Nukezilla’s Moving to a 5 Star Rating System!
We all loved Negative Gamer and the -1 to -10 system of reviewing games. It worked for a site named “Negative Gamer” where our reviews focused on the frustrating, annoying and downright rubbish elements of each game we reviewed.
We’re Nukezilla now and along with a renaming of the site came a change to our review process. We decided our reviews should be a little less strictly structured, but still maintain the same level of depth and criticism you have come to love and expect from our team. The negative score system remained, but as part of my appointment as the site’s first Reviews Editor the topic of a change to the score system soon came up (although partially by accident).
You see, I suggested we change to an arbitrary system of fish heads. Pardon the pun, but there would be no scale per se, so a game like Blur would receive six heads, while APB would receive a whopping 72. There would be no accountability or any point in trying to analyze each game’s score. Thankfully, sanity won the day and we collectively decided that a Five Star system is the simplest and universally accessible rating systems around.
We also agreed that it would be less than ideal to try and shoehorn our old review scores into this system, so for now at least on all of our old reviews prior to today the negative score will remain, while all new reviews will receive stars.
Here’s how the scale works:
1 Star – Horrendous design, not fun, nigh unplayable.
2 Stars – Severely flawed, but moderately enjoyable.
3 Stars – Mediocre or heavily inconsistent.
4 Stars – Exciting and solid, but held back from greatness.
5 Stars – Brilliant.
Have we broken your heart with this announcement? Is all change a bad thing? We’re open to your feedback so feel free to give us hell in the comments or the forums. The first review to receive the new score will be Mark’s review of StarCraft II (Single Player) which will be going up very soon.
Although the -1 to -10 scale was fun while it lasted, I think the 5 star scale is the only rating system that makes sense for subjective reviews. I approve of this!
I love the Barnes & Barnes reference! xDD
I think we should score games between 0 and 1,000.
I don’t like it at all, but then I’m not a fan of arbitrary scores, nor do I pay attention to them in general. So good luck with that!
I’ve always liked the idea of a value-based system. Review a game based on it’s immediate monetary value, followed by the value of your time investment. It would probably be just as arbitrary, but I’ve always just wanted to try it as an experiment.
I was going to ask why the scale doesn’t go to 0 stars, but seeing no game reviewed at NG was ever given a -10 probably explains it.
@vintagenuck: I suppose we would give a game one star for getting its name right on the form. Although, I’ve played some Android apps that would fail that criteria.
@John Kershaw: Only if you go out to the fourth decimal point. I want to know EXACTLY how good the game is, dammit!
But is it a genuine 5 star system? Can a game get 5 stars? And can a game get half stars?
I’m glad. I didn’t see the point of the negative scores when the site switched to Nukezilla.
@Adushan Govender: Half stars would make it a 10-point system. And yes, a game can get 5 stars with this scale.
My heart is broken, and all change is a bad thing.
So, no zero star? :O
I’d give Bonetown a 0 rating.
Well this is original.
I think an “Alright->Meh->Bad->Shit->Cancer-Inducing” rating system would work nicely. That’s how I rate my games.
Wow… The whole reason I came to this site was because it wasn’t just a generic game-reviewing site where scores less than 7 were saved for truly awful games. It was different, honest and unique. Now with the name (and, it seems, philosophy) change and generic score system I think I will have to look elsewhere. I think it’s time to say kthxbai to ‘Nukezilla’…
@Huggz: The content and character of our reviews will not change. We will still give you the honest opinion you appreciated in the past. The only thing that has changed is our numerical/symbolic representation of the score. In the words of the immortal Thomas Jefferson, “Don’t be a score whore.”
@Huggz: If you thought our reviews were different because of the scoring system we chose, then I think you may be misreading them. Here’s our review guide, which has not changed.
http://nukezilla.com/2010/05/01/how-to-write-a-nukezilla-review/
Huggz just needs a hug. And to come out of the rain and join us in our little dry hut as we do our own thing. John you bring the spanners. Nukezilla – Hitting pipes and making clanging noises.