The latest in the long saga of developers insisting on the instant status of “Developer Supreme” is the tale of Ubisoft, whose Prince of Persia only got an average score of 83 on Metacritic. Oh, no. An 83? But that’s not a 90+ so it must be a rubbish game. Wrong. ANything below 90 does not make it a bad game. In fact, it’s probably a very enjoyable game.
Now let’s hear producer Ben Mattes bitch and whine about how his game is the Second Coming. “For years we’ve all been reading complaints about sequels and companies churning out carbon copies of proven formulas without focusing on innovation or taking risks. Fans, developers and critics alike seemed ravenous for new ideas—new IPs; major innovations—advances in this art-tertainment form we all love. We tried to really embrace this challenge on PoP. We set out to keep a few core fundamentals but to re-imagine everything else, discarding some very well entrenched ideas not only about the brand but also about videogames in general. What surprises me is how little these high-level risks seem to be noticed and appreciated as attempts to shake up the industry and push things forward. Perhaps I’m an idealist, but I think perhaps I was expecting a few more virtual pats-on-the-back for our attempts to do something new.”
Seriously, Ben, innovation and originality do not make a game fantastic. They sure help, but the underlying game needs to be somewhat decent as well. Now, I haven’t played Prince of Persia myself, but the fact he is bitching about some design changes didn’t get the game higher than an 83 Metacritic score is enough to wind me up.
Calling all developers. Get down off your high horse and realise that any score that isn’t above 90 is not the end of the world.
