile spells and attack combinations Enthralling background story

Unique dual class character progression

Extensive character upgrade system Dynamic character customization features Guild and player housing

Frequent content updates

Thousands of quests, monsters and items PvP arena battles and guild wars

Preagrter Fregrter ©) Fregrtrer

© Radiant Arcana is the copyright and trademark of Runewaker Entertainment Corp. All rights reserved.

© Runes of Magic published by Frogster America Inc. All rights reserved.

Questions,

answers, and wanton debauchery

aU" MOoUWGe | @ ope N | L | ( ) 3

(BELATED) LETTER OF THE MONTH: Delayed Gratification

Do game publishers assume gamers have wallets filled to the brim with disposable income? Apparently so, if the recent

rash of releasing downloadable content merely one week after a game release is any indication. For example, was there

any reason the DLC for [games like Super |

Street Fighter IV| should not have been included in the actual game itself? Yes, it was because Capcom knew gamers would shell out extra cash for it.

Sadly, it seems to me that the only way developers will stop doing this to gamers is if gamers stop letting them. Gamers must stop gobbling up the DLC released immediately after a game. Because videogames exist for the sole purpose of making money for videogame companies (what else?), the only thing that really talks to developers and publishers is the almighty dollar. Oh, sure—they say they take gamers’ suggestions into consideration for future development. And sometimes, they really do consider them. But if they really were interested in what gamers want more than they were interested in profits, they would stop this nonsense with DLC that should have been in the game.

— Matthew Millsap

EGM: We wrote a response to this letter, but it’ll cost you 80 Microsoft points to read it. For a different take on the issue of DLC turn to page 62.

All Hail EGM... Hello EGM! | am glad to be talking to you again! This is the first time | have

gq Games With DLC

ever wrote a letter to you, but | have been a longtime follower. | was so happy to see you return, especially with some old faces. When | found out about your demise | was crushed, | did not know what | would do, or what | would read

while—ahem—taking care of business. So | (regrettably) subscribed to a competitors

magazine and every day while reading

it on the throne | felt lost, and confused, knowing it wasn’t the same. | even felt like | was cheating on you. But, lo-and- behold, you are back! | subscribed the DAY the subscriptions came up and | can

not wait to have the first issue in my hand!

(And check out EGMil). — Daniel Riegel

EGM: Where’s Joey Greco when you need him?

Review Crew Rewind

Since you’ve been gone for awhile | thought I’d ask you for review scores on a game that was released when EGM suspended publication. What are you thoughts about Wheelman?

—Jeremy Smith

EGM: Seriously? You get one shot at this and you ask about Wheelman?

Dr. Evil Would Be Proud

The Nintendo DS has sold like a billion units worldwide. It’s a no brainer that Nintendo will keep making offshoots of the DS, but can they ever go back to a single screened system? If they could, would they? Also, will we ever see the Game Boy brand ever again? —Andrew Davis

EGM: It’s doubtful we’ll see another Game Boy anytime soon since the DS is still about 875 million units shy of your billion mark. |

You Got Some Explaining To Do

| was once a subscriber to the former EGM. | wasn’t a long-time subscriber; about 5 years I’d say. However, | thoroughly enjoyed each issue. But | don’t quite understand how it wasn’t possible to simply re-subscribe everyone (if they so choose) to the new EGM. Surely the list of subscribers still exists. The fact that we were sent Maxim magazines proves this. Why wasn’t this possible? You’ve stated you weren’t able to get the list of — subscribers (or something to that effect). Why not?

—Evan

EGM: We’d like to give out free magazines, but that strategy doesn’t seem to work so well if you want to stay in business. All kidding aside, Evan, when the rights to EGM were acquired, the subscriber list had already been sold. The list existed, but was no longer available.

The best-selling portable game. system in history-but that’s still not good enough for some EGM readers.

BACKGROUND NOISE

You Talking To Me?

As a longtime reader of your publication I’ve got to say that I’m extremely disappointed by the overly negative tone in your review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack that appeared in the December, 2009 issue.

You harp on the fact that TMNT doesn’t take advantage of certain features found on the DS. Well, excuse me—| didn’t realize that you HAD to use a stylus in every game for it to be considered worthy of your praise. Does Street Fighter IV use a stylus? How about Halo, any touchscreen-action there? | don’t remember choreographing attacks with a small plastic faux pencil in Final Fantasy XIll, do you? | suppose those games suck in your book too.

—Jerry W.

EGM: Sorry to be the one to clue you in on this Jerry, but EGM never produced a December, 2009 issue. | think you’ve got us confused with someone else?

An unexpected Showtime marathon of the Martin Scorcese mob classic,

Casino, played during the writing of this section. Hammers to hands,

heads in vices and exploding cars. It’s a wonder why they never adapted

it to gaming. Fallout: New Vegas will have to suffice for now.

Take It Off

Games are certainly not as tame as they used to be. Grand Theft Auto has just about everything a Scorsese film does: dirty language with constant F-bombs, unyielding violence, sexual themes, and so on. But what's up with the “partial nudity”? | have yet to see a mainstream game that bares all. Is this the hurdle developers aren't willing to jump? Although GTA4 has almost-visible sexual acts and nearly nude dancers, the nudity is never in full. Do you think it'll happen eventually? It’d be nice not to have to switch over to Cinemax at midnight while gaming.

— Devin T.

EGM: Not likely. At the moment, the console manufacturers have final

say about what's released for their respective systems, and none of them have any interest in their machines being perceived as a porn haven.

And the Cinemax comment? Ew.

Please spare us the mentalimage. )»

USED GAMES

31.9%

The increase in used game sales between June 2008 and June 2009, according to gamesindustry.biz.

$2.934 Billion Total revneues reported by Gamestop from the

sales of used games at their stores.

BY THE NUMBERS.

73,000,000 HDTV sales, in dollars, directly attributable to the XBox 360, according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

92,300 Average annual salary, in dollars, of a direct employee in the computer and video game industry (ESA).

DID YOU KNOW: Sega was in

| negotiations with Atari

to release their 16-Bit Mega Drive system in the U.S.under the brand name ‘Tomahawk’? An Atari producer, inspired by Star Trek Il: The Wrath Of Khan, suggested the name that Sega would eventually go on to use: Genesis.

| used to think | was dangerous with a pen until | saw Pesci in Casino.

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EGP SPRING 2010

SAVE POINT: 3 Questions With EGM Publisher Steve Harris...

You founded EGM in the 80's. What's different about (re)launching it this time?

It’s actually more

similar than different. The industry has changed in many ways, but | still see a lot of the same faces and franchises. It obviously helps that we're Starting with a brand and writers that have alegacy | with which gamers are

~ familiar.

PE eet WON INE OE: CN THE COURT WaiTH MO 380

What's been up since you sold EGM to Ziff?

| continued to launch magazines through 2005. | then started producing and selling feature films and television. The last publishing project | worked on was with KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Called “Gene Simmons’ GAME." His idea was to create sort of a Maxim meets gaming with — himself as the frontman. But his TV show blew up and his energies went there.

You've been working

on movies? Any we've heard of?

We developed a 3-D Amityville film starting s00n, a sequel to Neil Marshall’s werewolf - flick Dog Soldiers, and

a paranormal pic set ona submarine, with a director who recently wrapped a movie based ona gaming franchise. It’s a fun industry but I’m taking a break to work exclusively on EGM.

Where You Been? Having been a reader since issue #1, I’m curious, what the hell has Steve Harris been up to since he sold the mag, and what prompted him to buy it back for the relaunch? —Jimmy Webb

EGM: He bought it back because his lawyers told him that relaunching the magazine without doing

SO was a good way to get sued. As for what he’s been up to (in areas other than weight), check out the ‘3 Questions’ to your immediate left.

EGMi Want More

| read the first issue of EGMi and | thought it was pretty good. | like the way it’s setup to be similar to a real magazine, but with some animations. |’d like to have

a way of downloading so i can archive

it for myself. Also, I’d love to see digital versions of past EGM issues going back as far as possible.

— Brian Agatonovic

EGM: We’re toying with a way to allow you to download future issues of EGMi. The capability is there, but we want to make sure that certain performance standards aren’t lost in the transfer. As far as back issues are concerned, we plan to offer a fully searchable archive of every page of EGM every produced, | probably for iPASS users, in the near future. Stay tuned.

That Pesky Extra Chromo

| was disgusted when | read the letter in by Sarah M. [“Girl, disgusted”]. Where was the sarcastic comment at the end that |

so looked forward to reading? Sarah’s statement that “Roughly half of the entire gaming population is female”set you up perfectly. Proclaiming that 50 percent of the gaming community is female is just ridiculous. | went to the midnight release

OUR FIRST LOOK AT THE BIG GAMES OF 2010

of Halo 2 and GTA4. The crowd was full of smelly, sweating, heavily breathing males all talking about how when they go home, they’re all going to play online until the next morning. | saw only a single girl at both releases, so it’s asinine to say that half the world’s population of videogame

- players is female.

— Aaron Tessier

EGM: Trouble is, the crowd at a midnight launch isn’t exactly

representative of the population of gamers as a whole. It’s pretty much just the hardest of the hardcore who are willing to make those kinds of time investments. And the seriously hardcore are still, for whatever reason, mostly male. Make sense?

Core Competency The terms “hardcore game” and “hardcore gamer” are both idiotic. So-called hardcore gamers seem to call themselves such because they have nothing better to do in their spare time than play games. And so-called hardcore games don’t

xist. If | play Halo or GTA once or twice a week—i.e., casually—then it’s a “casual game.” If Joe Lunchbox buys Cooking Mama, takes two days off work, and doesn’t bathe or talk to real humans in order to play the game for two straight days, then Cooking Mama could be considered a hardcore game.

_ The term is meaningless. Any game can be as casual or as hardcore as the player makes it. If you play videogames, you’re a gamer. End of story. Calling yourself hardcore doesn’t make you sound cool; to the rest of us normal people, it makes you sound like you need © to leave your mom’s basement and do something else with your spare time.

— Brian Di Cesare

EGM: You’d probably feel differently if you were more hardcore.

Mission Accomplished I’m excited to

see the new EGM in action, but

I’m also a little disappointed. You see, it’s my life’s dream to work

for you. To review new games and represent EGM

at E3. | know | have what it takes to be a part of your magazine, and would do almost anything to contribute to my favorite gaming publication. ‘Seriously, I’d eat both shoes if | could just see my name in the pages of EGM.

— Tomas Rodriguez

EGM: Need salt with those shoelaces, Tomas?

‘Starting Over

| have a question about the issue numbering. Why did you decide to continue the numbering of the old magazine instead of starting from issue #1?

—Sam Irizarry

EGM: We did start over at #1, Sam. We just decided to skip the first 237 issues.

I Like It Hard

| have a drawer riddled with broken controllers. Twisted, bent, mangled, all in the name of gaming. For me, a game isn’t fun unless it’s hard, not hard enough to make me turn it off, but hard enough to feel satisfied once it’s over. Most games, I’ve found, are either mind numbingly easy or throttle a kitten hard; all lacking a middle ground of torment and virtue, perfectly intertwined. Yes, | could just

Fe ae

Photo courtesy Tracy Baran

change the difficulty setting, but who

is content with steamrolling through something on easy? | know I’m not. Plus, games hardly ever have an achievement/ trophy for beating them on the lower difficulties. | feel like games nowadays get caught up in the size of explosions and lack the attention to playability they so desperately need.

—Joey Paysinger

EGM: | wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for publishers to add ‘Mediocre’ to the difficulty settings anytime soon.

Normal Person + Anonymity

+ Audience = ?

Your article [*10 Things We’ve Learned From Our Xbox Live Headset”] is a perfect illustration of why | do not use a

Andy Baran, 1974-2009

Last July | got the very sad news that Andy Baran, a longtime EGM contributor who was part of the core group responsible for giving the magazine a voice during its earliest days, had passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was only 35. To say word of his passing was sudden is an understate- ment. Though time and geography had pulled us apart, | had traded emails with him less than three weeks earlier and, while confronting a difficult prognosis, he remained upbeat when speaking about his time with the magazine. The one request Andy made in that email was that he be mentioned in the pages of EGM one more time. And while this short amount of space could never adequeately capture who Andy was or what he represented to so many, it does provide the op- portunity to let those who didn’t know him understand what a talented individual he was, and how his dedication to life lifted everyone around him. He is sadly missed.

- Steve Harris

headset while playing on Xbox Live. In fact, | turn down the TV sound and turn up the music coming from my stereo to drown out the insults, background noise, and stupid comments.

If | want to listen to the other guys I’m playing with, I’ll haul my PC to a LAN party. The members of those clubs, for the most part, are more respectful of their fellow members than the dregs of society you sometimes run across on Live. Part of that civility might have to do with actually being in the same room as the person they are considering “dissing;” it’s not so tempting to be a major jerk when the people you’re considering acting that way toward are right there—and could physically throw you out of the room if you go too far.

—John Enfield

EGM: Wait, you mean it’s possible to not be a complete douchebag when playing games with other people? Who knew?

Playing Favorites

What is the best issue of EGM ever released?

—Jon S.

EGM: It’s hard to pin down just one. I’d have to go with 11, 79, 127, and 201, but not necessarily in that order.

it Burns!

I’m the editor of the yearbook at my school, and | would like to know how EGM handles writers who like to procrastinate, ignore work, and hide during deadline weeks. What do you do to get the troops motivated?

— Matthew Moore

EGM: Threaten to put them on Letters. &

CONTACT EGM

by e-mail:

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EGM" SPRING 2010

Critical

Viass

Reviews aggregator Metacritic has become the arbiter of “quality” in the games industry. How it impacts the games you play and how publishers are

trying to hijack its influence...

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By Evan Shamoon

he reviews aggregator site Metacritic was launched in 200. It has steadily grown IN popularity over the past nine years and has effectively become the epicenter of game criticism on the Web. It oulls together reviews of games (along with music, movies, [TV shows, and DVDs) and designates each and every title a numerical score, whether or not one is provided by the reviewer In our increasingly time- strapped culture, it has become the quick-anc- dirty way of Figuring out whether or not something is “worth buying.”

And while the site began as an attempt to provide consumers with a snapshot of how a game, movie, or album was tracking critically, it has since become something of a barometer of a product’s quality —one considered not only by consumers, but also by publishers, developers, and financial analysts. This is especially true in the games industry, where committing to a product Is a significant investment in both time and money (roughly $60 and 10+ hours for a game, versus, say, $11 and 2 hours for a movie), and reviews are more often than not presented as a form of “Consumer Reports” for the medium.

Essentially, aggregator sites attempt to turn the rather unscientific process of reviewing a creative work —ultimately one’s personal opinion based on his or her own experience with the product—into a scientific formula. If the role of criticism is to give art form, the role of Metacritic is to give it a numerical value.

Nuts and bolts

Metacritic’s scores derive from

the weighted average of reviews from hundreds of outlets across

the media spectrum, hand-picked by its founder, Marc Doyle. For those sources that don’t rate on

a 100-point scale, he translates

a score: An “A” becomes 100%, “3/5 stars” becomes 60%, etc.

For those outlets that eschew scores altogether (often the case in movies and music, less common in videogames), Doyle and his team actually assign a score based on what they infer from the review text. Scores are weighted as well: Those from major publications may have

a greater effect on the average than smaller ones. Though it has been a source of controversy, Doyle refuses to reveal how this weighting system works: “You’d just get arguments,” he says. “We’ve taken the time to research our stuff and to know what are the most respected publications,

SO we want to keep it a bit of a mystery there. It’s basically our secret Sauce.”

Of course, Metacritic didn’t invent the notion of “scoring” creative works. Ask any critic worth his or her salt (in any medium) what part of the review process irks them the most, and they’ll almost always point to the grade: Trying to sum up one’s impressions of a wide-ranging, multi-disciplined experience with a number or letter can be incredibly difficult, often feeling arbitrary at best or undercutting at worst.

What does the score even mean? A game can provide a technically superb but emotionally shallow experience or vice versa. It may be made by a team of four trying to express a complex idea or by a team of 400 trying to make your id say “uncle.” It can succeed at being interesting but fail at being fun—or it can be something you enjoyed immensely but have no interest in keeping on your shelf.