Meta: The way we score reviews is changing (but only a little bit)

2017 has been a huge year for Nintendo, one of the biggest in almost a decade. As such, it’s been a pretty big year for us here at Vooks too. Because of this, we’ve had to make a few changes to how we do things, and we think the changes we’ve made will be a positive move both for us as reviewers, and for you as readers.

The biggest change will be to the way we score reviews. Up until now, our review policy has been to set a score of 1 to 5 stars, with only whole stars being considered. However, with the massive growth we’ve seen over the past 6 months, and the absolutely gargantuan amount of reviews we’ve been able to put out, we felt that this structure was a bit too rigid and a bit too generalised to be a fair and accurate way of scoring. It’s led to some tough decisions where, for example, we felt a game deserved more than 4 stars, but not deserving enough to earn 5.

As of today, our review scores will now be utilising half stars, with the lowest score possible being 0.5 stars and the highest remaining at 5. It might seem like a relatively minor change, but we believe it will give us the flexibility to be more accurate with our impressions, which gives you, our loyal readers, a more detailed and more informed opinion before you spend your hard-earned dollars on a game you may or may not enjoy.

FIFA 18 is our first review with the new score system.

In addition to this, every single one of our reviews from this point onwards will feature a short list of positives and negatives about the game, so you can more easily see where we stand on features and issues that might sway your opinion if you’re a bit on the fence. We’ll also make sure to include a short summary of our experiences as final thoughts, because we understand not everybody has the time to sit down and read a lengthy review. Many, but not all, of our reviews already have these features, but we’re dedicated to bringing consistency and accuracy to our readers, so we will strive to include these in every review we publish.

As a final note, it’s worth mentioning that none of our past review scores will be changing. So don’t worry, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will still be 5 stars, and every other game we’ve reviewed in the past will keep their scores.

It’s been a crazy 8 months here at Vooks, and with the Switch showing massive success around the world, we anticipate it’ll just keep getting crazier. But no matter what, we’ll always be dedicated to bringing you the latest news, reviews, and everything Nintendo.

In the words of the late, great Satoru Iwata: “Above all, video games are meant to just be one thing: Fun for everyone.”

And of course, thank you for your continued readership and support. It means the world to each and every one of us.

The Vooks Team