Is average good enough?

50%, 5/10, Grade C. These rankings fill out the middle of the reviewing spectrum, and yet the universally accepted benchmark for a game is a 7. This fact gets on a fair few people's nerves, after all what is the point in having all those numbers that never get used?

Of course opinions vary on whether or not a game is good, no review will ever been seen as perfect in everyone's eyes, and even a site that tallies up all the results can be accused of bias. If a review was perfect, would a 5/10 signify that 50% of all games where better than the reviewed title? It seems like a logical conclusion, and yet I doubt that a reviewer can possible be comparing a game to every other game, past or present.

Perhaps that middle score means that the game is a perfect balance of bad and good, and that for every minute of enjoyment you have you will in turn suffer a minute of bordom or frustration. Yet again it's hard to believe that any game would be so finely balanced, and even if it was, if there was a game that was bad 1/2 the time, I doubt it would recieve a rating as high as 50%.

If a reviewer is trying to provide help and advice as to whether a game is worth playing or purchasing, is a 5/10 more likely to imply "not good" or "not bad"? Of course the numbers will most likely be accompanied by some sort of description of the game, and it is here that the real merit of a review is to be found.

The numbers are necessary and yet very imprecise, good reviewers strive to be objective and yet they will never fully succeed. 5/10 should mean average, but average almost always means bad, why settle for average when there are good games out there, even the cliches that surround a 50% review reveal the truth. For example "it's worth a rent if you like the genre" means it's not worth buying.

This then in turn affects the scores and reviews found higher up, a game might be above average in total, but average in a lot of respects, this happens a lot with FPSs, the 7/10 almost seems too generous, but if you score it lower you are effectively saying it's not really worth a person's time. This means the difference between average but fun, and perfection is a mere 3 points, 30% or a couple of grades. In turn, a slight difference in the personal taste of a review can lead to a few dropped marks, essentailly meaning that great games are marked at a 7 or an 8 (both Halo 3 and Killzone 2 have received 7/10 ratings)

When a game costs $60, the recommendation needs to be firmer, average is never going to be good enough, that is why we find ourselves stuck at the 7/10 benchmark, and i doubt we will see a move from this anytime soon.