One of the world's most influential game news and review site networks, Eurogamer, has announced that its reviews will no longer offer a score based result, suggesting that the format does not accurately represent a game's ability to entertain its audience. On top of this, the site will also only review release games, not pre-release content and though it will offer early impressions on release day, reviews will most often come out a few days later.
"Some games evolve right up to the moment of their commercial release, with a day one update. Some games are released commercially long before they are finished, via ‘early access’ versions. Some games never stop evolving," said EGUK site editor Oli Welsh, describing how different games can be at the 'launch day.'
This new policy addresses several problems with not only gaming scores being an inferior way to review something, but the industry as a whole. With a lot of games being sent to reviewers before release, with pre-release code, often the game reviewed is not the same one played by gamers themselves.
That means that reviews are inaccurate, as well as difficult to decipher. How do you tell apart two 8/10 games anyway?
Ultimately Eurogamer hopes that its new system of "recommended," "essential," or "avoid," with games, as well as a basic star rating system for a more rough guide on quality, will provide a more nuanced way for readers to figure out whether a game is worth their time and money.
