Since criticism began to emerge, we have always experienced cases of a certain dissonance between what the public believed and what the specialized publications raised. It is a maxim that, even today and even in media such as video games, is still present. With that in mind we have planned an experiment, what differences would we find between the best PC games according to the critics and according to the users?
For this, we went to Metacritic and selected the best PC games of all time according to each side, a total of 48 video game masterpieces that, surprisingly, only rarely go hand in hand. Whether or not there is unanimity in these votes, what is undeniable is that we could not take part of the reason from any of the parties, there are about thirty games that yes or yes you have to try before you die.
Metacritic scoring parameters
Born at the dawn of 2000, Metacritic has become one of the key pages to find opinions about music, movies, books and video games. In recent years, going to know the Metascore of a game, the average mark that appears on the site, has become a fairly common action before buying a product.
Despite the fact that the Metascore only focuses on the averages made with the critical scores, voices such as those of the famous briefcases to buy notes, or the fact that in that average the weight of some portals is greater than others, they invite get closer to a second reading.
To ensure a balance, in addition to collecting these specialized press releases, there is also a section in which players can vote and make a review about the game. In this way, the critical and user scores are separated, which, as you will see below, can deliver very different results, although no less valid for that.
The best PC games according to the critics
- ‘Half-Life 2’
- Price: 99 euros
After becoming the first to be classified as the “best PC game ever “, ‘Half-Life 2’ had the difficult task of keeping the bar just as high. This position on the list demonstrates the extent to which he succeeded, becoming one of the titles that would mark the way forward for the industry in the following years when it comes to graphics, physics, and artificial intelligence and, above all, narrative.
- ‘Grand Theft Auto V’
- Price: 90 euros
Becoming the second game that has managed to sell the most physical copies, only behind a phenomenon like ‘Wii Sports’ (and without taking into account that adding the digital ones the figure can be widely surpassed), ‘GTA V’ has become a mass phenomenon that after five years still continues to dominate the sales charts. It’s not there by luck, of course, it is one of the most attractive and fun open worlds that has ever been created.
- ‘The Orange Box’
- Price: 99 euros
With ‘The Oragne Box’ Valve cheated, and it is that not only did it deliver all the chapters of ‘Half-Life 2’ and the multiplayer of ‘Team Fortress 2’ to console users, it also included in the pack a genius like ‘ Portal ‘, probably the best puzzle game the gaming world has seen in the last 20 years.
- ‘Half-Life’
- Price: 99 euros
Released in 1998, ‘Half-Life’ was Valve’s debut feature, a game that allowed them to live off the rents of its success and its graphics engine to shape the empire that Steam has finally become. Undoubtedly one of the best games in history, it is also a classic that, despite its graphics, has stood the test of time very well, which makes it an equally recommendable game today.
- ‘BioShock’
- Price: 99 euros
Story, graphics, gameplay … ‘BioShock’ has everything you could ask for from an FPS, but it also managed to take the way stories were told in an action adventure one step further. A journey to the depths to discover an underwater city in which a utopia has turned into an absolute hell that has escaped the control of its creators.
- ‘Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn’
- Price: 99 euros
Available in ‘Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition’ alongside the ‘Throne of Bhaal’ expansion, ‘Shadows of Amn’ is the perfect example of why BioWare has become one of those studios to go to without hesitation when looking for a good story. A magnificent RPG in which it is impossible not to be completely trapped for more than 60 hours.
- ‘Portal 2’
- Price: 99 euros
It was very difficult to improve the unbeatable, but if there is a study capable of retracing its steps and making your head explode, that is Valve. With ‘Portal 2’ they showed that the success of ‘Portal’ was not a mere coincidence, that the world and mechanics they had created could still go much further to create the ultimate mix of adventures and puzzles.
- ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’
- Price: 99 euros
Turned into a meme for its ability to jump from platform to platform with almost no disheve (among many other curiosities of his adventure), ‘The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ is another of those role-playing games that catch you from minute one. A mixture of RPG and open world in which following the story is just part of the fun, and the opportunity to create your own is its best asset.
- ‘Mass Effect 2’
- Price: 97 euros
After accelerating the pace of the first and delving even deeper into everything that ‘Mass Effect’ managed to present, ‘Mass Effect 2’ became one of BioWare’s star games and one of the most successful titles on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 A game as great as it is fun that neither the third installment nor the recent ‘Mass Effect Andromeda’ managed to overcome.
- ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’
- Price: 99 euros
Considered by many to be the best installment in the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ saga, the truth is that ‘Vice City’ had a special halo. Not only did it manage to be even more kinky than ‘GTA III’, it also managed to do so by referencing some of the most legendary movies of the ’80s, thereby delivering the ultimate gangster story.
The addition of new troops and a more effective and realistic combat system that abandoned the calculations of probability, made ‘Civilization II’ in the definitive game of Sid Meier. A title of strategy, in which to take control of a tribe and take it to the top of the social evolutionary ladder, from which it was impossible to disengage.
- ‘Quake’
- Price: 99 euros
After the success of games like ‘Doom’ or ‘Wolfenstein’, ‘Quake’ became the father of modern FPS by transferring that gameplay to a 3D environment. A magnificent game with an unsurpassed setting that, despite the passing of the years, is still capable of bringing a smile to anyone who takes control.
- ‘BioShock Infinite’
- Price: 49 euros
After the stumbling of a second installment that failed to maintain the level of the first ‘BioShock’, ‘BioShock Infinite’ became famous for being one of those developments in which the creative department seemed to run more than technology could deliver. Much of what he proposed was lost along the way, but despite this he managed to deliver a memorable closure to the saga that it is impossible not to want to applaud.
- ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’
- Price: 99 euros
Before ‘Skyrim’ was on everyone’s lips, and with the followers of ‘Morrowind’ crying out to heaven for considering that this was a point below, ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’ managed to gain the attention of locals and strangers with a fantastic story and equally recommended gameplay. A game ahead of its time that, however, failed to surprise anyone visually and technically.
