Do Review Scores Matter?

There is arguably nothing more dismissive and minimizing to the spirit of art than a review score. Imagine spending months or years of your energy and passion into a project just for some dork on the internet to give it a “3/10”. And with how sensationalized behavior on the internet has proven to be, the masses will take that 3/10 and run wild with it for weeks. Memes will be on message boards for eternity, and the reputation of your work will most likely never get a shot at redemption.

Review scores are of course not inherent to gaming; millions of people wait for Anthony Fantano’s review on a new album just to skip to the end of his video and see his numeric score. Fantano is infamous for having a comment section filled with inside jokes and humor. One of these jokes goes something like this:

“Phew, now I can have an opinion on this album. Thanks!”

And the sad reality is, despite being a joke, for millions of people it’s not a joke.

While review scores aren’t inherent to gaming, I do think they’re married to video games deeper than any other form of entertainment. Gamers are accustomed to statistics, numbers, categorizing, tier-lists, and rankings. All over TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels; we’re constantly seeing internet personalities comparing, analyzing, and rating games. It’s rare for a game to be looked at in isolation. People just like being able to slap a number on a game and determine its value simplistically.

When I was a child, a 10/10 from IGN was a rare sign of a must-play game. Now? An IGN 10/10 is given out like there’s no tomorrow.

Of course, as somebody who truly loves art and games, I think numeric score systems are far too dismissive.

However, as a consumer, I kinda get it. Times are incredibly tough right now; I went to the grocery store the other day and spent over eighty dollars on two bags of groceries and some garbage bags! I’m a single guy with no kids. Despite that, my financial struggles sway my decisions every single day. My pockets have never been tighter. It’s getting harder and harder to justify taking a risk on a game that gets a 73 on Metacritic.

Do my mind and heart want to? Yes. Does my bank account? No.

The rising cost of video games and gaming hardware are more reasons why I think numeric review scores are tied deeply with games. It’s far easier and cheaper for me to go on Apple Music and try out a new album before any reviews come out. It’s easier and cheaper for me to buy a book or go to the movies and ignore reviews. But games are an entirely different risk; if you buy a seventy dollar game and dislike it, you’re mostly out of luck.

If I was in a more privileged position or somehow found myself in games media, I would play anything that caught my eye. But alas, it’s simply not the reality I’m in.

Do review scores matter? For countless people, yes.

Should they? No.