There’s hundreds, if not thousands of video game review sites across the globe, from the multi-national super massive sites like IGN and Gamespot, to the lower leagues of people with blogs and minor websites hoping for the big time. As a consumer who knows a fair bit about video games and the industry as a whole, and as someone who has a vested interested in what games are coming out and how good they are, I often read reviews and I am starting to have a real problem with them and some of the people who comment on them.

The reason is partly the scoring system. People think that a good game should be 10/10 (which is perfect I’ll have you know) and that a mediocre game should be given a 2 or a 3, which is terrible. It seems to be that a 7/10 is an “average” game, when this simply isn’t the case.  Some reviewers really do get some stick when they review a game and it might not properly highlight a point or the sum of all the parts doesn’t add up to the final score, but it’s an incredibly difficult job. Reviewing a game comes down to a lot of different individual points, and completely depends on the reviewer’s perspective. Sometimes a game’s visuals can blow you away, or the length of the adventure is too short, it can be super fun and leave a lasting impression but have flawed gameplay mechanics. Do you pick at the small things or do you brush over them in the scope of an otherwise brilliant game.

As a budding game reviewer and news writer, it’s a scary thought putting a review out there for the masses to dissect and get their mitts on. To some people the review is the be all and end all, the reason if they buy the game or not. I’ve known people to follow all the pre-release news, videos, get the demo and then not buy it on the fact that it got a low review score (Again depending on what you think a “low” score is). On the other hand people who don’t care about reviews and will buy any game they simply like the look of. For example a friend of mine will buy any movie tie-in game and be inevitably disappointed and trade it in at a loss. I like to think myself somewhere in the middle; it won’t change whether or not I play the game or not, but it may change whether I buy it or rent it, it may change my perception but I will still play it first before I make a final evaluation.

Does this bug anyone else? How swayed are you by a review score? Please let me know and let’s try bring an end to this stupidity….