Rating System Explained
Guest written by Anders Steinlein.
As you've probably noticed, our brand new rating system has been brought on-line. I figured it's about time we give you a little pointy-finger as to how it works, and how we rate.
| 1-4 | Awful, simply an extremely awful game! Stay far, far away from it no matter what. |  |
| 5-8 | A below-average game. Not worth buying by a long shot - just maybe acceptable if you get it for free. | |
| 9-12 | Simply average. This game is far from perfect, and is only worth buying if you're a huge fan of the genre. | |
| 13-16 | Now were talking! While it may still not be the perfect game, it should be well worth buying if you're able to overlook a couple of flaws. | |
| 17-20 | Yeah - a truly spectacular game! Take some time and lock yourself in with this game - it's already a classic! |
How We Rate
When reviewing a game, we play it. It's almost as simple as that. We do follow some "rules" though, so a game isn't treated unfairly:
- We review games based their own merits. If a games setting is based around the middle age, we don't punish it for looking "old" (meaning "middle age old").
- We don't mix genres. A strategy game may have role-playing elements, which may contribute to increase its score considerably. It won't however, get a decreased score if it lacks it.
- We review the release-version unless otherwise stated. That is, we play it as you get it out-of-the-box; unpatched.
As far as the "how we rate" go, we have packed together a little guideline-list, which notes what we find important in a game. As noted later on though, all these aspects aren't "required" to make a game score high - they are simply what they are... guidelines. Anyway, here goes:
Graphics: While it isn't the most important factor, graphics does contribute to make a game more enjoyable. It should look the way it was intended to. To bring back the middle age example, the game should make you feel like you're actually in the middle age, not in some space station in the year of 2329!
Sound: Sound is another factor. Still not the most important aspect, but does increases the overall "feel" of the experience if done right. The sound effects should be appropriate - that is blending nicely into the games setting, and it should not be a pain to your ears. As for the soundtrack it should be varied, still appropriate, changing accordingly to the happenings in the game. A well-done score makes you feel more involved in the game, often making the adrenaline pump even higher.
Interface: The interface is a more important aspect of a game. It should be easy to customize settings, easy to navigate around menus, and presenting enough information to the user. Bringing up an example, role-playing games should present the user to much, but not too much, information such as your characters skill points, his possessions, and objectives.
Controls: Is it easy to "do things"? You should feel comfortable with the way you control your actions, character, world or whatever. There shouldn't be overly many controls, the game should respond quickly when you press a button, and you shouldn't be required to "click-click-click" (unless it's "Such A Game"). As for a role-playing game again, the combat-system should be easy to use, while still giving the user enough options to vary his tactics.
Originality: While a classical real-time strategy game may be fun, bringing in some twist will most definitely be credited. Twists in this genre might be totally different units, more focus on the combat compared to resource management, or better; incorporating elements from different genres. Of course, it doesn't help just to put them in - they got to work.
Replayability: A game should last for some time. If you get tired of one the same night as you started playing it, I can't say it's worth the money. Features that extend the replayability of a game includes variation in gameplay such as different missions, objectives or puzzles, good multiplayer options, and the possibility for further additions later on - such as new missions, modifications, objects, and so on.
Difficulty: How hard is the game to complete? We try to finish a game before the review goes public, but it isn't always possible. If a game is goddamn hard, we say so - punishing the game accordingly. Too easy games aren't good either. For a game to score high at this aspect, it should provide the players with challenges, while not making them overly frustrated.
Bugs: Bugs are something we all hate. There's nothing worse than having played for some time, just to see the game crash. A really buggy game will be severely punished, while we always have to accept a couple of them.
Overall: It's important to note that this isn't the "average" of the mentioned aspects. The ones mentioned above are simply guidelines as to what we look after in a game. The reason for playing a game is to have fun, right? So, how high a game score is [almost] simply how fun it is to play. Of course, if a games, say... difficulty sucks big-time, it will most definitely be punished accordantly, but it might still be fun to play and worth the buy!
Why X out of 20?
You might wonder why we decided to go with such a weird rating system. I'll tell you why. It all started when I, Anders, started writing for Cosmo3D...
Actually, it all started when I was playing The Longest Journey. I liked the game very well indeed, and figured I'd write a review of it to be posted at a Norwegian gaming newsgroup. So I did, rating it using a X out of 10 system. Fortunately for me, Axel (cosmo) read my review. He contacted me, asking if I wanted to translate it to English and have it posted here at Cosmo3D. As the PR-horny guy I am ;), I seized the opportunity. As of then, I didn't know he had been using a percentage rating system in his previous reviews, so I kept my original X/10 rating system.
The review turned out to be a bigger success than expected, so I was asked to continue writing reviews for this great site. I followed up with a review of The Sims a couple of weeks later. Still, I didn't know about the former percentage system, so I kept using my X/10, but introducing plusses and minuses to have more score options. Now, Axel pointed out that he had been using a percentage system previously, and wondered if I was willing to move away from mine. I didn't want to change my score as it was already fixed, so we put the discussion to rest...
...for a little while anyway. As the review went public, we got a response from Jon "NoName" Harthug regarding the rating systems. He felt that we should come up with a system, forgetting about both the percentage- and the X out of 10 rating systems. Axel and I couldn't really agree more, as we had been discussing it some by email before. The discussion went on, and numerous options were presented. One after the other option fell of the bandwagon, but two still stood: The "good" old percentage system, and the quite original X out of 20 system, introduced by the UnNamed dude.
To help us decide which system to choose, we put up a poll on the main page. Not surprisingly, the percentage system came out on top with the X/20 one following right behind. As we in the process had grown quite tired of the "clichéish" percentage system, we decided to go with the latter.
This was the story of the new rating system - more or less… It does look kind of cool, don't you think? So, cheers to all those involved in the process: Axel, thanks for making me join the site and being so nice to me! Jon, thanks for making such a great discussion and suggestion! And finally, thanks to all you people out there who followed the discussion, voted on the poll, and are keeping us alive! :-)
