Metacritic

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Metacritic.com

URL	http://www.metacritic.com/
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Reviews/Ratings
Registration	Free/subscription
Owner	CNET Networks
Created by
Launched	January 2001

Metacritic is an Internet website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three color codes of Green, Yellow and Red summarize the critic's recommendation. This gives an idea of the general appeal of the product among reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public.

Many review websites give a review grade out of five, out of ten, out of a hundred, or even an alphabetical score. Metacritic converts such a grade into a percentage. For reviews with no explicit scores (for example, Amazon's reviews), Metacritic manually assesses the tone of the review before assigning a relevant grade. Reviews from certain publications also have a marginally greater influence on the average.

Metacritic was founded in 1999, and in August of 2005 was acquired by CNET.

[edit] All-time high and low scores

[edit] Albums

1. The Clash – London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition (100/100)
2. Brian Wilson – Smile (97/100)
3. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose (97/100)
4. Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won (97/100)
5. OutKast – Stankonia (95/100)
6. Ali Farka Touré – Savane (94/100)
7. Madvillain (MF DOOM and Madlib) – Madvillainy (93/100)
8. Talking Heads – The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (2004) (93/100)
9. Bob Dylan – Love and Theft (93/100)
10. Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner (92/100)
11. The White Stripes – Elephant (92/100)

Kevin Federline's Playing with Fire currently holds the dubious honour of having the lowest score ever (15/100).

[edit] Films

1. The Godfather 1972 (100/100)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (re-release) 2001 (100/100)
3. Au Hasard Balthazar (re-release) 2003 (100/100)
4. The Conformist (re-release) 2005 (100/100)
5. Fanny and Alexander (re-release) 2004 (100/100)
6. The Leopard (re-release) 2004 (100/100)
7. Sweet Smell of Success (re-release) 2002 (100/100)
8. Superman II 1980 (99/100)
9. Seven Samurai (re-release) 2002 (99/100)
10. Pan's Labyrinth 2006 (98/100)
11. Dr. Strangelove 1964 (96/100)
12. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (re-release)2002 (94/100)
13. Pulp Fiction 1994 (94/100)
14. The Manchurian Candidate 1962 (94/100)
15. Spirited Away 2002 (94/100)
16. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972 (93/100)
17. Reversal of Fortune 1990 (93/100)
18. Schindler's List 1993 (93/100)
19. Amadeus: Director's Cut 2002 (93/100)
20. Taxi Driver (re-release) 2005 (93/100)
21. La Dolce Vita (re-release) 1960 (93/100)

Bio-Dome holds the honour of lowest scoring movie (1/100).

[edit] TV

1. The Wire Season 4, HBO (98/100)
2. The Sopranos Season 6, HBO (96/100)
3. Battlestar Galactica Season 3, Sci-Fi (94/100)
4. Bleak House Season 1, PBS (93/100)
5. Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 5, HBO (91/100)
6. The Thick of It Season 1, BBC America (90/100)
7. 24 Season 5, FOX (89/100)
8. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts Mini-series, HBO (88/100)
9. Arrested Development Season 2, FOX (88/100)
10. Everybody Hates Chris Season 1, UPN (88/100)
11. Huff Season 1, Showtime (87/100)
12. Conviction Mini-series, BBC America (87/100)
13. City of Men Mini-series, Sundance (87/100)
14. Lost Season 2, ABC (85/100)
15. Deadwood Season 3, HBO (85/100)
16. Robot Chicken Season 1, Cartoon Network (83/100)
17. Veronica Mars Season 1, UPN (82/100)
18. Extras Season 1, HBO (81/100)
19. Elizabeth I Mini-series, HBO (81/100)
20. The Nine Season 1, ABC (81/100)

Of the Top 20 TV Shows seven air/aired on HBO, two on FOX, two on ABC, two on BBC America, two on UPN, one on Sci-Fi, one on PBS, one on Cartoon Network, one on Showtime, and one on Sundance.

[edit] PC games

1. Half-Life 2 2004 (96/100)
2. Half-Life 1998 (96/100)
3. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn 2000 (95/100)
4. Command & Conquer 1995 (94/100)
5. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 2003 (94/100)
6. Civilization II 1996 (94/100)
7. Company of Heroes 2006 (94/100)
8. Quake 1996 (94/100)
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 2006 (94/100)
10. Grim Fandango 1998 (94/100)
11. Diablo 1996 (94/100)
12. Civilization IV 2005 (94/100)
13. Unreal Tournament 2004 2004 (93/100)
14. Homeworld 1999 (93/100)
15. Grand Theft Auto III 2002 (93/100)
16. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2003 (93/100)
17. World of Warcraft 2004 (93/100)
18. Day of the Tentacle 1993 (93/100)
19. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 2005 (92/100)
20. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 2004 (92/100)

Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing (2003), developed by Stellar Stone, holds the honor of the lowest scoring PC game. (8/100)

Only two games released before 1995, Doom II (1994) and Day of the Tentacle (1993), are tracked on the site.

[edit] Video games

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64, 1998) (99/100)
2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PlayStation, 2000) (98/100)
3. Soul Calibur (Dreamcast, 1999) (98/100)
4. Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64, 2000) (97/100)
5. NFL 2K1 (Dreamcast, 2000) (97/100)
6. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PlayStation 2, 2001) (97/100)
7. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Dreamcast, 2000) (97/100)
8. Halo (Xbox, 2001) (97/100)
9. Metroid Prime (GameCube, 2002) (97/100)
10. Grand Theft Auto 3 (PlayStation 2, 2001) (97/100)
11. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PlayStation 2, 2001) (96/100)
12. Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003) (96/100)
13. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, 2006) (96/100)
14. Goldeneye 007 (Nintendo 64, 1997) (96/100)
15. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005) (96/100)
16. Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (Xbox, 2003) (96/100)
17. Gran Turismo (PlayStation, 1998) (96/100)
18. Resident Evil 4 (PlayStation 2, 2005) (96/100)
19. Tekken 3 (PlayStation, 1998) (96/100)
20. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GameBoy Advance 2002, SNES 1992) (95/100)

Elf Bowling 1 & 2 (Nintendo DS, 2005) holds the honor of the lowest scoring video game. (12/100)

No console games released before 1995 are tracked on the site.

As Metacritic does not have a cumulative listing for all video games, these are the results of sorting all games in the site's database by metascore.

[edit] Metacritic's best of 2006

[edit] Movies

1. Pan's Labyrinth (98/100)
2. The Queen (91/100)
3. Letters from Iwo Jima (91/100)
4. United 93 (90/100)
5. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (89/100)

[edit] Music

1. Ali Farka Toure - Savane (94/100)
2. Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (91/100)
3. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury (91/100)
4. Bob Dylan - Modern Times (89/100)
5. Joanna Newsom - Ys (89/100)

[edit] Video games

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube) (96/100) & (Wii) (95/100)
2. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC) (94/100) & (XBox 360) (94/100)
3. Gears of War (XBox 360) (94/100)
4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (Playstation 2) (94/100)
5. Final Fantasy XII (Playstation 2) (93/100)

As Metacritic does not have a cumulative listing for all video games, these are the results of sorting all 2006-released games in the site's database by metascore.

[edit] TV

As of December 27, the site quotes many publications' top 10 lists but does not display its own conclusion.

[edit] Books

1. Irene Nemirovsky - Suite Francaise (95/100)
2. Cormac McCarthy - The Road (90/100)
3. George Pelecanos - The Night Gardener (90/100)
4. Kathryn Davis - The Thin Place (88/100)
5. James Meek - The People's Act Of Love (88/100)

[edit] Metacritic's best of 2005

[edit] Movies

1. The Best of Youth (89/100)
2. Capote (88/100)
3. Nobody Knows (88/100)
4. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (87/100)

[edit] Music

1. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (90/100)
2. My Morning Jacket - Z (89/100)
3. Isolee - Wearemonster (88/100)

[edit] Books

1. David B. - Epileptic (92/100)
2. Uzodinma Iweala - Beasts of No Nation (90/100)
3. Hilary Spurling - Matisse The Master (90/100)

[edit] Video games

MetaCritic does not have a single list for 2005 because games usually don't come out on all systems. Resident Evil 4 won for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, Ninja Gaiden Black was #1 for Xbox while Half Life 2 had the honour of being the best game for PC.

[edit] External links

• Metacritic