metacritic.com
In today's hyper-paced world where movies, albums, songs, video games, and television shows are being pumped out with more frequency than ever before, it can be hard to keep up. Plus, for every new media release, there are hundreds of reviews that immediately pour out from every which way alongside them. No matter what kind of entertainment you prefer, it can be overwhelming to try and stay in the loop and get a sense of what is worth watching, listening to, or playing and what is not.
The internet has a lot of great options for spending our leisure time, but it's tough to tell which reviews are credible and which ones aren't.
Besides, when it comes to artistic mediums such as music and film, it can be hard to figure out which reviewers (or even which websites, for that matter) are most likely to have similar enough taste to you to warrant trust in their opinions.
If only there was a site that provided an aggregate overview of general criticism of a given TV show, movie, album, or video game within a matter of just a couple of seconds. Thankfully for film buffs, music lovers, TV bingers, and serious gamers there is such a site. And that site is called Meta Critic.
Maybe you've heard of Meta Critic before. Perhaps you've even depended on one of their ratings in order to decide on what movie to watch. Meta Critic is one of the most dependable authorities on media criticism because Meta Critic does not provide ratings from one reviewer.
Instead of having to search for individual reviews, this site collects all reputable reviews of a new release and averages them into a score. This is much easier than finding each review separately and it's a great way to get a quick and trusted overview of the critical success of something.
History
Meta Critic was created by a brother-sister duo and a law student, Marc Doyle, Julie Doyle Roberts, and Jason Dietz, in 1999. It didn't officially launch until January of 2001.
At first, feedback on the nature of the site was varied. Many people believed that it was too similar to a site that already existed, Rotten Tomatoes. However, Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz believed that their site could differentiate itself enough from Rotten Tomatoes in order to make it a worthy pursuit.
These three visionaries started a site that aggregates and averages movie, TV show, video game, music, and book reviews. The site has since phased out its book reviews.
The website Meta Critic was bought by CNET in 2005 and was later acquired by the CBS Corporation in 2011. Today, it's a major authority on media reviews and is frequently cited by entertainment journalists and fans on a daily basis.
Design
This is my first and major gripe about Meta Critic?s design - it's in need of a revamp. Again, this could just be a matter of personal taste, but I don't find the site at all easy to navigate or intuitive to scan. There is too much going on, in my opinion, and so the eye has trouble figuring out where to go.
The content on the Meta Critic website is somewhat organized into boxes, but it's not easy to browse. The way that these boxes of text are organized is confusing and clunky. There is not much of a streamlined web experience here. The culprit, according to me, is that Meta Critic relies too heavily on text and not enough on user experience. Going through this site is kind of like flipping through the pages of a textbook.
Content
If you're looking for show ratings, they're right there. And finally, to take it a step further, clicking on "What others are saying" opens up a whole world of chatty commenters who are always happy to share their thoughts on a given piece of content.
Meta Critic provides averaged scores for music, movies, TV shows, and video games. So, that is the bulk of the content found here. New releases are ranked by their Meta Critic score out of 100%, and these charts can be found right on the home page separated by the medium. In addition to merely providing the averaged scores however Meta Critic also hooks you up with all of the necessary means to follow up and dig further on a given project like clicking on a movie title will bring you to that film?s page if you're looking for show ratings they?re right there. And finally clicking on "What others are saying?" opens up a whole world of chatty commenters who are always happy to share their thoughts on a given piece of content
This is where you will be able to provide your own rating of the movie (which means that you can find both a Meta Score and a User Score for each release), click into links of all referenced professional reviews that went into creating the aggregate score, and read up on all of the movie's details and credits. Meta Critic is truly one of the most useful sources for reading up on films, shows, albums, and games.
In addition to all of that, Meta Critic publishes lists of the best content, curated and editorialized by their own staff of media pundits and journalists. Plus, they keep you up-to-date on all upcoming releases, read entertainment news, and watch trailers the very minute they are released. Meta Critic truly is like a one-stop shop for anything related to the entertainment world. It could even make for a perfect home page if you're obsessed with music, movies, and television like me!
Desktop and Mobile Experience
As I've already mentioned, the overall experience of Meta Critic is slightly hampered by its less than ideally clunky and text-heavy site design. This, of course, is the case for both its desktop version of the site and its mobile version. Another complaint that I have when it comes to user experience is the fact that Meta Critic still does not have an app available. Perhaps releasing one, should it be executed effectively, could be Meta Critic's answer for those of us who prefer a more minimalist approach to web design.
Another factor to consider: ads. There are a fair number of ads on this site, and they can sometimes degrade the experience of using the site. However, given the fact that Meta Critic is a completely free service, perhaps you can overlook this issue.
Pricing and Plans
As I said, Meta Critic is completely free to use. There are no ?pro? or ?premium? upgrades to lure you into pulling out your wallet. This is a site that genuinely wants to provide users with an accurate overview of media. Use this site as often as you like without ever having to confront a paywall.
Suggestions that I Have for Meta Critic
Personally, I think that Meta Critic could really use a full-blown site design overhaul. If the site were to become less clunky and unnatural to navigate, I think that I would probably visit it once a day. I would even consider making it my home page, as it is such a convenient resource. It's a shame that all this great information needs to be marred by subpar user experience.
I hope to see Meta Critic release an app in the next year or so. I'm surprised that they don't have one already - it is 2020 after all?doesn't everyone have an app?
Conclusion
All in all, I think Meta Critic is a great site for providing accurate and credible media reviews. By averaging scores based on the best of the best in media critiques, Meta Critic is able to provide trustworthy meta scores for releases. Additionally, Meta Critic does a great job of linking users to all subsequent information, credits, and reviews available on a given release. If you are looking for one of the best sources of information when it comes to media releases, look no further than Meta Critic.
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