PresidentLeever wrote:"Fun : 20
Relevance : 10
Replayability : 15
Survivability : 10
Total : 55"
Really confused about this after reading one of your reviews (Faxanadu). You barely complained about anything and it gets 55/100? I also didn't feel like you motivated your scores for some of the different categories that well. Some short summary of your thoughts under each might be a good idea for future reviews.
Edit: Made a bit more sense after thoroughly reading the journal part, but I feel like I shouldn't have to do that in a review for it to make sense.
Regarding the GR lists, the one for GEN/MD kind of sucks. I mean they're putting a so-so port of a good Amiga game and some mediocre stuff like Bonanza Bros, Dizzy, Flicky and a Snooker game in a top 50, and the order of the list seems almost completely random.
All valid points.
The scores themselves should be taken with a grain of salt, and you'll also find that I generally score on the lower end. Super Mario Bros. 3 is my highest scored game at 84... With Faxanadu in particular, I'd still only just started this project, and if you look at reviews for games like Link's Awakening for example, you'll see I've refined the process a good bit over eight months. As far as expanding on each category, that's something I've considered, and changing it up in the future is still a possibility.
Regarding the value in the actual scores, the meat really is in the playthrough sections, since that's kind of the big reason as to why I'm doing this. Faxanadu is one of my personal favorite NES games, but if I'm trying to be even a little objective, it doesn't hold up the best, it wasn't particularly relevant to the NES' lifecycle, and after beating it I don't really have a good reason to play it again. I feel like these are more important metrics when rating retro games that graphics, sound, story, etc.
Finally, regarding the GR lists, I actually agree completely, especially on the Genesis list. The reason I went with them is consistency in the sense that I couldn't find another good site with Top XX Games lists for ALL of the consoles I was going through. Plus, it is doing its job in getting me to play new games.
Thanks for the input!
Also Skitchin' review will be up momentarily...
). The full post is here: