Rate Your Games

[Gabriel]

One of the recent developments with Xbox Live is the ability to rate games between 1 and 5 stars. As I have a sort of strange fixation on review scores, you would be safe in assuming that this was something which attracted my attention.

 

Microsoft implemented this in a way which has historically been an invitation for false ratings. You don't have to own the arcade game to rate it. You don't have to have a single achievement point. All you have to do is pull up the game info and rate it. It doesn't even matter if the game is even released yet.

 

It was interesting to note that Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360 was sitting at under 2 stars last night and 1,000 ratings. By morning it had 4,000 ratings and a score of 4 stars. Either 3,000 people logged on during the night to rate this as a phenomenal game, or something else is going on.

 

The game with the absolute highest number of ratings on Live is Castle Crashers. It has more people rating it than Halo. It is very close to a perfect 5 star rating. This seems pretty fishy to me. Also, the fact this shithole of a game is being rated higher than Streets of Rage 2 (a superior game in every way) is absolute blasphemy.

 

Yeah, I think there's some coordinated shill rating going on. So, here is what I like AtariAgers to do. Just rate some games and content and do it honestly.

 

Especially rate some classic games. Most of them seem to be under mild attempts to rate them as low as possible. Robotron and Joust were barely hovering over 2 stars earlier.

[moycon]

It would be nice if they gave you the option of checking the rating for games based on solely your friends ratings. Kinda like on thye Live arcade games you can check the leader board but filter out everyone but your friends. In this case you'd filter out everyone else ratings. That would be worth playing around with. Sounds like they just slapped on a half-assed rating system that could be ruined by anyone (and you know idiots will do just that...for jollys.

 

When you say.... "So, here is what I like AtariAgers to do. Just rate some games and content and do it honestly." Do you mean on that new system, or in this thread?

[Gabriel]

When you say.... "So, here is what I like AtariAgers to do. Just rate some games and content and do it honestly." Do you mean on that new system, or in this thread?

 

Both sound like good ideas to me. This is a discussion board, after all. And the new system on Live is supposed to be driven by fan provided ratings.

 

Sadly, systems like what Microsoft has instituted are well known to be easily manipulated by fanboys and shills. Can silver members rate? If they can, then the whole thing is wide open to whomever wants to manipulate the ratings.

[moycon]

If they can, then the whole thing is wide open to whomever wants to manipulate the ratings.

 

Yeah that's kind of why I wish they'd let you filter out everyone else. None of the folks on my friends list would find pleasure in purposely screwing up ratings just for fun, or purposely screwing up ratings so they could sell more shitty games. To me the rating system you are describing that is part of the new Live update is worthless. Maybe they will improve it in the future so it's actually useful.

[16-bit]

Hopefully they'll change it at some point. It would be nice they made it so you could only rate a game if you've actually played it. Better yet, would be if you had a set amount of achievements.

 

It's going to be a long haul if we're trying to make any kind of dent on the classic game ratings. AtariAge vs. worldwide population of teens and tweens.

Edited August 13, 2009 by 16-bit

[Gabriel]

It's going to be a long haul if we're trying to make any kind of dent on the classic game ratings. AtariAge vs. worldwide population of teens and tweens.

 

I'm realistic. I know it won't make any real difference. It's really more about the principle of the thing.

[cimerians]

I agree, sorting and filtering would be great. Right now I'm not paying too much attention to those ratings.

[HammR25]

Castle Crashers has been on their list of best selling XBLA games for a very long time.

[Video]

Maybe it would help if they also had a Sale number, and date for the games. If X game has a perfect 5 star rating, yet has been around for 2 years and sold less than 10,000 copys, then uh...yeah, probably isn't that good.

 

I agree with the filtering absolutely, though honestly, I tend to just ask my friends if they think game X is going to be good, most of them will be honest.

[16-bit]

Castle Crashers has been on their list of best selling XBLA games for a very long time.

 

That's because it's a fun game.

[davepesc]

I think you have to consider people's criteria when they rate classic games.

 

When I rate a classic XBLA game, I'm basing it on both how fun the game is overall and also how true to the original it is (or improved). I can see a lot of younger people just looking at the graphics for Streets of Rage 2 and saying, "this looks like ass compared to Halo 3... 1 star!"

[Gemeni]

Probably going to just ignore the ratings the only people who are going to be going around rating games 1 star are 13 year olds who think the game suck but don't even have it or have ever played it.Bionic Commando Rearmed (great game!) had like 2.5 stars then all of a sudden the next day it was at 4 so somebodys messing around im just gonna ignore the ratings

[bloodreptile]

Probably going to just ignore the ratings the only people who are going to be going around rating games 1 star are 13 year olds who think the game suck but don't even have it or have ever played it.Bionic Commando Rearmed (great game!) had like 2.5 stars then all of a sudden the next day it was at 4 so somebodys messing around im just gonna ignore the ratings

i played around it last weekend for novelty value.... but as the above gamer points out there are some weird things going on....

I will still pick the games I like and have only commented on the games I own....

Sonic on the 360 is a duffer...1 star is too good for it

[davepesc]

Bored, so here's how I rate mine:

 

Retail games

Alone in the Dark: ** Probably a decent game in there somewhere, but you can't find it through the clunky controls.

 

Culdcept Saga: **** Great fun, only the looooooooong matches and ability to see opponent's cards pulls it down.

 

Kung Fu Panda: **** That's right, a fun kiddie game! Loved it.

 

Lego Indiana Jones: * Lost everything fun about Lego Star Wars.

 

Mass Effect: **** Great at times, but repetitive missions drop it a point. Wonderful dialogue.

 

Oblivion: *** Can't go higher because I was so overwhelmed, I stopped playing.

 

Operation Darkness: **** (Early impression) fun, and one of the only Strat RPGs on the 360

 

Orange Box: ***** Best value on the 360

 

Perfect Dark Zero: ** Couldn't get into it.

 

PGR4: ***** (5 stars) Very fun, varied objectives, sim/arcade hybrid racer.

 

Resident Evil 5: **** It's popular to hate on it, but I enjoyed it.

 

Street Fighter IV: **** Great addition to the series, lame online community and lousy, nonsensical end boss drop it a star.

 

Viva Pinata Party Animals: ** Kids like it, but always get bored before the end of a game

 

 

XBLA

Aether Wing (or whatever that free shooter is called): *** Fun, free, repetitive

 

Bionic Commando ReArmed **** Great update of a classic

 

Braid: **** Fun time manipulation puzzle solving gameplay

 

Dash of Destruction: * At least it's free

 

Gauntlet: * Dreadfully dull unless you have someone to play with add one star per additional player

 

Geometry Wars: **** Great twin-stick shooter

 

Magic the Gathering *** Good console timewaster, no deck customization and broken online mechanics pull it down.

 

Outrun: *** Really fun arcade racer

 

R-Type Dimensions: **** I'm biased to the series, but a great port of arcade classics.

 

Uno: ***** Great fun in short bursts, active (and rather interesting) online community

 

Wolfenstein 3D: ** Just not as much fun as it used to be. Give me Doom any day.

Edited September 1, 2009 by davepesc

[Gabriel]

Bored, so here's how I rate mine:

 

Rock on.

 

I'd certainly argue about Operation Darkness, but I only played the demo.

[davepesc]

Bored, so here's how I rate mine:

 

Rock on.

 

I'd certainly argue about Operation Darkness, but I only played the demo.

 

 

 

I've only played the first two missions myself, and I must admit that the camera is one of the worst I've ever seen, but I like the different take on the strategy RPG. I've never played one that focused on long-range gunplay.