Rolling Out the Ratings

Update: New rating system in video game reviews, plus review of Ys Book I & II.

I resisted giving games absolute ratings in my reviews for a long time. Apart from ratings being entirely subjective, a game is more than the sum of its parts; a game that is seemingly inferior in one or more aspects can sometimes be just as entertaining as a game with a higher overall rating, if not more so. Still, ratings are sort of fun, and can be some kind of indication about the game's overall quality, so I finally gave in, and added a rating system to the video game review section.

The new rating system is quite simple: Games are given simple verbal evaluations on five main areas: general opinion, story, graphics, sound and gameplay. (These have been there since the beginning of the review section.) Now, based on these evaluations, each area is given a rating of no star, half a star or full star. These stars are added up for a total rating of 0-5 stars. (Although, since I don't really review games I don't like, it's rare to see ratings below three stars.)

I've now added ratings to all the existing reviews, although I may still do a little tweaking. Additionally, I recently played the TurboGrafx-16 game Ys Book I & II, a rather enjoyable oldschool action RPG title, and the review is now online.