dogbert Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 There's been a lot of recent discussions about game review scores, the value of scores and the difference in reviewers' scales. I thought for a comparison, I'd post the latest scores of a major German mag that a friend writes for, called "MAN!AC". 50% is supposed to be average, 85% is the minimum for a monthly award. Phantom Dust - 84% Musashi Samurai Legend - 64% Iron Phoenix - 51% Psykio Shooting Col. Vol. 3: Sol Divide & Dragon Blaze - 70% Shining Tears - 67% Giga Wing Generations - 65% Jade Empire - 92% Star Fox Assault - 69% Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Cube) - 90% Haunting Ground - 70% Enthusia Professional Racing - 83% Lego Star Wars - 74% Forza Motorsport - 82% Tenchu: Fatal Shadows - 86% Midnight Club 3 - 85% Area 51 - 79% Stolen - 64% Fire for Effect - 69% EyeToy: AntiGrav - 69% Monster Hunter - 74% Unreal Championship 2 - 85% Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 74% Spikeout: Battle Street - 61% World Snooker Championship 2005 - 76% Street Racing Syndicate (PS2/Xbox) - 73% Spy vs. Spy - 39% La Pucelle Tactics - 86% MX vs. ATV Unleashed - 81% Red Ninja: End of Honor - 43% Dancing Stage Unleashed 2 - 82% Winnie Pooh Heffalump (don't know the right UK name) - 50% Ghost Recon 2 (Cube) - 78% Full Spectrum Warrior (PS2) - 83% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Not an average game in the lot. That's realistic. :tu EDIT: Oh wait, I hadn't noticed that 39% for Spy vs. Spy and the 51% for Iron Phoenix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFo Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Not an average game in the lot. That's realistic. :tu EDIT: Oh wait' date=' I hadn't noticed that 39% for Spy vs. Spy and the 51% for Iron Phoenix. [/quote'] Don't forget Winnie the Pooh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Ah yes, you are correct Jeffrey. So that's four "average" games in the month. (including Red Ninja which I also forgot to mention) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Germans are teh bias if they can't see the greatness in Winnie the Pooh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Looking at it closer (and besides my attempt at levity in my first post), this mag uses the scale alot better than others out there. There are a good number of games given a slightly above average score there and nary a game making it over the 90% mark whereas some of those titles would have scored quite highly in other rags on the market. It's actually pretty decent, but I think they shouldn't shy away from using a few below-50 numbers in certain cases. 60% honestly looks to be the "average" in thier particular scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted April 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 (including Red Ninja which I also forgot to mention) Having played it, not suprised you forgot about it. It's distinctly average at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Having played it, not suprised you forgot about it. It's distinctly average at best. Having also played it (via rental), that 43% is being generous. I just quick glanced at the list off the bat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 The Psykio collection is pretty rubbish, and doesn't deserve close to 70% (though I would say that; I don't like their very dated art style and basic patterns). Enthusia and Stolen are both meant to personify "average" as well, from what I hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Daddy Bling Bling Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 A 5 or 50% is pretty much never average, regardless of whatever talk the site/mag gives about its 'score system'. Even the lowest rater on the list has an average of 58%. http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/sites.asp?sort=8&includeoth=y For fear of losing ad money, preview copies of games, ect, it seems like most places are afraid to hand out the lowest scores. If games were evenly distributed among the ranks, you'd expect to see IGN hand out as many 1's as it does 9's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyVolpe Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Not bad, but I still think those numbers are too high if 50% is average - especially in comparison to movies and recorded works. Generally it seems 70-75% is an average game. It almost seems as if they're grading games the same way you grade a test in school, with a C being average (70-79%) and anything with a 59% or lower being a failure. That being said, I'd take whatever the score is on Metacritic, IGN, Gamespot, or [insert overinflated score giving entity here], subtract 50 from it and multiply the result by 2. Any game under 50 is a ZERO. ANy game that's a 75 (average) would now be 50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickle Posted April 27, 2005 Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 I still think X-Play's 5 star system is best. The majority get 3's, very good games get 4's, and the best get 5's. I'd throw in more 2's than they do, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted April 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2005 Not bad, but I still think those numbers are too high if 50% is average Of course, that's totally reliant on the games being reviewed in a particular issue. Games aren't reviewed on some sort of bell curve where x games /must/ be rated below average to counterbalance the y games given above average scores. Dumb hypothetical - if a magazine were to review only Halo 2, Half Life 2 & Metroid Prime 2 in the same issue, strictly by averages one game should score under 50% Yet another reason why review scores are poo to compare mathematically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainl Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Certainly in Edge's case, they only review ~15 games across all platforms a month. So there's plenty of shite that they don't consider worth the effort that might well be getting 4 or less if they had the time and space; this is probably the case for most multiplatform mags, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foogledricks Posted April 30, 2005 Report Share Posted April 30, 2005 Oops, wrong thread. How'd that happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbert Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2005 MAN!AC #141 scores Import games: Metal Slug 5 - 82% Raze's Hell - 68% Psychonauts - 83% Stella Deus - 70% PAL games: Tekken 5 - 92% Star Wars Ep. 3 - 60% King of Fighters 2002 - 83% Medal of Honor: European Assault - 81% (Xbox), 80% (others) Juiced - 82% Roland Garros 2005 - 76% Donkey Konga 2 - 83% Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt - 35% Cold Winter - 78% Pariah - 73% Close Combat: First to Fight - 76% Destroy All Humans! - 84% SCAR: Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo - 77% MotoGP 4 - 82% TT Superbikes - 78% WWE Wrestlemania 21 - 55% SingStar: The Dome (German edition of PopWorld or whatitscalled) - 81% Alien Hominid - 70% Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball - 63% Gotcha! - 40% Kessen 3 - 81% Formula 1 2005 - 81% Predator: Concrete Jungle - 61% Brave: Search for Shadow Dancer (or something similar) - 60% Area 51 (Xbox) - 79% Handheld games: Ridge Racer DS - 72% Kingdom Hearts: Cahin of Memories - 81% Pac-Pix - 73% Wario Ware Twisted - 81% Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django - 78% Mario Party Advance - 62% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Some generous scores on certain games that didn't deserve it. Predator a 61%? :thud I rented it recently and wondered if Acclaim was still alive and kicking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Ridge Racer got a 72? Geez what game were they playing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandondragons Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Do you think that we should do away with scores? Would you like reviews more if they wrote about the reviewer's gaming experience and opinion without a numerical judgment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 Do you think that we should do away with scores? Would you like reviews more if they wrote about the reviewer's gaming experience and opinion without a numerical judgment? Yes, but that would confuse those who don't want to read or think independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandondragons Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 I'm not worried about that. I just wonder if it is time to evolutionize reviews since the business has grown so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.