Since people started to review games they have used a 1D system consisting of only one axis. Very much like the dark/light side in games like KotOR. What I would like to see is a 2D system with two axis. More similar to morality systems in more modern games it has two scales. The first one is on a scale from 1-5 says how good the game is from an objective view point (I know that true objectiveness cannot be achieved in practice, but it should be the goal). The second scale should be how good the game made you feel or how much it meant for you. There are games that are clearly bad games, but you love them still. Just as there are great games, that for some reason doesn't do it for you. 
 
You might say that some sites use a multi-dimensional grading system having story, gameplay etc in separate categories, however those are then baked into some sort of total score. I want the objective and subjective (I call them that even though that's an oversimplification) scores to be seperate and in fact it would be wrong IMO to try to turn them into one score. 
 
A few examples for me would be Dreamfall obj: 3 sub: 5, Gears of War Obj: 5 sub: 2, Mass Effect obj: 4, sub: 5 
 
This would make things more clear if the reviewer things it's a well made game or a game that he/she loves because of it's charm. As it is now it's impossible to distinguish between a well designed game that is still not that fun to play and a not so well designed game that still is fun to play both which might be given 7 out of 10 in the system most people use today even though they are clearly very different games. 
 
This could mess things up for gamerankings and metacritic, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in my book since 75 % doesn't say much about a game anyway. 
 
EDIT: Sorry for the bad English, I could blame it on not being a native English speaker, but mostly it's because I'm tired and it just turned midnight here. I just needed to get that rant of my chest before I could sleep ^^   
 
EDIT2: So it seems most people think it would be a bad idea. Then I ask how else should be solve the problem I was talking about? For example, should I give Dreamfall a 7 because it's not that good gameplay wise and put it in the same score department as Tomb Raider and such games with better gameplay but worse story even though Dreamfall moved me emotionally more than almost any other game? The other option would be to give it a 10, but that seems just as wrong as it clearly is not a perfect game or even near being perfect. And any score in between would just be a poor compromise.
 
Do you at least understand my dilemma? 
 
The only other solution I have is to go the way book reviews are and not try to put a number on how good it is, simply explain what we like and dislike about it and why. Because it just seems wrong IMO to put a game I care nothing about, but that is a competent game and another game that I care very much about but that isn't really a good video game in the same category.

How the hell would that work? It just seems too ridiculously confusing to both sides for it to be of any use.

no

I think we need to stop having stupid numbers that try to quantify things that can't be quantified, you know, like Art. I think the only reviews that should be allowed to give numbers/grades/stars/ipods come from Consumer Reports, a non-profit organization. Otherwise we're talking critiques vs. reviews. I'm not going to be so self-inflated as to link to my discussion about this elsewhere, and will just say that reviews based on the concept of "how much fun I had" are flawed in that you are not everyone else.  Adding more numbers and scales isn't going to help make this any better.

There is no such thing as an "objective review."  Reviews are subjective.

Yeah... let's rate things according to D&D alignment. GTA4 is totally a Chaotic Neutral.

And how does one formulate an objective score regarding a game's quality?

You write the first one, we'll all follow suite.

" And how does one formulate an objective score regarding a game's quality? "

Thread needs more 8 sided dice.

" @Cornman89 said:

" And how does one formulate an objective score regarding a game's quality? "

If it's free from bugs for example. "

Reviews are inherently subjective. This reminds me of that scene in Dead Poets Society.

I wouldn't say we need it, but it isn't a terrible idea by any means.
 
Take the 'Reviews are only opinions!' bandwagon with a pinch of salt, that shit is everywhere at the moment.

" Take the 'Reviews are only opinions!' bandwagon with a pinch of salt, that shit is everywhere at the moment. "

I think we should just be robots.

" I think we should just be robots. "

" And how does one formulate an objective score regarding a game's quality? "

"Take the 'Reviews are only opinions!' bandwagon with a pinch of salt, that shit is everywhere at the moment. "

" @ThatFrood said:

" I think we should just be robots. "

I agree. I hate sleep and that would help me with my sleep "problem" "

" no "

Screw 2D grade systems, we need 3D ones! 
 
If Mass Effect is the vector [3 5 2] and Dragon Age is the vector [1 4 3], what game is the resulting cross product of the two vectors?

" @Jimbo said:

" Take the 'Reviews are only opinions!' bandwagon with a pinch of salt, that shit is everywhere at the moment. "

Please tell me, then, what a review is if it's not an opinion piece written by someone claiming to have an expertise in a field? "

You sound like Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, PhD.

The objective, subjective distinction was a bit misinforming perhaps. What I meant was 1 you judge the game as a game (gameplay, game design etc.) and 2 you judge how the game makes you feel, how it moves you etc. Both are subjective, but one is based on reason if you like to call it that while the other is based on feelings. Maybe a brain and heart score would be a better way to put it, but of course that oversimplifying it as well.

" @gike987 said:

" @Cornman89 said:

" And how does one formulate an objective score regarding a game's quality? "

If it's free from bugs for example. "

Uncharted 2 is a game that's filled with occasional graphical glitches and there were numerous times where I jumped into a wall only to be stuck suspended in mid-air for a couple seconds before the game put me back down.  Also my game crashed once.  None of this affected my enjoyment of the game in the least, and I probably wouldn't even bother bringing them up if I were writing a review, but would I still have to mark the game down in your goofy scale for being glitchy in spots even though the glitches never affected my enjoyment of the game?  Further proof that there is no such thing as an objective review. "

No thank you.

6d reviews, PLEASE

okay OP 
Review WET with your idea...

I'm usually a 2d6 when it comes to reviews, but if the game makes a Save vs. Opinion throw at a -6 penalty, I'm knocked down to 1d10.

" Yeah... let's rate things according to D&D alignment. GTA4 is totally a Chaotic Neutral. "

So it seems most people think it would be a bad idea. Then I ask how else should be solve the problem I was talking about? For example, should I give Dreamfall a 7 because it's not that good gameplay wise and put it in the same score department as Tomb Raider and such games with better gameplay but worse story even though Dreamfall moved me emotionally more than almost any other game? The other option would be to give it a 10, but that seems just as wrong as it clearly is not a perfect game or even near being perfect. And any score in between would just be a poor compromise.
 
Do you at least understand my dilemma? 
 
The only other solution I have is to go the way book reviews are and not try to put a number on how good it is, simply explain what we like and dislike about it and why. Because it just seems wrong IMO to put a game I care nothing about, but that is a competent game and another game that I care very much about but that isn't really a good video game in the same category.

" There is no such thing as an "objective review."  Reviews are subjective. "

@Jimbo

 "I enjoyed the story." vs. "The story doesn't make sense." - the latter is not a subjective opinion, it is a statement of fact and the person making it is either right or wrong, the story either makes sense or it doesn't. "

There's no need for that separate score. What needs to happen is the removal of all that extraneous stuff from current review systems. The only important factor is the experience. I call it fun factor though it encompasses more than fun.
 
I find it ridiculous that some review sites still have a score "breakdown"; Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Story and Replay Value which they then add up for the final score. It's completely useless.
 
A game rating shouldn't literally rate the game - "DiRT 2 - 9.0, except that the ground textures aren't that great and the water effects look like shit...so, 8.5" -, but the experience had with the game. Sometimes reviews sound like the writer hasn't even played the game but is simply observing it from behind glass. :P
 
EDIT: just read your Dreamfall example. Well, did the "poor gameplay" actually hurt the experience of the game? If not, it shouldn't affect the score and who cares. If it did, then clearly it's an issue and should be noted and should indeed affect the score. Either it moved you emotionally and it's a little funky to play or it moved you emotionally but it's fucking broken as shit. :P

" Reviews are inherently subjective. This reminds me of that scene in Dead Poets Society. "

I actually like this idea, but not based around "subjective" and "objective".

" @dagas: well first off, i think we should do away with scores altogether so more people would stop basing their buying decision on a score. However thats totally unrealistic given the current state of the industry. So needless to say i completely agree with you. For example, crackdown is technically not a great game. On an qualitative scale i would have to give it around a 7, or on the gb scale, 3 stars. But when i rank the game on how much fun i had with it, it's a 5 star game. I mean something like Gta4 is technically superior to crackdown, but i still spent way more time  playing crackdown. What you also have to keep in mind though, is how the scoring system on different sites work. A 7 on destructoid means something completely different than a 7 on ign. The rating scale on destructoid, for example, is from 1 - 10, and is more subjective than the ign spectrum which generally feels like its from 7-10, and is more objective. "

I'm just loving the cynicism in this thread. I guess it's cool to post "no" without giving any explanation, as HeartBreak did. If that post doesn't qualify as spam, I don't know what does. 
 
That said, I don't know if I'd agree with the OP. I think you can't be objective without being subjective, because everyone thinks objectively in a different way. Everyone has different ways of arriving to a conclusion, and everyone views things through their own pair of glasses because we've all had different experiences throughout our lives that dictate how we see things. I hope I make sense...
 
When someone tries to be objective when they write a review, they're really being subjective, because they score it based on what they think everyone else thinks is a good game. I hope this doesn't sound like a jumble of words.... believe me, it's hard to explain.  
 
I do think you're idea is an interesting one, but not necessary. 
 
And to those who want to eliminate scores altogether- I think that's the dumbest idea ever.

I like this kinda review
 
"Games shit, shouldnt touch it"
"Games not bad, be careful"
"Games great, go for it man"
 
Thats about how I like my reviews. Extra detail optional.

Not a very good idea because different sites will give different numbers and it will be very confusing.

@Jimbo

said:

 "I enjoyed the story." vs. "The story doesn't make sense." - the latter is not a subjective opinion, it is a statement of fact and the person making it is either right or wrong, the story either makes sense or it doesn't. "

 Not so. Just because the story doesn't make sense to one person, does not mean it can't make sense to another. That is completely subjective, not a matter of right or wrong. Everyone is different and have had different experiences in their life that may assist in the understanding of something that another cannot.  Objective reviews of videogames are impossible. I am getting really tired of discussions like these. "

It would be an interesting idea to see in practice but I really have two issues with it. Firstly you've already shown that you are aware that a reviewer can never truly make an objective assessment of the quality of a game, the quality of a game is a subjective concept to begin with. This essentially means the objective score will be the reviewer's prediction of how well-received the game will be by people overall and this is an extremely difficult call to make. Considering there are already systems out there which can take a large number of reviews from users of sites or video game critics and give an average overall score, it seems like it would be a much better choice to turn to these systems for the "objective" review score rather than looking at the educated guesses of individual reviewers. Secondly and more importantly I have to agree with something Jeff Gerstmann once said. That people have such hugely differing opinions about how videos game should be done and what is "good" and "not good" that it is impossible to cater to all these people with a single review score and so the best option is to just give them your own personal opinion and let them work out what they think of the game from there.

   Obviously you care more about numbers than you let on. A good review will tell you everything your proposing now the only difference is that you want to assign some contrive number algorithm to  it. A good game is a good game, and reviews for the most part reflect that. I have yet to see a review where the reviewer actively liked the game but gave it a low score for technical merits. Mass Effect's texture pop in's did not stop it from receiving a better score as much as the fact that the actual shooting system was craptastic.

"Then I ask how else should be solve the problem I was talking about? For example, should I give Dreamfall a 7 because it's not that good gameplay wise and put it in the same score department as Tomb Raider and such games with better gameplay but worse story even though Dreamfall moved me emotionally more than almost any other game? The other option would be to give it a 10, but that seems just as wrong as it clearly is not a perfect game or even near being perfect. And any score in between would just be a poor compromise.  "

" 6d reviews, PLEASE "