Generally, weekends are super busy with three highly sporty daughters – GB trials last week and next! – and there is little opportunity for gaming. Such is family life. Weekends get a solid 7 out of 10.
As a university lecturer, 7/10 is 70%, which is a 1st class honours degree. In the US, 7/10 is a pass with 8, 9 and 10 being a C, B and A respectively. In gaming terms a 7 means average. Only 85% or higher on Metacritic gets the PR guys and girls their bonuses
It's weird. They really shouldn't matter. And I know this. I have seen some of my favorite games get lousy reviews while (imho) terrible games get wonderful scores.
Sometimes I will see a low review score and then dismiss the game. Why? I don't do this with anything else: not movies, music, or even beer (yes, beer has ratings, beer advocate is one of the more popular places to read them.)
So, why do we place such emphasis on one person's opinion? I often wonder how many great games I have missed out on because I saw a low review score.
The best way for me to hear about a game is actually to read through user reviews, but even then you don't know who is writing them and for what reason. We know publishers employ people to go on the internet and play up their products... so why do scores matter.
I'm going to have to make a resolution to start ignoring them. Especially the incendiary ones.