Our Review Philosophy
Our goal in providing reviews at Gaming Trend is to give you — the reader — a thorough, thoughtful, and honest evaluation of the reviewer’s experience with the material at hand. We like to encourage discussion and aren’t solely here to provide a buyer’s guide, but if it helps you make a more informed decision when spending your hard-earned cash, we’re happy to help!
Our Score System
As reviewers, we pour our hearts and souls into our writing to do our best to communicate everything that we feel is important. Even so, scores in most cases are are the industry standard and to that end, they are important to provide as an accompaniment to the review.
Gaming Trend scores from 0 to 100 in five-point increments, 0 being the worst, and 100 being the best. With the entire scale in mind, we consider a score of 50 to be average, right smack in the middle, and go from there. We also fully understand that no product is perfect, so a score of 100 on Gaming Trend is not endorsing it as such.
Here is the complete score breakdown and what each means:
- 100 Phenomenal – Mind-blowing. Redefines its genre.
- 90/95 Excellent – Very hard to find negatives and is of extremely high quality.
- 80/85 Great – Only a few minor things holding it back from a higher score.
- 70/75 Good – Not ground-breaking, but largely a positive experience.
- 60/65 Alright – Better than average, but with its share of faults.
- 50/55 Mediocre – Hard to describe as “good,” but calling it “bad” would be a little harsh.
- 40/45 Below Average – More bad about it than good.
- 30/35 Bad – A few redeeming qualities in a bucket of crap.
- 20/25 Very Bad – Functional, but with virtually no redeeming qualities at all.
- 5/15 Terrible – Can scarcely be considered functional.
- 0 Broken – Literally doesn’t function.
Each ten-point range carries its own category, but we include the five-point increment to allow the reviewer to express which direction they are leaning if necessary.
It’s not just about video games at Gaming Trend
While covering video games takes the lion share of our attention at Gaming Trend, we also enjoy reviewing table-top games, gaming hardware, and even game-related books, as well as comics and events relating to gaming and internet culture. We take equal care when reviewing any product, regardless of what it is.
Video game reviews
We subscribe to the idea that games are a form of art. And reviews of art, by definition, are subjective. There is no “right” or “wrong” in the world of critical analysis. When you read a review on Gaming Trend, you are studying the opinion of the assigned reviewer. That said, we pride ourselves on hosting staff that has a profound appreciation for video games of all kinds along with a deep knowledge of their workings and histories.
When choosing a reviewer for a game, we do our best to assign someone who has an appreciation for the type of game at hand. We don’t want you reading a review for FIFA from someone who despises sports games, or a JRPG review from a writer who doesn’t respect the glorious grind. More often than not, you’re going to be reading a review for a game that interests you, and we would like our reviewers to come from the same place whenever possible.
Other reviews
When reviewing other products such as table-top games, gaming hardware, and books, we follow largely the same process described above that we use for video games, and use the same reviewing scale. But especially in the case of table-top games, we typically have specialized staff handling these items. Again – having the right person for the job is paramount to making sure the job is done right!
We love games!
We are a 100% volunteer-driven site. Not a single person from the Editor-in-Chief on down takes home a cent for their work here. We do it because we love it, and we want to be great because we love it. We hope you love it, too!
If you are left with any additional questions after reading this, feel free to reach out: [email protected]
