Why All the Bad Games Lately? (Plus a Minor Change to Ratings)

Those of you who keep track of my writings may have realized that every game I have reviewed so far in the month of July has been rated a 2.5 or lower. So what’s the deal? Why am I putting myself through all this torture? Well, I’m glad you asked, Jimmy! Allow me to explain.

I am quickly approaching 150 video game reviews here at the Dojo (my count is currently sitting at 133), and I recently came up with an idea. While my list of all-time favorite video games is still most definitely a thing I plan on doing in the near future, I thought of a fun way to compensate for my continued delays. Once I reach my 150th video game review, I may make a list ranking all 150 video games reviewed. That is, if anyone is interested in such a thing.

Now, this is a separate list than my eventual favorite games list, as that will just be a top 20 to 30 of my all-time favorites. I still have yet to review some of my favorites, and probably won’t get around to them by my 150th review. So think of this as a fun little twist on the concept.

Plus, maybe setting up this list will help me better finalize my actual list of favorites, since I’ve had to revise that seen so often. Hopefully, writing down some form of list will iron out the big one.

That’s not the only reason I’ve been playing through so many stinkers lately. I also felt that the bottom spectrum of my rating system had been sorely underutilized, and I would like people to know that I use my whole rating system. I’m not like all those 7 to10 people out there, no sir! I have a 1 to 10 scale and I like to actually use it!

Though I’m aware that dropping all these low scoring games all at once is a bit iffy, I just felt I had some catching up to do in this regard. And why drag out the pain? Rip it off like a bandage! Now I feel I’m better representing my entire rating system.

Finally, there’s one more bit of information regarding my rating system, and that’s simply that I’ve dropped the “1.5” ranking. Even though that may seem inconsistent, since I’m keeping my .5 rating system, I couldn’t help but feel a 1.5 is the most superfluous ranking on such a scale. It may not be as daft as some of those ratings you’ll find on .1 rating systems, like an 8.3 (whatever the hell that is). But when you get to the bottom of the barrel, why split hairs? The .5s are still present for numbers 2 through 9, representing the exceptional works within those ballparks (especially the mighty 9.5, which sits on a throne of greatness), but a 1 is now just a 1.

Thankfully, I didn’t have much retroactive ratings to take care of, since I’d so far only given a score of 1.5 to one game and one movie (Lester the Unlikely and The Nut Job, respectively). So those two trainwrecks now sit at a big, smelly 1/10.

Don’t feel too bad for the 1.5 though. After all, it’s a 1.5. It doesn’t deserve your pity. Don’t worry, I’ll be going back to the old grind soon. So be prepared for some good game reviews (thank heavens!) and animated movie stuff. As well as the lingering continuation of Pixar Month.

Rant over.

Author: themancalledscott

Born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining, the man called Scott is an ancient sorcerer from a long-forgotten realm. He’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil. Or, you know, he could just be some guy who loves video games, animations and cinema who just wanted to write about such things. View all posts by themancalledscott