Should review scores be abolished?

[Vexer1]

I've heard Totalbiscuit talking about how review scores along with Metacritic are actually terrible for the games industry (especially when developer bonuses depend on MC scores like in the case of Fallout: New Vegas) and that they should be completely abolished. That got me thinking, do we REALLY need game scores(or movie/TV show/music scores for that matter)?  I personally think TB is absolutely right, i've never used review scores to judge whether or not I should buy a game(or see a movie/TV show) and i've noticed that the reviews that don't use a scoring a system are usually better written then the ones that do use a scoring system. I think some reviews can stand on their own pretty well without a number or grade, and personally I don't believe in using scores on games, I much prefer to let my words speak for themselves.

So what do you all think?  Should scores in game reviews by professional critics be abolished altogether?

 

[Oltobaz1]

Short answer, no. Why would you like to abolish a system other people find useful? Let it be.

[Sut1]

No I think a grade brings a summary to the review and an overall conclusion.
I do agree with you regarding Metacritic though it's become a game developers nightmare.

[JustLikeHeaven1]

I've been saying for years that it needs to go away.  People focus more on scores then what the reviewer actually has to say.  

It creates this strange hive-mind where some gamers don't TOUCH anything that isn't metacritic 90 or higher.  It's like really?  There are so many great games you will miss out on.  I have one friend in particular that does this and it pisses me off to no end.  Because he acts like these scores are the gospel.  He was making some claim about how people shouldn't be getting excited about Bayonetta 2...that the first game was barely a fringe B to B+ rated game.  My retort was "that's BS...have you ever played it?"  To which he sheepishly responded with, "no".  STFU and stop talking out your ass!  Come up with your own damn opinions people.  Just because the gaming media or outspoken reviewers like Yahtzee or Total Biscuit says a game is good...don't go taking their word as the law.  Play the games and form your own opinions.

Sheep mentality runs rampant in videogames and it's getting worse each and every year.  

[Vexer1]

I don't think a grade really brings anything to a review, this post by Totalbiscuit summarizes why review scores hurt more then they help and why we would ultimately be better off without them: 

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/ngr588

[Vexer1]

JustLikeHeaven- Glad you agree, it's the same problem with other forms of media like music, TV shows and movies, some people won't see any film that doesn't score a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes(which I think is every bit as awful as Metacritic). I would've missed out on countless great movies, TV shows, games and music if I only followed the critical consensus and hadn't instead used my own judgement.

Even TB himself has said that people should never take his word as gospel and thinks that anyone who does is ridiculous.

[gleebergloben1]

[QUOTE=Oltobaz]Short answer, no. Why would you like to abolish a system other people find useful? Let it be.[/QUOTE]

I'm with Monsieur Oltaboz. If I'm going to shell out 60 bucks for a game, I want to make sure that the game gets good reviews (unless of course, it's a game that I plan on buying no matter what). And I'm a numbers kind of guy. I'm going to remember if VGC gave the game an A or an A-, or if IGN gave the game a 9.3.

And there will be times when I disagree with the reviews. Critics were going nuts over Bioshock Infinite and I thought it was below average at best.

Scoring a game helps summarize the whole review, and it helps the reader easily recall how the reviewer felt about a particular game.

[Rev1]

I like review scores because they're supposed to provide a quick reference to the actual review. Of course, how accurate their review matches the score depends on the skill of the reviewer.I agree that a lot of people put too much faith in them but they are very useful. Not everyone hasr time to read a full page review and if you're reading 4 to 5 reviews a day you are dedicating a lot of time just to try and see what is good. I think of them almost as a filter so I can skip crap and find something that sounds good.

[Vexer1]

I personally prefer to read an entire review because often I find that many reviews are at odds with the actual ratings themselves, which doesn't really help me much.

I just don't get why people want to skim over reviews, I really don't see how time is an issue as it doesn't take that along to read a review(even a full page one only takes about five minutes to read).

[VideoGameCritic]

Actually, a lot of reviews I've seen on other sites span several pages, and each is loaded with all sorted of advertisements.  It's one of the reasons I've adopted my format.