The First Ever Metacritic Game

The First Ever Metacritic Game

Author: Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle August 15, 2025 Duration: 1:44:49

With 750 Metacritic 'points' each, who can pick the best 10 games based on their critical averages? A panel of judges will decide, and we'll talk about who won in a future episode! Let us know what you think of this episode format in the comments. It resulted in at least one incredibly wild choice...


This week's music is from the Binary Domain soundtrack by Hidenori Shoji and Mitsuharu Fukuyama.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


Tucked away from the frantic news cycle, The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast offers a space for longer conversations about the games and the industry that shape our hobby. Hosts Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle bring their combined decades of experience from publications like PC Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, and gamesTM to every discussion. This isn't just a review show; it's a deep dive into the culture, history, and personal stories behind the pixels. You'll hear them dissect new releases with a critic's eye, reminisce about forgotten gems, and unpack the oddities of working in games journalism itself. The tone is warm, informed, and often wryly humorous, feeling more like eavesdropping on two friends in a pub than a formal broadcast. Each episode of this podcast builds on their professional insights but is driven by a genuine, enduring passion for the medium. The result is a consistently engaging listen for anyone who thinks about games beyond the credits screen. John Strike provides the distinctive logo, and Barry 'Epoch' Topping crafts the theme tune, giving the whole production a personal, crafted feel from start to finish.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Back Page: A Video Games Podcast
Podcast Episodes
The Back Page Episode + ARC Raiders (with Phil Savage) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:02:05
The podcast eats itself! The Back Page finally dedicates a whole episode to its namesake. How do back page jokes go wrong? And what about the less frequent times when they go well? Returning guest Phil Savage, Global Edi…
The 16-bit Games Mega Draft (with Ashley Day and Dave Scarborough) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:51:18
The drafts return! Four giant men compete to pick the best games on the Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're American), SNES and Neo Geo across 8 categories – plus a 9th bonus category specifically for the Amiga.This week's…
The Oral Histories of Video Games (with Matt Leone) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:49
This week's guest is Matt Leone, former Special Projects Editor at Polygon. Hear all about his new website Design Room, and his work on the oral history of Final Fantasy VII and and Shadow of the Colossus. Hosted on Acas…
Two Giant Men Play Super Mario Galaxy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01:31
A deep dive into an all-time classic on Wii. We'll do this again on Monday for Super Mario Galaxy 2, exclusively for Patreon XL Tier members!This week's music is from the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack by Koji Kondo and M…
The 'Games Set in Japan' Hall of Fame (plus Absolum and Ball X Pit) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:39:36
Following our moderately good episode about games set in Britain earlier this year, we assemble a list of the 10 key games set in Japan. Did we get it wrong? Probably. Plus: a mini 'What We've Been Playing' episode about…
Reassuringly Finite (with Jon Denton) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:01:51
Music podcaster and former games journalist Jon Denton is our guest this week! Hear about Jon's journey from gamesTM to being pals with The Weeknd.This week's music is from the Super Mario World soundtrack by Koji Kondo.…
The Best Games of 2017 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:57:28
A massive year for games, a bleak year for at least one giant man. One of our oldest and most popular podcast formats is back, more than two years after our 2016 episode!This week's music is from the Yakuza 0 soundtrack…