Not really. More often than not, I feel review scores don't accurately reflect what is said in the review, especially when people scale the scores to look like school grades. 

This holds especially true for games since many times critics and gamers alike will often rip on games if it doesn't get a 9 or 10

I really feel that number scores, although an easy way to remember a review, are an oversimplification of the content of the review and its subject. Among fandom reviewers, I more favor Strebiskunk's style of summing up all of the positives and the negatives at the end.

Not really. More often than not, I feel review scores don't accurately reflect what is said in the review, especially when people scale the scores to look like school grades. 

 

This holds especially true for games since many times critics and gamers alike will often rip on games if it doesn't get a 9 or 10

It holds true in that critic's mind though, and that's more what I'm getting at here. The numbers mean nothing on their own, they're just numbers. A bit of an abstract view on things, but I think it explains the context behind this pretty well.

We all assign different meanings to different things based on our own personal interpretations and experiences. That's what gives anything  meaning. To you those scores can't be right, yet in the critics mind it is. Again, disagreeing is not only welcomed, but should be encouraged to spark discussion, as well as to better understand those around us.

Thanks for reading!

I really feel that number scores, although an easy way to remember a review, are an oversimplification of the content of the review and its subject. Among fandom reviewers, I more favor Strebiskunk's style of summing up all of the positives and the negatives at the end.

I agree, I stated this at the start of the blog. I don't think this necessarily makes the scores devoid of meaning, though. Moreover, I think it causes the entirety of the review to be somewhat jeopardized as a result. However, this entry wasn't really meant to be about that. It was meant to be more of an look at why the use of numerical scores are so widespread, and so popular. Hell, I'd argue Strebiskunk's pros and cons sometimes are oversimplified.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I appreciate it.

Yeah i agree, I've stopped simply looking at review scores and actually read the reviews. If there has to be a summations I'd prefer a concluding statement or a list of pros and cons. Even then, reading the entirety of the review is still better.

For a more comedic take, ProJared gives a score that is more of a metaphor for the game rather than a quantitative grading of its quality. For example: Alone in the Dark was a game that had too many ideas that none were polished or expanded upon so his score was "Too much candy" out of ten.

Yeah i agree, I've stopped simply looking at review scores and actually read the reviews. If there has to be a summations I'd prefer a concluding statement or a list of pros and cons. Even then, reading the entirety of the review is still better.

 

For a more comedic take, ProJared gives a score that is more of a metaphor for the game rather than a quantitative grading of its quality. For example: Alone in the Dark was a game that had too many ideas that none were polished or expanded upon so his score was "Too much candy" out of ten.

I love ProJared's tounge-in-cheek approach to the scoring system. It's hilarious.