Fallout 3 - 8.2
God of War: Chains of Olympus - 7.9

Nuff said !

I agree the Fallout 3 review score was shockingly low.  But from posts on this site and one of the IGN reviews (I think IGN US gave it like 9.5 while UK or Australia gave it like 8.8) it seems it's a game which some hate and some love.  Me personally it's a 9.6 game for me but I recognise others have a very different opinion on that.

I definitely dont come to this site for reviews, their criteria is as follows:

Is it japanese? thats worth up to 3 points
Is it on any system other than PC or 360? thats worth up to 3 points
Its not a first person game is it? if it isnt thats worth up to 3 points

to get a ten it just needs to get the last point for being a JRPG

Now that isn't very nice at all

It could be that the OP would like to see some standardization and general expectations in the reviews.

And while he might have a point, to try to eliminate personal bias from the reviews would be pointless. It should be stated though so people know what they are and can take them into account when reading the reviews.

However, complaining that a reviewers judgment is wrong because it does not agree with yours is also folly.

Personally, while I look at the score of a review, I also look for interesting comment and general concerns (like control, which to me is the biggest thing that makes/breaks a game).

Mike from Morgantown

My favorite recent review comment was in April's Nintendo Power. "For the second month in a row, Capcom elected not to send us a copy of Chop Til You Drop." It then said that that cannot mean good things for the game (I cannot remember the exact wording).

maybe not, not meaning to be rude, thats just how i see the reviews on this site going everytime.  i wish the score was hidden on the main page, so you could see the title, and then guess the score, because itd be so easy.

im trying now to just ignore the reviews and not comment anymore.  at least they arent on metacritic

You do have a point, maybe because this site is full of people who love jrpgs

ok, but its not a jrpg site, its a valuable resource as one of the only sales sites online.  so if you are going to review stuff, at least let it be remotely credible, otherwise why bother?  reviews with an agenda just rile people up.

That is true, but then again the average is at 93 for the 360 version, meaning there is quite a big discrepancy.

Even more for GoW:CoO. The score on VGChartz is the 2nd lowest the game has received on Metacrtic. (91 average)

Anything above or below 10 points from the average is not accurate IMO (speaking only about high profile games)

What if SMG would have gotten a 8.7 or 8.5 ? Blasphemy ! Not a single reviewer on Metacritic gave it a score below 90.

1. Our scores aren't too high which was pointed out already.

2. Unlike sites like IGN or gamespot we don't get a lot of review copies, thus we rather review good games (--> we have to buy them ourselves) or classic ones (---> nobody wants to read a review of an average 2 year old game). That's why you get the impression our scores are too high.

3. A DS game will be reviewed as a DS game and Dragon Quest IV was not worth more than a 8.0 for me when I reviewed it. When reviewing a PSX game, though, you have to take into account that it was released during the late 1990's and have to rate it compared to other PSX games. Do you want me to post a Final Fantasy VII review with a 4.5 as a score? The game is outdated for today's standards but it was great for its time.