Single player
Single Player
Tired of reviews of video games where they seem to pull a rating out of their asses? So are we. That is why here at Video Huevos we have developed a very specific rating system in an attempt to create an objective and comprehensive means of rating games.
This rating system is divided into 5 main divisions: Gameplay, Audio / Video, Story, Content, and the Huevos Factor. Each of these sections gets its own rating on a scale of 1 - 10. (Half values are allowed, such as 7.5) Each of these sections is weighted because, obviously, some sections are more important than others. For example, you can still have a great game even if the audio and graphics are sub-par, but you cannot have a good game without good gameplay.
Here’s the breakdown:
Gameplay
Gameplay is given a weight of 5. This means that gameplay counts for half of the rating. This ensures that no game with terrible mechanics, huge amounts of glitches, or fatal flaws in usability will receive a good rating, even if the graphics and story are stellar. Honestly, would you rather play a gorgeous game with almost no gameplay or one that has incredible mechanics and looks like ass? Functionality trumps fashion every time.
The gameplay division encompasses things such as mechanics, pacing, controls, and point systems. Basically, the overall functionality of the game. If it doesn’t work, it’s not getting a good score.
Audio / Video
Video and audio carry a weight of 1. Many games are still amazing even if their graphics look like a low resolution picture of your grandpa’s face and the sound effects are like a cat in a wood chipper. Nevertheless, a game definitely gets props for being well mixed, composed and crafted.
Graphics, music, sound effects and mixing all fall into this category.
Tired of reviews of video games where they seem to pull a rating out of their asses? So are we. That is why here at Video Huevos we have developed a very specific rating system in an attempt to create an objective and comprehensive means of rating games.
This rating system is divided into 5 main divisions: Gameplay, Audio / Video, Story, Content, and the Huevos Factor. Each of these sections gets its own rating on a scale of 1 - 10. (Half values are allowed, such as 7.5) Each of these sections is weighted because, obviously, some sections are more important than others. For example, you can still have a great game even if the audio and graphics are sub-par, but you cannot have a good game without good gameplay.
Here’s the breakdown:
Gameplay
Gameplay is given a weight of 5. This means that gameplay counts for half of the rating. This ensures that no game with terrible mechanics, huge amounts of glitches, or fatal flaws in usability will receive a good rating, even if the graphics and story are stellar. Honestly, would you rather play a gorgeous game with almost no gameplay or one that has incredible mechanics and looks like ass? Functionality trumps fashion every time.
The gameplay division encompasses things such as mechanics, pacing, controls, and point systems. Basically, the overall functionality of the game. If it doesn’t work, it’s not getting a good score.
Audio / Video
Video and audio carry a weight of 1. Many games are still amazing even if their graphics look like a low resolution picture of your grandpa’s face and the sound effects are like a cat in a wood chipper. Nevertheless, a game definitely gets props for being well mixed, composed and crafted.
Graphics, music, sound effects and mixing all fall into this category.
Story
Ever play a game that jumps from place to place for no real reason, or with cinematic sequences that last forever and yet contribute absolutely nothing to the game? Makes me want to shake a baby. Clearly the story is an important element of the game. However, it is not so important that a game cannot exist without a compelling one. Left 4 Dead and Forza 3 both have very little story, but they’re still very good games. That’s why story gets a weighting of 1.5.Story is pretty self-explanatory, but it includes plot, cinematic sequences, and whether or not the story is interesting and easy to follow.
Content
Content refers to the amount of overall gameplay a game has. After you beat the game do you feel satisfied, or is it lacking? Do you want to play it again? Are there other modes available besides the campaign? All of these things give a game content. However, many games have additional content that doesn’t really add much to the game, so this section is more quality over quantity. Content is weighted as a 1.5.Content includes replay value, alternative modes and general incentive to keep playing.
Huevos Factor
Here’s where it gets subjective. This is a score that the reviewer has complete control over and, more or less, decides whether they liked or disliked the game. If you disagree with our scores for this category, feel free to bitch about it in the comments. But when it all comes down to it, a game should be fun. A game can look good on paper and still want to make us claw our eyes out. Similarly, a game can be just awful and still give us so much enjoyment that we don’t want to put the controller down. However, one of the main goals of Video Huevos is to provide objective reviews so the Huevos Factor receives a weight of 1.
So to sum up...
Category Weights
| Gameplay | 5 |
| Video / Audio | 1 |
| Story | 1.5 |
| Content | 1.5 |
| Huevos Factor | 1 |
Yes, these DO add up to ten... simple eh?
Multiplayer
Multiplayer is much harder to rate objectively than singleplayer, so this section may be more subjective. We have assigned multiplayer a similar rating system to the single player. Since multiplayer is a much different experience than single player in most games, it is ordered into different sections: gameplay, matchmaking, maps, competitiveness and Huevos Factor. Let’s break it down again.
Gameplay
Again, this category includes mechanics, controls, pace, and point systems. However, this category carries less weight than it did in single player. In single player there are many scripted moments and the enemies are controlled by a computer. Artificial intelligence is a huge part of the game mechanics in single player, but it has little or no role in multiplayer. Because of the decreased dependence on the game mechanics, we give this category a weight of 4.
Matchmaking
I, for one, hate waiting five minutes just to find a game just to find that the teams are unbalanced or that I can’t move ten feet without lagging everywhere. The matchmaking process is important to any online multiplayer; the speed, efficiency and quality of matchmaking affects the experience that you have when you do finally enter that game and start pwning noobs. It is weighted as 1.5.
Multiplayer is much harder to rate objectively than singleplayer, so this section may be more subjective. We have assigned multiplayer a similar rating system to the single player. Since multiplayer is a much different experience than single player in most games, it is ordered into different sections: gameplay, matchmaking, maps, competitiveness and Huevos Factor. Let’s break it down again.
Gameplay
Again, this category includes mechanics, controls, pace, and point systems. However, this category carries less weight than it did in single player. In single player there are many scripted moments and the enemies are controlled by a computer. Artificial intelligence is a huge part of the game mechanics in single player, but it has little or no role in multiplayer. Because of the decreased dependence on the game mechanics, we give this category a weight of 4.
Matchmaking
I, for one, hate waiting five minutes just to find a game just to find that the teams are unbalanced or that I can’t move ten feet without lagging everywhere. The matchmaking process is important to any online multiplayer; the speed, efficiency and quality of matchmaking affects the experience that you have when you do finally enter that game and start pwning noobs. It is weighted as 1.5.
Matchmaking includes the time it takes into a game, the average lag when a match is made, and the rating system by which is sorts.
Maps
Nobody likes maps where their team starts off with a huge disadvantage because of the spawn points. Balanced maps are very important for first person shooters. However, shooters are not the only type of game that benefits from good map design.;Whether we are talking about real time strategy games, racing games, or shooter games; maps are important. All of these types of games benefit from having more maps, having a variety of settings represented in the maps, and having a wide range of map sizes.
There are certain genre specific features that make maps more enjoyable. For example, a racing game must have some tricky turns, a shooter must have some camping spots, and a real time strategy game must have some choke points. These special genre requirements will be addressed in our map rating in addition to number and variety.
To sum up, the factors that affect our map scoring are number, sizes, balance, setting, and quality of maps. This category has a weight of 1.5.
Competitiveness
Whether or not a game’s mutliplayer is competitive or not can have a major influence over how long someone is interested in it. If you hop into a game and everyone is running around with rocket launchers, and everyone dies the second they spawn, then that game is not very competitive... or fun. A better player should be able to win almost every game over another, this isn’t always the case and it can cause frustration. Alternately, a game can be completely unbalanced and it can still be incredibly fun. I’ve spent hours playing games that are not even slightly competitive. Competitiveness is weighted as 1.
Huevos Factor
The Huevos Factor is essentially the same as described in the single player. However, the multiplayer experience in most games is a much more subjective experience and varies more than the single player, so it receives a weight of 2.Category Weights
| Gameplay | 4 |
| Matchmaking | 1.5 |
| Maps | 1.5 |
| Competitiveness | 1 |
| Huevos Factor | 2 |
Single vs Multiplayer
You may be asking, “but what about games that are mainly multiplayer?” or vice versa. Well, we thought of a solution to that. Every game has a ratio of how much time and content that is derived from single player, to how much is derived from the multiplayer. This can be summed up as the SP : MP ratio.
A game that doesn’t have multiplayer would have a ratio of 10 : 0 so only the single player would be rated, and one that is primarily multiplayer-based may have a ratio of 3 : 7 or even 2 : 8 so the multiplayer would contribute more to the rating than the single player.
This ratio is then used to calculate the overall score.
Example:
SP : MP Ratio = 3:7
Single player
Gameplay: 9
Video / Audio: 10
Story: 7
Content:10
Huevos Factor: 9
Total = 9.0
Gameplay: 9
Video / Audio: 10
Story: 7
Content:10
Huevos Factor: 9
Total = 9.0
Multiplayer
Gameplay: 8
Matchmaking: 8
Maps:8
Competitiveness: 10
Matchmaking: 8
Maps:8
Competitiveness: 10
Huevos Factor: 9
Total = 8.4
Overall = (9.0)(0.3) + (8.4)(0.7) = 8.6
Rating System for Movies
Another focus we have here at Video Huevos is watching movies and rating them accurately. We watch a variety of films/movies from every genre, including but not limited to: action, suspense, horror, romance, western, indie, foreign, art, short, animated, etc. Then we put the films through our very specific rating system.
This rating system is divided into nine sections: Screenplay, Acting, Plot, Style/Effects, Editing, Genre Comparison, Originality, Message/Interpretation, and the Huevos Factor.
As with our other rating systems, each of these subdivisions gets its own rating on a scale of 1 - 10, and is weighted according to importance. For instance, a terrible plot can ruin the whole movie, even if the A-list actors all create outstanding performances. However, bad acting can also ruin even the best movie plots. See our point?
So, here’s our guidelines for grading:
Screenplay
The screenplay is given a weight of 5. This means that the story has the highest weight in rating, as it should be.
Acting
What is the first thing you notice about a terrible made-for-TV movie? Bad acting. Acting is very important and that’s why we give it a weight of 3.
Style
This category is about the special effects, music, audio, and editing of the movie. Everyone loves a movie with dazzling special effects, but we still can get a kick out of movies with bad CGI. Its less important than acting, (if you don’t believe us, you should watch a newer Star Wars movie) so we give it a weight of 2.
Originality
An otherwise fantastic movie can seem mediocre if you feel like you’ve already seen it half a dozen times. The movies that truly blow our minds are the original ones. That’s why this category has a weight of 4.
Message
Fight Club is my favorite movie of all time. Hands down. (-Steve) One of the many things I love about this movie is the message. I don’t know of any other movies that offer such a clear and persuasive criticism of capitalism and consumerism. The message just really resonated with me. It’s not something all movies have to do well in order to be good movies, but no there’s no doubt that a great movie must have a powerful message. That’s why we give this section a weight of 2.
Huevos Factor
The overall enjoyment of a movie is pretty important. You can respect a good movie without loving it. But some movies bring everything together in a way that just clicks with you. That’s what we mean by Huevos Factor. Its a completely subjective category and it has a weight of 3.
So to sum up...
Category Weights
This rating system is divided into nine sections: Screenplay, Acting, Plot, Style/Effects, Editing, Genre Comparison, Originality, Message/Interpretation, and the Huevos Factor.
As with our other rating systems, each of these subdivisions gets its own rating on a scale of 1 - 10, and is weighted according to importance. For instance, a terrible plot can ruin the whole movie, even if the A-list actors all create outstanding performances. However, bad acting can also ruin even the best movie plots. See our point?
So, here’s our guidelines for grading:
Screenplay
The screenplay is given a weight of 5. This means that the story has the highest weight in rating, as it should be.
Acting
What is the first thing you notice about a terrible made-for-TV movie? Bad acting. Acting is very important and that’s why we give it a weight of 3.
Style
This category is about the special effects, music, audio, and editing of the movie. Everyone loves a movie with dazzling special effects, but we still can get a kick out of movies with bad CGI. Its less important than acting, (if you don’t believe us, you should watch a newer Star Wars movie) so we give it a weight of 2.
Originality
An otherwise fantastic movie can seem mediocre if you feel like you’ve already seen it half a dozen times. The movies that truly blow our minds are the original ones. That’s why this category has a weight of 4.
Message
Fight Club is my favorite movie of all time. Hands down. (-Steve) One of the many things I love about this movie is the message. I don’t know of any other movies that offer such a clear and persuasive criticism of capitalism and consumerism. The message just really resonated with me. It’s not something all movies have to do well in order to be good movies, but no there’s no doubt that a great movie must have a powerful message. That’s why we give this section a weight of 2.
Huevos Factor
The overall enjoyment of a movie is pretty important. You can respect a good movie without loving it. But some movies bring everything together in a way that just clicks with you. That’s what we mean by Huevos Factor. Its a completely subjective category and it has a weight of 3.
So to sum up...
Category Weights
Screenplay | 5 |
Acting | 3 |
Style | 3 |
Originality | 4 |
Message | 2 |
Huevos Factor | 3 |
