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Atlas Obscura VS Metacritic

Compare Atlas Obscura VS Metacritic and see what are their differences

Atlas Obscura logo Atlas Obscura

A guide to wondrous and curious places

Metacritic logo Metacritic

Metacritic aggregates music, game, tv, and movie reviews from the leading critics. Only Metacritic.com uses METASCORES, which let you know at a glance how each item was reviewed.
  • Atlas Obscura Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06
  • Metacritic Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23

Atlas Obscura features and specs

  • Unique Travel Experiences
    Atlas Obscura offers information on quirky and off-the-beaten-path destinations that can make travel experiences unique and memorable.
  • Educational Content
    The platform provides detailed historical and cultural context, enriching users' understanding of the places they visit.
  • Community Engagement
    Atlas Obscura has a strong community aspect, with user-contributed stories and tips, fostering a sense of community among curious travelers.
  • Inspirational
    The website inspires users to explore new destinations and discover lesser-known places they might not have considered otherwise.
  • Comprehensive Resource
    Atlas Obscura covers a wide range of locations, catering to diverse interests and providing a comprehensive resource for travelers seeking unusual sites.

Possible disadvantages of Atlas Obscura

  • Limited Mainstream Information
    The focus on obscure locations might mean less information on popular tourist destinations, which could be a drawback for those planning traditional trips.
  • Overwhelming for New Users
    The sheer volume of unique locations and experiences can be overwhelming for new users who are unsure of where to start.
  • Quality Variation
    As some of the content is user-generated, the quality and accuracy of information can vary, potentially leading to inconsistencies.
  • Niche Audience
    The appeal is primarily to those specifically interested in obscure destinations, which might limit its use for general travel planning.
  • Potential for Overcrowding
    Increased popularity of certain destinations listed on the site could lead to overcrowding, detracting from the unique experience.

Metacritic features and specs

  • Aggregated Scores
    Metacritic aggregates scores from multiple critics and users, providing an overall perspective on the quality of a game, movie, or album.
  • Critic Reviews
    It offers a consolidated view of professional critic reviews, making it easy to see the general sentiment among industry experts.
  • User Reviews
    Users can leave their own reviews and scores, adding a diverse range of opinions to the aggregated score.
  • Easy Comparison
    The website allows for direct comparison between critic scores and user scores, providing a well-rounded view of the received media.
  • Comprehensive Database
    Metacritic maintains a large database that includes movies, games, TV shows, and music albums, making it a versatile tool for consumers.

Possible disadvantages of Metacritic

  • Review Bombing
    User scores can be manipulated through coordinated mass reviews, commonly known as 'review bombing,' which can skew the overall score.
  • Not Always Representative
    The aggregated score might not reflect nuanced opinions and could oversimplify the critical reception.
  • Limited Context
    Metacritic scores sometimes lack context or detailed reasons behind the ratings, leading to possible misinterpretation.
  • Bias Towards Popular Media
    More popular games, movies, and albums are likely to get a larger number of reviews, potentially overshadowing niche or indie titles.
  • Critic Selection
    The choice of critics included in the aggregation can sometimes be controversial, as it might not represent a completely balanced view.

Analysis of Metacritic

Overall verdict

  • Metacritic is generally considered a valuable resource for those seeking aggregated reviews, as it offers a concise overview of critical reception. The site's scoring system can simplify the decision-making process for users. However, some critics believe that Metacritic's weighted average and lack of transparency in the scoring system might not always accurately reflect the diverse opinions out there.

Why this product is good

  • Metacritic is a review aggregation website that compiles reviews for video games, movies, music, and TV shows from critics and users. It provides an overall score or 'Metascore' to give a general idea of how a particular piece of media is perceived by critics. This can be useful for getting a quick sense of critical consensus and discovering whether something might be worth your time.

Recommended for

    Metacritic is recommended for individuals who want a quick, consolidated view of critical opinions on new video games, movies, music albums, and TV shows. It's especially useful for those who enjoy exploring a variety of critic perspectives before making decisions on what media to engage with.

Atlas Obscura videos

Atlas Obscura: Second Edition

More videos:

  • Review - Atlas Obscura
  • Review - Book Review - Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer

Metacritic videos

Metacritic Reviews - Celeste

More videos:

  • Review - Metacritic Reviews - Hollow Knight
  • Review - I HATE METACRITIC

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Atlas Obscura and Metacritic)
Travel
100 100%
0% 0
Movie Reviews
6 6%
94% 94
Movies
0 0%
100% 100
Product Reviews
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Atlas Obscura and Metacritic

Atlas Obscura Reviews

TOP 25 TRAVEL WEBSITES: THE ONLY TRAVEL ADVISOR YOU’LL EVER NEED…
Atlas Obscura is another travel website filled with blogs. The blogs are specifically dedicated to more obscure locations in each city, so you won’t find popular tourist attractions like the Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower on the site. This doesn’t necessarily mean its for adventurous travelers, but it is definitely for people looking for a different type of trip.

Metacritic Reviews

Best Sites For Rating Movies: 6 Top Movie Review Websites
Metacritic is distinguished by its methodology of aggregating reviews. Unlike other sites that simply calculate an average, Metacritic assigns a weight to each critic’s review based on their prominence and track record, offering a more nuanced overall score.
IMDb Alternatives
Metacritic is a website which can be used for reviewing a movie, TV show, or video game. The reviews are based on a Metacritic scorecard in which the range of scores lies between 1 and 100. You can find movies from different streaming web suites No film files are available on this platform. No apps and pop−ups can be seen while streaming a movie.

Social recommendations and mentions

Atlas Obscura might be a bit more popular than Metacritic. We know about 25 links to it since March 2021 and only 18 links to Metacritic. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Atlas Obscura mentions (25)

  • Recommendations for Weekend Trip to Dearborn
    Check out Atlas Obscura. It is a catalog of quirky attractions around the globe. I look there any time I'm traveling and want to spend some time exploring. Http://atlasobscura.com/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Places to go for tourists!
    We have many resources for visitors: TravelOregon.com, TravelPortland.com, and for the unusual, atlasobscura.com, and roadsideamerica.com. Source: about 2 years ago
  • My family is embarking on our first Griswold-esque RV trip from Tampa to Philadelphia...
    For cool places Atlas Obscura atlasobscura.com is highly recommended. Also https://www.roadsideamerica.com/ though I usually default to Obscura. Outside of that I travel by my stomach so I try to try the local food of every place I visit so maybe picking a theme so your boys could find things related to it would be a fun pretrip/trip activity. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Advice
    Well....you will not be able to do a lot of roadside attractions indoors, as few allow dogs. but there will be outside things to do....maybe go to the atlasobscura.com page and find oddities along your route of travel. the dogs will enjoy exploring outdoors! Source: about 2 years ago
  • People outside the USA, what do you think about the USA?
    Atlas obscura and roadside america when I drive long distance. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Metacritic mentions (18)

  • What Happened to this Once Great Site?
    It's Thursday night. I'm considering going to see 'Five Nights at Freddies' but not if it has bad reviews. I go to metacritic.com and it's not in the first row. Not in any of the rows on this horrendous website design. What the actual fuck? Source: over 1 year ago
  • Any games out there
    Go to metacritic.com and search for highest rated for your platform. With a request that broad that's your best option. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • What console should I get?
    Go to metacritic.com look at the PS5 and Xbox lists of "best games" do a count of the top 20 for each system and see what system has more games you want to play. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Is there a place that tracks/reports on all new MP game releases?
    Metacritic may be what you're looking for. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Reviews are currently plummeting.
    I think we should always question corporations and whether something is a fluff piece, but I find metacritic.com's critical review scores to be extremely realistic and helpful. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Atlas Obscura and Metacritic, you can also consider the following products

Rank Anything Online - Rank Anything is your ultimate ‘top picks’ guide. Explore top rated stuff in a huge variety of topics - tech, entertainment, health, food, travel, and more. View popular rankings and create your own!

IMDb - Internet Movie Database

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Simkl - Simkl is a TV, anime, and movie tracker that keeps a history of all the shows and movies you watch in one, central location. It’s a mobile app, a website, Google Chrome extension to keep track of everything you watch and integrates with many TV apps

Rotten Tomatoes - Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets

Letterboxd - Letterboxd is a social site for sharing your taste in film, now in public beta.