My Review Scale
As a base, I use the following as a guideline for how I begin to score a game:
Starting Point = 5
I Disliked It = 0-4
I Liked It = 6-10
From there, I gather my notes and begin to place the game into a “quality” ranking that I feel fits it the best, based on my overall experience and the feeling the game left me when I put the controller down for good. It looks something like this:
0 = Unplayable
1 = Terrible
2 = Awful
3 = Bad
4 = Poor
5 = Fine
6 = Decent
7 = Good
8 = Awesome
9 = Fantastic
10 = Masterpiece
Finally, I return to my notes and really break down every aspect of the game that was offered to me. This is primarily where I begin tweaking my overall score up or down based on the specific qualities the game provides the player. The general categories I like to look at are:
Soundtrack / Sound Design Artwork / Animation General Tone Believability in Performances Relevant Context and Storytelling
Specifics will be listed in the notes section of my reviews, located at the tail end in a blockquoted section for easier access.
As a little aside I, personally, don’t necessarily think a game needs to be perfect in order to receive the rating of “Masterpiece.” Gaming media as a whole provides some of the most subjective experiences in the entertainment industry. You may encounter bugs that I don’t, I may be more heavily impacted by story elements than some of you will be, etc. These are just my opinions based on my personal experiences. My ultimate goal here is to provide an opinion on a product to help inform the average consumer.
I hope my reviews provide you with solid insight and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Thanks for reading,
Apple