March 30, 2020 - reviews

Game Review Scoring

We'll sometimes rank games one rating lower than they really should be for glaring issues with the game (that may even be outside of the game). A good example of this is happening is with Stardew Valley, it receives a B ranking even though it should arguably be rated as an A (the game is phenominal)... but it's nearly a direct replica of Harvest Moon, a better version of Harvest Moon, but still essentially Harvest Moon.

Reviews will occasionally updated to address changes to the game (or lack of changes in some cases). Sequels and other industry/community changes will also have some impact on reviews; for example, Dark Souls 2 received a significant improvement when Scholar of the First Sin was released (which might have made it the best in the series). Minor adjustments to ratings will happen as a series' game list increases to show which games in the series is the best; an example of this is Mass Effect, the original game's rating would decrease slightly (going from good to average) because of the massive improvements the second game made and when the third game was released, Mass Effect 2 was bumped up again because of the impact the series (going from good to masterpeice and making Mass Effect 3 good).

This website will have some selection bias here (why would we bother covering games that aren't good?), expect a slightly modified inverted U-curve when it comes to these reviews; most of the reviews should be in the C range with a little more emphasis on B than expected, F reviews should be as rare... if not more rare than S ratings

S - Once in a Generation

S ratings are exceptionally rare. This rating is reserved for the best games of the decade (not just the year). Truly the best of the best.

Not only are these games genre defining, they are also the best games in the genre with no clear gaps in game's design. This is why The Witcher 3 is rated higher more favorably than Skyrim, The Witcher's story is significantly stronger and more imersive than Skyrim (or any other game in the Elder Scrolls series) because Scrolls games are somewhat generic by design.

Most of these titles aren't just the best games ever made but they've probably also made cultural impacts outside of the gaming industry.

Examples of a S rating are:

A - Masterpiece

A rated games are the best games of the year, just about anyone reading this site should play these games. Many of these are genre defining (like Dark Souls, that spawned similar games like Nioh) and are the best in the series (if they are a part of a series).

Examples of an A rating are:

B - Good to Almost Great

B rated games are definitely worth playing. A lot of really good games (like Stardew Valley) sit in this category, so pay attention to this rating. If you play a lot of video games, make sure you play these games and even if your tight on time, pay attention here because you might be missing out.

Examples of a B rating are:

C - Average (as in, "it's fine")

Depending on your standards, this is where game quality starts to drop off. For people who play a ton of video games, these games are worth checking out but if your time is limited, maybe stick to B rated games or better.

These are the types of games that you'll enjoy playing when you're playing but will forget about as time goes on.

Examples of a C rating are:

D - Bad to... Really Bad

D rated games have significant problems. Some of these were doomed from the start, like when board games are ported over to digital; others are extremely bug ridden (most SquareEnix games that were ported to PC from their respective consoles are here)... while others didn't live up to expectations (SimCity).

Examples of a D rating are:

F - Don't Bother

The worst games end up here. Sometimes, a game will be rated as a F for reasons outside of the game itself; examples of this is Escape from Tarkov (sexism, "war being too stressful for women"), Ark: Survival Evolved for creating expansions before leaving early access, and cancelled games, like EverQuest Next.