Granted, non-functional multiplayer is unacceptable out of the box, but to give four of the best shooters ever made a collective six for this deficiency is extremely harsh. Most of these problems will probably be gone in a few weeks, but this Gamespot review will endure for years. I must criticize the editorial staff for reviewing the game in this state, especially seeing that the single-player campaigns are unaffected by the matchmaking issues.

I think this review is aimed more at punishing a developer for releasing a game before its ready than in addressing the game's true merit. I understand Gamespot's disgust with the rushed release, but you guys made the wrong call this time.

Well. Maybe it's time to sell the franchise to someone who actually knows how to do a decent platformer. Nintendo? Wouldn't that be ironic.

Seven out of ten strikes me as the lowest rung in the "acceptable" category: a competent game that doesn't distinguish itself in any particular way. (Anything that scores below a seven has some deficiencies holding it back.) This isn't what I was expecting from a Civ game, and I get the impression from the review that the game may not be feature-complete in that things degenerate into a military slugfest to determine the winner. Still, I have some confidence that expansions will fix this issue - much as they did with Civ 5.

@Caldrin Gamespot gives out 10's once in a blue moon, so you can bet that the whole review crew had a meeting to see if the game really deserved it. It's not just the opinion of one guy. From what I gather from the Bayonetta review, the game never once becomes boring, and the action is varied and fast-paced from beginning to end. Apparently the same cannot be said for Ryse.

"Whoa!" That's what I said when I opened up Gamespot and saw that elusive 10 rating staring me in the face. I wasn't sure I would ever see one of those again. Rest assured that any game that can get a perfect score here has reached the pinnacle of its genre and is not likely to be surpassed in the current generation. These are the games that are remembered fondly long after the hardware we played them on has started collecting dust.

I'm really looking forward to this. Unfortunately I can't get into the game due to queues. I suppose that is to be expected on launch day, but it's disappointing to have hour-long waits. You would think game developers would learn from their past mistakes and have enough server space to show new players why their game is better than other MMO's.

@bizzy-sgs It might have actually been better with a smaller budget. Having bottomless pockets can undermine the discipline it takes to make a quality product.

@kachal I think it's a wake-up call for the industry. And I don't see that as bad at all.

@Metallicwolf29 That has more to do with the number of copies in circulation than in the scores the game got, I think.

@Metallicwolf29 Nintendo may be losing the battle right now, but the goodwill they are generating with their superior games will pay dividends with the next generation of hardware (if there is one). Nintendo has so much money in the bank that they can write off the Wii-U completely and not be in any real trouble.