In preparation for writing game reviews, I've proposed the following review scoring system. I basically rate games on a number of attributes using a 5 star scale. Basically it'll follow something like this:
0 = Abysmal
1 = Pretty bad. Worse than average.
2 = Nothing special. Average.
3 = A bit better than average. Some neat little features but not enough.
4 = A good, solid game with regards to the rated attribute. Not breaking any new ground but it's up there with the best of them.
5 = Cutting edge, stands out from the crowd, a pioneer at this particular attribute and executed to perfection.
When rating the attributes, I'll aim to compare the game to other games that are similar or within the same genre (no point comparing a puzzle game's plot with that of an RPG or adventure :P) Some attributes that I deem are more important than others (for example a game's music and replayability is quite important to me) will come with a weighting which will reflect in the total score. The total score will be expressed as a percentage.
In terms of the actual attributes I intend to use, I've decided so far on the following:
Sound
This covers basically voice-acting and sound effects - whether quality voice acting was done and whether sound effects are of good quality and believable.
Music (x2 weighting)
Oftentimes I find I enjoy games that have soundtracks created by particular composers (Jeremy Soule and Frank Klepacki are two that come to mind for me). Music is important in immersing you in a game so a good soundtrack should never be ignored.
Graphics
This covers simply how good looking the game is. As you can see I don't apply much weighting to this since although it's nice to have pretty graphics, it shouldn't take priority over how fun a game is.
Plot
This covers the plot of the game, whether the story proposed is interesting, believable and is cohesive. Of course some games don't really have a plot but since I'll only be comparing to other games within the same genre, it shouldn't be a problem.
Gameplay (x2 weighting)
This is the meat of the game and where most comparisons will be drawn between competitors within its genre. Here the game will be assessed on whether it's actually fun to play or not, whether any new ideas it brings to the genre work and whether it's addictive enough for you wanting to come back and see it to the end ("Just one more turn!" in the case of Civilization players).
Replayability
This covers on how replayable a game is - i.e. how many different ways can you play the game to achieve different outcomes. The more options Sandbox games like The Sims for example will score high in this category.
Polish
This basically covers the questions: how smooth does the game run? How well are the ideas executed? How buggy is it? Is the UI intuitive? As an all-round package does it work?
Of course, this is all subject to change as I start reviewing :).
0 = Abysmal
1 = Pretty bad. Worse than average.
2 = Nothing special. Average.
3 = A bit better than average. Some neat little features but not enough.
4 = A good, solid game with regards to the rated attribute. Not breaking any new ground but it's up there with the best of them.
5 = Cutting edge, stands out from the crowd, a pioneer at this particular attribute and executed to perfection.
When rating the attributes, I'll aim to compare the game to other games that are similar or within the same genre (no point comparing a puzzle game's plot with that of an RPG or adventure :P) Some attributes that I deem are more important than others (for example a game's music and replayability is quite important to me) will come with a weighting which will reflect in the total score. The total score will be expressed as a percentage.
In terms of the actual attributes I intend to use, I've decided so far on the following:
Sound
This covers basically voice-acting and sound effects - whether quality voice acting was done and whether sound effects are of good quality and believable.
Music (x2 weighting)
Oftentimes I find I enjoy games that have soundtracks created by particular composers (Jeremy Soule and Frank Klepacki are two that come to mind for me). Music is important in immersing you in a game so a good soundtrack should never be ignored.
Graphics
This covers simply how good looking the game is. As you can see I don't apply much weighting to this since although it's nice to have pretty graphics, it shouldn't take priority over how fun a game is.
Plot
This covers the plot of the game, whether the story proposed is interesting, believable and is cohesive. Of course some games don't really have a plot but since I'll only be comparing to other games within the same genre, it shouldn't be a problem.
Gameplay (x2 weighting)
This is the meat of the game and where most comparisons will be drawn between competitors within its genre. Here the game will be assessed on whether it's actually fun to play or not, whether any new ideas it brings to the genre work and whether it's addictive enough for you wanting to come back and see it to the end ("Just one more turn!" in the case of Civilization players).
Replayability
This covers on how replayable a game is - i.e. how many different ways can you play the game to achieve different outcomes. The more options Sandbox games like The Sims for example will score high in this category.
Polish
This basically covers the questions: how smooth does the game run? How well are the ideas executed? How buggy is it? Is the UI intuitive? As an all-round package does it work?
Of course, this is all subject to change as I start reviewing :).
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