What's wrong with number scores in reviews?

[keithburgun]

1 to 10 doesn't work well, it's retarded. Essentially, grades 1-5 are completely useless, meaning, it doesnt matter if the game gets a 1 or a 4, either way it's shit and not worth playing, according to the review. So the 1 to 10 system effectively goes from 5 to 10.

Beyond that, to put a number like that on a game is just a gross oversimplification, and I just don't find it helpful.

 

[keithburgun]

The same reason intelligence shouldn't be measured in numbers. Such a broad subject could not be accurately expressed as linear.

Rating a game is very pointless. One could express one's opinion, but that's all it is. An opinion that is opt to differ greatly from the interests of another.

EDIT: Jesus Christ. Though I sometimes speak like this, I should stop being so fancy for my age.
Should I dumb it down a bit?

It's cool man, you aren't nearly as smart as you think you are. Thanks for checkin' in on us though!

 

[Novajam]

My position on the subject is that a number system is okay, but the Buy/Rent/Leave system is better. Numbers are very subjective. Someone's ten may be very different from another person's. Reviews are meant to help you decide whether you should spend your cash or not, and the Buy/Rent/Leave system is a lot better for that.

On an aside, I find that number scores and subheadings tend to go hand in hand. I prefer reviews to flow, as it makes reading a little more fun.

 

[neems]

A good example of how the numbers game is perceived by the public is to check out the comments thread for pretty much any popular review on Eurogamer. If a game gets 9/10, for example, you will see a procession of comments such as -

"So, better than MGS4 then?" [Eurogamer gave MGS4 8/10, it's a recurring theme)
"This game is never a 9, no more than an 8 at best."
"This review reads like a 7, I was surprised to see the score."
"Yet Halo 3 got 10/10, and this is clearly a much better game."
"This reviewer clearly sucks / takes bribes / has been affected by the advertising."

The thread will later be joined by the 'reviews are subjective / 5 is average' crowd.

Ultimately I think there is some aspect of human nature that likes to see even fairly nebulous concepts quantified, hence all the pointless stats that you see in sports coverage. And don't forget, there are plenty of TLR people out there, who only want the score - look at the rise of metacritic.

From the point of view of the reviewers / publications / websites it makes sense to include a number and keep everybody happy; these people are mostly concerned about 'bums on seats', not the finer points of the nature of criticism and reviews.

 

[I3uster]

Its extremely bad because most of the reviewers who have 10 numbers at their disposal forget that 5= average game, and only use numbers 5-10

 

[Wargamer]

The first problem with numbered reviews is the douchebags who use them.

Example; GTA4 got 100/100, or equivalent, from virtually every reviewer. It doesn't deserve that. It doesn't come ANYWHERE close to deserving that! It's so bloody obvious the people doing the reviews were working under the "praise it or get fired!" mentality it voids the point of a review.


The second problem is that Numbers mean jack. The Mona Lisa would get 10/10 for graphics, but that doesn't mean it's an amazing videogame.

Case in point, I reviewed World of Warcraft a long while back on another site, and tried to give a "numbered" Review. People bitched about the fact I'd given Graphics and Sound high scores (8 or 9 out of 10), yet overall I gave it a 4/10. They somehow believed that you MUST pull everything up, and that seems bloody stupid. My logic was that it looked and sounded beautiful, but the gameplay was nothing new and it got boring very fast. As such, the cosmetics were not enough to save it.

People who don't feel the need to compile everything to an arbitrary number tend to do a better job overall of getting across whether the game is worth playing. After all, these days a 7/10 is a Bad Review, so the system's obviously not working.

 

[vid20]

fallout 3 was given 100% by Gamespy.. the game is perfect..

oh wait..

that's whats wrong with numbers.. it doesn't get across a sentiment.. to want to play a game based of a review you want to know what to expect.. if a game got a perfect score I fully expect it to grip me by my unmentionables and massage them, while simultaneously fulfilling my desires for violence, meaningful character development, and gripping story line.

A score wont and can't get across what to expect from a game in terms of whether or not it will fulfill your criteria of what you are looking for.

 

[Flour]

Its extremely bad because most of the reviewers who have 10 numbers at their disposal forget that 5= average game, and only use numbers 5-10

As said before, reviews are rated on a four point scale. Everything under a 7/10 means the game isn't worth your money.
This isn't the fault of reviewers, they are forced to do review games like that in order to keep their jobs. It's the fault of publishers.
If a gaming magazine gave CoD1 a 5/10, Activision could just refuse to send that magazine an early copy of all other Call of Duty games, meaning that magazine just lost a huge amount of subscribers because they're no longer able to provide early or exclusive content.

 

[October Country]

At least a badly written review with a number gives you some kind of insight into the player's mind. Not everyone can articulate their thoughts & feelings into pretty paragraphs. There might be people out there who have played 1000s of games but who can barely string a sentence together. Their opinions matter just as much as someone who can write effusively but who has very little knowledge of games, arguably more so. Numbers are only inherrently bad when they are either (A) higher than 10 (or use more than ten denominations), or (B) used to score individual parts of a game.

While it may be true that gaming knowledge and writing skill doesn't always come together, a number still doesn't tell me anything about the game, it is just a number. A sentence, even a badly phrased one tells me something about the game. A number doesn't tell me whether or not I will enjoy the game, it tells me whether or not the reviewer liked the game.

And I probably should have said this earlier, but I don't have anything against reveiws with scores on the end, I just don't pay as much attention to the number as I do to the argumentation.