All of GameSpot's 10/10 Review Scores

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The gaming essentials.

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The gaming essentials.

It isn't often that we give 10/10 review scores on GameSpot. Since the site was founded in 1996, only 15 games have earned that rank. But to achieve a 10/10, a game needs to be essential, and it needs to have something so meaningful to offer us that it simply cannot be ignored. Regardless, a 10/10 review score is always determined by the personal opinion of its respective writer and always reflects as such. So without further ado, here is a list of all the games that we've scored with a 10/10! [UPDATE: We've re-published this story today, October26, to include Super Mario Odyssey.]

For more details on the review process and what a 10/10 means at GameSpot, check out our in-depth Q&A at the bottom of this feature.

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mohamad43

👏👏👏This games amazing for play

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urbanman2004

GS and their biased review criteria makes their so-called perfect scores list a insult to every gamer's intelligence and detriment to actual real quality games

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altron67

In my personal opinion, no game deserves a 10. Giving any score to a piece of art is tough to do without degrading the art form. I feel that the only reason scores can be helpful is to be able to sort and organize a lumping of media in an easy to digest template or to see the medias general quality at a quick glance. but for this idea to be successful we need to not hate and ridicule the bad or state that any kind of media can be perfect. personally, I feel nothing deserves a 10 or a 0. on the 0 out of 10 side of things I feel that no matter how corporal the project some love had to of gone into making a monumental task such as filming a movie, programming a game, writing a book or composing a song. as a reviewer I feel as though you should take into consideration that however art is subjective, the job of a reviewer is to tell the audience if something is worth their time remembering that not everyone will feel the same way you do. the reviewer can still state his, her, or its opinion but I feel as though giving something a 0 or a 10 is not helping the audience or the scoring template.

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Nargg

@altron67: Your "no 10" opinion negates anything you just said. You do realize that don't you?

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altron67

@nargg: how exactly? You don't have to agree with me but I didn't negate what I said. I feel as though no game is perfect there for no game deserves a 10. as a reviewer one should score games using a specific algorithm or at least with some consistency. and if the reviewer's consistency is to rate any must play game a 10 I feel that negates the 1-10 scale.

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ChrisAnetkaC

@altron67: I think I understand your point of view but 10 is "essential" around here, not "perfect". You are confusing the two. Essential means you'll regret not experiencing those games sometime down the road. Perfect means something entirely different. I can't get into the minds of the Gamespot crew but that's how I interpret it.

Plus there's that irritating mistake, so common these days, of forgetting the existence of the pronoun "their" ("worth there time"). It's like coming upon a dog turd on the sidewalk. It doesn't help. I'm tempted to dismiss your opinion just on that.

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altron67

@ChrisAnetkaC: even if a game is essential I still feel giving it a 10 is not accurate because the 1-10 scale doesn't mean anything anymore. is 10 100%? if 10 just means essential then why do we have scores? to organize the quality of media in an easy to digest form but I feel as though if 10 doesn't mean perfect or 100% then we need a new scoring system.

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ChrisAnetkaC

@altron67: Revisiting the scoring system may not be a bad idea especially since every 10 is so much contested it's not funny. Maybe they could come up with something resembling MobyGames' approach.

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altron67

@ChrisAnetkaC: I agree. maybe just "must have" or "mediocre " and no score? Ya I would love to see the scoring system revisited in some more beneficial and less backlashed way.

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DeadManRollin

Seems the reviewers at gamespot were specifically fixated on Mario, Zelda and Metal Gear Solid, which is quite strange considering the fact that there are so many other ground breaking games that a lot more people played and loved over the last couple of decades.

Just to mention a few:

Unreal Tournament

Quake 3

Medal of Honor Allied Assault

Need for Speed Underground 2

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Age of Empires 2

Warcraft III

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TexasAnMGrad2K

The Tony Hawk 3 full review says its a 9, not 10.

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AlgernonFTW

Apparently, the reviewers really don't mind clunky, obnoxious, confusing, and frustrating inventory/menu systems, considering that they have Divinity 2 and The Witcher 3 on here. Both great games, but not 10/10. I don't understand the obsession with Witcher 3, not only because of the trash menu system; the game drags. And drags. I couldn't finish it. Fine game, but not the greatest.

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X1-Bot

@algernonftw: Exactly. Loved the game but the menu system was terrible. I've never seen a menu that loaded so slow before too (on the ps4 at least) Combat was okay but not the greatest either.

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Nargg

@X1-Bot: I also agree. A game has to be 100% playable to get a 10 from me. A menu system, laggy loads, terrible interface. These plague so many otherwise excellent games.

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brok

It's a shame even here they were buying up GTA IV's snake oil at the time. There has never been a worse GTA than IV was.

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BLAS1AN

@brok: I didnt enjoy this game either

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martintule24

@brok: thats true I bought 4 and never finished it because it got boring.

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redhouse3

How about Battlefield4 Battlefield 1? Tony Hawk c'mon

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ChrisAnetkaC

@redhouse3: Where's Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2?

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RandomSwan

@redhouse3: Battlefield is a great franchise but I would definitely not give it 10/10. Multiplayer is amazing but 4's campaign needed some more work and 1's was way too short

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redhouse3

@randomswan: better chance at a 10 than some lil kids mario game

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Reuwsaat

I tried to love Super Mario Odyssey as much as everyone talked about it, and indeed, it was a fantastic realization of a platformer (quality-wise), but honestly by the last 3 worlds I was just rushing to finish it because I didn't want to continue playing it anymore, and I really do like platformers :/ The best platformer I've played in 2017 was Poi, as silly, simple and childish it might be.

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teppolundgren

And only The Witcher 3 deserved it...

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ReaperInThyName

@teppolundgren: lmao

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teppolundgren

@reaperinthyname: Care to share your opinion, or are you just going to be an arrogant bum?

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Nargg

@teppolundgren: Arrogant bums here? You surely jest.

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0zymandius

Thanks for the reminder list.

Another opportunity to sit everyone down calmly and say “we still love you...but we need to talk about The Last of Us”...

(And Skyrim)

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FcPoliFan

Funny how the truly groundbreaking ages of gaming, the 90s and 00s, barely score anything on here. In most walks of culture, art and life, the pioneers get the respect they deserve. Not so much here, I guess.

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jdog10000

Wonderful list. I agree with the majority of the titles. People get upset that some games haven't aged as well. But the reviews are given at the time that they review the games. You can't go back and change it. Most of the time you just know that this game is special and one of the greatest I've ever played. There aren't too many like that. But I can safely say Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild should be on there - the enjoyment I got as a kid playing OoT with my dad helping me and then 20 years later with Breath of the Wild and getting those same feelings.

Also agree with the Witcher 3. What an adventure.

I don't think anyone could have foreseen how big GTA 5 was going to get with its online mode. At the time 4 was amazing and I understand why they chose that at the time as it followed GTA SA.

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snessnes

Some games dont deserve 10 point. Soul calibur is better than tekken 3 and tekken 4? Bayonetta is better than god of war 3? Tony hawks a skateboard game deserves 10? Sometimes i find pointless review in gamespot. But that doesnt brake that reality that gamespot is the best reliable place.

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Ice12Tray

@snessnes: Hands down Bayonetta 2 is better than God of War 3..... it’s not even up for debate...

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oldschoolgaming

@snessnes: bayonetta 2 is most definitely better than god of war 3 lol. Clearly didn't play it

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Cristero

Except for Journey, Bayonetta 2, and Chrono Cross, I owned/have played them all. Masterpieces, indeed.

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riseagainst976

glad to see Chrono Cross on the list. thought i was the only one that liked it so much. i think it gets overshadowed by trigger and all the original fans upset that the "sequel" didn't have much to do with the original. but if you take it for it's own game, which i did as i had never played trigger before, damn is it good!!

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KennyKB

@riseagainst976: Chrono Cross was incredible!

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Silvershadoh

I thought SMG2 wasn't as good as SMG1. Yoshi was fun, but SMG2 just felt like I was playing a DLC of SMG1. If SMG1 didn't get 10, I don't think SMG2 should have got a 10.

Chrono Cross was fun, but I wish the devs had spent more time on the story instead of jam-packing it all at the end in a big text wall.

I still haven't beat Witcher 3. The game just got really really old to me really fast. I got a pretty good ways through. It just got far too boring for me to finish it.

Ocarina of Time definitely deserves its 10, though.

Disappointed Skyrim and Hollow Knight aren't on there. Both games were incredible.

1
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AlgernonFTW

@Silvershadoh: With you on The Witcher 3. I couldn't finish it. How do so many people fanboy over it so hard? It draaaaaags.

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eran_1

It's really a shame that you didn't score Skyrim in 2011 and GTA V in 2013 a solid 10. Both were amazing and corner stones in gaming (despite the technical issues in Skyrim).

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thorn3000

@eran_1: I don't know, Skyrim had good atmosphere, but to be honest overall I played less than Oblivion...I think only people who haven't played Oblivion that much got to enjoy Skyrim to a 10...why? in Oblivion I went to every dungeon and explored every nook and cranny incl. all DLCs and plenty of mods...but, for ex. besides one case (and maybe also in DLCs don't remember those very well), you never found a unique thing, like an artifact for ex. without it relating to a quest...this totally defeated the purposes of exploration...I kept thinking back to times of Morrowind all the time while playing it and how that game rewarded exploration...then I started Skyrim and well, all you could find were the masks and the words of power...so yeah, they improved it, marginally...but not enough, it wasn't motivating enough to keep me interested to keep exploring each and every dungeon across the entire map (tho I did all faction quests and other ones I came across)...so yeah, I think that game could use a lot of improvements...don't get me started on the level spawn thingy, all bandits running around in glass armors and the like...the fact how dragons are weak etc...maybe they repaired parts of this later with the legendary difficulty (don't know didn't play)...but fact is, vanilla Skyrim, which was in the review isn't that great...Witcher 3 was in my opinion better

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nyran125tk

@thorn3000: ^ same. I played Morrowind a few times over and played Oblivion a few tikes over. Skyrim , haven't bothered to finish it.

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julianboxe

GTA IV lol... That was a engine test for GTA V. And yet that soulless game got a 10...

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justin4444

@julianboxe: it was the transition that amazed most critics. From GTA SA to GTA IV it was impressive although it didn't carry over the car customization

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nygamespotter

The list oddly has more games this decade, or even the past 5 years, than any of the previous years combined. Weird. It's like they got lenient with the list the same time Nintendo got their break with the Switch. Very weird, indeed.

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oldschoolgaming

@nygamespotter: reviewers got lenient with the 360/PS3 generation. Started far earlier than the past 5 years. And most definitely before the switch. I remember when a game scored a 10 it was a jaw dropper. I actually agreed with botw getting it tho. First game I thought deserved it in over 10 years

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thorn3000

@nygamespotter: or maybe different reviewers are doing reviews who are not as strict as the ones before? or maybe companions nowadays pay better money for good reviews? or maybe games did get better and the 00s were a bad decade?

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oldschoolgaming

@thorn3000: the 90s and early 2000s was a FAR better time for gaming. The advent of Advanced graphics caused devs to put less thought into originality and concepts and more into marketing. Ff7 made me feel things that no game this decade has come close too(and I'm not just talking about aeris's death). And I only consider that the third best game from that time

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oldschoolgaming

@thorn3000: 90s and early 2000s was a FAR better time for gaming. The advent of Advanced graphics made devs put less thought into originality and concepts and more into marketing. Ff7 made me feel things that no game this decade has come close too(and I'm not just talking about aeris's death). And I only consider that the third best game from then

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couly

Think of all the games that should have gotten 10. It would be double that list at least.

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nintendoboy16

I've said it so many times, and I'm still saying it. SMG2 still does not deserve a 10 as that game is to Jedi Academy while the first game is to Jedi Outcast.

2