Rumour: Highest Dragon Age 2 Metacritic Score Written By… Bioware?

Reddit user GatoFiasco was surprised to discover that a dubiously high user score for Dragon Age 2 was written by a Bioware employee.

Unfortunately the post in question seems to have been removed if it existed, this may just be some stirring. Even if unconfirmed, the thread makes for interesting reading.

“First post ever, but I think you’ll find this interesting…

Checked out Metacritic for Dragon Age 2 reviews (after hearing about all the changes from Origins, was a bit skeptical). After seeing it gets a generally favorable score, I check out the user reviews, since they usually offer a more accurate portrayal of how a game actually plays.

Right off the bat, I notice there’s something…off with the top user review (by ‘Avanost’). It reads almost like a press release. I do not trust it:

“The immersion and combat of this game are unmatched! A truly moving and fun epic. Anything negative you’ll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference. For what it is, it is flawlessly executed and endlessly entertaining” (emphasis added).

Sketchy to say the least.”

In a slightly stalkerish turn of events the user then decided to undertake some detective work to find out who this “Avanost” really was. They discovered that they had only ever written one review, for Dragon Age 2, and after further probing around on the internet, found that he is an engineer at Bioware. If this is true, it could be a bit of a misstep on the employee’s part judging by the post’s comments, even if this practice is commonplace within the industry.

This news follows reports that Bioware were “a little surprised” by the 6/10 scores Dragon Age 2 was getting at first, and how they “have a fair amount of weight early on”.

For the whole original post, take a wander over to Reddit.

[UPDATE]

It seems that Reddit user SnakeLinkSonic had compiled screenshots of the trail before it was deleted, and that the post may be truth after all. I apologise to GatoFiasco for calling his investigative journalism “stalkerish”, but it is a bit, isn’t it?