Discussion on: NewDoom Wad Reviews #8 (01.24.06)

[FATAL]

Now do I need to repeat myself?

TALK!

[Brad_tilf]

I was a little disappointed when you told me that you only scored The Hub a 6.5 (you DID say you scored hard). But, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was the best score of this review cycle. :-)
I was still a little disappointed that you didn't mention the intensive shadowing in the cell area or the recurring setups with the monsters or the creative use of sprites to imitate fire coming from beneath the floor but the review is short and it's difficult to get that much into into such a short review. ;-)
I hope many of you enjoy it.

[Brad_tilf]

by the way, I just found the larger review. DUH! lol
Um, you can't link directly to the file. People will get sent to my main page.

[FATAL]

6.5 is a very good score. You should be everything but disappointed. *thumbs*

I don't know about the linking stuff, as danimetal did that part.

[Danimetal]

Heh, that´s the thing. The reviews you read first are the summaries. The reviews themselves tend to be quite big and extended :). About the linkage, if you PM me with the right link to the file I shall fix the problem ASAP.

As Fatal said, 6.5 is a good score... I think we should write about our personal rating systems... For example, I´m not likely to give a wad more than an 8 and an 8 is a wad that I really really liked it a lot and had me completely stuck to my chair during hours and hours in complete astonishment (there are wads like that out there ;)). 10 does not exist for me as it means completely perfect. I haven´t played anything like that, nothing I couldn´t mention a flaw. 9 is just superb and exquisite, real masterpiece... But anyway, that´s my rating. Each reviewer does a different work.

[AlysiumX]

I would give a 10 to anything that i think would deserve so, cause like you said there are no completely perfect levels out there, but for me a 10 would be probably the best level that you could play that is yet still not perfect. I also don't really get into the 3.5 or 6.9 in my reviews, I perfer the straight round off of a 4 or a 7. As 1994's go, I do go by todays standards, but loosely, I mean if the level was fun to play, it doesnt have to be omega details to get top notch scores. I pretty much grade the layout, music, gameplay, and the orginality of the authors work, and get a average of those scores to decide a total. I do grade upon music, but I really don't punish if there isn't any new music. With doom level design getting more and more advanced, I believe there is no real reason not to have new music. So if there is new music included, I rate on how it fits in with the theme of the level.

[Brad_tilf]

Heh, that´s the thing. The reviews you read first are the summaries. The reviews themselves tend to be quite big and extended :). About the linkage, if you PM me with the right link to the file I shall fix the problem ASAP.

As Fatal said, 6.5 is a good score... I think we should write about our personal rating systems... For example, I´m not likely to give a wad more than an 8 and an 8 is a wad that I really really liked it a lot and had me completely stuck to my chair during hours and hours in complete astonishment (there are wads like that out there ;)). 10 does not exist for me as it means completely perfect. I haven´t played anything like that, nothing I couldn´t mention a flaw. 9 is just superb and exquisite, real masterpiece... But anyway, that´s my rating. Each reviewer does a different work.

I wonder if you guys would give Bloodworks a 9. hmmm
It IS my best map, with Mitnal a close 2nd I would say.

[Brad_tilf]

I would give a 10 to anything that i think would deserve so, cause like you said there are no completely perfect levels out there, but for me a 10 would be probably the best level that you could play that is yet still not perfect. I also don't really get into the 3.5 or 6.9 in my reviews, I perfer the straight round off of a 4 or a 7. As 1994's go, I do go by todays standards, but loosely, I mean if the level was fun to play, it doesnt have to be omega details to get top notch scores. I pretty much grade the layout, music, gameplay, and the orginality of the authors work, and get a average of those scores to decide a total. I do grade upon music, but I really don't punish if there isn't any new music. With doom level design getting more and more advanced, I believe there is no real reason not to have new music. So if there is new music included, I rate on how it fits in with the theme of the level.

Ya, everybody had their own style for reviewing.
For instance, on Doom Wad Station, I tend to score harder than Blue Paladin and he likes to use 6.9 and such while I like to keep it even, like you.
Also, I tend to put more stock in the gameplay and how much fun the map is to play as opposed to architecture (although that is important as it lends to the gameplay). But, if you have an absolutely gorgeous map but it is basically unplayable then it's no fun and doesn't score well.

[Illdo]

Hopefully I'll be able to send my map and see it reviewed before Monday...

[Danimetal]

Comepletely agree on the gameplay part: for me, gameplay and fun comes first. Of course, I may find some wad incredibly fun and other person would say it´s too easy. One of the things we said first when we started working on this reviews things was about the score: they don´t intend to be anything but orientative since they´re the result of the reviewer´s unique and own way of seeing things. If you take a look at the reviews site there´s a "Wad list" part. There you can see the ratings for each wad and compare the ratings given by different reviewers... I think that the highest rating I´ve ever given was 7.8 to "Ultimate Doom Forever". I love this wad and I like almost everything about it but well, I thought an 8 was too much ;).

Hopefully I'll be able to send my map and see it reviewed before Monday...
We do work with "Newstuff" and submissions. There´s no particular preference since we just grab a wad and do the job but you could send your submission to our mail (see the appropriate forum post) so, at least, we know it´s yours. That doesn´t mean that it will get reviewed: only if one of the members of our team grabs it you will get a review :).

[FATAL]

I wonder if you guys would give Bloodworks a 9
Heh, probably not.

You see, most of us tend to give more low scores rather than high ones. Once I've given 8.5, and even then I really did think about it thoroughly and tried to find something to lower the score. Getting a 7 really needs to be a brilliant map, and everything above that becomes slowly superb. The "unplayable below" score is around 2 or 3 in my opinion. This ensures that a wad getting a score of 5 is indeed the middle: An average wad, which is worth playing, although doesn't offer anything groundbraking.

I say again, 6,5 is a very good score, and shouldn't be overlooked.

[Brad_tilf]

Heh, probably not.

You see, most of us tend to give more low scores rather than high ones. Once I've given 8.5, and even then I really did think about it thoroughly and tried to find something to lower the score. Getting a 7 really needs to be a brilliant map, and everything above that becomes slowly superb. The "unplayable below" score is around 2 or 3 in my opinion. This ensures that a wad getting a score of 5 is indeed the middle: An average wad, which is worth playing, although doesn't offer anything groundbraking.

I say again, 6,5 is a very good score, and shouldn't be overlooked.

Well, I know you've played it so I'll take your word for it.
I've seen your scoring so yes, 6.5 is very good. Thanks. :-)
I still think Bloodworks blows it away - and I liked the way the hub came out.
;-)

[AlysiumX]

I pretty much grade the layout, music, gameplay, and the orginality of the authors work, and get a average of those scores to decide a total.

However, lately I have been trying to get away from the

=========
Layout
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=========
Gameplay
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Originality
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Style, im really dont think that its too great of a style, my latest is writeing an actual article review like i did for hangar 41 instead of something like a rateing of the level.

[FATAL]

I copied the pros and cons stuff from your review style. I figured that they can show a bit better on what was really a disadvantage and what wasn't.

[AlysiumX]

Well another great thing about doing pros and cons, it can really sum up your review much easier to a point to where the reader can just zoom down to the bottom, find the score, and fine out why it was scored like so.