How gamers interpret review scores:

One might say we have more disconcering tastes?  Others might say we’re just idiots who don’t understand how a scale from 1 to 100 should work…
By StealthSilver

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Posted by Shawn Handyside on January 16, 2011 · 3:37 AM 
FAILLAMENOT BADPRETTY GOODAWESOME (268 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
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Categories:
Charts & Graphs, Irony, LittleBigPlanet, Mass Effect, Movies, Playstation, Serious Business, Uncategorized, Xbox 360

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123 Responses to “How gamers interpret review scores:”

  1. NekoKnight on January 16th, 2011 3:43 am

    My favorite game is Tales of Symphonia. It's a near perfect game in my opinion but there are some aspects of the plot and gameplay that were lacking. I am forced to give it a modest 112 out of 100.

  2. Mythrrinthael on January 16th, 2011 3:46 am

    Really? Does seeing a score of 7.2 and thinking "I guess that's a decent game" expel me from the "gamer" category?

  3. Zabrio on January 16th, 2011 3:53 am

    Meh, I almost never agree with the review scores, seems more of a score of how hyped a game is, not how good it was, I've played plenty of magnificent games that were cast aside as 60s, and some crappy ones that still get 80s, in all honesty you should decide for yourself via demos or "Alternate methods" of testing a game

    (also fun fact Firefox thinks meh is supposed to be meg)

  4. EternalAzhrei on January 16th, 2011 4:05 am

    gamers aren't the only bad ones either. Notice how the 75 is an "Awesome", where as our awesome scores are in the 90s. We overstuff our ratings, they understuff their ratings.

    …However, commenting on who might be compensationg and who isn't is a bad idea.

  5. GameboyPATH on January 16th, 2011 4:12 am

    I stopped reading Nintendo Power for this reason. They gave Shadow the Hedgehog a 9/10.

  6. Drifting_Mist on January 16th, 2011 4:14 am

    I shall have you know that in Norway, everything gets a dice roll of 5+, /rage (thats 5/6 btw)

    Oh, and I second what Zabrio is sayin' too.

  7. Renkin on January 16th, 2011 4:48 am
  8. Flamerider on January 16th, 2011 4:56 am

    These scores are genuine right?
    Just asking.

  9. Ataeru on January 16th, 2011 4:58 am

    A game getting a score of 3 or less is almost impossible.
    besides a 4 in itself is rare.

    oh and if a variable like presentation is much higher then all of the other variables, the final outcome has math thrown out the window and the score is much higher then it actually is.
    (IE: gameplay 7.1 presentation 9.3 graphics 7.8 = 9.0)

  10. DM1293 on January 16th, 2011 5:04 am

    Never have the words "Guilty Pleasure" sprung to mind than games and movies that are bad. Hell I'd watch The Green Hornet again, because its got a car that detaches its door to SHOOT PEOPLE. The camp value of it is EXTREME, although if Seth Rogen is trying to become infamous as the guy you want to punch in the nuts in every movie, he's doing a good job of it.

  11. MogZero on January 16th, 2011 5:10 am

    seeing how games are taking over the entertainment industry, i think we should replace the movie critics with our game reviewers.

  12. DCMN on January 16th, 2011 5:44 am

    I love how 70 is average in the gaming community. Such high standards.

  13. TheUnknownNoob on January 16th, 2011 6:09 am

    I think it's worth noting that the movie industry is far more prone to producing massive turds that rake in bundles of cash anyways, so the standards there have to be lower.

  14. Zink120 on January 16th, 2011 6:27 am

    Pff. This submission is so-so. It's only 4.46 / 5.00

  15. The_Ginger on January 16th, 2011 7:42 am

    Scores don't get to me, if its bad according to reveiw i rent or trail it myself to see if I as a person enjoy it, which is why i still own crackdown 2 or new vegas, etc. despite a lot of the low scores and negative comments i hear.

    still, i think the one thing that frustrates me is how could people see ilomilo and raskulls as BAD GAMES >:C

  16. VyseRogueKing on January 16th, 2011 8:45 am

    If I honestly have to go with numbers I convert it to a grade scale 100-90=A 90-80 B etc. anything below 70 basically a D I get a little iffy on so I look around I lot more Though I tend to read through the entire review no matter the score and then compare it to other reviews and some customer reviews to get the gist to see if it was over-hyped, if I would like the gameplay, etc. but, that's just me.

  17. C__F on January 16th, 2011 9:12 am

    Exactly why I'm not a movie person.

  18. Guppy06 on January 16th, 2011 9:49 am

    Personally, I say it's because we know that a review score of at least 75 comes with the website advertising package. It's in the contract.

  19. Gaandolf on January 16th, 2011 10:28 am

    You kids today and your reviews. Back in MY day, you didn't have magazines or the internet to read reviews with. You just prayed your game didn't make your eyes bleed, or brain explode, or ears rupture. And even then, you STILL played it, because back then, we were all hardcore.

  20. SnowKatana on January 16th, 2011 11:00 am

    Movies = $20-$25
    Game $40-$60
    If I'm paying $60 for a game it better damn be good, and seeing out DLC is going I'd only be getting 80% of the main game too. a good $15-$20 to get the last 20%

  21. MorningMoon on January 16th, 2011 11:12 am

    Wait, the Green Hornet sucked? and Green Lantern is pretty much doomed already…. the Marvel fanboy inside me wants to troll now…

  22. shadow649 on January 16th, 2011 11:29 am

    I stopped doing that. Tv guide says 2/5 stars and it ends up being a good movie. BULLSHIT!

  23. shadow649 on January 16th, 2011 11:46 am

    top 3 games all ps3 and bottom 2 are arcade. (redundant joke about ps3 having no games) (laughing)

    also games are rated 0-100? I thought it was on a scale of 3d-sonic game to 99.

  24. BurnoutSpartan on January 16th, 2011 12:18 pm
  25. Personsen on January 16th, 2011 12:42 pm

    Why is Dead Space 2 listed as "Good" instead of "AWESOMENESS WRAPPED IN BACON AND DEEPFRIED IN SEXINESS"?

  26. Je2iah on January 16th, 2011 1:31 pm

    Um game reviews officially use a 7-9 scale, where 7 is below average 8 is average 9 is above average. It's sort of like school grades (if your region uses percentile marking). The rest of the scale is reserved for the terrible games and the perfect games. The confusion this causes is why one guy gave Deus Ex a 3/10- this was back when they were deciding whether to use the 7-9 scale or the 1-10 scale, and this guy thought Deus Ex was a bit below average (didn't like the AI and found immersion lacking) so he gave it a 3. With todays scale he would have given it a 7.
    movies uses 1-10 where 5 is average.

  27. Nyoron on January 16th, 2011 1:51 pm

    Is it odd that i dont understand this a little bit? *Looks at submission again* Ohhhhh, i see what you did there.

  28. Link4all on January 16th, 2011 1:53 pm

    To me anything above 90 is a great game (unless it's critic trash) and anything above 80 is mostly good. There's a couple below that I enjoy and a couple above that I hate but at least we have classy scores.

    Or does this mean that games are better than movies in general?

  29. DM - Gentrollman on January 16th, 2011 2:10 pm

    Xbox 360 -- $200
    A Kinect system with Dance Central -- Another $200
    Halo Reach -- $50
    A year of Xbox Live -- $40
    Another Controller -- $20

    Knowing that games like Ijji, Cave Story, Hero Core, Knytt Stories, and La Mulana are not only all unique, great games, they're free? Priceless.

    There are somethings money can't develop. For everyone else, its Indie gaming.

  30. Totema on January 16th, 2011 2:32 pm

    I swear, most review publishers really only use a four point scale. Making it out of ten is completely arbitrary.

  31. uzumakiclan43 on January 16th, 2011 4:28 pm

    Now, try showing this or any actual review to a fangirl/fanboy. And brace yourself for rage of the Brooklyn variety.

  32. khodo63 on January 16th, 2011 5:08 pm

    We go on a grading scale that you might see in school. Anything below a 70 might as well have fresh feces on it. The movie buffs go on a scale that has no meaning because just about everything has to do with word of mouth.

  33. AuraMaster on January 16th, 2011 6:40 pm

    Pretty sure the word you're looking for is "discerning," Shawn. "Disconcering" isn't even a word.

  34. truegentleman on January 16th, 2011 9:00 pm

    Personally, I rate games as a dollar amount worth paying for it. Its hard to justify a score, but easy to justify a price.

  35. Red on January 17th, 2011 12:20 am

    You guys are forgetting ET…
    (the "game")

  36. Solid_Spy on January 17th, 2011 4:05 pm

    I don't think this review system is compatible with shitty games such as Superman 64 (N64), Robocop (Xbox), or epic games such as TLoZ: OoT (N64).

    Thoughts?

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