Metacritic’s 10 worst video games of 2022 includes a LEGO title

Metacritic has published its list of the 10 worst-reviewed video games released in 2022, and there’s a LEGO title among the pack.

The online review aggregator – which is to games as Rotten Tomatoes is to movies – compiles scores from both critics and audiences, and comes up with a ‘Metascore’ by which to rank new releases. Thrown into this gladiatorial arena of hegemonic ratings, every video game is effectively on a level playing field, whether fairly or unfairly. And in 2022, that process chewed up and spat out a new(ish) LEGO game.

Sitting at fifth place in Metacritic’s list of the 10 worst video games of 2022 is LEGO Brawls, a family-friendly fighting game originally developed by Red Games Co. for Apple Arcade in 2019. With three different game modes and countless characters to collect, the title found an audience on mobile – or at least enough to warrant porting it to consoles this year. The reception to the multi-platform release, however, was mixed at best.

Case in point, the PlayStation 5 version of LEGO Brawls currently has a Metascore of just 46 out of 100, which – by the site’s metrics – places it firmly in the red. (The user score is a not-much-more favourable 4.8 out of 10.) Critics have called it out for a ‘lack of gameplay depth’ and ‘delighting in mediocrity’, with Player 2 deeming it ‘half-baked and half-realised’.

SECTOR.sk perhaps best sums up the general mood towards the console port, writing that it ‘still plays like a mobile game priced as a AAA title’. The game is currently available on the PlayStation Store in the UK for £34.99, while it’s free to play for Apple Arcade members – a service that costs just £4.99 per month, and also unlocks access to dozens of other games.

None of this has stopped Red Games Co., LEGO Games and publishers Bandai Namco Entertainment from releasing regular updates for the game, the latest of which introduced 22 new holiday-themed minifigures earlier this month. The seasonal content will be available throughout December, after which time Jingle Brawls’ (yeah, let’s move past it) characters will be unattainable.

If you’re keen for some LEGO gaming over the holidays, other LEGO console titles released in 2022 have fared much better than LEGO Brawls on Metacritic. Here’s a quick rundown of them all.

Featured image: Bandai Namco

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