It’s definitely happened before, though I couldn’t say to what extent. The reason has been that if they rate games from major developers too poorly they stop getting access to their new games before release.
I care very little about critics these days though, and it’s mostly for the reason you suggest, differing opinions. If they don’t like the same types of games I like, what good is their rating to me? I’m not taking the time to try to find a critic that has similar tastes as me.
The world’s most valuable franchise is Pokémon. I will say the list specifies the MCU so IDK if that includes all Marvel stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_media_franchises
Turok 1? Cause IIRC there’s only a couple areas where I feel you can get stuck unless you really think about things. For the most part you just explore all parts of the map until you find the right place to go.
The one that first comes to mind is the level where you’ve got to find a bunch of switches to raises “stairs” over a pit of lava. Again, IIRC. The other one is a place where you’ve got to know that falling off the cliff won’t kill you. But IIRC you can see the tree tops in that area which you wouldn’t see in an area where falling will kill you.