Do Game Review Scores Matter?

jasoncart writes "This piece on Ferrago discusses the use of review scores and the significance they play in gamers purchasing decisions. Ultimately, according to columnist Ben Parfitt, review scores are pointless." From the article: "Few things wind me up more than when what appeared to be a well-balanced and thoughtful gaming discussion descends into a successive barrage of review scores and Gamerankings ratings."

Comments

Reviewers are robots.

[schild]

When game reviewers on the big sites stop writing like robots, maybe [the scores] will stop mattering.

The best judgement of a game (because of the above), is to see anomalies in gameranking.com listings. If IGN or Gamespot or Gamespy or EGM give a review that seems to be an anomaly, ignore it. It's a bought review.

Always read the review giving a game the lowest score. Or stop reading reviews with scores altogether. The latter works well for me.

Re:Reviewers are robots.

[hibiki_r]

Gamers might not get money for review scores, but you guys seem to have an uncanny ability to give scores thatseem to match the text of the reviews. For example:

Building on the success of Metroid Prime, developer Retro Studios has unleashed another masterpiece with Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. While investigating a distress signal on the mysterious planet Aether, bounty hunter Samus Aran finds herself caught in a war between two warring factions, the peaceful dwellers of the light world, the Luminoth, and the evil creatures of the dark world, the Ing. The sequel features improved graphics, a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, new weapons, suits, and visors for Samus to use, as well as a host of menacing creatures to blast and puzzles to solve. There's also a tacked on multiplayer mode that, while not exactly as thrilling as other deathmatch games on the market, will still manage to suck away a few hours of your life. Beautiful, intense, and full of high production values, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is one of 2004's greatest games.

And, right after claiming it's one of the best games of the year, the score is 3/5. The same score that "Hamtaro ham-ham games" and "The punisher", where the text of the review says "but to spend $49.99 on this game only proves that you're either a huge Punisher fan (which is fine) or that you enjoy "punishing" yourself". To me, that makes as much sense as Chewbacca living in Endor.

Bigger sites coomit the same sin (just read the Halo 2 review in gamespot, and then look at the score), but if you guys want to gain the audience that gamers once had, you have to do better than this.

article summary

[evilmousse]

a system meant to reduce all that is to be said about a game to a single-digit number somehow leaves the smaller nuances unsaid.

stunning.

Q:Do Game Review Scores Matter?

[Nine Tenths of The W]

A:Yes, but not as much as advertising budgets.

Scores help to narrow which games to look at.

[Anonymous Coward]

Scores do have a place in reviews, I use them as a guide to which games I should look into further and which games I should not waste my time on. It is of course best to look at at least 3-4 reviews of a game you are considering buying and see if you can get a demo before you put down your hard earned dosh.

Re:Answer: NO!

[NanoGator]

"Until I see a game developed by an AAA game developing company rated at a 1 or a 0, their ratings hold no power in my book. If they think all high-budget games are "excellent" to the point of having 9.x ratings out of 10, then I certainly don't trust their opinion."

Example?

Not challenging ya really, I was just wondering if a AAA game company released a 1.0 stinker.

Do Game Review Scores Matter?

[silicon not in the v]

No.