'THQ pulled this... this was funny,' one of the hosts said. Their reviewer received an early copy of the new THQ UFC title early for review. THQ, oddly, gave some rules about when the review could go live. The review could be published early if the Metacritic score was above 85 percent, but if it was under that minimum the review couldn't be released until the game's release. "This is not just THQ; this is very common," I was told. The score failed to hit the magic number, so the review was not released as of the recording of the podcast.
Here's where things get slightly crazy. The score that GameShark gave the game in the review, according to the podcast, was a B+. That, according to Metacritic, does not equal an 85 percent. Take a look at the FAQ from Metacritic: it breaks down how scores given by review outlets are interpreted. Giving a game a B+ may seem like a good score, but Metacritic actually takes that to mean you gave the game an 83. An A- would have been necessary to equal the 85 percent. If you're willing to up your score to what Metacritic considers an 85, then the company is willing to let you release your review earlier."
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