Does a perfect score mean a perfect game?

Francesca Reyes | Editor in Chief | Official Xbox Magazine (US)

GR: Do you think a perfect score makes for a perfect game? Should people expect perfection if they see a 10?

Fran: God no. Not at all. I don’t know why people think that. I don’t think there is such a thing as a perfect game. I think a 10 just means... it’s the best there is right now. It has nothing to do with being perfect, or not having any problems.

GR: Do you think that 10s are dished out too easily or too lightly?

Fran: Whenever you give a 10, you think you’re giving it too easily, because you don’t give them out very often. But... no. It depends on the ratings scale you’re on. We’re on a 20-point one that gives halves, but nothing else in between, it's not a 100-point system. Since it's a 20-point, it’s a lot easier to justify a 10 than it would be on a 100-point.

When we used to cover original Xbox stuff we changed our ratings system, we had a hundred-point one that was like 9.1, 9.2. On that, it’s pretty impossible to give a ten, because... when you can do things to that precision, it gets way difficult to give anything like a 100% or a 10. But when you’re on either a 10-point scale or a 20-point scale, it’s a lot easier.

Our viewpoint is that... we know there’s no perfect game out there, even Zelda: Ocarina of Time that’s like number one on therankings system on GameRankings. As great a game as that was, it's still not perfect.

When we award something a 10, we want it to be given considerable weight, like, 'this is the pinnacle of what it does at this moment in time' because who knows, a year from now or five months down the line there might be something that does it better. But for right now, everyone should check out this game, or at least consider it because we consider it to be at the top tier of games.