In fitting with Negative Gamer’s general take on games, it seems only proper to use a negative review score. Too many sites use the classic 6 to 9 scale (often mislabeled 1 to 10) and don’t tell you want you really want to know; what is going to piss you off when you play.
We aim to provide highly critical reviews to do just that. You can think of it as reviewing the detracting elements with the game. We find out all those annoying features the game has so you either don’t have to, or have some warning.
There are far to many wishy-washy reviews out there. Say the graphics are good, game play is solid, slap a 7.5 on it and kick it out the door.
We don’t do that. What you get here is a critical analysis of the games failings and an opinion on it. We aim to approach these reviews from the perspective of a whiny, pessimistic, cheap gamer. Very different to most reviews which seem to approach games as if they just solved 3rd world hunger.
We are also in no rush to get reviews out the door. We want to make sure we can provide consistent, good review before we begin.
- 0: This game is perfect. There is not a single blemish on it. It does everything you want it to do and does it perfectly. If this game was a cake, you would never once get tired of eating it, or wish it was a different flavour.
- -1: The game’s only problems are those of preference. The issues found in the game are manageable, trivial and few. You would have to try hard to find problems here.
- -2: The game is mostly perfect, however a few minor issues do arise. Although these issues exist, they do little to damage the game.
- -3: The game has fewer issues than expected, but is held back by some unfortunate problems which arise every now and again. Nothing too bad, but definitely noticeable.
- -4: Overall the game does a little more than expected. Problems which are present will hinder your enjoyment from time to time.
- -5: The game has about as many problems as you would expect the game to have. It neither impresses or depresses the player.
- -6: This game could have been good, if it wasn’t for all the niggling little issues. The problems are either persistent and small or few and large, either way they are impossible to ignore.
- -7: Even an optimist would struggle to get away from the issues this game has. The problems are clear, needless and annoying. Although you can finish the game, you will wish you hadn’t.
- -8: The problems are ever present and make you want to stop playing. The only fun you have is by accident and even then it’s a rare occurrence. Rent at best, but only if you really have to.
- -9: The list of problems with the game is near endless. The game fails in nearly every way possible.
- -10: The game is crap, there is no way to get around the fact. The problems found are game-breaking and take all the fun out of the game. Playing this game will make you hate all videogames.
Note: This is not the final version of the review score breakdown, it’s just a nice place to start, feel free to leave feedback.
I like this. But knowing you EVERY game is gonna get -10
you know this shit is the same as scoring 1-10
and I don’t mean that as a question, I mean that you obviously know it
so why are you doing it
@8128: If you look, where a 1 to 10 scale marks how good a game is, this scale marks how annoying you may find your experience (basically). I agree it could be a 1 to 10 scale, but adding the negative factor pushes home the fact this isn’t your standard scale. If we id convert the scores to the basic 1 – 10, the numbers wouldn’t make sense with what people expect.
The negativity of the scale is basically a way to remind people hat our reviews judge on different criteria, so are a compliment not a replacement for more standard reviews.
You may want to consider a logarithmic scale, because there is little difference between say 6 and 8, so the majority of games will be between say -5 and -1. Using a logarithmic scale would stretch that period out and make the truly bad scores truly terrible. suddenly an 8 is where the game is pretty much awful in every way and you cannot force yourself to finish even a single level, and a 10 means its so crappy you cannot even play more than 2 or 3 minutes tops because of bugs, or terrible camera angles, etc.
“Too many sites use the classic 6 to 9 scale”
And yet half your reviews are -1 to -4. Good job.
A fantastic example of the action RPG genre with a few niggling faults that you will barely notice. -1 (9/10)
oh man sounds like games-journalism-industry wank to me!
@8128: you’re complaining about one specific review? Did you read the rest of the text? If you dissagree with the score, best to write it on a comment where the author of said review can read it :)
I don’t “disagree” with “scores” :(
and I’m not complaining about one review, a lot of them come out sounding like that (not that it was a great review, or anything)
review system just needs an update, that’s all I’m saying
perhaps ‘ya fools,’ above, put it more eloquently
@8128: That makes sense. None of us are trained, professional writers and (from experience) it’s always far too easy to fall into the cliche writing styles of writing. It’s something we’re always activly trying to get better with. I agree the review system always need fine tuning. If you’ve got any more ideas please do drop me an email as it’s something I’m always looking to improve.
Also, I just went and did a math: Our cuirrent average review score is around -4.6 (on our scale -5 is “average”, and most people only review games they thought they would like, hence why they bought the game). I’m unable to check the standard deviation, but I think it’s quite high.
@wardrox: Out of interest, has any game ever got a 0?
@vanillabear: whilst possible, nope. One day I expect some small game is likly to get a 0. There just needs to be basically nothing wrong with it.