What does 5/10 really mean?

[Rankao]

Just use this rating system and rate it like you want your children to get into a good college

A 94%?100%
B 86%?93%
C 70%?85%
F 69% and below

A = Your got yourself a game worth buying
B = It might be worth buying but it might take some work to enjoy (possible buy, defiantly rent/borrow)
C = Its Mediocrity definitely worth renting or borrowing
F = They obviously just made this game to piss customers off and marketing was the one who called all the shots.

You noticed I skipped D, that's because if it isn't worth renting or borrowing its a failure.

 

[tendo82]

Just use this rating system and rate it like you want your children to get into a good college

A 94%?100%
B 86%?93%
C 72%?85%
F 71% and below

You're supposed to inflate the grades, not deflate them.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

If it only gets a 5/10 or 50/100 then it's a crap game not even worth renting.

Edit: Like others (for me).

90%-100%, buy, buy, buy.

89%-80% Consider buying, do I have enough money for it and (insert slightly better game) as well.

79%-70% Probably look at, depending on genre.

69%-60% If bored and practically free.

59%-50% Not worth the disc it's on.

49%-0% Epic fail, not worth looking at, even if bored out of skull, publishers trying to kill me with insanity at how the game got made.

 

[some random guy]

Here's how it works with me:

1-2: Vile, disgusting and outragous. A disgrace to humanity. The development team should be burnt.
3-4: Bad, just bad. There may be some positive aspects but, overall, it's deeply flawed and just bad.

5: Playable but not enjoyable. Still deeply flawed and still bad.

6. Average. Mediocre. Certainly playable and possibly even enjoyable at points but it's far from great.

7: Good. Solid and interesting but also bland and forgetable.

8: Great. An enjoyable, memorable and well done experience but still with noticeable flaws.

9: Brilliant! Any noticeable flaws are minor. A very enjoyable and memorable experience. Certainly recommended.

10: Perfect or extremely close. A must have game. Any flaws are hardly noticeable.

 

[SunoffaBeach]

A game which is competent in all areas will always score higher than a game which is incredible in some areas but which doesn't tick all the right boxes.

...reminds me of our school system (Switzerland).
It was a walk in the park for me because I was slightly above average in all areas.
Others struggled despite being incredibly talented in some areas.

 

[thiosk]

Game ratings, much like grades in school, are inflated.

I've played a few games with 90ish ratings that really didn't deserve them, once you really delved into the game for more than brief sessions.

I've always figured that the first five points in most rater's systems were

"it has graphics"
"it has sound"
"it has some sembelence of gameplay
"it has mechanics"
"it has a name"

and then you just add fractions of points to each to get as close to 100 as you can.

Never agreed with doing it that way. D games should be playable, but most of the time, games generally agreed to be utterly unplayable score in the 60s.

 

[Rankao]

Just use this rating system and rate it like you want your children to get into a good college

A 94%?100%
B 86%?93%
C 72%?85%
F 71% and below

You're supposed to inflate the grades, not deflate them.

Only when you to increase the amount of people who's self-esteem are nuked when they get out of high school. My personal opinion is that Gaming Companies need to have their self-esteem nuked here and now!

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

No scales, scales are too technical and will always be meaningless to me, it should go:
Good = Buy
Decent(or nich apeal) = Rent
Shitstorm of awfulness = Avoid

 

[arcus_angelus]

1 - 5: Typicall horrible. Varying from utter shit (1) to just plain shit (5). Parents buy these for their kids because they don't know any better, but they like the idea of spending 9.99 or less on a game.

6 - Worth a rent, see what it's all about. Could be one of those diamonds in the rough. Probably not though. . .I mean common. . .it's a six.

7 - Definently worth a rent, sometimes reviewers/critics shit on a game because it's not their style, a lot of games get this rating because it's the norm for rating. A 7 is the worst of the best. . .

8 - This is where it's at. It's going to be a popular title, and you probably already knew it was going to be an 8 due to all the hype surrounding it.

9 - Epic! Game of the Year material here. Great story, great gameplay, it's got everything you want in a game. Nines aren't common, but they're not rare either.

10 - Has just revolutionized gaming, it's the new standard, and other games will be based on this game, it's construct and it's method. Rarest of the rare.

 

[fix-the-spade]

5/10 is a brand of shoes favoured by climbers and mountain bikers for their super soft rubber sole which provides high levels of grip.

therefore a game with a 5/10 review is so bad it's only good for stepping on.

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

I would use 6-7 as mediocre, unless I'm reading Game informer in which they crank up the scales to get more money from video game companies. So in that case 8-9.

 

[Alone Disciple]

Most game magazines have a rating system with a range from 1-10 or 1-100.
According to their guidelines, 1 means something like "epic fail", 5 means "mediocre" and 10 means "legendary".

But from my personal experience, a 5/10 game is usually far less than mediocre.
I mean, would you ever consider buying a 5/10 game?

The real meaning of these numbers IMO is this:
1-6 = not worth my time
7 = mediocre
8 = good
9-10 = great

I tend to agree with you and most everyone else here. Although I'm not the fondest of 1up 'Letter' system, I do translate numerical scores into my own school-esque grading process in my head.

90-100 is an 'A' and general buy. Usually a 'must have' for me.
80-89 is a 'B' in my book and I'll also most likely buy given no other 'A' titles I must have.
70-79 is a 'C' and therefor average. I *may* buy the title if played a demo and liked, or it's a franchise I've enjoyed in the past. Maybe I'll wait for the price to drop $10-20 before I buy. If it's on the low end of the 70's, I may pass altogether. So I suppose my real cut off is 7.5.
Anything below 69 (heh), I'll pass on..unless someone gave it as a gift. If I know it's a stinker, then it's up on eBay, re-gifted, or returned to store.

 

[axia777]

In any school in America, a 5/10 is an F. I suspect it is the same in other nations too. So, a 5/10 for me in relation to any game is an F as in FAIL.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Or you could ignore numbers all together and just read the reviews... It's a matter of

"Does this genre interest me?" If yes, go on
"Does the setting and premise interest me?"
"Is the gameplay interesting, and do the controls make it better or worse?"
"Is it a good representation of the genre, or does it create a new one?"
"Is it visually and aurally appealing?"

All those are much more easily ascertained by reading the full review, and for me, if it falls short in more than one of those, it's worth missing.

 

[goodman528]

on a 1 to 10 scale like Gamespot, 5/10 means "I wouldn't play it if someone gave it to me for free and I was in a prison cell with nothing else to do."

I think the real meaning is something like this:

0-5 (as above) don't play it even if you can get it for free.

6,7 don't play it unless it's free, in which case give it a try only if the setting / story appeals to you

8,9,10 Ignore the exact score, that's just the reviewer's preudice at work, there's a 10% chance of the game being great, and 10% chance of the game being worth playing, and 80% chance of the game being over-hyped and a bunch of cloned crap.

... this 3 star system I use is also why I love ZP, because Yahtzee seems to have a very similar opinion to me, though my exact tastes differs from his.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Yeah I also noticed sometime ago that ratings were usually inflated. But, to be fair how many games do any of you own that you think truly deserve a 5/10 according to their scale? I think the bigger problem is that game reviewers forgot they were using the 5/10 scale and suddenly changed to the grading scale. Gamespot used to give scores of 8 to games many consider classics like Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil 2, now it's rare that a high profile game does not get a 9 out of 10 or higher. I was actually glad when Mercs 2, Too Human and Fracture got 5s on that site for being generic and glitchy because it means that at least someone tries to keep the old rating system.

However, what I'm probably most annoyed when it comes to reviewers is the butthurt fanboys who claim that every reviewer who disagrees with them has no credibility.

 

[TheSear]

Very good point actually. I'd say a 7.5 is the lowest I would consider buying. I notice in most reviews they talk about how shit a game is and then give it say a 6.8. Doesn't make sense. 7 is average, 8 good, 9 great, 10.. well 10 just doesn't happen realistically because no game is perfect

 

[shadow_pirate22]

1-2 - Laugh at it. It deserves to be shunned
3-4 - Just another random mediocre game in th open sea.
5-7 - Could be worth looking at, based on personal preference, and it wasn't to the preference of the reviewers.
8-9 - The golden numbers, probably a really good game.
10 - Probably an excelent game, but BEWARE! It could be another one of those overly-hyped games like Halo.