10/10

So, Grand Theft Auto IV received a plethora of 10/10 scores from various outlets around the internet and print. And my friends and co workers are up in arms. Pulling flaws from a seemingly endless bag, they deride the impossibility of a game with so many problems to be "10/10", with the subtext that 10/10 is perfect.

I submit that 10/10 should not be considered as perfect but should be considered to be one of the best games currently available. 5 star movies are not necessarily perfect, nor are five star hotels. The entire game rating system is so broken, basically decided by the American education system of 90-100 being an A, 80-90 being a B and so on. Where as a two and a half star movie would still be enjoyable to the people most likely to see that type of movie anyway, a 50 game is pretty much considered to be garbage. Game reviews are in this weird sort of range of 50-95, anything less than 50 is crap, anything 95 or above is fantastic. Less than 50, the ratings start to fall apart. I would like to see reviewers adopt the five star system or else use the alphabet grade system, where a C is mediocre a B is good, and an A is fantastic, and not use numbers with it at all, there's nothing less than an F, nothing higher than an A+.

So what's a five star game? An A+ game? For me, GTA IV certainly is. No one offers the GTA experience better than Rockstar. Call of Duty 4 is a five star game certainly. Mass Effect as well. Halo was probably four and a half stars for me. Saints Row was probably three stars.

There has also been a lot of talk about hype and brand, and I would really like to see a study done on whether a hyped game gets better reviews than an unhyped game. I think it's clear that brands make a huge difference, I think Mario gets an extra 5-10 review points just for being mario, and it's clear that GTA got an extra few points for being a GTA game. I'm sure had Saints Row 2 somehow eeked out the GTA IV experience, it would have gotten good reviews but I doubt it would have gotten many 10/10s.

So that leaves me in a weird spot. I don't really think GTA IV should be called a 10/10, but I disagree with the rating system as much as the score. I'm thinking GTA IV should be a five star game, and it should have some fellow games in that exalted list, just like films.