Ok, so what the hell is this PEWPEW crap?
Oh, hello, nice to meet you too. Blalab reviews stuff occasionally. When it’s great, it’s PEWPEW.
What?
Let me spell it out for you.
- PEWPEW – the best
- GOOD
- MEH – barely passable
- URGH – misses the mark
- BAD
- AWFUL – should not exist, people should be shot
And that’s Blalab’s rating system.
That’s stupid.
Actually, no it’s not.
Why not just use a mark out of 10? Or a percentage? Or a letter grade? Wouldn’t that be more understandable?
Well, a few reasons, actually.
- Numeric ratings are too fine grained
On Metacritic, Bioshock is 94. LittleBigPlanet is 95. What is the 1% difference that makes LBP better than Bioshock? They differ in genre, audience, style, substance. It will differ between reviewers. How could one possibly argue or justify that difference? 100 point rating systems implictly cause this argument to occur.
When it comes down to it, it’s a stupid argument, with no basis. Both are marvellous games, and everyone should own a copy of each.
So let us take a step back. They are both must-have games. Why not rate them as such?
By reducing the granularity between scores, a reviewer is more able to give relevant information to a reader. Think of rating systems of having buckets. In one – you put your must-haves, the next – the good, and so on. By reducing the number of buckets, you immediately know which one you’re going to grab in a fire. - The ‘Perfect Game’ fallacy
As an extension to the previous point, rating systems that are too fine grained contribute to the idea that there could be a ‘Perfect Game’. Think about it, have you ever seen a game receive a 100% score? I don’t think it’s ever happened, and I don’t think it ever will. All games will have flaws. Beyond that, not everyone will agree with you, even if you think there’s no flaws. That’s the nature of reviewing, and we need to accept that.
In contrast, there are plenty of games that receive a 10/10 score. This kind of rating system is less finely grained, and hence, games that fall into each bracket have more acceptable variance. This is one of the aims that Blalab’s rating system is headed for. - Averages have slipped upwards
An ‘average’ game nowadays rates about 7/10. This isn’t right. If your game barely passes the mark, it’s 5/10. Blame game publishers/marketers. There’s an interesting article about this phenomena written by TheSixthAxis here. - Fencesitting
Giving a game an in-between score gives no information to the reader. What’s the point of a review if you don’t give a conclusion? Good-Maybe-Bad rating systems are usless. That’s why Blalab’s rating system has no middle point. A game either passes the mark, or doesn’t.
So, why are there multiple reviews of this game/movie?
You’ll want to take a look at Blalab’s About page for an explanation for that.
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