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# On every problem with game reviews ever.
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/on-every-problem-with-game-reviews-ever/
- Published: 2012-01-23T15:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T15:27:29.000Z
- Description: For reviewers, assigning a game a score can be a sticky situation. The very act assumes that games are quantitative objects whose qualities can be cut into pieces and weighed, like a pig before a butcher. Start looking at a game too closely and the reasons you like it fall apart. Converting feelings
- Author: Kill Screen Staff
- Tags: News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

For reviewers, assigning a game a score can be a sticky situation. The very act assumes that games are quantitative objects whose qualities can be cut into pieces and weighed, like a pig before a butcher. Start looking at a game too closely and the reasons you like it fall apart. Converting feelings about a game into a number can get messy.

Case in point: A rambling dialog between [Manveer Heir](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/pre-game-interview-manveer-heir?ref=killscreen.com) and Patrick Klepek [on the purpose of criticism and game reviews](http://www.giantbomb.com/news/on-games-reviews-and-criticism-part-1/3912/?ref=killscreen.com). Here are some of the highlights:

> **Heir:* when we give those criticisms a score, we do something else. We make the criticism the focus of the entire product.*   
>  
> **Heir:* Shouldn’t a game that is trying to be a linear piece of Hollywood blockbuster be rated against how those types of games typically play and the expectation of the audience? Shouldn’t a review tell me if this piece of work is worth my time or not?*  
>  
> **Klepek (On Skyrim):* I want to read the review from the one guy that fucking hated it, the guy who wants to make the argument about why it’s actually terrible.*   
>  
> **Klepek:* “Well,” so the argument goes, “they gave Skyward Sword and Fruit Ninja Kinect a 4/5, so they’re both of equal quality.”*   
>  
> **Klepek:* I can only hope to string together a series of words and sentences that allow them to see why I came to my conclusion, and how they might draw another one.*   
>  
> **Heir:* if a site disagrees with its reviews being used on Metacritic, it should get them pulled from the site or make changes to how its scores are interpreted.*   
>  
> **Klepek:* If someone can tell me what the difference is between a 72 and a 73, I’d love to know.*  
>  
> **Klepek:* Games For Windows Magazine… dropped review scores for a short period, hoping to force readers to spend more time contemplating the text. They ended up ditching this plan, as people stopped reading the reviews as much.*  
>  
> **Heir:* there is tons of criticism that does indeed belong inside a review.*  
>  
> **Klepek:* that we’re even having this conversation proves the value of criticism.*

That conversation makes me even gladder [*Kill Screen* did away with review scores.](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/reviews/review-duke-nukem-forever?ref=killscreen.com)

*\-Jason Johnson*

\[[Giant Bomb](http://www.giantbomb.com/news/on-games-reviews-and-criticism-part-1/3912/?ref=killscreen.com)\]