How I Rate Games

The main goal of this site is to inform you, the reader, about media that I think is worth your time. While most reviews come with a short description of what I did and didn't like, I also make sure to include a star rating to help you quickly understand how I felt about a game.

My rating is a grade between 4 and 1 stars. A high score indicates a strong recommendation, the middle two are "yes but" and "no but" respectively, and the lowest is reserved for games I absolutely couldn't stand.

Rating games with this method can be tricky. There are plenty of popular games that don't do it for me, or widely panned games that I love. It's important to remember that my rating is not a measure of something's objective goodness; it's whether I thought it was worthwhile and think people with similar tastes will as well.

It's also worth noting that my ratings skew high: I get to choose what I play and I tend to choose things I think I'll enjoy. Keep that in mind when you see how many things earn a 4. It's a very different grade than a perfect 10 on something like IGN's rating system.

With that out of the way, let's go through what exactly each score means and provide some concrete examples!

: Yes!

A 4 star rating is both my highest and my most common score. Games in this bracket can be recommended emphatically. They may not be perfect, but I never felt bored while playing them. A 4 usually means that a game excelled in multiple areas and the result is more than the sum of its parts. Another way to earn a 4 is to succeed so highly in a specific area (such as gameplay or overall concept) that any concerns are dropped by the wayside; they didn't stop my enjoyment.

If you want to see the absolute cream of the game crop, you can check my list of games that were been the best thing I played that year

Here are some recent games that earned 4 stars:

Citizen Sleeper

A top-tier cyberpunk narrative wrapped in just enough interactivity. I loved the depth to the characters and the complex motivation behind everything they did. Actual gameplay is light - mostly reading. But you get a certain number of actions each day and what you roll affects what you can do and how fast things progress. It evoked the "choose your own adventure" vibe of tabletop RPGs in that regard. Everything gets too easy in the late game and I would have liked a little more variety in the way you used actions. Nevertheless, this definitely feels like a hidden gem.

Lil Gator Game

Extremely charming concept, a small world of friends to explore, and some surprisingly compelling platforming and traversal mechanics make this way more fun than expected. It's nothing like Breath of the Wild in complexity, but it copies a lot of the other core bits to great effect.

Metal Slug Tactics

The art & gameplay are both great. It does a great job encouraging active positioning and strategic planning. UI is a little rough, but not enough to stop me enjoying my time with it.

: Yes, but...

Most games that earn a 3 could have been a 4, but something held them back. Maybe it was a plot that didn't quite line up, poor pacing, or unnecessary papercuts in menus. Whatever it was I was annoyed enough about its shortcomings that I have to qualify this recommendation with a "I liked it, but wish they hadn't done XYZ".

Here are some recent games that earned 3 stars:

The Rewinder

A fun take on a change-the-past puzzles. Individual puzzles were decent too, but not outstanding. A decent story with clumsy (translated?) writing. First half of the game was stronger than the second, though I did like seeing the cumulative effect of my changes on the villiage.

Murder by Numbers

Has dialogue and emotional beats that punches way above its weight. Characters + art are cute and the story is decent if predictable. The gameplay is _only_ nonogram puzzles, which are fun but very one-note. I could have used... anything else. But I had a good time with it. It also had a great hint system which keeps you moving through the puzzles, which I appreciated.

Dave the Diver

Stuffed to the gills with mechanics and mini-games, it's really hampered by its lack of focus. The core diving / selling / exploring / grinding gameplay is compelling, but gets bogged down by everything else that demands your attention. The art and music are good, the story meh, and the experience decent overall.

: No, but...

Welcome to the bottom half! Games that earn a 2 have more hits than misses, but there are redeeming qualities. It can also mean I would have scored it higher, but I was so put off by something (such as boring gameplay) that I couldn't rate it higher. If you're a fan of this genre you might still find the game worthwhile, but I'd start elsewhere.

Here are some recent games that earned 2 stars:

Balatro

Fun concept (build your own luck) but the gameplay just felt bland. Chancing into the perfect set of jokers between rounds is fun, but the actual gameplay is a mix of "Play", "Discard", and a bunch of luck. Other deckbuilders have more interactivity where you get to choose targets and ordering, but making poker hands (even if some of them are super high scoring) got old fast. I had a couple of super long runs where everything came into place, but I also had a bunch of duds where I didn't get anywhere. I feel like the "bad" runs in other roguelikes are still fun, but the ones in Balatro were just drags.

Final Fantasy XVI

The best part was the combat (eventually) and the worst part was everything else. Once you get a few abilities under your belt the combat really starts to click, but by then you're halfway through the game. Everything else the adventure felt underbaked. The world was large, empty, and lifeless. The equipment system was an afterthought, removing any interesting decision making from everything but the ability loadout. Characters are fine if forgettable, but the whole plot is joyless and overwrought. The marquee boss fights are certainly unique, but they're overly long and are more spectacle than substance. For a mainline FF title, it has remarkably little going for it.

Gem Wizards Tactics

Some interesting tactical gameplay buried under an abysmal Switch port. I liked that there were different factions and the campaign runs built up an army over time, but the fact that you could recruit from any pool meant you just had less synergy than if you were constrained to the one you picked. I liked the hex grid and each character having abilities, which helped keep battles fairly fresh. I have a feeling this would have eked out a 3 stars if I had played on Steam w/ a mouse, but I just couldn't keep playing using the controller interface.

: No!

The lowly 1 is my rarest rating. Because I mostly play things I (hope to) enjoy, for something to earn a 1 it's got to really fail across multiple areas. As long as a game has reasonable plot, gameplay, or artistic direction, I'll usually find enough to like about it that it earns a 2. Earning a 1 means I feel bad for having spent time on this game at all.

Here are some recent games that earned 1 stars:

Nour: Play with Your Food

Sort of an interesting little physics sim, but the physics are all floaty and gummy. Has sort of a goose game / katamari chaos charm, but lacks enough cohesion to make it particularly worthwhile. Some funny interactions, but not something I needed to spend more time with.

Far from Noise

This stretches the definition of "game"- it's more of a guided meditation with dialogue choices. Unfortunately, not something I'm looking for...

The First Tree

While the environments look ok, the fox doesn't control well and the dialogue is pretty poorly written. It attempts to pull at heartstrings, but is more frustrating than compelling.