Reviews are just opinions!!!! (gamerankings.com)

Member Name: MrTink12

Product:	gamerankings.com
Date:	21/02/07 (415 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wide-ranging database of gaming articles, website is easy to understand

Disadvantages: poor search facility, scoring system is flawed

Having used this site for approximately a year now, I thought it was a good time to write my opinions. Owned by CNET, Gamerankings is a website devoted to providing a database on the latest computer games news, previews and reviews. For example the homepage states (at the time of writing) that there are 20,695 game titles in the database, as well as an impressive 558,536 p/review articles. Using reviews from numerous websites and magazines, gamerankings calculates the average score out of 100 granted to each game. The site can then list a series of rankings, such as best PlayStation 2 game, greatest platformer, worst beat-em-up, and so and so forth.

Gamerankings is not going to win any awards for most aesthetically pleasing website anytime soon. Pages look very basic, although this is not necessarily a bad thing because the site is relatively easy to navigate around. The homepage shows the most popular game, along with a brief description of how the game has been scoring, and then a list of other recently reviewed titles. In addition there is a search box towards the top left hand side of the page. Underneath one will see a list of the site contents, including gaming platforms the site has reviews for, features such as recommendations, statistics, and help. Other features include in house reviews and previews, which tend to be succinct, and a release date section. Unfortunately I find the latter rather irrelevant because the release schedule is for US audiences only. The very first entry in the site contents list is ‘The Rankings’, which should provide for fascinating reading. According to the website the 10 best games of all time are: 1.) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; 2.) Soul Calibur; 3.) Metroid Prime; 4.) Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube); 5.) GoldenEye 007; 6.) Super Mario 64; 7.) Resident Evil 4 (PlayStation 2); 8.) Half Life 2; 9.) Halo; and 10.) Tekken 3. In my opinion this is a very strong list, and I would only question the inclusion of the somewhat overrated Halo. As the top list proves, a game can score slightly differently depending on the format in question. Usually the reasons for this are graphical differences or extra modes included in one version. Therefore if you are fortunate enough to own numerous consoles, I would always advise checking which version suits your needs best.

There is the opportunity to register free of charge with the site. Simply go to the top of the website and click on ‘Create an Account’. Here you need to provide a user name, full name, password, email and whether you would like to receive the sites’ newsletter. Gamerankings will then send an email with a link to activate your account. The benefits of registering include the chance to write comments on a game, and rank games and companies. In my opinion registering with the site is not too beneficial, and only worthwhile if you have a burning desire write in the message boards or really feel inclined to review a game. Speaking of the message boards, they usually have discussions on a variety of the latest games and topical non-gaming topics, but are never extraordinary to read.

When clicking on a game that interests you, a summary screen is provided. This page will for instance state the game’s average score, show where the game stands in the overall database, and allow users to download any available trailers. At the top of the page there will be the option to click on the following:
(a) ‘Articles’ - a part of the site devoted to fully listing all reviews and previews that game has in addition to news articles. No one can read all the reviews, but viewing the IGN and GameSpot ones should be a good place to start, as they are extremely well written in my opinion.
(b) ‘User Revs’ – reviews provided by members of the site, some of which are a pretty decent standard, although most are exceptionally short and lacking real depth.
(c) ‘Forum’ – will list topics being discussed in the message boards specifically dealing with the game you are looking at.
(d) ‘Cheats’ – does what it says on the tin, by providing all manner of cheat codes and unlockables.
(e) ‘Screens’ – here one can view various screenshots, in excess of fifty in some cases.

I believe that as a general rule, anything rated 90 % and above is a game worth serious consideration. Nonetheless, it should always be borne in mind that a game can be rated incredibly highly but it may not be to your taste. Similarly a game can be negatively reviewed, but still a game that you get many hours of pleasure from. A review is just someone’s opinion, and you are entitled to agree or disagree. As such gamerankings should be seen as a site that could potentially assist in deciding which games to purchase.


--------The criticisms--------
As with similar sites, the average scoring system used is by no means perfect. Some reviewers do not use a 0-100 rating; they may score out of 5 or 10, whilst some grant a letter grade such as A- or C+. Thus the average score may be slightly distorted. For example: if a game receives reviews of 92%, 8/10 and B-, the average according to gamerankings is 82.33% (92 + 80 + 75 divided by 3). An 8 out of ten by one reviewer may not necessarily mean 80/100, and gamerankings is simply speculating that a B- equals 75/100. Also harming the accuracy of the scoring system is that gamerankings excludes using some reviews when calculating the average.

Unfortunately gamerankings search box is not the best I have ever come across. By making a slight error in the game title, a completely unrelated game may be shown. For example if one types in ‘Gd of War’, a logical and helpful search box would contain results for the awesome God of War and soon to be released sequel. The gamerankings search box is unwise and will lead to a completely unrelated game entitled Kingdom Under Fire. Another frustrating criticism I must mention is that when clicking on some reviews the link is dead. Linked to this point is the fact that not all reviews have links in the first place. Furthermore the screenshots the website contains are more thumbnails than proper shots that fill the page. If you want to see screenshots that do a game justice, then other sites will have to be checked. Finally, for those of you reading this commentary that are not gaming fans, gamerankings will be totally meaningless. A site I recently discovered such as rottentomatoes.com could prove more interesting as it provides a comprehensive database of reviews and previews for movies, DVDs as well as games.


--------Final comments--------
Gamerankings can be a very good resource for gamers. With plenty of previews and reviews the site can highlight which games are gaining critical acclaim. I would definitely recommend the site, but would warn against over reliance on simply looking at review scores and nothing more when buying games. Ask your friends and people who work in games shops which games are fun, and give more weight to reviewers you trust.


--------Contact details--------
Website address: http://www.gamerankings.com

Address:
Scott Bedard,
235 Second Street,
San Francisco,
CA 94105 US

Email: scott@gamerankings.com


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Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed

Summary: A site with great depth, gaming fans should find heaps of articles to read