In my opinion, an important question which demonstrates the flaw of the current review system (in particular aggregate reviews) is "How does a game that has an average score of 97.5% compare to a game that has an average score of 95%?" ... I realize that it is 2.5% more for one game but how is that a meaningful difference; the fact of the matter is they're both critically acclaimed games and if you enjoy the genre and have the opportunity to play these games you should play them.
Another important question is "Which is better a game that receives a score of 75% in a genre you like or a game that receives a score of 95% in a genre you dislike?"
The illusion of objectivity and precision in something that is as subjective and imprecise as a videogame review is what is causing the problem. A way to correct this (as I mentioned in another thread) is to change the scale to a much more imprecise scale which has much more qualitative terms greatly increases the ability to come to terms with these problems; consider the following scale:
Awful
Poor
Average
Good
Great
Many fanboys will be outraged that games like Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Halo 3, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto 4, Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank are all considered "Great Games" and they don't have a 2.5% to 5% lead to cause a pissing contest; but the benefit is that people will be much more likely to agree with the overall review because you're not arbitrarily trying to associate a number with how much you enjoyed a game ...
Now, how does this relate to the topic?
Grand Theft Auto 4 is a Great game, few people will argue that at all ... At the same time it is an evolutionary upgrade on an game that has been copied so many times it is becomming formulaic and tired; its no where nearly as bad as Madden yet, but it is still on the same road (and in many ways this is not Rockstar's fault). People do have problems proclaiming that Grand Theft Auto 4 is the "Greatest Game Ever" when there are so many other Great games that are not only well executed but are unique and fresh experiences, and it could be argued that GTA4's amazingly high reviews are related to review score inflation (if you've given 5 games 95% or more in the past 12 months, and now GTA4 is the best game you have seen in 24 months what score do you give it?).
