Explaining our system of rating games and why we do what we do.
Measuring a video game is best done with a ruler that stays true to a pattern. Our patterns are simple, although unusual. Here are the criteria in descending order of importance. It is important to understand that video games are a (shared) experience. They are meant not only to entertain but to immerse the player into a world created by the company or person that developed it.For this reason we take an unusual and critical approach. My main goal is to help the discerning gamer to understand how playing a specific game will change them.
The overall philosophy of the game. Am I the lone savior of a desert world in search of water? Am I a skilled assassin saving the world from a cataclysmic end by going back through time and removing elements that are deemed ‘responsible’ for the current (bad?) state of affairs? How do I deal with the world? Can I shape the world? How does it shape me?
What, if any, lessons are taught by this game. What does the developer hope to teach the gamer.
A seedy back alley? A distant planet with flesh eating plants? Where am I and why am I there? Could also include elements related to philosophy in how I deal with the world. Is it first person and I deal with the world through a pair of hands, robot arms, a gun, a pickaxe?
A rating of the developer, any partners and the distributor of the game. What are they known for? Can they be trusted? Was it rushed? Are they environmentally conscious? Do they have a conscience?
What is the goal of the game. Do I upgrade my car as I travel along a road across the country? Is it an open world?
We believe these are the most important facets of a video game and how they relate to a gamer. We are more interested in the lessons taught by a game rather than the frame rate. How you feel after a two hour session over the number of gigabytes it takes up on your disk. What moral questions will you ask yourself during the play over how many game controllers are supported. We recognize there is a virtually unlimited supply of other reviewers who will rate a game by whatever they consider important. We intend to be upfront about what we are looking for and present the facts and our opinions so that the gamer who considers these games will be wiser for doing so.