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It’s getting out of hand - 5 stars games are everywhere!
They used to have that very system at PC Gamer twenty years ago (when I was buying it), but guess what - most adventure games had got the score between 3 and 18 (out of 100, of course).
I had to verify that claim, and apparently you weren’t kidding or even exaggerating.
Assuming MetaCritic has the correct information, here are some things “professional” critics said about The Moment of Silence:
100
Four Fat Chicks
One of the best adventure games of 2004 and likely the best ever to deal with a futuristic, Orwellian theme of corruption and conspiracy. Story, dialogue, character development, settings, artwork, acting, and music are all superb.91
Just Adventure
With the exception of my two gripes; this offering is, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, on a par with the big games produced by Lucas Arts, Access, the “old” Sierra, and more recently, Microids.80
Adventure Gamers
A futuristic digital age has fully bloomed in The Moment of Silence with a relatable lead character, more comfortable dialogue, clear and original puzzles, striking graphical presentation and a full-package sci-fi adventure. One of the most entertaining adventures in years.(They obviously converted four star rating to 80 points.)
14
PC Gamer
An awful and punishing experience… It’s not as if adventure games needed another punch to the crotch. [June 2005, p.74]
Not from MetaCritic, but I even managed to find Svet Kompjutera review about it, they gave it 85.As the biggest and most complex adventure since The Longest Journey , The Moment of Silence deserves nothing but words of praise. Although there are some standard adventure games, the game’s overall quality stands out from everything we’ve played in the last two or three years, including Syberia 2. If it continues like this, House of Tales has no reason to worry about its survival in the market, and neither we adventurers for the future of the genre.
(Translation by Google, I have no idea if that’s even remotely correct…)
Opinions are one thing, even a good biased bashing of some game is fine for a good (or at least understandable) reason, but that PC Gamer rating is just… unprofessional.I mean, The Moment of Silence is far from perfect, especially the final puzzles are among the worst ever, but the game has its moments and if I were to simply divide all adventure games into two categories, good and bad, I would rather have the game in the good selection than the bad ones.
I have a serious love/hate relationship to this game, I love the concept and some of the execution but the dialogue and voice acting is so bad to me, it is like nails on a chalk board. This is the purest definition of a game divided, if someone told me they loved it, I can understand why, and if somebody told me they absolutely hated it I could also understand why. Either way it shouldn’t be a 5/5 or 1/5 as a consensus statement of the game
When I first played Moment of Silence, I thought that it deserves a 5 star score. Back then, it was perfect with a great story, acting, voice and puzzles. Today, the only game that deserves a 5 star is Syberia 4. The reviewers are getting soft with their analises.
The one thing that bothers me is the consistent overrating of anything that smells of “art”. You can make a relatively complex 15 hour adventure game and it’s “good game, great fun, 4/5” or you can make a 30 minute little artsy something and it’ll be “5/5, so deep” (except everyone will have forgotten this supposedly perfect game in two months when the next art-bait-game comes out).
I see what you mean, but I don’t think “artsy” is enough to make an impact (other than a good score at the initial review). It needs to be groundbreaking in some terms to hold on or bring a fan base in the years to come. In reality, that means a lot of hard work invested in some gameplay elements. For example, Gorogoa was “artsy” but also really unique in the way it plays, and in that regard, memorable.
most adventure games had got the score between 3 and 18
Which reminds me - there’s something uniquely satisfying when I play and enjoy a game that scored low in the review (and in this case, if you read PC Gamer - every adventure game) because it gives me a feeling that I know something others don’t. It’s different from when you play and enjoy a game everyone has only words of praise for.
I’m glad it still exists, and the old reviews are still available, but I’m not confident that the site will return to its past glory.
One of the reasons I opened this issue is exactly that - with more “realistic” review scores, this place will more easily go back to its glory days. Paradoxically, giving 5 stars to every second game creates a false impression and leads to looking at the market through rose-tinted glasses. I still love the layout of the site, and with some additions and bringing back the old features that are unjustifiably gone, and of course, with still the best adventure community around, I’m not worried.
As the biggest and most complex adventure since The Longest Journey , The Moment of Silence deserves nothing but words of praise. Although there are some standard adventure games, the game’s overall quality stands out from everything we’ve played in the last two or three years, including Syberia 2. If it continues like this, House of Tales has no reason to worry about its survival in the market, and neither we adventurers for the future of the genre.
(Translation by Google, I have no idea if that’s even remotely correct…)
The translation is fine, except for the sentence: “Although there are some standard adventure games,” the author said: “Although there are some standard adventure games weaknesses.” By weaknesses, he meant pixel-hunting and problems with navigation, finding the exit to a location. By the way, Slobodan Macedonic is something of a local adventure icon because he specialized in adventure reviews long before we had the internet. He often provided interesting insights, historical context, and a philosophical look at the games.
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
Just the first page of Adventure Gamers reviews (the last couple of months) reveals 6 (six!) adventure games with a perfect score!
There’s no such thing on Adventure Gamers - 5 stars means: ‘Although not “perfect”, we award our top score only to those games that set the highest standard for quality.’
Now, I’m not saying those are bad games, they all might be even great games, but games like Grim Fandango, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars or The Longest Journey got 4.5/5 stars on this site. Some amazing classics got 4 stars or even less.
As you say, it’s the reviewer’s subjective opinion, but combined with some objectivity on the overall quality of the game. For example, I don’t enjoy Grim Fandango all that much. I played it when it came out but even then I found the story cliched and a little dull, like a bad movie. And that stupid puzzle with the signpost 
Had I been reviewing it I would probably have given it 4/5, which would be a mixture of my feelings about it together with the fact that I can see how much effort successfully went into the cinematic feel of it, and the great voice acting. If you want my unobjective opinion of it you’d get 3.5/5. If you want my score just for its importance in the history of adventure gaming, you might get 5/5. The numbers are really meaningless and just serve as a quick reference for the lazy 
Just the first page of Adventure Gamers reviews (the last couple of months) reveals 6 (six!) adventure games with a perfect score!
There’s no such thing on Adventure Gamers - 5 stars means: ‘Although not “perfect”, we award our top score only to those games that set the highest standard for quality.’
5/5 is a “perfect score” (like I said), not necessarily a perfect game, and that’s what Adventure Gamers explanation is addressing. If you can prove that 5/5 is not a perfect score, you may have a career as a math genius . Happy New Year, and I wish you many more than 13 posts in the next 13 years.
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
If you can prove that 5/5 is not a perfect score, you may have a career as a math genius
Some sites/magazines have all sorts of special badges, “Recommended” or something like that, so a game can theoretically get 5/5 or 5/5 plus that special recommendation.
Assuming that both have some actual value and meaning, then the one with the badge is a better game than the one without it. So “perfect score” doesn’t mean that it’s automatically the best of the best.
Why is it 5/5 then? Why not 4/5? Why not 4.5/5 (ugh…)?
Almost any system with numbers of some kind is going to have this same problem. Either you can’t ever give the best possible rating, or you need to have something extra to give when the next perfect game should be announced a bit more perfect than the previous perfect game.
Of course, the phrase always goes “the ratings are not meant to be compared against each other”. But against what is something being rated then?
Some sites/magazines have all sorts of special badges, “Recommended” or something like that, so a game can theoretically get 5/5 or 5/5 plus that special recommendation.
I wasn’t speaking about “some sites/magazines” but Adventure Gamers, and I opened this thread speaking about reviews on Adventure Gamers. There’s no 5+, or special Badge on this site, so 5/5 is the perfect score.
Either you can’t ever give the best possible rating, or you need to have something extra to give when the next perfect game should be announced a bit more perfect than the previous perfect game.
Why not? I don’t have a problem with various games receiving the same score, the details are in the text to differentiate them. Heck, I don’t even have a problem with my favorite game receiving a lower score compared to some other game that I didn’t particularly like. Those things are bound to happen. What I do have a problem with is when six games in a two-month span receive 5 stars, while in the “Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games” article on this very site, you don’t have six games in total with a 5/5 score.
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
Let us just pinpoint the issue here, please, there seems to be a general ‘recommendation’ on this site for reviewers to be generous with the score and rating, i don’t think it can be more obvious, it is not just some coincidence, it is a general direction
Let us just pinpoint the issue here, please, there seems to be a general ‘recommendation’ on this site for reviewers to be generous with the score and rating, i don’t think it can be more obvious, it is not just some coincidence, it is a general direction
Hard for me to agree with your thoughts about a “general ‘recommendation’” or that there is an implication that reviewers are urged “to be generous with the score and rating.” However, the number one point in the editorial policy states “The editor works with reviewers to ensure the score is in line with the tone and contents of the review itself, but will never override the reviewer’s final scoring decision.” That statement may require modification. Specifically, perhaps the editor not only needs to comment on the tone and content of the review in question, but how it relates to all the reviews that preceded it.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Most of them are unrightfully rated, This Bed We Made was overrated af, game is barely a 3/5
5/5 is a “perfect score” (like I said)
Clearly not for you - you seem to have a real problem with it! 
Anyway, yes, Happy New Year and 
5/5 is a “perfect score” (like I said)
Clearly not for you - you seem to have a real problem with it!
I don’t even understand what that’s supposed to mean. My “problem” and the reason why I opened this thread is to talk with fellow adventure gamers honestly and constructively, and reach a conclusion because when a lot of games reach 5 stars I see it as “inflation” in the economic world - when you print more money, it causes money to lose its worth and inflation. When you give 5 stars to a lot of games, the score loses its meaning. What are we going to do when a real instant classic is released, a game for ages, revolutionary title? How are we going to differentiate that score compared to 5 dozen of perfect scores previously? I’m prepared to be wrong, and that it’s an extraordinary stroke of coincidence that 6 games received 5 stars in 2 months, though.
It took a groundbreaking title to reach 4.5, or 5 score in the last 30 years. If we’re to give 4-5 stars to every second game, the developers and producers might start being lazy, and there will be no real challenge for them.
Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale
Some time ago. Maybe 3-4 years. There was a series of re-reviews where some highly-rated games were reviewed again based on how they might have been rated if modern technology was a consideration. If I recall correctly, most games held up surprisingly well. Most games lost only 1-1.5 points based on graphics and sound. Story and voice acting still received top scores.
Totally agree with the “Inflation” comment.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I think review scores can be hard to manage not just as a website going back years but as a reader trying to work out how it all fits together.
I think it’s partly a problem of our genre where the ‘early days’ are so revered, or at least have been so revered by many. How do you compare DOTT or Gabriel Knight to Life is Strange or Return of the Obra Dinn? Or more precisely, can those of us who played 90’s games in the 90’s expect people playing them now to be as blown away by them as we were then?
I remember a few years back a decision was taken to do a kind of ‘reset’ on the scoring system (or so it seemed to me). I remember seeing a new game called Goetia get a 5 star review. Although I always take scoring with a pinch of salt, this 5 star review put the game up in the echelons of the best of the Broken Sword or Monkey Island series (it reviewed better than some of them).
Up until that point I would say that this site had a fairly strict scoring policy, with a few giants of the genre getting less than 5 stars (IMO). Surely then, this Goetia game must be an instant modern classic! The review literally gives 5 stars - an instant hall of fame classic.
I went out and snapped it up on the recommendation of the review on this site. It wasn’t a bad game, but it was nowhere near a hall of fame classic for me. In fact I gave up half way on it.
Should I blame the site for this? I don’t think so personally. I think it was an attempt to slightly break from the old and get newer games into more prominence. A sort of start over so that current games weren’t so directly competing with nostalgic memories of the ‘old masters’. There is some good and some bad in that for me. I think I would agree that something needed doing, but I don’t know if a sudden change in scoring is the right or best thing to do.
3.5 time winner of the “Really Annoying Caption Contest Saboteur” Award!
I think it’s partly a problem of our genre where the ‘early days’ are so revered, or at least have been so revered by many. How do you compare DOTT or Gabriel Knight to Life is Strange or Return of the Obra Dinn? Or more precisely, can those of us who played 90’s games in the 90’s expect people playing them now to be as blown away by them as we were then?
Those are good questions, and that’s exactly why I wrote above:
“the phrase always goes “the ratings are not meant to be compared against each other”. But against what is something being rated then?”
What does five stars or ten out of ten or full one hundred really signal?
Is it a rating that tries to compare the game against all games that came before?
Or is it games from some limited time frame, like a year or a decade?
Is it a comparison value within one genre, or are all genres included?
Are there some (attempted) objective criteria, such as how long it takes to play the game through?
Or is it like many reviewers and sites and magazines try to tell us that those ratings are not meant to be compared mathematically against each other? In that case, a four star game can actually be better than a five star game. But then what’s the point of the whole thing?
Very few sites/magazines have ever given any explanation on how those ratings are formed and what they really mean. And because of that, we can’t really be sure what some let’s say 4.5/5 rating means.
And I would also like to know how reviewers come up with the final rating. Do they start from zero, and keep adding up to that until they have the rating? Or do they start from the perfect rating, and then keep subtracting from that if they encounter some flaws in the game? Or do they have some actual reference points, like some classic LucasArts games?
We don’t know any of that, so it’s all more or less meaningless.
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