Review Guide

At Handsome Phantom we grade games on a ten point scale with half point intervals. While we don’t think that a review score tells the whole picture of a game, we agree that it is a necessary indicator of the overall quality of a game as well as its standing in the current gaming landscape.

A video game’s score is not necessarily indicative of our overall enjoyment of the game. For instance, a game could be technically flawed and have a downright terrible storyline, but meanwhile be a blast to play. Our review scores are not meant to definitively indicate whether someone should purchase a game or not (though we do give our recommendation from time to time) but rather how closely the game compares to what we believe its maker’s intentions for the game were.

Our ten point scale allows us to have more flexibility than five point scales like many other outlets offer, but not get bogged down in the minutia of a one hundred point scale like others. Though our half point intervals provide some context beyond a straight decimal score, we also realize that there is a chasm between scores such as a 9 and a 9.5, and this is why we offer the rest of the written review and summary.

Though it’s not a strong consideration, we do sometimes factor release date pricing into our decisions. A $60 game that ranks at a 7.5 could potentially hop up to an 8 if it had been $40 instead. We believe value and quality oftentimes linked.

Overall, we hope you will take our review scores to heart, but also consider the words our reviewers have crafted to give you a more full picture of the title and determine for yourself if it’s a game you would enjoy.

Below, you’ll find some brief descriptions we’ve assigned to our review scores. We hope that these enable you to assess our reviews in context, as everyone’s scores can vary in definition and criteria.

10 – Pièce de Résistance

We approach the ultimate score of a 10 with great reverence, and start out with the assumption that no game is really worthy of a ten unless it definitively convinces us otherwise. This isn’t to say there is no single imperfection in the title, but rather that it exceeds our wildest imaginations in the scope, appeal, and experience it offers.

9.0-9.5 – A must play title

Games that achieve this score can be considered instant classics with our strong recommendation to check them out. The game has impressed us thoroughly, but not wowed us beyond the point of comprehension. We find few errors with games at this level, and they linger in our memory long after we’ve completed them.

8.0-8.5 – Solid

A game that scores in the 8s is considered a victory in our book. If we never got another 10, but every game that came out from here on out was at this level, we’d be pretty stinkin’ happy about it. There may some slight flaws or insufficiencies, but overall we think it’s downright fantastic.

7.0-7.5 – Adequate

These games are still fun and certainly have something for a wide array of people, but they aren’t exactly masterpieces or deserving of our unending praise. Oftentimes games in this range are still plenty of fun, but not something we would ever go back to – and we might even forget to mention it when we’re talking retrospectively about games we’ve played in the last 12 months. We encourage you to look into it further to see if it’s your style, but don’t necessarily recommend it.

6.0-6.5 – Not Good

Games in this range aren’t necessarily awful, but they certainly are not anywhere near great. Annoying technical glitches, poor gameplay, and a lackluster story can pretty easily send a game to this range. Not only would we tend not to encourage you to check out games in this ranking, we’d probably steer you away from them pretty rapidly. Some folks may find these games playable, but there are likely not many who will find it enjoyable.

5.0-5.5 – Broken

We consider anything under a 6 to be broken in some way, shape, or form. Maybe the game has issues that prevent you from progressing properly. Maybe it’s simply incomplete as far as story and narrative are concerned. A game that comes out in this range is pretty much trash as far as we’re concerned, and we feel pretty bad for the folks who worked so hard on it.

4.0-4.5 – Bad

It’s a pity this game ever even got announced. In our opinion, there are major flaws that completely destroy the game to the extent that we’re pretty certain no one will enjoy it in the least. Puzzle games with glitched conclusions, shooters with accuracy issues, and any other games that don’t do what they were built to do fall into this category.

1.0-3.5 – Awful

We realize that this is a wide range of scores to lump into one category, but all of them share one thing – they’re horrendous. It’s entirely possible that the people who put these games out are delusional at worst, and trolling us at best. No game should see the light of day if it obtains this score. If we get a physical copy of a game of this caliber, it’s likely we’ll make a video of us destroying it and sending its remains to a far off hellscape.