Games TM 89 Scores

[AlonzoUK]

Arrived this morning with my Edge magazine...

Cover Diablo III

Reviews - lots of them :

Uncharted 2 : 9
Gran Turismo : 7
Brutal Legend : 7
Motorstorm - Arctic Edge : 7
Magna Carta II : 4
Fifa 10 : 9
PES 2010 : 6
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days : 8
Forza 3 : 8
Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story : 9
Ju-On - The Grudge : 3
Operation Flashpoint 2 : 8
Borderlands : 8
Tropico 3 : 6
Dead Space Extraction : 8
GTA IV - Ballad of Gay Tony : 9
Muramasa - The Demon Blade : 8
Order of War : 6
Heroes over Europe : 4
Tekken 6 : 8
Tales of Monkey Island - Lair of the Leviathan : 9
You, me, and the Cubes : 7
Championship Manager 2010 : 4

Retro :

Alien Breed 3D
Metal Gear 2 (msx2)
Earthworm Jim
Football games

[abigsmurf]

Bit of score inflation there but nothing to outrageous (monkey island score is an odd 9 mind).

Why is it despite Ju-On being slammed left right and center I'm still interested in it if it gets reduced to under a tenner?

[Kaladron]

Magna Carta II got a 4, not a 7.

[GordonJ]

Magna Carta II got a 4, not a 7.

Thought that was a little harsh, seems they just didn't get the combat. The AI character control is pretty dire though, specially in Navyblue Marsh where they can fall out of the world and crash the game.

[dvdmike]

Got mine today also, bought a sub with my hmv pure points

[Ouenben]

Borderlands score seems about spot on imo. It's not game of the year but it's a fun RPS game with co-op and several hours gameplay and an interesting visual style.

[AlonzoUK]

Magna Carta II got a 4, not a 7.

oops typo on my part - so many 7s

[Tig]

five 9's and seven 8's, seems like a rather excellent month

[SUMIRE]

What was the reasoning behind giving forza 3 a 8? What did they say was missing or wasnt very good?

[ChrisF]

What was the reasoning behind giving forza 3 a 8? What did they say was missing or wasnt very good?

The only negative points in the review were the 2nd disc install, which is obviously optional. But they seemed somewhat irked with that, wasting a a whole paragraph on it.

But don't forget, 8 is very good in their scheme of things... so the blurb at the start of the reviews says.


I have to say, I dip in and out of this magazine, and currently only have a sub because it was 3 issues for ?5... but some of the reviews in it are a total waste of time. They may as well be pictures and a score, because the actual text tells you nothing about the game at all.

[Kaladron]

but some of the reviews in it are a total waste of time. They may as well be pictures and a score, because the actual text tells you nothing about the game at all.

Can you give a couple of examples?

[Lebowski]

The only negative points in the review were the 2nd disc install, which is obviously optional. But they seemed somewhat irked with that, wasting a a whole paragraph on.

if this was a reason to mark games down by default 90% of ps3 games would get marked down because of compulsery installs. not really fussed by an 8 for forza mind as I can't get on with sim racers, I just find this a crazy reason.

[Kaladron]

Who says that was a reason to mark it down? A review can contain discussion and criticism that doesn't bear any weight on the final score.

[Lebowski]

Who says that was a reason to mark it down? A review can contain discussion and criticism that doesn't bear any weight on the final score.

If the text has no relation to the score what's the point of the number at the end then lol

[Kaladron]

The text has some relation, but it doesn't have to relate entirely. I see them as two different things, as much as I know others won't.

What you're asking though, is that a review be written with a score in mind, every word written to justify the number at the end. That's one way of writing a review but I personally think it's a bad way. Do that and you paint yourself into a corner, unable to talk about potentially interesting things because they don't tally with the score.

Look at it this way -

the number at the end answers the question "how good is this game?"

the review text answers the question "what do you think about this game?"

They're two similar but subtly different things. Which is why you generally need both text and a score. If only the first question mattered then a review section would just be a list of numbers.