Review bombing films and games on aggregate sites has recently been the result of statements that anger a vocal minority online, but strangely, it appears that Astral Chain has also taken several hits due its exclusivity on the Nintendo Switch.
Following the notable reduction in review scores for Astral Chain, another of Nintendo’s exclusive games began to take a similar dip in its initial review scores. This time it was Fire Emblem: Three Houses being targeted, and the timing is strange considering that it released in late July. Fans of the game have seen the sudden rush of 0/10 scores and have begun to create accounts to counteract the acts by assigning repeated 10/10 scores.
Theprocess of using Metacritic to leave a review is simple and requires no verification that one has even played a game. For that reason, many users do not place much stock into user reviews. Still, a sufficient number of low-scoring reviews is often enough to call attention to the game, and for people to then discover what the underlying issue is.
NetherRealm Studios recently experienced a similar type of review bombing with the release of Mortal Kombat 11. There, the issue was that the character Jax Briggs has a story conclusion that some considered to be too political for their liking. As a result, thousands of users flooded Metacritic to drag the score down from its original high number.This contrasted sharply with critical reviews left by professionals that praised the game for its mechanics and graphics.
The review bombing of games for their exclusivity to Nintendo feels oddly out of place, since the same reaction is not made for the many exclusive PlayStation 4 and Xbox One titles. Spider-Man and God of War are two of the most popular, well-made games released for only one console, and no one seems to have an issue with that.
Nintendo has also held exclusive titles long before either of these games. Fire Emblemhas been a Nintendo title for nearly three decades. The timing and reaction is, quite simply, odd. While some review bombs are to call to attention a certain point, such as the so-called “political” viewpoint in Mortal Kombat 11, we wonder if there is any other motivation for the review bombing of these Nintendo titles.
In any case, both games have received glowing critical acclaim, and are far too impressive to be dragged down for a select few internet trolls with too much time on their hands.
Source: Gamerant.com