History Main / EightPointEight

** ''Film/AClockworkOrange'': two star reviews. He liked the ''Die Hard'' sequels, though.

** The [[http://www.the9513.com/rascal-flatts-why/ review]] of Rascal Flatts' "Why" says nothing negative about the song at all until the last paragraph. Apparently, the reviewer gave it a thumbs-down entirely for being too long.

The TropeNamer comes from the unimaginable havoc created by [=GameSpot's=] review of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' in November 2006, which awarded the game a great-but-not-amazing score of 8.8 out of 10. The Internet erupted in anger and chaos, as the game was one of the most anticipated games of all-time, and near-perfect scores were expected.

* The now-defunct Gaming Intelligence Agency gained some infamy for completely rejecting the FourPointScale in its review of ''LegendOfDragoon'', which they gave a 1 out of 5, with the reviewer specifically saying he'd have given it a score of zero if their scale allowed it. While [=LoD=] usually isn't regarded as a great game, few gamers considered it anywhere near ''that'' bad. The [=GIA=]'s letter column raged with debate over the validity of the score (and the rest of the review, which was every bit as negative as the score implied) for months afterward.

* ''Magazine/{{NME}}'s'' [[http://www.nme.com/reviews/adele/11814 6 out of 10]] for Creator/{{Adele}}'s "21" - an otherwise universally acclaimed album (and the 2012 GrammyAward winner for Album of the Year). The reasoning seems to be A) The back half of the album drags down the front, B) Adele's trying to hard to outdo her (American) debut album, "19."

** ''TheUsualSuspects'': one-and-a-half stars, saying that he couldn't follow the story. Today it's considered one of the greatest PlotTwist films ever made and the film won various awards, including Kevin Spacey winning an AcademyAward. If you go to his review page for the film, you'll see how pubic opinion gave the film three-and-a-half stars, compared to Ebert's very low score.

* Plenty of people have gone apeshit over IGN giving ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' (the movie) a 6/10 even though the movie ''wasn't even out yet'' so none of the people complaining had actually seen it. [[note]]Actually, it ended up becoming one of the best reviewed movies of the year, so that may actually be a straight example. Must have had something to do with the 3D.[[/note]]
** [[PraisingShowsYouDontWatch People do that all the time.]] On websites where it's possible for users to "rate" games before they're released, it's entirely possible to see games that aren't even officially completed yet with 10.0 scores.
*** Other users will often try to counter these early reviews with 0.0 reviews which, if they even have text, generally consist of rants against people who give games early 10.0 ratings.
*** Something to this effect happened on Metacritic, where thousands of users rated ''LittleBigPlanet'' with 0.0 scores ''without having actually played it.'' For revenge, thousands rated ''Gears of War 2'' with 0.0 scores ''without having played it.''
** Happens all the time on RottenTomatoes. If a movie receives a large amount of positive reviews before its official release to the public in a row, putting it at 100%, the first review to kill its perfect rating will earn no less than 100 comments of people defending a movie they haven't seen and overall slinging personal attacks.
*** The reverse happened with SeltzerAndFriedberg's ''Epic Movie'', which had been rated at 0% until Entertainment Weekly's Owen Glieberman gave it a middling-but-not-totally negative review, leading a majority of [[{{Hatedom}} "Seltzerberg" haters]] ripping into Glieberman and his "lack of taste in movies".
** Similarly, Michael Ordoña's review of ''Film/VampiresSuck'' awarded the film only one-and-a-half stars, it was still positive enough to be proclaimed "fresh". He's gotten a lot of flak for it from members of the RT community - most of whom probably [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch haven't seen the movie.]]
* Leonard Maltin infamously gave ''{{Laserblast}} 2'' and 1/2 stars. The film was later riffed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' and Maltin was mocked along with the terrible film. He also gave ''The Undead'' 3 stars, and was again mocked along with the film, with Mike Nelson dressing up as Leonard Maltin and talking about how stupid he was for giving the film such a good review. To his credit, Maltin appeared on a later [=MST3K=] episode and had a sense of humor about it.
** Maltin is famous for his recognition of the fact that all his reviews are subjective and based on his own opinion of the film and that other people will probably feel different. Combine this with his legendary sense of humor and good nature and you get the reason why despite not agreeing with his reviews people still generally like and respect him, including the guys over at [=MST3K=].

* At a RogerEbert lecture, one of the questioners asked directly why he had given ''FightClub'' 2 stars but ''Booty Call'' 3.
** He also gave ''Film/DieHard'' and ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' two star reviews. He liked the ''Die Hard'' sequels, though.
*** In another Ebert example: not unlike Yahtzee and ''Brawl'', he wrote [[http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/07/i_am_a_brainiac.html a rebuttal]] towards the response to his ''[[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' review that criticized the fanbase of blind devotion ("Those who think 'Transformers' is a great or even a good film are, may I tactfully suggest, not sufficiently evolved"), but despite what many believe, he never phrased anything to say that simply ''enjoying'' the movie makes a person an idiot ("If you enjoyed the movie, there is no way I can say you're wrong.")[[note]]this is the key dividing line between admiring a work for its quality and enjoying it as a GuiltyPleasure[[/note]]. Never have we seen Ebert being so scathing since ''{{North}}''.
*** [[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-bay29-2009jun29,0,6806652.story there's an article]] talking about how ''Revenge of the Fallen'' may become the worst-reviewed movie to surpass the $400 million mark. The article points out how [[CriticalDissonance there's a clear disconnect between what the critics are saying and what the audiences want and expect.]] For the most part, it seems as though critics and half of the ''Transformers'' fanbase hate it because it's really nothing more than [[HumongousMecha giant robots]] [[StuffBlowingUp making shit blow up]] (it has 19% on RottenTomatoes), whereas the general audience and the other half of the fanbase love it for [[LoveItOrHateIt the exact same reasons.]]
** Ebert also got saddled with the inverse of this trope when he called ''{{Knowing}}'', which most other critics hated, "among the best science-fiction films I've seen."

*** Also related: while picking his "[[http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts.php?identifier=619 Worst of 2009]]" list, James Berardinelli chose ''2012'' instead of ''Transformers'' "because it is marginally more tedious".
** One of the biggest Ebert examples is the film ''TheUsualSuspects'', which he gave one-and-a-half stars. Today it's considered one of the greatest PlotTwist films ever made and the film won various awards, including Kevin Spacey winning an AcademyAward. If you go to his review page for the film, you'll see how pubic opinion gave the film three-and-a-half stars, compared to Ebert's very low score.
** Ebert does this a lot. His reason is basically that he compares films to other films of its type, rather than to everything generally. To quote TheOtherWiki: "Ebert has described his critical approach to films as "relative, not absolute"; he reviews a film for what he feels will be its prospective audience, yet always with at least some consideration as to its value as a whole."
** He also gave BlueVelvet one star (which has a 7.8 on the IMDB) while giving the 2005 movie version of TheHoneymooners three stars (which has a 2.8 on the IMDB). He is also the only reviewer on RottenTomatoes to not like the movie ''Film/{{Brazil}}'' and the only one on RT to like the movie ''Film/Speed2CruiseControl''.
*** To quote Ebert himself, [[CatchPhrase repeatedly]]: '''"A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it."'''
** It's not just Ebert who has been prone to do this. Gene Siskel has notably gone against the grain in regards to near-unanimously praised science fiction films:
*** The original ''{{Terminator}}''. Siskel ridiculed the film for "not having enough suspense", (in spite of the fact that several of the scenes have been chosen for numerous "scariest moments" lists of the last two decades), and believed it should have been a much more involved love story.
*** In their review of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Siskel gave it a "thumbs down" for having relentless action for the last hour (the same thing many other reviewers praised it for) and that main star Sigourney Weaver was "beneath" the film's writing - which was later trounced by her garnering an Academy Award nomination for her performance.

* Movie example: Plenty of people have gone apeshit over IGN giving ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' (the movie) a 6/10 even though the movie ''wasn't even out yet'' so none of the people complaining had actually seen it. [[note]]Actually, it ended up becoming one of the best reviewed movies of the year, so that may actually be a straight example. Must have had something to do with the 3D.[[/note]]

%% Avoid the word "recently" and don't refer to anything as if it just happened. People will still be reading this page months from now.

[[quoteright:337:[[WebVideo/ZeroPunctuation http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meh_meh_meh_meh_meh_8099.jpg]]]]

** Armond White is a notorious CommanderContrarian, regularly giving negative reviews to positively received movies and vice versa, often with incredibly flimsy justifications.

[[quoteright:337:[[ZeroPunctuation http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/meh_meh_meh_meh_meh_8099.jpg]]]]

** As a rule, [=GameInformer=] pans any FPS made for the Wii. This trope really came into play when they gave ''GoldenEyeWii'' a 6.5 out of 10.

* ''Videogame/ResidentEvil6'' received a mere 4.0/10.0 (well below the average critic score), causing an enormous uproar, with disgruntled fans vindictively bringing it up in the comments sections of unrelated articles for months afterwards. ''WebVideo/{{Feebackula}}'', a weekly [=GameSpot=] video series about mocking the worst comments for a given article, used the frequent complaints about the review as a RunningGag as they became less and less relevant to the site over time, yet kept popping up.

* Nomad, chief reviewer of Absolute Games fame, [[MoneyDearBoy is]] [[{{Hypocrite}} notorious]] [[SellOut for]] [[StrawHypocrite this]]. When the site was plastered with ads for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', he gave it a perfect score. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', on the other hand, didn't get any ads on the site, and got a 74% (the game's lowest rating on Metacritic.) Mentioning Metacritic on the site is now a bannable offense.
** The site itself is notorious for harsh reviews and low scores, often making the lowest ratings for the Metacritic lists (such as reviews for the [[http://www.ag.ru/games/borderlands/review Borderlands (50/100)]] and [[http://www.ag.ru/games/hotline-miami/review Hotline Miami (30/100)]]).

** The aforementioned response made even funnier by Yahtzee hammering one [[FanDumb enlightened young fan]] who had criticised him for '''not''' using numbers in his reviews. Yahtzee proceeded to expound his opinion that a complex explanation of one's opinion '''cannot''' be reduced to a simple number, culminating in his final comment "You like numbers so much? Alright then, how about four? As in "FOUR-K YOU!" Complete with a giant number four falling from the sky to crush a cartoon of the commentator.

** This happened again regarding his review of the PS3's DVD/Bluray player. Long story short he makes a comment about how he likes his [=DVDs=] (upscaled through the PS3) but doesn't care much for the Blurays (saying unless you have a big HD tv it's not worth the prices). Cue shirtstorm on Cinemassacre calling him an amateur or hack or saying he knows nothing about movies.

* [=NGamer=] faced heavy criticism after "only" giving ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'' a score of 93%. In response they gave away a free gift of a 95% sticker to paste over the next review score you disagree with.

* LostOdyssey, 36/40 from Famitsu and and average of 78/100 from Western reviewers. Apparently the copies that game reviewers receive from Microsoft to review is ''not'' identical to the retail version that they sell to gamers. The main difference is major load time reduction. While that is exactly the common criticism about the game, [[TheyJustDidntCare no review site bother to adjust their score]].
* The now-defunct Gaming Intelligence Agency gained some infamy for completely rejecting the FourPointScale in its review of ''LegendOfDragoon'', which they gave a 1 out of 5. With the reviewer specifically saying he'd have given it a score of zero if their scale allowed it. While [=LoD=] usually isn't regarded as a great game, few gamers considered it anywhere near ''that'' bad. The [=GIA=]'s letter column raged with debate over the validity of the score (and the rest of the review, which was every bit as negative as the score implied) for months afterward.

* The now-defunct magazine ''[=GameFan=]'' had a rather infamous pair of Final Fantasy reviews. When ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' came out, they couldn't stop gushing about it. Reviewers called it "the best game of all time," "The best entertainment product ever produced," and "a possible life-altering experience for all who play it." Perfect 100's all around. Okay, fine. A year later, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' came along, and the same reviewers trashed it with low scores and general derision. Why? Because it was "the same as FFVII." Especially ironic in that while FFVIII is seen as the black sheep of the franchise in some circles, its detractors dislike it because it's so DIFFERENT from the other titles, not because it's the same. The review also complained about the heavy sci-fi influence compared to earlier games, even though ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' had just as much, if not ''more'', sci-fi influences than its successor.

*** For some reason, American reviews for ''DynastyWarriors'' games are often misleading or even blatantly false. A review of ''Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War'' claims that it's more of the same as ''Dynasty Warriors'' because it's by the same development team and has a similar art style . . . despite not even being in the same ''genre'' (it's a RealTimeStrategy game in a HackAndSlash series.)

** [=GamesRadar=] also gave ''Catherine'' a 5/10 on a Import Review. Their main complaint with it was the NintendoHard difficulty and bad AI. Apparently, the only thing the review meant is that the game isn't worth importing. Mind you, when it actually got released in North America it was re-reviewed into an 8/10 though not by the same reviewer.
** When [=GamesRadar=] gave Halo Reach an 8/10 score the outcry was such that it became a Running Gag on all future reviews that any game scored above an 8 was considered by the site as a better game than Reach, [[{{insanetrolllogic}} even if they were completely different genres]]. The dramatic live reading of the comments [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jWMtsdz3tE has to be heard to be believed. ]]
** The review of ''Skyward Sword'' also got a lot of hate, with fans saying their critics on following the typical Zelda formula were way too harsh and complaining that the reviewer said that ''Twilight Princess'' is better. [[FanDumb Skyward Sword's score was 9/10]], and no, [=GamesRadar=] doesn't uses fractions.

** Not surprising however when the same reviewer gave a higher score to ModernWarfare2 because only games with 'originality' can score higher than a 9.3. How much originality could you expect from a sequel?

* The word Epic gets tossed around with reckless abandon [[{{Understatement}} on occassion]] but the level of vitriol and outright hatred directed at [=VideoGamesDaily=] reviewer Edwin Evans-Thirlwell over his giving ''VideoGame/GodOfWar 3'' an [[http://videogamesdaily.com/reviews/201003/god-of-war-3-review/ 8 out of 10]] on account of it being a good yet in no way revolutionary entry into the series is truly worthy of such a lofty description. Strangely fitting, considering the subject of the review. It's too bad that there was no internet Flame Shield power up or GoldenFleece he could've used to protect him from all of those heated barbs.
* TheIrateGamer has a recurring history of targeting well-regarded games. Examples include ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'', ''[[VideoGame/TheGoonies The Goonies II]]'', ''{{Contra}}'' (along with ''Super C'' and ''Contra III''), ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'', ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame'', ''[[VideoGame/AladdinCapcom Capcom's version of Aladdin]]'', ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', ''[[VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Tekken 6]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn Kirby's Epic Yarn]]''. Needless to say, this hasn't helped his already [[SerialNumbersFiledOff tainted]] [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd reputation]]

** GI also seems to be very inconsistent with their reviews. At the time ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' was released, they gave it a great review. Years later, they added it to their list of the Top 200 Greatest Games of All Time. Then, in an article about the worst modern-day games, they listed [=RE4=] as one of them and ranted on and on about how they hated it (and no, that wasn't an April Fool's joke in case you're wondering)...only to give the HD re-release (which came out almost a year later) a good review.

* ''Magazine/AmigaPower'' was famous for its "[[BrutalHonesty honesty above all else]]" policy and using the whole range of the percentage scale (50% was average, 60% better than average, 75% was a pretty good game - at a time when most other magazines gave a game 80% just for existing), which its readers loved. ''Game publishers'', however, felt differently. Responses ranged from not sending any review copies (the review for the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' game mentioned they had to buy it with their own money) to accusing them of killing off the {{Amiga}} games industry.

* At one point, [=GameRevolution=] gave ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' a B+ (Which is not a bad score, equating to around the same score as the page title) [[http://www.gamerevolution.com/mailbag/2006/jesus_vs_zelda The fans were not overly happy with this.]]

* An at-the-time famous incident from many years ago where in 1995 ''Gamefan'' magazine gave ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' a bad review without playing it all the way through. WorkingDesigns complained and withdrew all advertising. [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.sega/browse_thread/thread/d414870b54613a76/2615ebdfb230451e Gamefan's response]] looked even sillier. Eventually [[http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/threads/19521-Gamefan-quotes!/page2 in 1997]] Gamefan had to print a retraction admitting they only played 1/3 of the game.

* Nomad, chief reviewer of Absolute Games fame, is notorious for this. When the site was plastered with ads for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', he gave it a perfect score. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', on the other hand, didn't get any ads on the site, and got a 74% (the game's lowest rating on Metacritic.) Mentioning Metacritic on the site is now a bannable offense.
** The site itself is notorious for harsh reviews and low scores, often making the lowest ratings for the Metacritic lists (such as reviews for the [[http://www.ag.ru/games/borderlands/review Borderlands (50/100)]] and [[http://www.ag.ru/games/hotline-miami/review Hotline Miami (30/100)]] ).

* ''ModernWarfare 3'' has become a big case of this. Taking the stats from GameFAQs, the Metacritic average for the XBOX 360 release is at 89. Reader review and rating averages, on the other hand? 7.1 and 6.0 respectively (and on Metacritic, about 67% of user reviews are negative).

* Even NintendoPower magazine isn't immune to this kind of backlash. In one issue they had to quell fan complaints that they had "only" scored [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]] a "measly" 9.4 out of 10. They even pointed out that it was the third-highest score they had ever given under their present rating system, behind only [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]] and PerfectDark.

** One of the biggest Ebert examples is the film ''TheUsualSuspects'', which he gave one-and-a-half stars. Today its considered one of the greatest PlotTwist films ever made and the film won various awards, including Kevin Spacey winning an AcademyAward. If you go to his review page for the film, you'll see how pubic opinion gave the film three-and-a-half stars, compared to Ebert's very low score.

* He also caught quite a bit of flack for giving ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' a low score. When he went on to give ''[[VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarKensRage Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage'']] an 8/10, you could hear people the world over call "Bullshit!"

* ''Modern Warfare 3'' was also reviewed by Jim Sterling who gave it 9.5/10, when others were hovering around the 6.9-7.1 range. This sparked off a storm of comments and criticism, to the point that Sterling wrote a follow up article responding to another, less favourable review from Rock Paper Shotgun's John Walker.

* ''LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' has been getting 8's and 9's across the board. Gamespot's review? '''''6.5'''''! This will not end well...
** Worse, the reason for this low score? A boss fight. ''One'' boss fight. Admittedly it is a rather annoying boss, but bad enough to warrant a 3.5 point deduction? Not even close.

* IGN gave [[http://ps3.ign.com/articles/113/1136103p1.html a review]] to the heavily-anticipated ''GranTurismo 5''. They gave it an 8.5, a lower score than ''ForzaMotorsport 3''. [[OhCrap Uh-oh.]]
* IGN gave the PSP remake of ''ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' a [[http://psp.ign.com/objects/142/14242610.html 2.5]]. A 2.5! Considering how the game has been getting decent to good reviews elsewhere really makes you wonder. At least they gave the sequel an 8.
* IGN's 7.9 score for ''VideoGame/MarioKart: Double Dash'' led to the expression "7.9'd", another name for this trope, and is still used in the IGN community.

* IGN's 7.6 score for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. Made especially enraging to fans of the game since IGN gave ''KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', which is widely considered weaker due to being on a handheld system and featuring card-based battles, a much higher score.

* IGN's 7.6 review of ''NoMoreHeroes''. Different sources gave scores in the 8.5 range (Gamespot gave it 9.0, N Gamer gave it 9.4, ''{{X-Play}}'' gave it a 5 out of 5; hell, even IGN AU gave it 8.9).
* IGN's 6.7 score for ''{{Disgaea 3}}'' compared to the average score of 8.13 (before review) primarily for its graphics and lack of improvements. Controversial enough to warrant a second opinion immediately after the review.

* IGN has been getting hate-mail over their 8.8 score of the DS port for ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. Others are just noting the irony of the meme actually being applied to a game often heralded as one of the greatest of all time (including by IGN).
** The reason it didn't get a better score was because it was a straight port with lackluster additional content, which seems awfully lazy when you consider that Square gave ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV 3D'' remakes. This is a common complaint, really.

* A buzz started up due to two reviews on ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' on RottenTomatoes, which brought the film down from a 100% to 99%. To be fair, this has to do with running the almost hat trick of all three movies having perfect scores, and many complaints ''against'' the reviews were valid.

* A [[http://www.rpgamer.com/games/socean/so4/reviews/so4strev1.html review]] by [[http://www.rpgamer.com RPGamer]] of ''StarOceanTheLastHope'' resulted in a 2.5/5. This resulted in a slough of people spluttering rage, including several who had migrated from GameFAQs and started up an account on the RPGamer forums specifically to denounce the review, and resulting in what may be the longest discussion thread on a "site update" ''ever''. There was also a coincidental forum bug that changed everyone's avatars to the same ''Star Ocean 4'' avatar, leading some to speculate that the site had been hacked before it was revealed to simply be a recurring problem with their forum software.
** Similar uproars in the past have stemmed from the likes of ''Operation Darkness'' and ''PhantasyStar Universe'', both of which were heavily panned. While all three games were critically panned anyway, the RPGamer scores were dramatically lower than other sources.

* IGN's 6.7 score for ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3}}'' compared to the average score of 8.13 (before review) primarily for its graphics and lack of improvements. Controversial enough to warrant a second opinion immediately after the review.

* ''AmigaPower'' was famous for its "[[BrutalHonesty honesty above all else]]" policy and using the whole range of the percentage scale (50% was average, 60% better than average, 75% was a pretty good game - at a time when most other magazines gave a game 80% just for existing), which its readers loved. The ''publishers'', however, felt differently. Responses ranged from not sending them review copies (the review for the ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' game mentioned they had to buy it with their own money) to accusing them of killing off the {{Amiga}} games industry.
** A particularly notable example was that of ''VideoGame/{{Rise of the Robots}}'', which Amiga Power awarded 5%, having listed its myriad flaws (in particular the fact that, no matter what, [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction employing the flying kick move would cause your character to win every time]]). Most other magazines awarded it scores in the 90s, mainly because it had good graphics.