Let’s talk video games, or more specifically, let’s talk video game reviews. Do you read them? Do you just look at the score so you don’t get spoilers? Or do you go to a site like Metacritic or video game reviews compilation article on another site to see what many people think? Many do, and as such, many have seen that 2017 has had a lot of positively reviewed games. Moreover, they’ve seen a lot of games get multiple perfect scores. And some aren’t happy with it.
Many don’t think that a perfect score is a valid score, or that reviewers are “caught up in the hype” and aren’t being objective. So these reviewers get criticized, and the games put down. Many don’t agree with this line of thinking though, including Redditor Alianjaro, who makes a very passionate argument about why you shouldn’t discourage the idea of a perfect score review.
Now, on one hand, people are right, no game is truly perfect. There are always going to be minor flaws and imperfections that make the game not truly perfect, however, that doesn’t apply to video game reviews. They’re not judging the game based on every single aspect and detail, they’re trying to give an overall impression of what they’re feeling when they play the game.
Take for example Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, one of the best-reviewed games of the year, and all time. If you look at just the reviews, you might think it’s perfect. However, if you read the reviews, you’ll see they note things like the simplified story, the new weapons system and more as detractors.
Or how about Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End? While visually stunning, and true to the Uncharted series, some thought that story was at times gratuitous, and even unnecessary in some aspects.
But do those things hold the game back from a perfect score? It depends on the reviewer, depends on their experience, and how they felt after they were done playing it.
So do perfect video game reviews do more harm than good? At the very least, they help push developers to be better, and they inspire in many ways. And besides, they’re just one person’s opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.