We rate games on a scale of 1 to 10. The following major aspects are considered for the score (with no specific order of importance).

• Replayability
• Learning curve (not that bigger is always worse, more of a balance between complexity and necessary time to learn the game)
• Graphics
• Audio
• User Interface
• Balance (how right things feel; challenge not too overwhelming nor too easy or exploitable)
• Stability
• Fun (surprises and pleasure)
• Immersion (ability to put you there and suck you in)
• Innovation (creativity and the ability to bring something new to the genre)
• Production value (overall quality, effort put into details that maximize gaming experience)

Here’s how the rating ranges break down.

9.0-10: Excellent

These games excel is almost every aspect. They offer the best gaming experiences you will find out there. In general all gamers should enjoy playing these games, irrespective of their favorite genres or platforms. A game does not need to be complex, commercial or AAA to be considered excellent at Space Sector. These are the titles that you can’t miss and that we totally encourage you to buy.

8.0-8.9: Great

Games in this range are very good. Fans of the genre in particular will definitively not be disappointed. Casual and new players in general should like playing these games since they have enough quality and are able to provide quite enjoyable experiences. Space Sector totally encourages fans of the genre to buy these games. Casual and new gamers should enjoy playing these games (especially with scores near the upper limit) however we encourage these players to seek more information, grab a demo and balance price for value before they commit on buying these games.

7.0-7.9: Good

A game in this range provides a solid game experience but already shows some noticeable weaknesses. Fans of the genre will enjoy playing these games but will surely be able to point out a few deficiencies and some things that could have been done much better. Not all genre fans will be overly pleased though. At this range games start to attract more gamers of a particular sub-genre. But, overall, these are good games that totally deserve to be looked at. Casual and new players to the genre should start being cautious at this point. Their probability to enjoy these games has dropped significantly.

6.0-6.9: Fair

At this range games start to lose their shine. There will be many players who still find these titles quite enjoyable but many people will be lost at this point and will most likely not have that much fun playing these titles, at least not for a very long time. Games at this range already show significant problems. Maybe there are stability issues, major user interface shortcomings or a serious balance problem. Some factor or factors may have been neglected completely or there is something that just doesn’t feel right. Many times things may still be worked out with patches to fill the gaps and fix any major issues. Fans of the particular subgenre will probably enjoy these titles and possibly some casual players too but chances are that a great majority of people will have issues with these games.

5.0-5.9: Mediocre

Games in this range have major flaws that hurt gameplay considerably. However, many titles in this range are probably still salvageable if there is enough potential within and if its major issues are addressed properly. Games in this range still provide enough to keep some players entertained but will not be enough to capture much attention.  Hardcore fans of the genre will still have much to take from these titles but casual players and new players should just stay away from these games.

3.0-4.9: Bad

Something went considerably wrong with games falling in this range. Most likely things didn’t work as developers expected to. There probably were major project problems, very bad choices made along the way, not enough effort allocated or just bad luck. In the end, games falling in this range don’t provide enough to keep players engaged. They lack quality and are ultimately not that fun to play. Hardcore fans of the genre will be disappointed but may still find these games useful, maybe something can still be done to increase quality and gameplay to make them acceptable games. Casual players however are encouraged to look elsewhere.

1.0-2.9: Terrible

Everything failed tremendously about these “games”. They are not salvageable. Very few people will find these titles useful. Here things went very wrong in many aspects. People should avoid these games, they are simply not worth your time.

Score Considerations

Our reviews are not scientific analysis. We do our best to be objective and to stick to the point, however there’s obviously always some degree of subjectivity involved. Nonetheless we stand by our reviews as reliable opinions made by expert gamers, and we’re confident that they’re accurate enough to be useful in helping you make your decisions.

We value games for what they are not by whom they were made by. It doesn’t matter if a game is AAA, if it is developed by an Indie studio, just by one guy or made by our friends. The focus is the game and the experience it provides to players, not the amount of money that was spent or the status of the developer or the publisher that produced it.

Our reviews are 100% independent. We don’t sell reviews, period. Our focus is the player and we are obsessed in providing the player with reliable, helpful and accurate information. We truly believe that what will make this blog’s genre stronger in the long run (the blog’s mission) is not achieved by making easy profit at the cost of truth. If a game is weak it’s better for everybody, and particularly for the genre, that it is reviewed as weak. We believe that truth and incisive criticism, even strong and violent if required, is beneficial to everybody, even to the developer. That way developers will know better what they need to fix and have a second opportunity to create a good game.

Our standards and references are not particular games. We don’t review games purely comparing them to other games that are considered classics or memorable by many. It’s impossible in our view to be 100% unbiased by past titles though, since they provided us with the experiences we now possess, however our objective is to review each game by its own merits. Direct comparisons will be avoided and only presented when there’s perceived high added-value to the player or when a game is itself associated with a past game, pretends to be a successor, a clone, a re-imagined version or admits to be highly inspired by a past title.

We don’t rush reviews. The idea is not to put reviews out as soon as possible but to make them as detailed as possible. We take our time to play the necessary amount of time until we feel we master the game. Although not every single aspect of a game can be analyzed to detail we commit to assess a game’s complete potential by exploring all the functionality it provides. When there’s multiplayer we procure to try it out as possible; when the game is very complex we take our time to fully explore it.

Bottom Line

We aim on producing detailed reviews. Some may consider them overworked, however the blog’s genre (strategy games of both space and overall sci-fi nature) is big but not that big. There are not games coming out every day so we think it makes all sense to be thorough in our analyses. Taking a look at details, while at the same time not losing the big picture, is, we think, the best strategy to help gamers and developers understand what their game’s flaws and merits are. This way we hope to contribute to better information and better products.

Thanks for your time, and happy gaming!

The Space Sector Team.