Summary
- There’s a new game rating system in town
- Seriously though, the Big Meanie Games Blog will start rating games on a 1-10 scale
- Have a nice day
There’s definitely a lot of back-and-forth on whether scores for games makes sense. Personally, I think they’re valuable for what they are (a really rough take of where a game stands in relation to other games). That can be useful information, especially if readers know how a particular site tends to rate games.
And so I’ve gone back and updated my older reviews with a new “score” field.
The rating scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being an absolute crapfest and 10 being a masterpiece. Scores are either whole numbers or halves (7.5, 9.5, etc).
Here’s how that breaks down in a practical sense:
| Score | What it means | Some games that would be scored at this level (actual score) |
|---|---|---|
| 10/10 | A influential masterpiece that comes once every 5-10 years. These are games that you can make an argument for being the greatest. | Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy VII Street Fighter II |
| 9/10 | Top-tier game that’s one of the best in its genre. Highly recommended. | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (9) Half-Life: Alyx (9.5) Life is Strange (9) |
| 8/10 | A solid title with some shortcomings. Recommended. | Nier: Automata (8) The Last of Us Part II (8.5) 428: Shibuya Scramble (8.5) |
| 7/10 | The minimum bar to be called a “good” game. Recommended with some reservations. | Control (7) Firewatch (7.5) Necrobarista (7.5) |
| 6/10 | Above average. Would look into these games only if they fit your genre. | Final Fantasy XV (6.5) Death Come True (6.5) Dreamfall Chapters (6) |
| 5/10 | A completely and utterly average game. Generally forgettable but might have some redeeming quality. | Satellite Reign (5) |
| 4/10 | The start of the bottom-tier games. At this point, you should start seriously questioning whether any of these games are worth your time. | Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (4) |
| 3/10 | Poor. | Ken’s Labyrinth (3) |
| 2/10 | Extremely poor. | nothing here yet |
| 1/10 | Completely awful, riddled with issues and most likely unplayable. Worst of all time. | nothing here yet |
Honestly, you probably won’t see many games – if any – reviewed here that are worse than 5/10. I had to dig deep just for the examples above.
This is mostly due to the fact that I review games that I’m either personally interested in or are standouts in some way (the latest fad or doing something that’s way different from everybody else). I don’t get advance review copies – you never know, maybe this will change someday – I’ve bought every game that’s been reviewed. That’s probably a good thing in terms of journalistic integrity, but it’s bad for my wallet.
If you’re wondering, I’m generally interested in these types of games:
- Story-rich games (usually visual novels/adventure games) – Danganronpa, Life is Strange, To The Moon
- RPGs and ARPGs – Final Fantasy series (please let XVI be good, please), Quest for Glory, Genshin Impact
- First-person shooters that aren’t just more of the same – Deus Ex
- Competitive games – League of Legends
And I usually avoid:
- Games that have no defined end/infinitely replayable
- Sandbox-type games like Minecraft
- MMORPGs – sorry, no time for these
- Mobile games unless it’s something very different like Monument Valley – yes, I see the irony as a mobile game dev
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