OFF TOPIC: I have no idea if this is the right forum for this, but I figured since there a couple of threads in this forum about personal reviews, I figured I'd ask this here. Feel free to move this thread if it doesn't belong here.

Anyway, I love writing reviews and I was looking through some of my game reviews I've written on Vizzed, and I noticed that I'm very generous with the overall rating I give certain games. Before writing reviews on Vizzed, I used to read lots of Metacritic scores for all kinds of games for for fun. I noticed how insanely high certain official reviewers rate certain games (especially nodding towards you, IGN. Seriously, that site gives away perfect 10s like it's Christmas everyday)... Anyway, looking at how many official reviews are so generous in their ratings for big-budget games, I've been very strict to myself about... well, generally being strict about the scores I give games. But now, I'm starting to doubt my own ratings a bit... ^^'

I mean, I rated Mirror's Edge for the X360 an 8.4 overall. That's a very high score if you think about it. And don't get me wrong, I think it's justified for Mirror's Edge in particular, because it's really a good game. But lately, I've been giving games scores of no less than a solid 8.

So I wanted to know some of you guys' opinions on my ratings. Am I being too generous with the ratings? If you do have any pointers for me, hit me. I only aim to improve ^^

I don't think there is anything wrong with giving a generous rating to the game you are reviewing, as long as the game really deserved it. I think it is best to not sugar coat anything so that others can know exactly what to expect. 

Not saying you have to be super critical about it either, but as long as you are honest about your score and you don't sugar coat the game and give it scores higher than what it truly reserves, then I see no problem with giving a generous rating. If a game is good or outstanding, then by all means rate it accordingly! 

So I don't think that it really matters, as long as you do explain why you scored it so, and how it could be improved. Best thing to do is be honest with the score you give all of your games when you are reviewing and that's all I can say! 

I can't say how glad I am that someone actually made a thread like this. It's always good to see someone evaluating themselves, and looking for feedback. As for your reviews, I haven't payed too much attention to your overall numbers, I've been paying more mind to your words in the reviews, which are good, by the way.

That said, I would point out that most reviews on here are far too generous in my personal opinion (which, when combined with seventy-five cents, will buy you a soda out of some vending machines). I mean, when I read a review that says that a game is "alright but nothing special" and yet it has an overall rating of 7.5, that throws up a flag to me that someone is being far too generous. I've also seen people rate the difficulty of a game a seven, then say it isn't really hard at all. What is the seven out of a possible ten, if it isn't hard?

My personal recommendation would be to do what I've done, and develop a scale. Write down somewhere what each number on your scale represents (you wouldn't have to actually write down in the reviews what each number means, if you didn't wish), that way you'll give less generic scores. Like, if it was a good game, you wouldn't just give it somewhere between an eight and ten, you might actually give it a six or seven, or if it's a bad game, you wouldn't just give it somewhere between a one and a three, you might actually give it four. Unless each number means something, you aren't likely to give consistent or perfectly realistic ratings. I personally consider a five to be average, since it's the middle point of the scale of one (bad as it gets) and ten (good as it gets), but again, that's just me.

I hope this helped, or at least didn't bore you. lol In any case, keep up the good reviewing.

I'm inclined to say yes, I had this same concern about my reviews recently, mostly because I wasn't sure how to rate The Last of Us.

It was a good game, but not excellent, and I had trouble saying just how good I thought it was. So I created a scale of sorts (similar to what Eirinn is saying) where I put everything together based on what I value in a gaming experience (for me, it's addiction level and story mostly. I need to have fun, and feel like I'm being told a good tale.)

In the end I gave it a pretty low score compared to critics, but it's the review I'm most proud of because it finally let me break the mold and be a competent reviewer in my opinion. I've give games bad scores before, but I usually strayed from anything between 4-7 out of habit, which is a bad thing to get into.

I'm not sure what I'd rate Mirror's Edge right now, but I would say 8.4 is a bit high, having played it. I would have to apply my rubric to it, and see what came out, but I'm almost positive it would be below 8, and likely below 7 as well.

legacyme3 : As with Eirinn, I do scale the overall score to my individual scores... but like what you said about the balance between having fun and being told a good story... There are certain games that don't need good stories, IMO. Mirror's Edge is a good example of that. SPOILERS FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO PLAY MIRROR'S EDGE NOW -> I couldn't care less about Faith's sister being held hostage <- SPOILERS END. I just had outrageous fun with it. I'm pretty sure I gave Mirror's Edge's story a lower rating than the others, but somehow I still gave it an 8.4 out of 10, while the other individual scores weren't much to be proud of either... Perhaps I'm just bad at math. ^^'

The thing about reviews is that the scores are not concrete. Scores are 100% subjective to the personal opinion of the reviewer. An individual rating from a reviewer should not have anything to do with the opinion of the general public. If you personally believe that something deserves a high rating, it shouldn't matter if 90% of the public opinion is negative. It is your personal opinion. People focusing on what others think about their opinions is exactly what leads to 99.9% of people saying "E.T is the worst game ever created" just from watching AVGN or just being swayed by the majority opinion. Don't worry about what other people think about how you score things. As long as the scores reflect your honesty opinion, then there is nothing wrong with them.