so as the tittle says is it impossible to get a high metascore late in this gen? as some people mentioned on this site before was that 2012 didnt see that much highly rated games. and one of the main games that made me think this is Halo 4. now dont get me wrong Halo4 did get a great meta of 87, but it is lower than the usual for Halo games, and i was thinking that alot of fans seemed VERY happy with the game. reviewers praised it heavily as well and alot were surprised by how well 343 handeled the Halo franchise. did halo deserve a better meta? did it get a lower than usual meta for a halo game because were so late in the gen?

Another example is dishonored. a game that was heavily praised for its new, fresh gameplay. for being a great new IP and a very well done game. of course dishonored ended up with a 91 meta, but i was thinking, if this released in 2009 or 2010 it would have gotten a 95 or higher metascore probably. now this isnt about Halo or dishonored, its about reviewers and how they review games now and the scores they give them. will next year tittles be affected by this? or is it just me?

No - Halo 4 doesn't deserve a 90 or so.
Its not even the best part in the Series so it shouldn't get what every Halo Fan is wishing for.
And it didn't do anything really new to the franchise or Genre.Its just a better looking version of a game that already exists.

Dishonored did great for a new IP but it had its issues.

The Last of Us will probably be one of the last high rated games of this Gen.
It is a completely new IP - It will be insane and unique in its Genre.It will trump with the insanely good AI and graphics.And at the same time it shows the variety of Naughty Dog and how much skill they have.
It will probably be the only game this Gen that comes close to the "Wow" Factor Uncharted 2 had when it got released.

this isnt about halo 4. i just used it as an example. and maybe the last of us will get a lower metascore because reviews are being more critical than they should be now?

Beyond, Bioshock Infinite, GTA5, and Puppeteer could all get 90+ I think.  Gears and GoW will get mid 80s I due to saminess I think and Sly (too old school), Tomb Raider (Unchartedy), and Ni No Kuni (too tough) could all suffer as well for the wrong reasons.

depends on how good the game is. yea we can still get high scores.

 The Last of us! :P which I think could end up being nominated GOTY

at least you will get a much lower score if you release a game to this time which has the quality of 93% games from 2010.

halo 4 is a good example, if they would have released halo 4 when they released reach, it would have a metascore of 95 or something (ok maybe little high but i'm sure 93)

if it isn't a new ip it has to be much better as the games before to get a 90+ score.

next year we will see some awesome score for new ips (i am sure tlou will get minimum 93 metascore but probably even more) and then some who will suffer. gears and god of war as example (i think they would also suffer as main line games)

gta V will be probably much better as IV and because of that it can reach an awesome score even with predecessors. if it would be only little bit better it would also have problems to get even close to gta IV metascore.

We'll know by the end of the year. Some huge games incoming.

If there was only one Halo game this gen it would have a high metascore, and that score would stick.

If you look at something like Ni No Kuni, it will undoubtedly get a high metascore because its the only one of its kind this generation.

Don't get me wrong, Halo 4 has a very respectable score of 87. But when your following off from one of the most well respected games of this generation, Halo Reach, it can leave some people disappointed with the successor.

I agree with this.  Let's see if The Last of Us, BioShock Infinite, Crysis 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, GTA 5, and Dead Space 3, among others, end up breaking 90.

That being said, it is true that the bar keeps being raised over the course of a generation.  Halo 4, to borrow your example, is being compared against every other major game of this generation.  What if it had released -before- games like Uncharted 2, Arkham City, Borderlands 2, or Mass Effect 2/3?  Would they have seen a lower score as a result of following Halo 4?  It's probably not quite fair, but videogame scores are highly subjective relative to previous games in the same gen.