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:
An original and charming mapmaking adventure.
An original and charming mapmaking adventure.
A cozy visual novel that's full of energy and heart.
A cozy visual novel that's full of energy and heart.
An excellent turn-based RPG steeped in the world of League of Legends. Fans of League will find many cute allusions, both in item names and lore scrolls you find scattered around. The voice acting is superb and there are lots of great side quests (including legendary weapons and abilities for each character. The "motion comic" animation worked well for the more involved scenes and the campfire conversations between characters did a lot to flesh out their relationships. The story is basic, but has some cool moments and isn't totally predicable. The battle system itself was great. Its small cast of playable characters feels both unique and true to their original designs. There's good ability variation and everything can be useful in the right context. Battles were fun without being overwhelming. The "lane" system adds a decent amount of strategic depth and bosses can use it for unique interactions, to great effect. The whole thing is just put together nicely and was a blast to play!
An excellent turn-based RPG steeped in the world of League of Legends. Fans of League will find many cute allusions, both in item names and lore scrolls you find scattered around. The voice acting is superb and there are lots of great side quests (including legendary weapons and abilities for each character. The "motion comic" animation worked well for the more involved scenes and the campfire conversations between characters did a lot to flesh out their relationships. The story is basic, but has some cool moments and isn't totally predicable. The battle system itself was great. Its small cast of playable characters feels both unique and true to their original designs. There's good ability variation and everything can be useful in the right context. Battles were fun without being overwhelming. The "lane" system adds a decent amount of strategic depth and bosses can use it for unique interactions, to great effect. The whole thing is just put together nicely and was a blast to play!
: 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:
Heavily inspired by "Type Help", it does a good job carving out its own niche with a larger cast, multiple sections, and a visual interface to help your solve. I loved how much actual history it wove into the story
The gameplay itself follows a tried-and-true formula, but I found the game itself a little rough around the edges. The UX had lots of little papercuts and there were a _lot_ of typos. It's free, so one can only expect so much, but it still soured the experience a bit. In a game consisting of mostly text, your text must be correct. Plus, the back quarter of the game drags a bit- it's not a bad story, but it's a lot of clicking and not much solving. I liked the pseudo-interactive nature of the epilogues, but they felt slow compared to the actual puzzles.
But, these are all fixable in a sequel! I hope it gets the care and attention the format deserves.
Heavily inspired by "Type Help", it does a good job carving out its own niche with a larger cast, multiple sections, and a visual interface to help your solve. I loved how much actual history it wove into the story
The gameplay itself follows a tried-and-true formula, but I found the game itself a little rough around the edges. The UX had lots of little papercuts and there were a _lot_ of typos. It's free, so one can only expect so much, but it still soured the experience a bit. In a game consisting of mostly text, your text must be correct. Plus, the back quarter of the game drags a bit- it's not a bad story, but it's a lot of clicking and not much solving. I liked the pseudo-interactive nature of the epilogues, but they felt slow compared to the actual puzzles.
But, these are all fixable in a sequel! I hope it gets the care and attention the format deserves.
Great puzzle variety and presentation, but weak endgame puzzles. Lot of fun overall though!
Great puzzle variety and presentation, but weak endgame puzzles. Lot of fun overall though!
Clever concept that took some time to wrap my head around. The minesweeper gameplay is good, but felt like it leaned too far into randomness vs the (closer to) pure strategy of real minesweeper. Props for trying new things though!
Clever concept that took some time to wrap my head around. The minesweeper gameplay is good, but felt like it leaned too far into randomness vs the (closer to) pure strategy of real minesweeper. Props for trying new things though!
: 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:
It's a technically impressive game, but wasn't for me. I end up with the same problem I have with most immersive sims- there are so many ways to approach something that playing it at all becomes overwhelming. Plus when things start to go wrong, you die very quickly, not giving you much opportunity to understand how to react or take stock of the situation. It's cool that the world is so thoroughly simulated though, it's an interesting concept.
I'm also not sure I would have loved a fully generated mystery. Some of them would have been great, but others duds. I prefer a more crafted experience. I like the idea of truly getting to investigate my own way, but not doing it in practice.
It's a technically impressive game, but wasn't for me. I end up with the same problem I have with most immersive sims- there are so many ways to approach something that playing it at all becomes overwhelming. Plus when things start to go wrong, you die very quickly, not giving you much opportunity to understand how to react or take stock of the situation. It's cool that the world is so thoroughly simulated though, it's an interesting concept.
I'm also not sure I would have loved a fully generated mystery. Some of them would have been great, but others duds. I prefer a more crafted experience. I like the idea of truly getting to investigate my own way, but not doing it in practice.
As a longtime enjoyer of the Tales series, I came into Berseria with high hopes (and shame on me for letting the community set those expectations so high) and it failed to meet them.
The biggest weakness is the combat. Eschewing the series' Smash Bros-style control scheme, it instead lets you slot 4 moves onto each face button. This means to target enemy type and elemental resources there are up to 16 slots you need to memorize (and more if you play other characters). Either you're resetting them constantly to optimize every battle or you lean into the game's "choose for me!" button and literally just press X to clear every battle. There are other attacks (super, block, dodge) but a playable version of the combat felt so watered down that it just wasn't worth it. All of the other interesting gameplay decisions (equipment, etc) fed into combat. But if I wasn't engaging with that, then nothing else felt worthwile.
All that said, the story was pretty good. I loved that we were anti-heroes instead of plucky do-gooders. Some of the dialogue (Magilou, mostly) was the best performance I'd seen in ages. Outside of the typical anime stuff, there are some great characters in there. So much so that I'm planning on watching all the cutscenes through on youtube (something I've never done before).
I felt like I gave it the old college try, but when I'm searching phrases like "does this get better" and "Berseria combat bad?", it didn't bode well.
As a longtime enjoyer of the Tales series, I came into Berseria with high hopes (and shame on me for letting the community set those expectations so high) and it failed to meet them.
The biggest weakness is the combat. Eschewing the series' Smash Bros-style control scheme, it instead lets you slot 4 moves onto each face button. This means to target enemy type and elemental resources there are up to 16 slots you need to memorize (and more if you play other characters). Either you're resetting them constantly to optimize every battle or you lean into the game's "choose for me!" button and literally just press X to clear every battle. There are other attacks (super, block, dodge) but a playable version of the combat felt so watered down that it just wasn't worth it. All of the other interesting gameplay decisions (equipment, etc) fed into combat. But if I wasn't engaging with that, then nothing else felt worthwile.
All that said, the story was pretty good. I loved that we were anti-heroes instead of plucky do-gooders. Some of the dialogue (Magilou, mostly) was the best performance I'd seen in ages. Outside of the typical anime stuff, there are some great characters in there. So much so that I'm planning on watching all the cutscenes through on youtube (something I've never done before).
I felt like I gave it the old college try, but when I'm searching phrases like "does this get better" and "Berseria combat bad?", it didn't bode well.
Chorus initially wowed me with its freedom of motion and huge sense of scale. Its dogfighting battles were chaotic and cool, but felt like something I could really get good at. And that was true, but those battles came with a pretty serious legibility problem. With all the lasers and enemies flying around, it's easy to get disoriented. Couple that with a sort of nonsense story (albeit a nicely voice acted one) and an undercooked upgrade system and the game left me wanting. It's worth trying out if it's really up your alley and it's beautifully animated, but it didn't come together for me.
Chorus initially wowed me with its freedom of motion and huge sense of scale. Its dogfighting battles were chaotic and cool, but felt like something I could really get good at. And that was true, but those battles came with a pretty serious legibility problem. With all the lasers and enemies flying around, it's easy to get disoriented. Couple that with a sort of nonsense story (albeit a nicely voice acted one) and an undercooked upgrade system and the game left me wanting. It's worth trying out if it's really up your alley and it's beautifully animated, but it didn't come together for me.
: 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:
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.
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.
This stretches the definition of "game"- it's more of a guided meditation with dialogue choices. Unfortunately, not something I'm looking for...
This stretches the definition of "game"- it's more of a guided meditation with dialogue choices. Unfortunately, not something I'm looking for...
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.
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.