So Eurogamer has finally dropped their numerical scoring system.I won't be the first to say -it's about time! It's subjective (as all rating systems) but it's down to an individual's meaning of 4/5 or 2/5. To me 4/5 should be almost flawless, to others it just means pretty good. Ratings like that have never effected my game buying; if I want to get the game, I'm going to get it, regardless of some numbers that no two websites or magazines will ever agree on. Joystiq last month also threw in the towel on number rating systems for the same reasons and we may see over the next few months more review websites dropping the numbers as it swiftly loses reliability.
What I want to know is: should I buy it?
Eurogamer have upturned their number system to Recommended, Essential, Avoid. This seems much more relatable to me, I just want to know if it's worth my time and money, and if I'm told to avoid it- chances are I'm going to give it a miss (unless I'm being stubborn!) There are so many peices of a gaming puzzle, graphics, gameplay, network issues: all things that need to be considered, but who's to say graphics are more important than gameplay (have you seen Minecraft? We love it) and for others trouble with online play isn't an issue, because that's not important to them. All of these can be reviewed but numbers isn't going to cut it.
Here at Blast Process we've tried to avoid number systems, there was no way we would ever really agree what a 3/5 is. I've used a couple in the past to measure addictiveness, but it really didn't feel right so I stopped pretty quick. Our system is based on whether we want to play it or not! We tell you if it's a Buy It, Not Buy It or if we really love it- Blast Process Award! Free download games we are hopefully going to tackle a little differently, with Download or Don't Download (just to keep things extra simple).
Eurogamer has stopped reviewing games before they're officially finished - and to me that's a massive shame, being involved with reviewing a game whilst developers are still tweaking it is a huge opportunity. They're also leaving Metacritic behind, saying it wouldn't make sense within their new system to try and fit it into 100 point scoring system, which makes perfect sense, they would just be making it up on Eurogamer's behalf.
So we will just have to see if it sparks a trend of reviewing shake ups across the gaming world...
Over and out
Mel