How do you perceive review scores?

Thesnipergecko

Thesnipergecko

Thesnipergecko

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Taking lead from another thread it got me thinking about how I see review scores.

It would be interesting to see how we all view scores. It's probably best to put them in to score brackets instead of scoring 1-10.

Code: 
Copy and complete
[b]1-3[/b] - 
[b]4-6[/b] - 
[b]7-9[/b] - 
[b]10[/b] -

1-3 - poor, not worth a bargain bin purchase
4-6 - average, wouldn't pay full price
7-9 - good, day one purchase for me
10 - amazing, time to get excited
 
mostly nowadays with a pinch of salt.

Never know who's been paid off, who is bias and sometimes its just the opinion of the reviewer on that day.

Like the recent Knack reviews. Its a child friendly game, but it got marked down for being simplistic or simple controls etc... But some kids might like the game, despite the lower review scores.
 
Reviews mean nothing to me nowadays, I just watch youtube videos or live streams on twitch and make my own mind up whether it is worth my money. The problem I have with music/game/tv/movie reviews is, it is all relative. How do I know if the guy reviewing isn't a fan of FPS/Racing/whatever, but I am, how do I know that the reviewer can present a non-biased review of a genre or game or whatever, without a skewed vision from the off.

The answer, you can't. Huge pinch of salt needed with any review IMHO.
 
1-5 - Probably something I wouldn't bother picking up unless I already had a vested interest and even then would probably wait for 66-75% off.

6-7 - Would probably pick up in a Steam sale for 3-5 quid, again unless I had a vested interest in which I'd probably pick it up at 33-50% off rather than wait for 66-75%.

8-9 - Something I'd probably buy ASAP if I was interested in it. May research more if it was the first time I'd seen it.

10 - Probably vastly over-rated pap :p.

But as said above, I don't really pay much attention to review these days, mostly look at reader reviews to see if I should bother with it and go from there.
 
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1-3 absolutely awful, generally broken and borderline unplayabale
4-6 pretty bad games, maybe worth picking up when they hit the bargain bins
7-9 good to very good games worth buying at full price
10 amazing!!


However I don't judge solely on reviews as I often find myself disagreeing with them. I just use them to get a rough idea of the game and then decide if it's worth me trying or not.
 
This is how I look at scores. I've changed the bracket slightly...

1-3 - Awful, awful game. Avoid
4-6 - Poor to average game, with perhaps a couple of redeeming features. Bargain bin price only
7-8 - Good to excellent game, especially for fans of the genre. A few issues stop it being great
9-10 - Exceptional title that should be at least played by everyone, irrespective of your usual genre affiliations. The closer to 10, the more unmissable the game.
 
Anything less than 8 on ign and I probably won't bother with it (not that ign is a good gauge, just they seem to have absurdly high scores)
 
Same as I see review scores of hardware.
"Oh wow, this is £400 more expensive, so it MUST be worth the additional 0.75°C I will shave off my CPU temps....!!".

If a game is a good price and looks like I'll enjoy it, I'll play it.
I really don't care what anyone else says until after I've completed or given up on it, at which point I'll happily entertain their opinion, scoring, bracketing or whatever. Same for things like IMDB scores - Just because some other people liked/hated it, doesn't mean I will!!

You might get lucky and find an independent reviewer who shares your tastes though, so that's possibly worth considering.
 
The Craig said:
Anything less than 8 on ign and I probably won't bother with it (not that ign is a good gauge, just they seem to have absurdly high scores)
Click to expand...

In your opinion of course ;)

Hence this topic, it's interesting to see how others treat scores.

I wouldn't consider 8 a high score, 9/10 would be a high scorer for me. 8 would be top end of an average game.
 
Davey_Pitch said:
This is how I look at scores. I've changed the bracket slightly...

1-3 - Awful, awful game. Avoid
4-6 - Poor to average game, with perhaps a couple of redeeming features. Bargain bin price only
7-8 - Good to excellent game, especially for fans of the genre. A few issues stop it being great
9-10 - Exceptional title that should be at least played by everyone, irrespective of your usual genre affiliations. The closer to 10, the more unmissable the game.
Click to expand...

Thats a pretty good banding and what i'd like to see, unfortunalty reviewers and users both stray from that due to focus.

recently games like Batman Origins & COD have been panned for not being original or inotive enough. While GTA V was pretty much let off the hook for being 95% broken online.

If you dont play online GTA5 is trully a 9/10 game, if you do it is/was a 1/10. If you havent played Arkam City origins would come across as very fresh and a great game rather than more of the same.

Reviewing a game well is a hard thing to do and the only thing for sure is someones going to call you a dick.

Hell Gamespot have even made a show out of it.
 
House said:
Reviewing a game well is a hard thing to do and the only thing for sure is someones going to call you a dick.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it! I have somewhere in the region of 50 published reviews online, and I guarantee there will be people out there disagreeing with every single one of them. At the end of the day, as someone said above, a review is just an opinion. You just need to decide if you agree with that opinion or not.
 
1-3 Don't go there
4-6 Cheep not well made, rubbish - would not give a 2nd look.
7-8 A possible candidate, It's caught my eye.. lets have a look see
9-10 A definitely maybe

"but then again, might just be me" Far Cry3 got like a 9 or a 9.5 and so I bought it But truth is... as fantastic as the game is I just got bored of it.
 
[1-10]

Could be amazing, could be awful, could be anything in between.


I know what I like so I usually have to see very little to make up my mind. I just watch a bit of gameplay or maybe find out an opinion from someone I know shares very similar tastes to me then go from there.


It's a shame review companies are not more trusted and more objective and professional.


it's like film critics who bash an action move for having 'too much action'.
 
Mostly I view them as a meaningless arbitrary number based upon someone else's opinion.

But to answer:
1-3 - unplayable/very bad
4-6 - average, flawed, but still ultimately enjoyable
7-9 - excellent, almost perfect, ground breaking
10 - gaming perfection

In a 10 point system I've always believed 5 to be the middle ground and thus average, so anything over a 5 should be worth a look.

Sadly all the **** magazines and games journalists seem to have brain washed all the kids in to accepting a 4 point system of 7 as average/bad, 8 as good/average, 9 as excellent and 10 the best.

Edge and Eurogamer seem to get the scoring system right for my tastes most of the time. But review scores are the least important part of a review for me.
 
I don't.

I read the review and give my own assessment on at the end of if it seems like something I'm interested in or not.

Then if I'm still unsure I wait for player impressions leaning more towards fans of a series as I'd rather read positive comments or clear criticism rather than internet nerd rage. Then if I'm still not sure I wait for a sale :D If I've spent enough time following a game and read reviews I'm sure it is at least worth £5 of my time :)
 
As mentioned, take with a pinch of salt.

Some games that reviewed poorly, like dead space 3, I actually quite enjoyed.

I prefer to listen to user reviews rather than review sites after years of COD scoring tens, and the amount of money thrown around review sites these days you have to be wary. I'd rather check out forums and see what people like you and me are saying.

Saying that with console games I'm more wary considering the price of games and will usually watch some YouTube walk through and reviews from the like of AngryGamer/Sessler and so. With PC games less so as I don't usually spend more than £20 for a games, 90% under £15 so you can afford to be less cautious.
 
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