Fans protest Portal 2 on Metacritic

Angry customers have been using Metacritic's user review system to voice complaints over the PC version of Portal 2, with the critically-acclaimed title's rating dropping as low as 5.1 as a result.

At time of press the PC version's user score is 7.2, with the Xbox 360 version at 6.7 and the PlayStation 3 version on 6.6. The critic score is currently 95 out of 100 - the highest for any title this year.

The complaints appear to come primarily from PC users, upset that the game is a console port - and even includes references to turning off the 'console' when saving. Most anger, though, seems to be directed at the online store - which is already filled with downloadable content.

The volume of day one downloadable content seems to have come as a surprise to many PC users, unused to the console-style arrangement. They have also expressed disappointment at the game's short running time and the controversial ARG promotional campaign - which tempted players into buying unrelated indie titles.

Although Metacritic is an often controversial tool amongst games publishers and developers, usually due to the critic score - which many publishers treat as a key metric for quality. Generally less attention is paid to the user score, although such a volume of negative comments for a highly anticipated game does have the potential to adversely affect sales.

Publisher Electronic Arts and developer Valve are yet to comment publicly on the controversy.