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 2: Starward Vector

Mechanically improved from the first game. Loved the "away missions" and push-your-luck mechanics. Exploring a galaxy was better than one big station, but it felt like there was less variety for actual activities. As a sequel, does an interesting job changing the vibe from wide and choice-heavy to more linear and exploratory. Not better or worse, just different. Great cameos from the first game if you played it (but not much is lost if you didn't). The emotional story beats hit hard (especially when there are no right answers). Some of the bigger-picture stuff falls flat, but the good parts made up for it. Does a shockingly poignant thing with the design of the post game which I really admired. A worthy sequel indeed!

Type Help

Ingenious little puzzle game about using (written) audio logs to track characters' paths through a house as they die dramatically. Its minimalistic UI helps the writing shine. The nonstop chain of logical deductions kept us on the edge of our seats. We made a spreadsheet to track everything, which is a marks of a great puzzle game. I would have liked some actual sound effects (keyboard, music, or even voice acting) and there were a _couple_ of nits we had with the ending, but it was a blast nonetheless. Excited for more!

A Little to the Left

Beautiful, relaxing, tactile little game. Majority of the puzzles were great. Some got too tricky for their own good, but most were fun to play around with. The music fits the theme well. There's great foley work when you grab any item, making them each feel remarkably real.

: 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:

Return to Grace

Flirted with some interesting story moments. Great voice cast and characterization of this gaggle of AIs. Puzzles were basic and forgettable. Architecture was pretty. Short and sweet overall, but doesn't have the narrative staying power of other games in its class.

Slender Threads

Funny and atmospheric gameplay coupled with a story that doesn't stick the landing. The art direction and voice acting are great, but it's frustrating to get invested in a story that doesn't resolve.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Great presentation: the art, music, and voice acting are really well done. The gameplay itself is decent, but the actual deductions weren't as compelling as I'd have liked. It's a little bit caught between Frog Detective and Golden Idol, too much gameplay to be the former but not enough to be the latter. Fun overall 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:

Sonic Frontiers

A total mess of design, but not altogether unpleasant. The islands are large and plain, but the bumpers and rails everywhere give it a sort of cool, proto-skatepark vibe. It plays with scale well- bosses are huge and the micro platforming challenges can span pretty large areas. The 3D platforming is sort of fun, while I did the mind-numbing fishing game rather than do any of the 2D levels. Exploring and mapping was neat, and you _do_ get to go fast. I also enjoyed some of the combat, weirdly, which had more depth than many previous Sonic games. The story is messy and there more than a few frustrating required mini-games that gate progression. All that said, I did play through to the end. It's a good game for turning your brain off.

Epigraph

A game for absolute puzzle sickos. You're tasked with translating a ancient language, basically from scratch. It sets you loose without any guidance, which might work for people with backgrounds in linguistics but was frustrating for me. There are some good quality of life features to assist in your translations (being able to define a word once and see that translation everywhere), but I found the game way too hard and undirected.

Forspoken

If I described it in one word, it would be "clunky", which is a tough adjective for a game about fluidity of motion. There are some cool ideas at play, but the open world feels lifeless (and not on purpose). Leveling mechanics were sort of neat, and the idea behind the combat was very cool. Unfortunately, it just felt dreadful to actually play. Combat got hectic quickly, so it's hard to see what's going on. Spells also didn't feel good to use - lots of holding of triggers. I really wanted to like it, but life's too short to keep playing.

: 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.