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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Rating System

While on a rather dull bus ride, I started thinking about what are the things that I enjoy and value in a video game. I wanted the items to be as specific as possible, something I could definitely attach a number to. I was able to take the items on my list and put them into five broad categories.

Story: When considering my story rating I consider two things: investment and immersion. Investment is simply how long the story held my interest - was it right to the end or did it get to a point where I didn't care about the characters anymore. Immersion is how much was sucked into the world that was created.

Interface: When considering my interface rating I considered both menu interfaces and in play controls.

Game Play: Two things considered here: variety and longevity. Variety measures how often the game play is changed up. Longevity is just how long it held me interest without me getting board. This is simply a function of hours of enjoyable game play the game provides.

Challenge: Challenge includes both the mechanical challenge (hand-eye coordination) of performing the moves required, and the mental challenge of figuring out what to do. This is not just tougher being better. Bad ratings will come from a game that is too frustrating as well as a game that is to easy. Wrapped into this the learning curve associated with the game. Whether it builds your skills at an appropriate pace.

Fun: Simply put, does the game put a smile on my face.

I will give a game a rating in each of the five categories. For the overall score out of 10 - the base score is 7.5 which will be added or subtracted from based upon the following.

  • 1 rating: -2 from score
  • 2 rating: -1 from score
  • 0 rating: zero adjustment to score
  • 4 rating: +0.25 to score
  • 5 rating: +0.5 from score

I'll round down to the nearest half a point. Negative scores will just be 0.0.

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