the Metacritic page for the PlayStation 5 version of sonic frontiers is currently under fire, apparently in response to popular gaming YouTuber Videogamedunkey’s latest video. As expected, Sonic Stans is back just as strong, defending the virtues of the blue hedgehog’s latest 3D adventure. Sonic hardliners claim that Dunkey viewers are behind the bombing, but in a bizarre twist, the YouTuber maintains that Sonic The fans are behind the bombing.
That said, there is no doubt that dunkey’s new video goes in pretty hard sonic frontiers, mocking its supposed “open zone gameplay” by showing instances of the game restricting its movement, among other criticisms. The video ends with a series of side-by-side comparisons, meant to sound absurd, showcasing the game’s high Metacritic user score relative to those of several other beloved games.
At the time you recorded, sonic frontiers had a Metacritic user score of 8.8 compared to breath of the wild8.7, elden ringIt’s 7.8, and Hell’ 8.8. Shortly after the debut of the video, Dunkey shared a screenshot on Twitter showing three 0-rated user reviews from Metacritic users with “Dunkey” in their display names, claiming that “Sonic fans are reviewing their own favorite game to make [his] the fans look bad.”
One of the review bombs with screenshot reads: “I thought I liked this game at first, but then I saw Dunkey’s video about it, and then I realized this game is really BAD.” Another says the author “had no opinion on the game, but after seeing Dunkey’s review [they] came to the conclusion that this game is just not good” before suggesting readers watch more Dunkey videos.
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While those three reviews are no longer on Metacritic, Kotaku has found many others that remain active, adding to sonic frontiers The sudden series of PS5 0-point user reviews.
Dunkey later added another tweet to his thread: “In the end, far more positive reviews are being left than negative (and 90% of Sonic fans are leaving both), and my intention was never to send bombed reviews.”
Read more: that new Sonic The game is a strange and lonely mess (that I can’t stop playing)
Several sonic frontiers user reviews mention Dunkey, including a perfect score from “Dunkeywaswrong” hailing it as “the best 3D Sonic as sonic adventure 2.” Another user writes “Dunkey fans review blitz just increased the score ;)”. User Shaydows writes that they “would have given it an 8, but thanks to the Dunkey fans I had to change it to a 10.” Long story short, yet another example of video game fans using Metacritic as an ideological battleground.
Kotaku reached out to Videogamedunkey for comment.
At the time of writing, sonic frontiers it has a user meta score of 8.5 on PS5, 8.5 on PC, and 8.3 on Xbox Series X.
