There is a major problem with reviewing games nowadays. And it's that the gaming rating scale is flat out fucked up. It's a sad day when even going to metascore shows you that Halo 2 nets a 95 and Halo 3 nets a 96. Or Wind Waker nets a 93.
If we are falling back on a 1 through 10 scale, 1 being a pile of shit and 10 being the most amazing thing you will ever play, games like Wind Waker and Halo 3 should be getting 7s. 9s and 10s should be reserved for games that are perfect in almost every aspect including ORIGINALITY. Just because Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a well polished version of GTA: III doesn't mean it should get the same or better score. The point of a review, in my opinion, is to actually be able to collect meaningful information by reading the review and then putting that information together with the score. If a reviewer gave GTA: III a 9.6 and then gave Vice City a 7.5 or an 8.0 and then said, "Vice City expands upon GTA: III in the most impressive ways. Fans of GTA: III will definitely want to pick this up!" you would get a better feel for the game, no? Seriously, I mean look at this shit:
http://gonintendo.com/wp-content/upl...ogalaxyvg9.jpg
11/10? Are you kidding me?
Very few games deserve to be in the 9 or 10 range: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, Super Mario 64, Pikmin.
Now, the counter-argument might be something like, "well what if the sequel improves upon the gameplay so much that it actually makes a better game" and that point is valid but in all honesty most sequels make minor tweaks. Tweaks I say!
The solution is getting rid of the number score. Make readers read! There was a review called "The Honest Halo 2 Review" or something to that extent that came out a few weeks after Halo 2 did, and it basically summed up all the pros and cons of Halo 2 in an honest well-written way.
Even if Yahtzee tries too hard to be critical or to be funny, he makes some valid points. Wouldn't it be nice if IGN, just once, wrote a review for Zelda that just said, "This is like every other Zelda game only with new puzzles and slight derivations. If you are a Zelda fan you will love it!" And then, instead of giving the game a 9.5 or something they give it a 7 or an 8. And bam, everyone is happy. I'd still buy it, I'm a sucker for Zelda. And I'd feel better too, because when they do give a game a 10, you know it's going to be real real good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor S
only like the few obscure, artsy games that are acclaimed but no one tends to buy
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I don't know if Portal is considered one of those games, but I highly urge you to check it out. It is quite possibly the best single player game to come out this year. It can be short if you only want to beat it once, but there are time-based goals and portal-based goals that add a huge level of depth to the game, and there is lots of competition to see how fast people can beat the level. No joke, if your computer is up to snuff to play Half-Life 2, PLEASE check out portal.
Bond 
Re: Hilarious Zelda Review
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