Active Reload: A Video Game Podcast · Sheridan Media

Video Game Reviews, Numbered or Not? What's Your Exact Middle of the Road Game?

·1 hr 1 min·4 clips

Borderlands 3 is named as the hosts' exact 'middle of the road' game at 5 out of 10.

1. Active Reload episode 123 centers on video game reviews and whether numbered scores still work for games. 2. The hosts frame the discussion around their own review habits, with one saying he prefers personal reactions over robotic scoring. 3. The episode asks what a 'perfect middle of the road game' should be and whether a 5 out of 10 should define it. 4. They compare video game reviews with movie reviews, noting that a $70 game makes the score feel more consequential. 5. The hosts bring up Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and Steam's 'recommend' or 'don't recommend' model as examples of how people consume review data. 6. They argue that a written review can sound like a 9 or 10 while the final number lands at 7 because of bugs or other caveats. 7. The conversation questions whether reviewers can ever be neutral if they are already fans of games or specific genres. 8. One host says a person who loves fighting games should review 2XKO, but that choice can also bias the result upward. 9. They reject the idea of starting at 10 and shaving points off, saying the scale should begin somewhere else. 10. Borderlands 3 becomes the shared example of a 5 out of 10 game, while Mafia 3 is also offered as a personal benchmark. 11. The hosts say middle-of-the-road games get treated like trash even when they are only average. 12. They compare this with Dark City, which one host calls a middle-of-the-road movie that still works for him. 13. Price point matters in the episode, with the hosts contrasting a $7 game and a $70 game. 14. They also say time spent matters, because people can claim a game is 'trash' after putting in 100, 700, or 1,200 hours. 15. War Thunder and MLB The Show come up as examples where huge time investment complicates a negative rating. 16. The hosts move into comfort games, naming UFC 5, Counter-Strike surf modes, Trials HD, Hades, Stardew Valley, Core Keeper, True Skate, and Zombies. 17. The tone stays casual and debate-driven, with constant back-and-forth, interruptions, and jokes about robots and ratings. 18. The format mixes opinion talk with trailer reactions for upcoming games like Aces of Thunder, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Menace, Nioh 3, and Carmageddon Rogue Shift. 19. Listeners who care about review scores, genre bias, and replayable games will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want a tightly structured news rundown only may skip it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Active Reload: A Video Game Podcast