The Reviewing System

In my opinion the current rating system has a flaw in which some people seem to pay to much attention to what the score was rather then the reviewers opinion (*cough* halo reach and god of war 3). So to stop the obsession with the score I believe one action that could be taken would be to remove the system altogether. With this people would have to read the review to know its merit rather then just focusing on the score. I then feel that we would be getting discussion about the game and not about its score. We would also get less people saying a three star game is not worth a purchase anymore because it is a three star game.
However on the other side the stars do convey how much the reviewer enjoyed the game and, depending on how you have felt about previous reviews by that reviewer can reflect what you will feel about the game. My alternative to the problem is the idea of having multiple people review the game. Were this to be done I would however want it to be so that a another staff member doesn't have to put one up but rather puts a review up if he ever finishes the game. The total score would then be averaged among the staff reviews. With this I feel you would benefit from multiple opinions and you would be able to see the review of other staff members and gain their insight on that game. This way it would be possible to pander to those who seem to think that if the review is bad its just because that reviewer sucks and we would also be able to see more staff reviews.  

So what do you think about the rating system here on Giant Bomb?    

   I say, get rid off review scores altogether ;)

I honestly prefer when reviews have no number, star, or letter grade. It makes people actually read the review. I know most people probably just look at the score and judge the game based on that.

i dont care much about reviews, but I do think a 5/5 scale is worse than the 10/10 one, but thats just me.

Sure, why pay one person to a job, when you can pay THREE people to do the same job!

then they get taken off of metacritic? I use that just because it's a great site to link all the reviews to read at my pleasure, but...

I like scores. Call me old-fashioned, but I feel they are a good short-hand for the reviewer's opinion. Obviously, all the jerks who only read the score and then complain about it suck, but they would never even look at the review if there was no score. That means they wouldn't get any buying advice, which is the point of a review. I feel that if you want to read the review, just read the review. The score is just an extra thing, you don't even have to look at it if you don't want to. And if you want a civilized discussion about a game, ignore the comments on Gamespot video reviews, and just come to Giant Bomb. 

I say get rid of reviews all together.  Reviews only exist to generate sales.  That's why scores get stamped on boxes and flung at people in commercials.  Wake up people, generate your own fucking opinion and stop obsessing over systems and scores. 

" I say get rid of reviews all together.  Reviews only exist to generate sales.  That's why scores get stamped on boxes and flung at people in commercials.  Wake up people, generate your own fucking opinion and stop obsessing over systems and scores.  "

" @ErgoProxy77 said:

" I say get rid of reviews all together.  Reviews only exist to generate sales.  That's why scores get stamped on boxes and flung at people in commercials.  Wake up people, generate your own fucking opinion and stop obsessing over systems and scores.  "

Either you're joking, or you don't understand the point of a review. "

I have been saying "get rid of scores" for years. @ErgoProxy77 said:

" @supermike6 said:

" @ErgoProxy77 said:

" I say get rid of reviews all together.  Reviews only exist to generate sales.  That's why scores get stamped on boxes and flung at people in commercials.  Wake up people, generate your own fucking opinion and stop obsessing over systems and scores.  "

Either you're joking, or you don't understand the point of a review. "

Please, enlighten me.  What is the point of a video game review?  Because Giant Bomb gave Super Mario Galaxy 2 5/5, a good review.  Did I go out and buy it?  NO, because I'm not fucking stupid.  Regardless of score or some reviewers opinion, I have my own opinion on things.  People have their own opinions, why do they need to hear someone else's in such a specifically subjective circumstance? "

I think the system is fine the way it is. Having five tiers is much better than ten, or IGN's 100.

" @supermike6 said:

" @ErgoProxy77 said:

" I say get rid of reviews all together.  Reviews only exist to generate sales.  That's why scores get stamped on boxes and flung at people in commercials.  Wake up people, generate your own fucking opinion and stop obsessing over systems and scores.  "

Either you're joking, or you don't understand the point of a review. "

Please, enlighten me.  What is the point of a video game review?  Because Giant Bomb gave Super Mario Galaxy 2 5/5, a good review.  Did I go out and buy it?  NO, because I'm not fucking stupid.  Regardless of score or some reviewers opinion, I have my own opinion on things.  People have their own opinions, why do they need to hear someone else's in such a specifically subjective circumstance? "

Kotaku has a review system that doesn't award score values to games.  Unfortunately, their reviews are incredibly boiler-plate lists of things they loved and hated that don't necessarily go into enough detail on either.
 
For the Giant Bomb staff, the scores are useful because they're shorthand for how the reviewer felt about the game.  A five-star review doesn't translate to "This game is perfect."  What it means is "I enjoyed the hell out of this game.  Go play it."

Reviews are important for business. To me, a 4 and a 5, a 2 and a 3 mean almost nothing respectively. I read the reviews to make sure I know WHY that person thought that way about the game. 
 
@Hailinel:
This, take it as a word statement, and not a number. A three is not "this game is bad" but more of a "If you're in to these type of games, you will probably like it, but those who have never played it, don't rush out and buy it right away". 
 
Okay, that's a long sentence, but I hope people understand what I mean :)

Personally I like my second idea better though, gives more variety

I never understood the hostility that people have towards review scores. Not everyone has the time to sit there and read multiple reviews, so a score helps give a general understanding of what the consumer should expect if he or she were to skim the review. That being said, I do think it's kinda funny how Joystiq was so adamant against review scores, and then added a five-point review system, and now changed that five-point system to half-stars. 

Jeff has said before and I'll say it again scores are there for a reason. Reviews are intended to be purchasing advice for the intended audience and scores are appropriate for this. Jeff said it best on the Hotspot so many years ago.
 

" I never understood the hostility that people have towards review scores. Not everyone has the time to sit there and read multiple reviews, so a score helps give a general understanding of what the consumer should expect if he or she were to skim the review. That being said, I do think it's kinda funny how Joystiq was so adamant against review scores, and then added a five-point review system, and now changed that five-point system to half-stars.  "

" @FizzleNizzleBear: Are you talking about two different reviews from staff members, or just two scores? Because most reviewers don't just review games in their free time when their publication already has someone reviewing it. "

" @supermike6 said:

" @FizzleNizzleBear: Are you talking about two different reviews from staff members, or just two scores? Because most reviewers don't just review games in their free time when their publication already has someone reviewing it. "

I think it would be cool that if a staff member finishes a game up and they have the free time they could write up a review "

" I am one of those people that just look at the score ( read review later ). I want to experience the game myself ( i don't want to read any details ), but i also want verification from reviewers I respect. I can look at the score and buy it, knowing someone I trust enjoyed the game. KEEP THE SCORES. "

Review scores are alright, I guess. I still feel that they need to include a a 1.5 or 2.5 or whatever rating. Halve stars.

" Review scores are alright, I guess. I still feel that they need to include a a 1.5 or 2.5 or whatever rating. Halve stars. "

I think 5 stars is a little cluttered. I'd rather see a out of 10 score, with no halves. But I couldn't care less about the score a game gets. I usually make my judgement off of game play footage like quick looks, or maybe some demo thats on youtube. I'll also look at the past work of that developer.

" @FizzleNizzleBear said:

" @supermike6 said:

" @FizzleNizzleBear: Are you talking about two different reviews from staff members, or just two scores? Because most reviewers don't just review games in their free time when their publication already has someone reviewing it. "

I think it would be cool that if a staff member finishes a game up and they have the free time they could write up a review "

It's an okay idea, but it would never happen. Nobody wants to do work they don't get paid for in their free time. If you did something all day, would you really want to continue doing it in your free time? Yeah, they play games at home, but playing for fun in your time and playing so you can write a review are very different. For example, they don't take notes when playing for fun, and trying to review a game which you weren't taking notes about while playing will probably lead to a bad review that's not going to help anyone. "

" @Meteora said:

" Review scores are alright, I guess. I still feel that they need to include a a 1.5 or 2.5 or whatever rating. Halve stars. "

So, what's the difference between a 3 and a 3.5 then? The whole point of the five stars is that you know exactly what they mean at a glance.   1 = Terrible 2 = Bad, but with redeeming qualities 3 = Average 4 = Good, but with important problems 5 = Very good, with it's pros far outweighing it's cons. "

" Review scores are alright, I guess. I still feel that they need to include a a 1.5 or 2.5 or whatever rating. Halve stars. "

I've always liked the way that critiques were done on Deviant Art. Where the piece gets a rating on Impact, Vision, Originality, Technique, and then it averages it all out for an Overall score. It's more in-depth for the lazy review readers. 
 
You could do something like... Originality of the game, replay value, fun factor, story/content, technical (like loading screens/controls), and stuff like that. And then the staff reviews could display the average of these or something. User reviews could opt out of that and just give an overall score if they want, too. Granted, that may be a lot to handle and not work out so much. But it would be super cool.

I like the score system on GB because it gives me a quick way to see what they thought of the game, though I always read the review if it's a game I'm interested in.
The most important part, though, is that they actually use the whole scale, 1-5 stars, and not just the upper part of it like most sites with a 10 scale system.
Though now that I think about it, I guess that I wouldn't really care if they removed the score system, since it doesn't really do anything other than promote complaining.

I would prefer to read every review for every game I would potentially buy but realistically that just isn't going to happen. Especially with those 2 or 3 page odysseys that some sites feel the need to pump out for each review. (I'm looking at you 1up.com) With the score and a 2 sentence summary I can get the idea of whether a game is worth my time or not. Then if I need to narrow my choices then I can get in depth on each of them in the written review.  
 
I'd also like to add that the 5 point rating system is the best. Half points are completely pointless.

I prefer a score rather than no score, but I guess that's just me growing up with scores.

I think the whole point of the 5-star review system is to get people to read the actual review, isn't it? That way there are less scores to separate different games compared to giving a percentage or rating out of 10. I remember on Gamespot when Twilight Princess came out and Jeff gave it an 8.8. All the Nintendo fanboys went apeshit, saying it should have got at least a 9. I think the GiantBomb guys were trying trying to eliminate such arguments over such insignificant margins (0.2) by putting in a 5-star rating system. I think it works well and they should totally keep it.

" i dont care much about reviews, but I do think a 5/5 scale is worse than the 10/10 one, but thats just me. "

personally i really don't care about the review scores on games. I rather play the demo and make my own decision if the game is worth buying or not.

Everyone is basically a slave to metacritic at this point.

I say the whole scoring system should piss off altogether (like in video reviews on this bomb that just so happens to be giant :))

I will freely admit i don't have the attention span to read all the reviews, scores are great, its the idiots who hold them up as perfect gauges of a games worth that need to stop. 

The worst comments on any site are the ones below any major review (thats when you find out how dumb your audience really is).

I think scores are a must. Some reviewers write very negatively even when they're reviewing good games because they concentrate on flaws. And I like to think about the writing as an explanation why something was scored the way it was. There's not much for me in a review if there's only the score or writing.

I stopped taking the scores seriously when Jeff gave MKvsDC a perfect score. I'm all for subjective opinions and such but that game is bloody terrible. I mean... perfect? What?

I'm all for subjective opinions

Scores are for everyone, not all people want to read a two page review. I personally love the reviews on Giantbomb, they are straight to the point and not full of a lot of fluff!