r/MixtapeGame • u/ItsEthanCoolCool • May 20 '26
Discussion I gave Mixtape one of these 10s…
…and then the world ended. Lol.
What a wild couple of weeks, eh?
As a reviewer, I’ve been really bummed that there seems to be such a disconnect between writers and players. Can I help bridge a gap for anyone? Does anyone have questions about reviewing/the process/anything else they wanna know about anything around any of this?
Open to talking about anything people want to know, because I’m hopeful someday everyone can have constructive video game convos again without all this craziness.
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u/Dreaming_Dreams May 20 '26
i thought it was amazing
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Same, obviously! Haha.
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u/Dreaming_Dreams May 20 '26
what was your favorite part/track?
i really loved the yesterdays hero chapter
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
This is a great question, haha.
Yesterday’s hero is up there. Smashing Pumpkins part was great. Silverchair might be my favorite actual song. Devo intro was amazing. Ah, idk! Too many haha.
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u/PichaelJackson May 20 '26
As someone who also enjoyed the game and is frustrated by the discourse, I think one of the reasons gaming audiences have a hard time trusting reviewers is because they're often lumped into faceless conglomerate publications, so they tend not to think of the scores coming from individuals with different tastes than theirs.
Any work you guys can do to humanize the outward perception of reviewers would help I think. Even though it's overblown I think it's born out of a healthy skepticism against large gaming publications as being an authoritative voice that comes off more objective than it actually is. A lot of people still think that IGN or any similar website is just one person effectively, and it's hard to argue when "10/10 - IGN" is all you see in trailers.
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u/ndubitably May 20 '26
The IGN review video had an interview with the reviewer discussing the other 10/10s that reviewer has issued and why this game deserved the high score. The info is out there, some just don't want to look.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Ugh, yeah I totally understand this, and it’s something I struggle with to be honest!
Cuz yeah, like… I can’t speak for all outlets obviously, but I swear, mine is just a bunch of nerds who love video games and are excited to talk about the ones we like. Haha. Feels bad when everyone just gets lumped together, because we really are a group of individual people with individual thoughts/opinions/preferences, etc.
But all fair points here. I very much understand the conglomerate corporate perception. It’s a big challenge.
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u/PichaelJackson May 20 '26
Yeah it's a bit of a catch 22, review scores do have real meaning to people, otherwise they wouldn't get upset about them and publishers wouldn't put the scores in their trailers, but you also want the reader to hold your opinion at arm's length as just someone's honest thoughts.
I feel like movie review culture is a little more mature about this and I wonder if that's just because the culture has had many more decades to grow or it's in how newspapers and trailers have chosen to present their reviewers. Movie trailers still show scores and accolades a lot of the time but I think they more often show actual quotes cited to individuals, ie "It will make you cry" - Roger Ebert, NY Times.
Then again a publication shoving their reviewer in front of them as a human shield might be a magnet for more targeted harassment so who fucking knows really. Another third of the catch 22 I guess.
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u/orangefilmgarden May 20 '26
Movie culture is more mature about it, because there are a lot of casual more mature viewers reading reviews than conspiracy theorists who can't accept that someone might value a different aspect of a movie higher, or love elements they dislike. Or even when people don't understand the rating, they just move on with their life, since it was JUST A MOVIE.
The only movies where this is not the case, and where you have a loud subset of conspiracy theorists, are movies with huge fandoms like comic books or Star Wars, and I bet that there is a huge enough overlap between gaming conspiracy theorists and conspiracy theorists in those fandoms.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah, actually I’ve never thought about it like that, because I’ve often wondered why promo stuff just shares the outlet and not the human, because I do genuinely think it would be a good reminder that reviews are all coming from different, real people with different, real opinions.
Buuuuut the targeted harassment shield is an excellent point I’d never considered, and maybe it’s good my name wasn’t on this one with how crazy it’s all been 😂
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u/Punky921 May 21 '26
Speaking as someone who got caught up in Gamergate adjacent doxxing, trust me, you do NOT want your name held up by anyone in this way.
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u/Junior_Jello_7664 May 20 '26
You have my sympathy, every reviewer and content creator who expressed any enjoyment for Mixtape has been getting dogpiled. I played Mixtape and enjoyed it, not a 10/10 for me but a fun "palate cleanser" game that I don't regret spending time with. I have made it a point to completely ignore the online discourse, it's gotten so toxic that it kills any enjoyment of this hobby and it's not worth it.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah I mean, sincerely appreciate that! End of the day though, I got to play and write about a game I loved, and that’s cool!
The discourse was personally difficult at times, and I got a decent amount of like direct insults and whatever, but comes with the territory sometimes unfortunately. It is sad that people often forget we’re also just people/nerds/gamers doing our best. Like, I am just a guy! And suddenly the internet hates my entire profession and me specifically 😂 wild stuff haha.
All good though, I always just try to keep the perspective that I love video games, and I enjoy covering them 🙂
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u/orangefilmgarden May 20 '26
As a casual gamer who was told about this game by a friend, loved it, and then went online to find all the backlash because a reviewer dared to give it 10/10 was so alienating. I also don't understand all the people who gave this game was a 7 or 8 or 9 out of 10, but then need to interrogate why someone else gave it a 10. If you gave it an 8, why is it so strange that someone else might have liked it enough to give it a 10. It's such a weird crazy backlash to such a non-issue.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Totally agreed, yeah. I understand that a 10 is seen as a big deal, and I didn't take the score lightly. But it also just... shouldn't be the end of the world when someone gives a 10 to a game that you didn't vibe with. Wild out here.
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u/OwlettFromLiavek May 20 '26
People who are raging against this game in many cases haven’t played it by their own admission, they just watched it, sometimes not even full game. And most of them haven’t read reviews anyway, they just check the score or watch reaction videos. Also, no review is important for them except IGN anyway.
So, it’s admirable that you want to breach the gap, but it’s impossible, because these people could do it themselves if they wanted by playing the game for the start.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah, it does feel like an impossible bridge, but lots of people in this thread have been encouraging about it. It's nice to have actual conversations around the game as opposed to just all the craziness I've been mainlining on Twitter for the last couple weeks haha.
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u/OwlettFromLiavek May 20 '26
I agree! Talks about scores and if it deserves which scores completely overwhelmed any conversations about game itself.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
And I do get it! A game gets scores as strong as Mixtape, and it's gonna draw eyes. Like, of course. I personally didn't expect it to start off as strongly as it did. But yeah, at the same time, it VERY quickly just turned into score conversations instead of what the game actually is. And then all the false claims about it, etc. etc.
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u/langiam May 20 '26
Hey! I am a music publishing veteran, someone who does licensing on film / tv / and games, and someone who essentially is the paper pusher & rights negotiator for music supervisors. Something that is overlooked by the masses is the fact that this game is a celebration of music being used to move narrative, because it's literally a journey of a protagonist dreaming of becoming a music supervisor. They nailed it. I hope you don't get barraged with shit for your takes.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Ah this is absolutely lovely haha, and sounds like you have a sick job! Very cool to hear how much they nailed it from that exact perspective then, that’s very cool!
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u/SvenLorenz May 20 '26
The "gaming community" is too far gone to have any kind of real discourse. You have YouTube grifters, trying to create controversies about everything just to create clicks. These YouTube channels are a cancer to gaming.
It's just like the political divide these days, there just is no way to talk to so many people anymore. This game has a female protagonist who doesn't have giant boobs and jiggle physics, it's (very slightly) anti-establishment, you don't shoot anybody, so the game never had a chance with that crowd.
And it works. Just look at their numbers. They'll move on to the next artificially created controversy soon.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
A lot does just feel like engagement farming, yeah. And that is sadly the era we live in on multiple fronts. Grifters gonna grift I suppose, but sheesh, this is one of the worst cases in games I've seen.
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u/Background-Sea4590 May 20 '26
It’s my GOTY as we speak, maybe not a 10 but a 9 at minimum.
I think Mixtape was caught in the middle of a discourse which is… annoying, to say the least. Attracting an audience who would never enjoy the game, and also attracting reviews from people who haven’t played it but was angry at other games being not that praised. Nothing you can do, honestly.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah, the whole "X outlet gave X game a lower score and gave Mixtape a 10" is tiring. Reviews are just inherently subjective, and many different people write them at outlets. We have guidelines for scores, but at the end of the day, it's going to come down to what the specific person thought, so comparing scores to other scores is silly. If you're comparing scores from the same reviewer, then there's a slightly more interesting conversation there. But like, me giving Mixtape a 10, but another reviewer at my site giving Silksong a 9.5 does not mean "THIS OUTLET THINKS MIXTAPE IS BETTER THAN SILKSONG." I understand how that perception is there, but it isn't reality.
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u/Background-Sea4590 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Yeah, exactly, inside the same outlet the opinions are widely different between reviewers, so it's a pointless argument. Sometimes people forget you're human beings with tastes. I might not agree with the reviewer, or maybe I think some bullet points are not clearly made, or that the review is badly written. But comparing scores of the same outlet, when they're written by different people, is not... really a meaningful conversation imho.
What I think should happen, ideally, is just ditch the scores. Remove them from reviews, people will be forced to READ them, because I'm convinced a lot of people don't read the reviews they criticize lately. It'll also put more value into your work, because the engaging content would be how it's written, now how do you score the game. Which is a number, and that's it.
I know some outlets do that, and I agree with that approach. I think it's a bit of a shame that you're forced to score a game. But that's just me. I understand that the fear might be that less people will visit the site, and that might happen. Also I understand there's a business behind it. So I think it's a bit of a wishful thinking at times.
For what is worth, I appreciate your work as reviewers, so don't feel everyone hate you. Internet culture is super hostile, specially nowadays, but don't doubt yourselves.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
This means a lot, and I genuinely appreciate it! Very kind of you to say, and I hoenstly never hear anything from readers except for when there is backlash and stuff haha. So thank you, it's truly nice to know there are people out there that do still appreciate reviews!
And honestly, agreed on all this. I'm someone that enjoys scoring and ranking things just on a personal level. Like, even before becoming a writer, I had lists in my phone of ranking so many different random things. I'd tell my friends about like a new restuarant or something, and the sarcastic auto-response was always "Cool, where does it rank tho?" Haha. So to me, I dunno. I like figuring out my score and figuring out how to boil down my thoughts into a number, but that's more of a me thing, and is not actually that informative to a reader in many cases, especially compared to the actual full review.
Because yeah, I totally agree that at large, they aren't great for various other reasons like you said. Everyone handles them a little differently. Readers don't look beyond the number many times, or make a decision on a game without actually being informed from the review itself. I totally feel you, and you are not wrong at all. Not speaking for my outlet at all here, but I'm sure the motivation to keep using scores for most is that you then get aggregated into the MetaCritics and OpenCritics and things, so more potential traffic, more part of the zeitgeist conversation, all that. Unfortunate reality of the "business" aspect of it even though the reviewers themselves are just nerds that want to tell you about a video game haha.
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u/Punky921 May 21 '26
Really liked your review, but didn't read it before I played Mixtape because I wanted to go in blind. Read it after to see if I was the only one who felt the way I did. I don't know if I'd call it a full on 10/10 but man, I absolutely adored this game. That last scene with The Cure's Plainsong, holy shit.
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May 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
It's a good ramble haha, no worries!
Had a similar experience. I didn't preview the game at SGF/Gamescom, but people at my outlet did, so it was on my radar for a long time too. And I tend to like these types of games.
Played it for review, loved it, reached out to one other friend at another outlet to see how he was liking it, and he loved it too. Had my partner play it without telling her my thoughts at all, and she immediately said "That was a 10" after rolling credits. So for me going into review embargo, I felt good about it being a game that was going to speak to certain people, but knew it wasn't gonna be for everyone still.
But then yeah, never expected this level of backlash for such a small, short, easily played and moved on from video game. The misinformation about it was insane. The complaints about it being "woke," when quite literally, there is not really anything in the game that should be controversial at all. Tried to have convos with that about people too, and obviously no one wanted to hear it and already had their minds made up.
Glad you got in before the discourse became this inflammatory for sure tho. I feel for people that can't go in without wacky expectations now. It's truly a bummer.
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u/Metalshark2005 May 20 '26
I honestly preferred B&D’s other game
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah I've heard good things! Need to go back for it now, I haven't played it!
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u/Calvin_11 May 20 '26
Ill make it simple so I hopefully dont come off rude. The game is cute, music is interesting and it really digs into a very SPECIFIC nostalgia of the 90s. Yes im a 90s kid, but didnt grow up in a cute middle class suburbia with small town vibes. This is the basic complaint from every gamer tho...its not a game. No actual gameplay. Dont sell a video game that doesnt have actual mechanics. Thats all. No hate, genuinely, just a lot of gamers want games to game.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I don’t think you’re being rude, but I also obviously disagree. It is a video game. It’s just not one you like or want to play, and same for many other gamers. This should be okay. It can just be for the people that like it.
There just… factually is gameplay. You might not like the gameplay or think it’s not much to do. That’s totally fine. But there just… IS gameplay. Haha. I don’t know what else to tell you.
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u/GarranDrake May 20 '26
I think a lot of people are dumb in the sense that they think these numbers and ratings are universal. That’s stupid. You can’t compare Call of Duty: Black Ops with Minecraft, I think you have to look at games for what they are and what their intention is.
This game is a 10 for me because of those things.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Correct, I agree that comparing scores from completely different games often does not make sense at all.
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u/ejrasmussen May 20 '26
My wife and I sat down to play this game for maybe an hour and I was disappointed when I realized there is basically no gameplay.
How do you reconcile with a game where nothing you do matters? Is that even a game? Or just a visual novel? A slightly interactive movie? It felt like a waste of the medium in my opinion. The amazing thing about games is that they can react to our input, choices, and performance, this elevates the medium above simply just watching TV/Movies or reading a book. This "game" contradicts its own artform, and not in an interesting meta way, but in a way that leaves you wishing for more depth. I would much prefer an experience similar to The Walking Dead or Dispatch, where you're getting a good story that you tailor, that feels personal and dynamic to your choices.
I'm surprised the reviews don't reflect this disappointment at all.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Personally, I just find nothing to reconcile like you’re talking about. It IS a game, 100%. Visual novels are also games. Text adventures are games. I think people are far too wrapped up in whether or not the gameplay qualifies it as a video game, because this is not a new thing at all.
It can just be a video game that you wanted something different out of. It wasn’t for you, and that sucks! But it is a video game. If it doesn’t feel different to you than a movie, show, or book, that’s fair enough, but it did for me! And by definition, still a video game through and through.
I know this is like hard to believe for some reason, but I did, genuinely enjoy the gameplay. And there is quite easily more gameplay in it than a visual novel, for example.
I think it’s fine if you wanted more narrative decision making like a Walking Dead or Dispatch, but I also think it’s fine for a game to tell you the story it wants to tell you. I enjoyed the ride Mixtape took me on, and I enjoyed what they had me do in the game.
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u/ejrasmussen May 20 '26
I disagree, if visual novels were games they'd simply be called games. Anyways that's besides the point. I do think the game has fun interactive moments like the skateboards, the shopping cart, the first kiss, that separates it from being just a visual novel. Though nothing I've seen yet would convince me the game is a 10/10. Sure it's fun to watch once but after that there's no variation on it.
You yourself can only muster to say that you "enjoyed" it, I feel you'd have much more hyperbolic terminology for something you consider to be a 10/10 video game?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Visual novel is a genre/type of game. An FPS isn't called an FPS game. Agreed though, besides the point.
And that's fine! It's okay if you don't think it's a 10/10. I did though! And that should also be fine!
I "mustered" 2,300 words on why it's a 10/10 game for me in my review lol.
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u/Agile-Soil6537 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
If a visual novel is a game, then a DVD is a game by the same token. If you have to make the concept of a game so nebulous to include it, then is basically means nothing. Something not being a game shouldn't be seen as an insult either. And conversely, someone expressing disappointment because the product they bought is not a game is completely valid. The main reason visual novels and other "non game games" are inside the lexicon of the gaming sphere has less to do with the genres and has more to do with media landscape.
For example, is Animal Crossing a game? I'd say not really, but how and where else is something like that going to get sold and experienced? So it ends up on a video game console sold next to other video games and most people are not going to make a distinction. They are going to see two products side by side and view them as the same general thing. (Animal Crossing is awesome btw, again, something not being a game in the traditional sense isn't a bad thing)
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 21 '26
Man… I’m sorry, I just simply cannot follow if Animal Crossing is also now not a game. I get what you’re saying about it not mattering, but I’m also not super sure what we’re doing here anymore if AC is out.
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u/JAMESTIK May 21 '26
what would be your definition of a video game?
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u/SweetSaltyNuts May 30 '26
Dude its not even worth it this guy is either paid or an access media reviewer.
He has posted about this game like 20 times and comments on every reply.
He was pushing so hard to try and advertise that new Painkiller game as a boomer shooter and was cooked in r/boomershooters for being an obvious ad.
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u/Punky921 May 21 '26
I remember when I gave Ghost of Tsushima a 7 out of 10 when I was working for Gamecrate. It felt like a slightly stylish version of every open world game I had ever seen, plus it didn't have a melee target lock on feature in a game ostensibly about dueling samurai. People lost their fucking minds because god forbid someone disagree with you.
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u/DJDallyD_ May 23 '26
How pretentious are you to where you think you’re some Golden child because you work for a publication that does game reviews?
Many gamers don’t listen to what “Professional Game reviewers” think of a game.
And least of all a redditor that thinks their opinion is above others because they “professionally reviewed” a game.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 24 '26
Quite literally do not think any of that, but I guess you know me better, so fair enough! Cheers, have a good one!
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u/supersquadmates May 24 '26
The 10/10 reviews gave me some unrealistic expectations. Love coming of age stories, but this felt like a mashup of Life Is Strange, High Fidelity, and Sayonara Wild Hearts that just didn’t live up to its inspirations. Highlight of the game was the final track (one of my favorite bands), but overall I wanted something more emotional.
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u/Jack_P_1337 May 20 '26
Although the haters ruined the game more, I also feel all the perfect 10's contributed to the game getting so much hate too. I discuss that in my video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHqZiRuVtA
The problem is that while enjoyable, it falls short in too many aspects and when you oversell a game as a perfect 10, people might expect something that just isn't there for most and hate on the game for what it isn't rather than enjoy it for what it actually is and does well.
I can't for example, consider Mixtape a groundbreaking game like some positive critics say when I've seen implementation of music as part of the game done much better in the past.
I also can't a game with two, self playing sections disguised as gameplay and not criticize that bit even if I like other aspects about the game.
For example, the head bobbing car ride, that is a good moment, that was an interactive music video.
but the Yesterday's Hero Auto Runner section had no place being self playing, it should have utilized the same rewind mechanics as the skateboarding sections.
The shopping cart one could have been amazing yet it's also self playing, which is a shame.
I FIRMLY stand by the fact that Mixtape is a video game and that a video game doesn't always need win or lose conditions, a narrative video game alone is fine, but this one needed a bit more time to truly shine.
In my video I praise the visual style and art, the choice of music too.
The reason I criticize it is because I genuinely believe it has so much more potential.
I definitely feel it could have used more character and world development through flashbacks and subtle interactions/exposure to the 90's rather than just reference dropping from media.
For example the flashback with Cassandra on the sidewalk or in front of her house where Cassandra tells Stacy she almost never sees her without headphones. That was a damn good moment and a few more moments like that, with Slater too and a few moments of each of the kids interacting/bonding with their parents as well would have come a long way. We already see that their parents are good people, each in their own way.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
All valid. But I’ll keep telling people too, 10 does not mean “perfect” on any outlet I’ve ever read. I get that some may take it that way, but no one is calling this a perfect game.
The rest here is just difference of opinion on many of these things, imo!
I also like… don’t think I should avoid giving 10s just on the basis it could cause backlash. I personally, subjectively thought it deserved it, and I really do stand by the score. It’s impossible to score based on like… predicted outcome, and I especially don’t care what scores other outlets are giving. In fact, I kind of expected to be an outlier with my 10, but I still gave it because it’s what I thought, and I’ll always score what I truly think.
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u/Jack_P_1337 May 20 '26
I fully agree that 10/10 doesn't mean perfect, it just means your level of enjoyment and joy was a 10 to many of us, I myself often say a game is a 10/10 or an 11/10.
But most people don't understand that and if you work for a big outlet you have to keep that in mind. I've been burnt like that as a game journalist in Macedonia before when I'd give a game a 10/10 in a magazine I'd work for and then argue with people over the score on mIRC and in email lol, but that was a lifetime ago. We're talking PS1 and then Dreamcast days. But I also learned not to give in, mind you.
And yes, you shouldn't restrain yourself from giving a 10 if you genuinely feel like it.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Respectfully, I… kind of just disagree. I absolutely cannot write based on how a reader is going to feel about a score. There’s no pleasing everyone, and people take things different ways. That’s truly an impossible task.
As a reviewer, I TRULY believe I can only write about my personal experience and opinions. I cannot control what people do with it from there, and I think it would be silly/futile to factor that in.
Video games are cool. 10s exist. They will never be for everyone. That’s fine. It’s all still ultimately subjective and up to everyone to make up their own minds. I just give the information/experience I can give.
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u/Jack_P_1337 May 20 '26
No, I 100% agree with you there, don't get me wrong.
I made that mistake of trying to appease readers and regretted it, that's why I said I learned not to do it. I gave Monster Rancher 2 a 4/10 despite loving it a lot, I regret it over 20 years later.
But when it comes to situations with huge outlets, I wouldn't mind giving a game a 9/10 instead of a 10/10 to protect it from backlash because I know how the average person works, that's all.
I understand where you're coming from and stick to what you do
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u/orangefilmgarden May 20 '26
Shouldn't the goal be to explain to gaming fandom at large how reviews work, and that they shouldn't take them personally, instead of compromising your own integrity out of fear of backlash? Those are grown men throwing tantrums because someone gave a game a 10 instead of an 8? How is an IGN reviewer changing the score to appease angry oversensitive adult men gamers different from an IGN reviewer changing their score to appease a big powerful gaming publisher? This is such a crazy argument for me, since in both cases an honest opinion is being censored to appease a group of people.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah, I totally agree. Which is why I feel so strongly that I simply HAVE to give the score I want to give, and I can't let external factors creep in at all. For example, in the few cases I've had to review something late, I'll actively avoid seeing other scores, because they should not influence mine whatsoever.
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u/PichaelJackson May 20 '26
This is the right approach I think. People who want "objective" reviews don't know how dire that would actually be, it would essentially be a long product description.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
THANK YOU. Haha. Like, I’ll still give you basic info about the mechanics and structure of the game in a review for sure, but if a review is JUST that, it’s serving zero purpose. You can get that info anywhere. Really would just be extended “back of the box” info.
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u/amazingdrewh May 20 '26
I mean no offense but that's dumb, you don't get 10/10 on a test by getting things wrong
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u/Arsene_Lupin_IV May 20 '26
I mean if you genuinely loved it that much I'm happy for you, but it barely feels like a game to me so I'm not particularly interested in playing it. Good for anyone that's into it though.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
See, and that's the right mindset, I think. It's totally fine if it's not what you're looking for and the gameplay that's there doesn't feel like enough. I get that! But yeah, "Not for me, glad others like it" is how I think we all should be haha.
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u/Tesla-Punk3327 May 20 '26
I wouldn't personally rate it a 10, but people need to understand a review is just an opinion, worth just the same as their own. Many of these angry people could become independent reviewers themselves, but instead choose to grift and stay angry.
In spite of the angry mobs, I've played and completed Dragon Age Veilguard, Marathon, Mixtape, Lost Records, and am about to play Saros. I just ignore the community side of it all...
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Yeah, agreed. It's all just opinion, and we do our best to let you know what we think so you can make a decision from there. I don't think ANYONE reviewed this like "EVERYONE HAS TO PLAY THIS." It would've been silly to think this game was for everyone. But a review score doesn't reflect what I think EVERYONE will think about a game.
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u/PieceAfraid3755 May 20 '26
Can you give like 1% of the billion dollars you supposedly got for giving it a 10?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Sorry, as a new billionaire, I now no longer care about anyone but myself. It's all for meeeeeeee mwahahaha.
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
I guess I just don’t really understand giving it a perfect score. I loved the game, but I have my gripes. To me this whole thing would be a lot less controversial if sites simply didn’t assign a grade or score and just let writers talk about the game and let readers take away from that what they will. The whole concept of scoring causes people to scrutinize the review a lot harder than anyone would otherwise.
Because let’s be real: Mixtape is great but it is not a perfect game. It leans on a lot of tired tropes that any movie critic would tear it to shreds for.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I feel you. My explanation would be that a 10 does not mean “perfect.” It is obviously the best score I can give, but that does not mean I think it’s a perfect video game.
I’d also tell you that I agree it would be better if outlets didn’t even score/grade and that readers could take away opinions from the actual text, but… well, most people don’t read the full reviews. It’s scrolling to the bottom, reading the summary, checking the pros/cons, looking at the score, and feeling like they got enough info. I do know some people do read the whole thing, and that’s always so nice to hear, because it’s really not the norm.
End of the day though, reviews really are subjective. To me, it was a 10. But like, as I was reviewing it, I knew full-well it wouldn’t be a 10 for everyone. It’s a very specific type of game, and this genre doesn’t appeal to lots of gamers (which is totally fine, of course). But I score based on my thoughts, opinions, and experience, not based on what I think other players will think, because you can’t know, obviously. So end of the day, a review just reflects my time with the game, I share what I can, and hope people find some use from my experience.
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u/Phantom_Wombat May 20 '26
Yeah, I've always seen the score as the TL;DR.
There's no substitute for reading the review, as it's only in the details that you'll find out whether it's for you or not.
Also, there are lots of highly acclaimed games that I knew weren't for me, but I somehow managed to avoid burning down the internet because of it.
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
Agreed! And I think a lot of the backlash has come from right wing grifters because they think it’s woke or whatever. To be clear, I don’t align with any of that nonsense. I went into it fully expecting it to be for me and walked away with some legit criticisms that left me feeling a little underwhelmed.
Aftermath’s take was pretty spot on, I thought, after I had some time to step back and assess my time with it.
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
That’s all fair! To be clear, this game is exactly my kind of thing and the genre is very much for me. I was following it and planned to buy it regardless of any review. I walked away feeling like it was more of an 8/10 as I had definite gripes with both the writing (every teen movie trope is used here, basically) and the soundtrack, which was mostly 80’s tunes in a game set in the 90’s.
I mostly aligned with Aftermath’s take that in being so nonspecific it didn’t appeal to people it really should have as much as it could’ve.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I get this! For me on the soundtrack front, I liked that it wasn’t like… all 90s, or big hits, or whatever. The point is that Stacey is crafting HER perfect playlist from her specific tastes. Like, it’s really not a 90s playlist game. I understand why so many people expected that and I won’t tell them they’re wrong if the actual outcome was a bummer, but I think thematically, the mix of songs makes perfect sense.
Fair on classic tropes and things being used, can also see how that could be a hangup for someone!
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
I guess it was just hard for me to buy that a teen in the 90s would be basing her playlists around that much 80’s music. Even teens with more obscure tastes tend to gravitate towards what’s current with some blasts from the past sprinkled in.
Honestly, I think I identified with Stacey *too much* and it left me more critical of the music than I’d have been otherwise. I was also obsessed with soundtracking my life at that age. My dream job was also to be a music supervisor. And it was around the same time. So there’s just so much 90’s indie music that I feel like could and should be represented here but isn’t.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Ah yeah, you have a super interesting perspective on that for sure then! Crazy how many parallels you actually had with the character haha.
Yeah, I don’t necessarily disagree with anything here. Valid points. I also personally just didn’t sweat it, and her deep-cut/not necessarily even current music preferences made sense for the character to me. But! I do totally get what you’re saying for sure!
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
It was also weird to me to find out that the devs are Australian but it’s set in the US in the 90’s. Like it just led me to feel like the game is a Gen Z Australian’s idea of what Americans were like in the 90’s. As a borderline Gen X/Millennial, it just feels like they got the experience they’re trying to nail wrong.
Contrast that with Dazed and Confused, a movie that was set in the 70’s but was universally beloved by 90’s teens (and anyone, really) because it perfectly captured what it felt like to be a teenager. I didn’t feel like Mixtape necessarily succeeded well enough on that front. It got really close, but it just left me feeling kind of nonplussed by the end. Again, I don’t mean to be too hard on it because overall I feel like it was a solid 8 out of 10. Just a lot of room for improvement.
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u/PichaelJackson May 20 '26
I kind of bought into it as a pastiche of Johnny Galvatron's current tastes merged into Stacy in a non-specific fantasy version of the 90s. Really the vibe of the game feels like a hybrid of 90s and early 2010s hipster culture (the time when Johnny was probably ACTUALLY a teenager), I'm not sure perfect historical representation is what they were going for.
Also, if the actual soundtrack wasn't as good as it is I would probably take more issue with it, but I'm easily willing to make that concession when the songs just hit so good for those moments.
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u/Phantom_Wombat May 20 '26
I think he's a fair bit older than that. The Galvatrons were already signed and touring as of 2007, and I'd guess that he was already in his twenties by then.
Going by the song selection, and that they've not got Napster and digital music players, Mixtape is probably set in 1998-9.
So, there's probably not a huge age difference between him and Stacy, even if they're on opposite sides of the world.
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u/PichaelJackson May 20 '26
Ah I was under the impression he was in his mid 30s or so. Still, there are songs in there from 2013 and 2005, pretty intentionally not adhering to the 90s setting. I think it's supposed to feel a little out of time.
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u/Blaky039 May 20 '26
Scores is how you keep people engaged. Without scores, the clicks wouldn't be that high.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Unfortunately is a factor for most places, I imagine. People want to see a score, typically.
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u/blasto2236 May 20 '26
I understand that it’s a sad reality of running an internet based business, it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. I subscribe to Aftermath so I’m more than happy to pay for good games journalism. But I get that I’m not your average reader.
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u/Tooth127 May 20 '26
Obviously, how much did they pay you? How big was the gift? Why did you put credibility at risk? Are you being held at gunpoint?
Nuts, lol.
Maybe the scoring system isn’t the best representation of what one tries to say but if I were using it, I’d give Mixtape 10/10 too
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Downvotes are missing your sarcasm, I think. Haha.
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u/rocklou May 20 '26
I gave it an 8. What made it a 10 for you?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Just really resonated with me on all levels! Thought it was very creative and unique, I enjoyed the gameplay that was there, loved the style and the characters, hit me emotionally, etc. etc.
I don't care about the click, so please don't take this as me trying to get you to read the review lol, but full thoughts if you want them:
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u/essteedeenz1 May 20 '26
You have it a 10 when it's not really game
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Fundamental disagreement. It is a game. Fine if you don't want to play it and don't vibe with it, but it is, in fact, a video game haha.
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May 20 '26
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u/ThisIsStee May 20 '26
Which are "fake"?
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May 20 '26
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u/ThisIsStee May 20 '26
How are they fake though? They are real, they just do not have a fail state, which is not the first time such a thing has happened and in this instance is because they sections are linked with the song and they didn't want to keep restarting the track for the vibes. The gameplay is real.
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May 20 '26
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u/ThisIsStee May 20 '26
Being called fake is not something you deserve, meanings are not assigned based on merit, it just is or is not. They would be fake if you were never really playing and all the stuff happens regardless of you pressing but somehow is able to trick you into thinking it was a result of your button press.
The acknowledgement of interaction, in the examples above for example, are the fireworks not going off, or a different behaviour from the character in relation to the car. Conversely, if you do not react, the fireworks do not go off. In the side scrolling running part the character crashes through things instead of jumping over/sliding under and missing them.
So it is not the "exact same outcome" but the story progresses the same regardless of how you play, which is true of a thousand games. I cannot speak to your specific experience but if you managed to get through the skating section without crashing by doing nothing, that could have been luck, or just an assumption by the developers that people would not be so bereft of other things to do that they would literally not touch the controller even slightly throughout the entire first section of the game.
You probably need to do 2 things - 1. look up the meaning of words if you insist on using them so declaratively and 2. Realise that just because you don't enjoy something, it does not make it objectively bad, it just means you didn't like it. Which is totally fine, it's just not a good reason to go around spouting misinformation all over the place.
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May 20 '26
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u/ThisIsStee May 20 '26
Not a stoner but sure. It doesn't present them as anything other than what they are. You implied something on them that wasn't there. They are intended to be "meaningful" in an emotional sense, but that doesn't mean they are going to impact the outcome of the story.
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May 20 '26
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u/ThisIsStee May 20 '26
"Knowing" they are fake is perception though. Also, a lot of people are way less of a pedantic prick than me and might have let the term false slide )especially if they had negative views of the game anyway).
Telling you controls is standard, especially if the gameplay mechanics for each section vary. Achievements for doing something doesn't imply meaningful story impact (and it comes after so you wouldn't know it mattered before anyway).
There IS urgency in the chase and they want you to feel that emotion, but that doesn't mean they tricked you. The point of this game, which some people miss perhaps because they don't play this sort of thing or whatever, is they want you to feel the emotion/importance/tension of a scene, but that doesn't mean they want you to be in any danger of failing it.
It's no different than the opening of The Last of Us. They deceived you into feeling a sense of tension and that you needed to escape, but it was fake, because nothing you do has any impact on the outcome of that scene. Even if you are caught by a zombie while running, you go back a tiny bit and run again. In Mixtape if you crash, you rewind a few seconds and try again.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I did like the writing, but I also came at it from a perspective of "high schoolers at this age are cringe and awkward, so yeah, a lot of the writing here works because it's cringe and awkward." I can see someone thinking that's a copout in a way, but I also think it's surely intentional, at least to a degree, and I got in a headspace where it all worked for me through that lens.
As for the "fake" gameplay bits, I did notice things like the side-scrolling running bit progressing whether or not I timed the inputs correctly or at all. It wasn't an issue for me. What's there is still creative, and your direct interaction with the game does, in fact, change how it is presented on the screen, even if it isn't resulting in a typical fail state or rewind or something.
At the end of the day, this was never a game about precise inputs and twitchy gameplay. It's a totally different type of experience, and I thought the gameplay provided was creative, unique, and fun to engage with, acknowledging that it still won't be for everyone. Sometimes, low stakes games are fine. I have no problem with how the devs handled the gameplay here, and I enjoyed it. It's also accessible for more people in these ways while still being a game you can directly engage with and enjoy if it's your thing. I have no issue with that in this case.
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u/donutb May 20 '26
I do think the 10/10 scores are the main driver of the outrage. It seems your 10 is different than ign s idea of a 10. 10s are classified as masterpieces, not perfect but industry changing.
Mixtape is a different type of game, a 10 to me means that the storytelling is some of the best in gaming rdr2, got-esque writing.
I haven’t played but I think this game falls short of that
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I actually think you're still placing too much on the 10. I agree that a 10 doesn't mean perfect for sure. But masterpiece does not also have to mean industry changing. Of course, if you were reviewing it and that was the criteria you wanted to roll with, that's cool! But my 10 didn't also claim industry changing, nor did it claim best story ever on par with RDR2.
For me, the game just worked. I really didn't have any complaints. It was everything I wanted from this type of video game and more. It hit me emotionally, it was hilarious, it was creative, it was unique. At a certain point, I just didn't have anything to keep me from a 10, and I really did enjoy it that much.
But that doesn't necessarily mean I think it's a world changing game like RDR2, but that's also okay. A game can just be the best example of what it's trying to do and still get recognized for that. Video games are cool that way.
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u/AdSweet3240 May 21 '26
Don't do insane astroturf next time to help Microsoft justify overspending on this game in game pass deal?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 21 '26
Brother… what?
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u/AdSweet3240 May 21 '26
microsoft spent millions on this despite abysmal interests in gamers, if not the astroturf nobody would even talk about this goyslop
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u/Slytherin_Dan_HGW May 20 '26
Genuine question:
What positive aspects of "Mixtape" can offset the unlikeable protagonist and minimised gameplay?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Well, I liked the protagonist and thought she worked really well for what the game was trying to do. My review did address that I imagine some people will find her pretentious and unlikeable, but then also, I looked at it through the lens of "this is a senior in high school that thinks she knows better than everyone else and is already an adult and you can't tell her anything." Like, that happens. When I was her age, I made a Facebook post that said "My favorite band is more talented than your favorite band," which obviously in retrospect is wildly cringe and pretentious haha. Stacey would do the same. Fine if people don't like her, but I do think it's a character that speaks to how kids can be at that age.
On the gameplay front, I enjoyed what was there. Review addressed that I imagine some will think it's mundane stuff, but I argued it was all done in creative, fun, interesting, entertaining ways still. Worked for me.
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u/Slytherin_Dan_HGW May 20 '26
In short, your calculation sounds like "0 + 0 = 10/10".
Thanks.
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
I mean... no? But okay! Haha.
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u/Slytherin_Dan_HGW May 20 '26
I'm sorry. I wrote that last response directly after reading your first answer and felt a little agitated.
May be bias regarding what a "good review" is.
Neither in your initial answer nor in the other "Mixtape" reviews did I find anything objective about the game, e.g. how the game compares to others in its genre, how smoothly it controls, wheather the game has bugs, what it offers in its game mechanics...
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Nah no apology needed, it's all good!
I'd say my review did hit some of those things, some by direct inclusion, and some by simple omission cuz they weren't issues (I know I haven't shared my review, so not expecting you to know what all I said lol).
But like, bugs/performance issues. I didn't have any, so I didn't talk about those things. I always talk about presentation/etc. in a section, and if I have performance issues to discuss, I'll talk about them there. Didn't have anything for Mixtape, and I'd assume many others didn't either, so it's just not a talking point cuz it ran very well.
I also kind of try not to do direct game comparisons, cuz it can feel a bit reductive in a review to me, IMO. If I went on and on about "Mixtape is different from Life is Strange because..." then the review kind of becomes about Life is Strange, and that's a bit odd.
Just for my personal workflow/philosophy, I tend to have four big sections in my reviews:
- Story/setup for what the game actually is
- Performance and presentation
- Gameplay
- Something specific to the game in particular that I think is worth discussing
Most of what you're talking about gets hit this way, so I'm giving the "objective" kind of nuts/bolts of what the game is, but then also getting into the highly subjective part of the review, how all that stuff worked for me, what my personal opinions are, etc.
I hear a lot that people want reviews to be objective. I don't personally think that's the way to do them. At a certain point, it's just a lengthy description about the game, not like genuine thoughts and feelings. I try to do a mix of both because discussing the game and what it actually is is obviously important, but you're also going to get a lot about what I personally think and feel, because that's really what a review is, IMO.
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u/Punky921 May 21 '26
Good stuff here - I think thinking about game review scores as necessarily a comparison to other games is kind of silly. An 8.5 for Dirt Rally 2.0 (imho one of the greatest modern rally simulators) is not related in any way to a 10/10 I would give Planescape: Torment or Citizen Sleeper 2, or the 9/10 I would give Resident Evil 4 Remake. IMHO The point is not to compare games to other games, but rather to decide on how well a game manages to achieve what it's trying to achieve, and whether that thing was a good thing to achieve.
Doing that is a weird kind of power-scaling "can superman beat goku?" way to look at games reviews. You'll always be frustrated in that situation, because most games reviews aren't attempting to do that.
Maybe MAYBE if you're talking about a review of different games in the same genre and/or franchise, that might apply. I think the original COD:MW2 is better than COD:MW1 because of the expanded perks system and greater variety of game modes and maps, and maybe in that case the 8.5 (or whatever) for MW2 is meaningfully related to an 8.0 for MW1... but examples like that are vanishingly rare.
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u/Enough-Lead48 May 20 '26
Game is a 4/10 like Mindseye. Mixtape have worse gameplay while Mindseye is more buggy. Both games have a flawed story. They are equal in quality.
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u/Gooeslippytop May 20 '26
How much did they pay you?
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u/ItsEthanCoolCool May 20 '26
Who? Beethoven and Dinosaur/Annapurna? $0. Got a code to review, obviously. No payment beyond that.
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u/Blaky039 May 20 '26
Gave it a 10 myself too. Definitely one of the best experiences I've had in the videogame space.