The Right Trigger Score Guide

Now, to be clear, my score-giving is not robotic, I don't look at a little cheat sheet and assign a score based on that, but here I have compiled a rough idea of how I typically think through my score-giving, so if you don't want to read the whole review you can look at this and get a decent idea of why I gave a game the score that I gave it.

10/10 +Masterpiece Seal

: This game has either no flaws whatsoever, or the flaws are so minuscule that collectively they don't take a single point off overall. There is enough replay value to keep one entertained for many more playthroughs, finding new positives about it each time. This game is the definition of what a masterpiece should be. A game must earn a 10/10 in order to receive a masterpiece seal, but not all 10/10 rated games will receive one.





10/10: This game has either no flaws whatsoever, or the flaws are so minuscule that collectively they don't take a single point off overall. There is enough replay value to keep one entertained for more playthroughs, however, it is basically the same experience each time. It never really improves with replays, which isn't a negative; it just prevents the game from earning a masterpiece seal.

9/10: This game has some flaws, and they are enough to take off a little bit of the enjoyment factor, but the game is still utterly fantastic. The game would be a 10/10, were it not for whatever flaws are applicable.

8/10: This game has a moderate amount of flaws, either a lot of small ones or a few really large ones, and these don't make the game unenjoyable, but they do take off enjoyment more than a few times.

7/10: This game has an above average amount of flaws, and while the rest of the game is great, maybe even fantastic, these flaws make working through the game a tad bit of a chore. The game would be enjoyable, but these flaws cannot be overlooked because they simply take away too much.

6/10: This game is most likely a next installment in a successful series or a sequel to a successful game, and it is a disappointment. This game is enjoyable, it is not a failure, but it does not deserve to call itself a member of its series. If it is a standalone game, then it looked like it had potential, and it lives up to that at some points, but ultimately it is a disappointment.

5/10: This game is average. It is forgettable. Ultimately, this game is not unplayable, and I don't want my money back, but I wouldn't buy it again if I were sent back in time. It is neither great, nor horrible. Just forgettable.

4/10: Starting with this score, games can receive the honorary Seal of Failure, the conditions for which will be detailed further down the list. But this game has almost no redeeming value, but it does have some. Not a whole lot, but enough so that it is not unplayable. It is very possible to get a small amount of enjoyment, but it isn't likely. Maybe if I use my imagination really hard, I can like it. Ultimately, I want my money back, and I'd advise everybody else not to waste their money.

3/10: This game has little to no redeeming value. If it has any redeeming value, it is too overshadowed by the utter brokenness of the rest of the game that it just isn't worth the time to play or the money to buy.

2/10: This game doesn't have any redeeming value, and if it did, then I wouldn't know, because I couldn't get far enough to find it due to either the utter horridness of the game, or due to the brokenness of the game's mechanics, or a combination of both.

1/10: This game justifies starvation. Seriously, when I think of how many thousands upon thousands of dollars must have gone into the development of this game, and then I think about how, instead of going to food pantries or other things like that, that money was used to make this scar on the face of gaming, I realize that there is no justice in the world.

0/10: Brink/Serena.

Seal of Failure

: Unlike the Masterpiece Seal, this Seal can be given to more than one score, more specifically, everything from 0-4/10. What the Failure Seal represents is great ambition that fell through the roof. A 2/10 game might not get this seal, while a 4/10 might get it, it all depends on whether the game really set out to do something big. This seal is there for games where the developer was crippled because they bit off more than they could chew, or they could chew it, but they swallowed down the wrong part of the throat. A game that is strictly bad takes a pretty hard fall, but no game falls quite as hard as one that builds itself above all the rest because of the new things it is supposably going to bring to the table, and then does it horribly. The honorary Seal of Failure is reserved for those minds who strove for greatness, bet all they had on it, and lost. It is the Seal of ultimate scorn, the seal of getting it wrong, the seal of betting on the wrong horse, and any game that earns it should be avoided at any cost.