Disney Cory in the House, a 2008 tie-in game for Nintendo DS, looks set to be crowned the best game of all time on Metacritic in the near future — by user ratings, at least.
The obscure adventure title already boasts a 9.3 user score average, enough to lift it higher than The Last of Us, Half-Life 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Resident Evil 4.
Across all 5,984 games tracked by Metacritic, the title now ranks in joint second, level with The Witcher 3. Only last year’s beloved role-player Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (which boasts a user score average of 9.6) stands above it. So, what is going on — and is Disney Corey in the House really that good?
In short, no, Disney Cory in the House is of course a very bad game — at least according to the two professional reviews tracked by Metacritic. One of these was written by IGN, which scored it as an “awful” 3/10 and reported the following:
“The game has some of the clunkiest controls we’ve seen, the presentation is insultingly stupid, the minigames are hardly games at all, and on top of everything it’s really short.” With a summary like that, 3/10 almost feels generous — but perhaps the fact it was all over quickly was an advantage.
Compare this to the flood of 10/10 scores pouring in from Metacritic’s users, and the difference is stark. “This game ultimately changed my perspective on life and made me a better person,” wrote one user, DinoDino316, in a review posted today.
“This game has changed me forever,” wrote Moguel, in another review posted within the past 24 hours. “Each day after the sun rises and before it sets I thank God wholeheartedly for the conception of Cory in the House.”
Why are users suddenly falling in love with an almost 20-year-old game based on a short-lived spin-off from Disney series That’s So Raven? Well, they’re not — but the game and the show it’s based on has long been an internet meme. Users on notorious internet imageboard 4chan previously fuelled periodic surges in interest for the game on GameFAQs and Amazon going back over a decade. Even Metacritic has been targeted by a similar campaign before, with the game reaching a 9.7 user rating back in 2013.
This is all nothing new, then, though it will be interesting to see if Metacritic itself takes any action to normalize Disney Cory on the House’s rankings this time around. IGN has contacted the company for comment. In the meantime, this is another example of how Metacritic’s user rating scores can easily be manipulated by an online crowd — even if, this time around, it’s not to review bomb something it doesn’t like.
Image credit: Metacritic/Disney.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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