How the Big Meanie Games Blog’s new review scoring system works

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:

ScoreWhat it meansSome games that would be scored at this level (actual score)
10/10A 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
9/10Top-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)
8/10A solid title with some shortcomings. Recommended.Nier: Automata (8)
The Last of Us Part II (8.5)
428: Shibuya Scramble (8.5)
7/10The minimum bar to be called a “good” game. Recommended with some reservations.Control (7)
Firewatch (7.5)
Necrobarista (7.5)
6/10Above 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)
5/10A completely and utterly average game. Generally forgettable but might have some redeeming quality.Satellite Reign (5)
4/10The 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)
3/10Poor.Ken’s Labyrinth (3)
2/10Extremely poor.nothing here yet
1/10Completely 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