Can GameSpot give out another 10 in 2015?

2014 was a great year for gaming with a number of incredible titles. Among those titles, however, there was one clear winner: Shadow of Mordor Bayonetta 2. As we all know, Bayonetta 2 received a perfect 10 and is GameSpot's first 10 since Super Mario Galaxy 2 in 2010. GameSpot doesn't just hand out 10s unlike our friends over at IGN, though, so when a game scores a 10 here it's not only a big deal but also indicative of a game's quality and impact.

You may all think GameSpot's done giving a 10 for a while. After all, Smash Bros. for Wii U just barely fell short; Captain's Toad Treasure Tracker tried and failed. When you consider that it's just safer and more acceptable for GameSpot to hand out 9s and 8s under the new scoring system, and if you really do believe that Bayonetta 2 scoring a 10 was just Mark Walton fanboying hard, yeah, it's easy to believe we won't see a double-digit review score soon. Bayonetta 2 was just a freak accident! Can't possibly happen again. Pfft, it didn't even win Game of the Year!

But wait. There's a new year coming in 21 days. It's gonna be big. Lots of new games. The PS4 might actually be getting some too. One could even claim 2015 is going to be bigger than 2014--it could even be as massive as 2008 or 2011.

And so the question is: can GameSpot give a 10 just a year after its last 10?

Let's just look at 2015's list of games:

• (not MGS5)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

When you consider this incredible list, I think it's fair to say there's ample reason to get hyped for an AAAA megaton next year. Nobody in their right mind can doubt that 2015 is already looking more appealing than 2015 due to the games I just listed above. A 10 represents a game so eminent in its genre that it sets a new standard of excellence: can anyone really doubt the games I listed above can't live up to that? Just review the trailers and footage for all those games, and review the standards set by their predecessors, the pedigree of their developers. It's clear to me, at least, that 2015 has the best shot of gracing us with another 10. But is it clear to you?

A game being an excellent representation of its genre, does not automatically make it the best game in every genre

even a 10 doesn't mean much these days because Bayonetta's 10 for example was awarded by one man not Gamespot, that's why the game didn't win GOTY. Because the rest of the staff didn't agree with the reviewer.

mgs 5 has great chance, its shaping up to be game of the century

uc4 has good chance to be game of generation contender

I guess, but who cares? Bayonetta 2 still didn't get GOTY

Probabaily a movie game from sony will get a 10

Maybe. Would be pretty fun, that's for sure! :D

I hope Zelda and Starfox is so good they deserve 10 :P

these 4 has a good chance,

MGSV

Arkham Knight

Uncharted 4

Witcher 3

I would love it if Nintendo was the only company to get a 10 again for the second straight year.

Don't know, don't care. Even games considered worst in the series by gamers got a 10 here, because of hype. However the biggest candidate is Metal gear solid 5.

Did anyone really expect Bayonetta 2 to get 10? Yeah, i don't think we can predict anything. Lots of awesome games, but to many posisble quirks to make them a 9

lol goty.

If there's 1 thing this year proved is that reviews vouche for the quality of a game far more than those

I am still laughing that shadows got GOTY. Anyway my bet is either zelda or MGS will get a 10 next year if there are any to be handed out.

I agree with TC nearly entirely. MGS V is gonna be the shit.

That being said, I genuinely think Persona 5 has a shot as well.

I'd add FF15 to that list after the latest info. Though that may end up a 2016 game.

@Desmonic: Yo I think FF15's demo only comes in the Special Edition of FF Type 0 HD. Check

Bloodborne deserves it. It's going be a good game regardless

@Blabadon: What I heard was that it only comes in the first shipments. So, if you buy it a few months later new, it will not come with the demo code. Least that's what I've heard.

EDIT:

The cover of the regular edition has the FF15 demo stuff.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-Type-0-HD-PS4/dp/B00NQ10NPW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419088186&sr=8-1&keywords=final+fantasy+type+0+hd

@Desmonic: okay good. Wouldn't want you missing out there lol

@Blabadon: If it didn't I would have until March to realize it and modify the pre-order :P But yeah, it's kind of a weird system. I can imagine a few people will get confused with it.

@Desmonic: You up for Plants Vs Zombies today?

@Blabadon: Sure! But I'll only be home later on. At my 18h (UK time).

@Desmonic: Alright shoot me a PSN PM whenever

@Blabadon: Cool!

Yes

It is called Uncharted 4.

Greatness Awaits.

There's also the high possibility that not many of the editors even put in the time to play the game to a point where they could judge it. Not just for Bayonetta but for many titles nominated (divinity?). How could all of them have the time to put in 10+ hours into 20+ games? GOTY is almost impossible to judge fairly because of the amount of time required to make a fair assessment. Movies only last a 1.5-3 hours whereas games require around 10-100+ hours each.

Well yeah, Any year Gamespot could give a game a 10.

Bayonetta 2 was a pleasant surprise. (shame Mario Kart 8 stole it's award.)

I think above all Bloodborne has a chance, the souls series is still the pinnacle of it's genre despite DS 2 lacking.

The end result comes from who reviews it however, their tastes and biases play a large role.

Sure, I don't see why not. I also don't care about GS scores.

They could rate 10 games a "10" next year or 0 games. It wouldn't matter to me. It's GS. I don't come to the site for their reviews, that's for sure.

I'm (obviously) on board with the idea of MGSV having a good chance at AAAA.

The gameplay is on point. The stealth mechanics are slick as hell and the action almost just as satisfying. Then it's taking those great mechanics and letting them loose in an open world with tons of freedom. Freedom in playstyle, freedom in the breadth of weapons and items at your disposal and freedom of how and when to approach a mission. Not only is this a major step forward for the series, but it seems pretty significant for the genre in general.

Then you'll have the rpg elements with base building, acquiring and training staff, developing new weapons and items...

All of this layered under the typical Koji-Pro production values.

As far as single player goes it's a shoe in for a 10. I think the online will be the deciding factor.

Even if the story completely blows a solid snake, Gamespot won't mind. They loved the shit-pile of a story that was MGS4 and I'm sure MGSV will be much better in that regard.

After this year I just don't even care about Gamespot reviews and staff. They're on level with Kotaku in my eyes.

Doubtful.

I can see a couple of 9's though.

I hope so too.

If Bayonetta 2 can get a 10, then any game can get a 10. I don't trust reviewers anymore. They were fantastic during the PS2 era and earlier, but last gen you could tell they were pushing hipster agenda's and taking bribes. All the websites have lost my trust.

I already know MGSV is a day one buy and a 10/10 game no matter what GS, IGN or any other website says. Uncharted 4 will also deserve a high score. Zelda should not get it as those games are overrated. Witcher 3 shouldn't because it looks too hard. Batman should get a high score....but I am not sure if it's 10/10 quality yet. i need to see more. Starfox...LOL no. Xenoblade...LOL no. No Man's Sky....if it lives up to the hype...yes, but otherwise it looks like a 9/10 game so far.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You'll see more ten's this gen. This is due to the scoring system which started a couple of years back, where they got rid of decimal places and got quite strict on scoring last gen games (started with Skywad Sword's 7.5). I feel this was in preparation for the next generation. Given that circumstance, I think they'll be inclined to hand out more ten's this gen.

It'll be Persona 5.

Bayonetta 2 received a perfect 10

No. It didn't. There was a videocast about this where the reviewers made a point of saying that the "perfect" score ideal is and has been gone for a while because by definition "perfect" makes the score unobtainable, thus useless.

Thought I didn't have to put quotations around "perfect," but apparently I do. Everyone saw the video. And I think the rest of my post implied a 10 doesn't literally mean perfect.

Gamespot has fired most of it's editorial staff and is now farming out a ton of reviews to freelancers.

The scores are completely subjective and meaningless, they really hold no more water than user reviews anymore. If you put a lot of weight in Gamespot's review scores, that really means you need to put a lot of weight in every review score from around the web, or none at all.

look man... I love me some Uncharted but no... it wont be that damn huge of a thing for the entire gen. Sure its gonna be amazing and win awards and sell great and people will love it, but after 2 years people arent gonna be talking about it and hopefully after two years there would be more great games to release too I hope.

MGS5 is gonna be the MGS4 of this gen. In other word it might be the game that defines the gen and will be praised to the highest standards till the end of the gen.

My money is on MGSV or ZeldaU

see the problem is that Bayonetta got a 10 from the person who reviewed it. And GOTY is a process of all the GS staff coming to terms to which game gets the GOTY.

You could think the game that got a 10 is the clear GOTY, but like I just said it was just that reviewer that gave it a 10, not GS as a whole. So it might be a case of not everybody else at GS thought it was a 10, so collectively as a whole GS Staff does not see Bayonetta as the GOTY.

Just like last year, McShea gave TLoU a 8 and everyone else in the GS staff disagreed with him (as well as many many users here who were outraged). GS staff question McShea's score so much that they had a sit down interview with him about why he scored it the way he did. His excuse was that he hated all of the characters except Elie (which pissed off just about everyone and the death threats started raining down again).

The Witcher 3 and MGSV probably...

I don't even understand why the goofs around here put so much stock in Gamespot's scores.

They've only given out a handful of perfect 10's in their existence, and two of them were awarded to GTA IV and MGS IV?

Lolz

What a goddamn joke

GameSpot can give another 10 next year, but I do not know what game may receive it. And I doubt that Metal Gear Soild game will get it, even if other review outlets gave it a 10.

I don't even think GS will be allowed to give any game a 10 next year. The rules for this sort of thing are usually pretty strict. If they are able to make it happen though, I hope Broforce gets that perfect score. They should also re-review and re-rate Plants Vs. Zombies and give that a 10 as well.

Persona 5 is gonna double itself and get a 10.