tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post3532082834712895587..comments2023-12-18T12:39:27.533+11:00Comments on Raptured Reality: Some Thoughts On ReviewsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00626684107210848128noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-54605308342058387812011-11-26T08:08:02.817+11:002011-11-26T08:08:02.817+11:00Games are best friend of a person when he is bored...Games are best friend of a person when he is bored of hectic routine life similarly it is with me, when ever I felt bored I search for new games on web that I can play and enjoy. Yesterday when I was searching for something exciting, I found <a href="http://www.lekool.com" rel="nofollow">lekool.com</a> stimulating and intellectual as it demands for brains which are always best part of any gameSelena Gomeznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-64840629281884537132011-11-11T14:54:21.043+11:002011-11-11T14:54:21.043+11:00Steven,
I don't like scores, but if I had to,...Steven,<br /><br />I don't like scores, but if I had to, then I'd go with a 1-5 range.Lee Kellyhttp://ambientchallenge.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-89710198527768127702011-11-10T10:26:03.972+11:002011-11-10T10:26:03.972+11:00Thumbs up! Five stars! 10 out of 10! 100%!
The ge...Thumbs up! Five stars! 10 out of 10! 100%!<br /><br />The general rule seems to be that the broader the scoring metric, the more meaningless that metric becomes. There's far too many sites out who give percentage scores but only ever rate things between 70 ("crap!") or 100 ("zomg!"). That poor old 0-69 range never gets touched. And how do you realistically define what separates an 85% game from an 86% game?<br /><br />I once wrote reviews of games and music for Wired magazine and had to rate them on a 0-10 scale. Even that seemed needlessly expansive. These days, if I do ever find myself having to rate things, I usually do so on a 1-5 star scale. Even that feels wrong and has me screaming, "Just read the review, it tells you what I think!"Retrobliquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12119759056291382215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-71909022186806095622011-11-10T10:16:19.705+11:002011-11-10T10:16:19.705+11:00I always liked the way Zzap! 64, Crash and Amtix (...I always liked the way Zzap! 64, Crash and Amtix (Newsfield's Spectrum, C64/Amiga and Amstrad magazines) broke their reviews down into three components: an objective overview of the game's narrative & gameplay mechanics, two or three subjective opinions from multiple reviewers, and a box-out with scores for various categories. <br /><br />Anyway, I've become considerably disillusioned with the way the commercial gaming web sites handle their reviews. Especially once you consider that most of them are wined and dined by a publisher's marketing people in order to ensure a review score equivalent to 8, 9 or 10. I seem to remember an incident a few years back where a reviewer "dared" to award a triple A title 7 out of 10, only for that publisher to throw a hissy fit and refuse to supply the reviewer's publication with review copies of games in future.<br /><br />And that's pretty much why I take such reviews -- the whole review, not just the overall score -- with a pinch of salt. Obviously some web sites have a little more integrity than others -- and you can eventually work out whose opinion you can trust -- but usually you have to head over to the fringe gaming sites/forums in order to get a more honest opinion.<br /><br />So who is the review score actually for? It may help casual gamers, or non-gamers buying a game for someone else, make a purchasing decision. Hardcore gamers are unlikely to be easily swayed, but usually the difference between a 7/10 and a 9/10 usually indicates the the former was a disappointment and the latter was at least "pretty good". If I'm being perfectly honest I suspect the only people who actually give a rat's arse about the review score are the aggregators and the publishers who actually use their data when it comes to budgeting future development.<br /><br />At the end of the day a friend's recommendation holds infinitely more weight than a number a reviewer pulled out of their ass.Retrobliquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12119759056291382215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-65114765817137704122011-11-09T16:04:50.079+11:002011-11-09T16:04:50.079+11:00Alex V -- Holy crap, I wrote my best post ever!!!1...<b>Alex V</b> -- Holy crap, I wrote my best post ever!!!111<br /><br />Seriously though, I don't take them seriously either because I prefer reading the text rather than using the score to judge the opinion being expressed. Having said that, I will pop into Metacritic from time to time just to see how titles are faring, even though at the end of the day I don't really care because I know which games I will want anyway. I don't know why I do that.<br /><br />I agree about the implications. You only need to look at the outcry over Eurogamer's <i>Uncharted 3</i> score to see an example of the fuss that can be made over a stupid score, rather than the opinion itself which I thought was entirely justified.<br /><br />I do think games writing has matured a reasonable amount in recent years, but the formula certainly hasn't and so we are stuck in a one step forward, two steps back kind of scenario, it would seem. We're making progress though, I'd argue.<br /><br /><b>Lee Kelly</b> -- Except for my recent <i>F1 2011</i> review I've never even thought about conducting reviews before, since there's already so many of them out there. Sure, some of my posts might end up like reviews but I don't write them with the intention of them coming across that way, it just kind of happens sometimes.<br /><br />But yeah, that was the first time I had to think about a score for a game and I actually found it pretty easy to decide what I wanted to give it. It may exist within that 7-9 spectrum (I gave it an 8) that everyone else loves so much but I thought that's where the game belonged after last year's brilliant title. Looks like I won't have to worry about scores again in the future though, so that's probably a blessing rather than a curse.<br /><br />Also, how do both of you feel about places that use scores out of 100 rather than out of 10?<br /><br />As always, thank you both for reading and commenting. It means a lot to me! :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00626684107210848128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-19457294658584248082011-11-09T06:34:32.688+11:002011-11-09T06:34:32.688+11:00I've thought about putting joke scores at the ...I've thought about putting joke scores at the end of all my reviews/critiques.<br /><br />20 big toes!<br />60 knots<br />> 0<br /><br />etc.<br /><br />Another idea would be to have an infinite scale, so that all games would each be infinitely far away from perfect, and so the score would only have meaning relative to other reviews rather than some pretend absolute called "10."Lee Kellyhttp://ambientchallenge.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1083509480143917931.post-23457789762500107892011-11-09T00:51:35.862+11:002011-11-09T00:51:35.862+11:0010/10 for that post - a great read, maybe the best...10/10 for that post - a great read, maybe the best of this generation!<br /><br />Put simply I don't take review scores seriously (particularly at this time of year) unless they are written by names that I trust. The implications of giving one of these blockbuster releases a lower score is absolutely massive for a website or publication - it will affect their circulation/readership and their future advertising. Eurogamer's insistence on 'good but not great' scores this season is laudable, but seems like commercial suicide to me. Simpler just to give it a 90 and move on.<br /><br />A wider point is that I think games writing simply hasn't matured to a level where reviews can be taken seriously - most read like consumer reviews of domestic appliances, ticks or crosses applied to the game's features, but little attention paid to actual significance.Alex Vhttp://www.dontshootfood.comnoreply@blogger.com