A Note on Review Scores

By Mike on 4:49 pm

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I just thought I'd clear things up on what the scores mean. Not that anybody has asked but just for clarity's sake.

10 out of 10: A prefect score is granted to titles or content that are nearly flawless, unique, and industry leading. The game or item must lead its genre, be fun to play, and contain no technical issues. A must buy title.

9 out of 10: A near perfect tile that is innovative and platform leading, but may have some minor flaws. A title worth buying.

8 out of 10: A good title that has some small issues. Mildly innovative and thoroughly enjoyable but doesn't really bring anything new to the table. A title worth buying.

7 out of 10: An overall average title, this represents a game that is still enjoyable but is not innovative and fails to go the extra mile. It may be too short, lack replayability, or lack extra features. It may also have a small number of major or many small technical issues. Rent or try demo first.

6 out of 10: An overall mediocre title that has several large issues that need to be addressed. These titles are bearable but uninovative and crippled by issues. Rent or try demo, buying not recommended.

5 out of 10: A bad title that has many major technical and gameplay issues. Still playable but an unenjoyable experience overall. Rent only. Do not buy period.

4 out of 10 and under: An awful title that has a great deal of major technical issues or terrible gameplay. Do not waste your time with these titles at all. They suffer from sloppy coding, terrible gameplay mechanics, poor build quality, and are plain just not fun at all.

1 out of 10: This represents the lowest score I give to something. This represents games that are totally unplayable and items that are unusable. In the case of games, it may be so crippled by sloppy coding or DRM issues that the game fails to run at all. Examples that I've mentioned in this blog or absolute failures include the Bioshock PC Demo, Lock On: Modern Air Combat, and Blazing Angles PC. Games and items getting this score should not even be available for sale.

What Works: Lists the game's or item's strengths

What Doesn't Work: List the game's or item's weaknesses

What works versus What Doesn't: Weight depending on how strong a strength or how severe a weakness is. A game with many small strengths and a small number of major weaknesses will receive a low score, and vice versa. There are no specific categories here.

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