Question to GameCola’s Review Staff of the Month:
What’s up with all the 10s?
I’ve been wondering about this for awhile, particularly back when the late, great Stu “Fancy 10s Mickey Mouse Boy” Gipp was still with us. Why are there so many 10s given out in reviews? Correct me if I’m wrong (which I’m not, so don’t bother correcting me), but I thought that, under the clearly defined ratings system of GameCola (carefully set out by the Edicheif himself), a 10 indicates that a game isabsolutely perfect in that category. If that’s true (which it is), then why are 10s more prevalent than bad jokes on Mad TV? To quote the late, great naked Abe Lincoln, “What the crap?”
This is not the first time this topic has been brought up for discussion, and if I read GameCola more often/carefully or ever read an e-mail from Paul, I might have some specific examples. But I don’t. In any case, 10s are all over the damn place, in categories where I don’t even understand how a game could possibly be perfect. Like novelty, for instance. If a game scores a 10 in novelty, that implies that there has never been anything like it. If there are other games like it, and it still gets a 10, then the reviewer clearly does not know what novelty is. If that’s the problem, what is the solution? Giving dictionaries to the review staff?
What I really am curious about here is whether reviewers really do think the games are perfect in the categories they give 10s in, or they just think the game is really good in those categories. If you are a reviewer who gives things 10s on a regular (or any) basis, do me a favor and post a comment explaining it. As the GameCola review system goes, an 8 would indicate really good, and a 5 is average, not bad. I’m thinking that all of the other gaming magazines where a 5 is a horrid score have influenced everyone and now whenever anyone sees a 5 they automatically assume horrible. This would explain the score padding GameCola reviews seem to have.
Well, that was another exciting …of the Month where I am completely unoriginal and bring up a topic that has already been brought up in the past, but I really would like an explanation (even if I do already know what it is). At the very least, I expect Paul to chime in with comments about how 10s annoy him. In fact, I demand it, Mr. Franzen.
