Our review philosophy

Our goal in providing reviews at GamingTrend is to give you — the reader — a thorough, thoughtful, and honest evaluation of the reviewer’s experience with the material at hand. When choosing a reviewer for a game, we do our best to assign someone who has an appreciation for the type of game at hand. We don’t want you reading a review for FIFA from someone who despises sports games, or a Monster Manual review from a writer who burned out on D&D. More often than not, you’re going to be reading a review for a game that interests you, and we would like our reviewers to come from the same place whenever possible.

What products does GamingTrend review?

When we first started this site over twenty years ago, we only reviewed video games (even more specifically, console games), but we found that not only was it fun to write about other kinds of games and game adjacent stuff, but our readers liked it too! That said, we subscribe to the idea that games are a form of art. And reviews of art, by definition, are subjective. There is no “right” or “wrong” in the world of critical analysis. When you read a review on Gaming Trend, you are studying the opinion of the assigned reviewer. That said, we pride ourselves on hiring folks that have a profound appreciation for games of all kinds along with a deep knowledge of their workings and histories. 

Here are a few examples of the breadth of critique we provide:

  • Video Games
    Every platform in the industry is represented- Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, PC, VR, Mobile.
  • Tabletop Games
    Every weight and type of game is welcome- party games, euro games, wargames, role-playing games, even hobby products to help paint your minis!
  • Tech & Gear
    A very broad category that encompasses 3D printing, PC and console peripherals, PC internals, furniture and VR hardware.
  • Entertainment
    Movies, television, books, comic books, even vinyl records!

Don’t for a minute think this list is complete- we are finding more new and interesting things to write about every day!

Our scoring system

As reviewers, we pour our hearts and souls into our writing to do our best to communicate everything that we feel is important. Even so, scores in most cases are the industry standard and to that end, they are important to provide as an accompaniment to the review.

Gaming Trend scores from 0 to 100, 0 being the worst, and 100 being the best. With the entire scale in mind, we consider a score of 50 to be average, right smack in the middle, and go from there. We also fully understand that no product is perfect, so a score of 100 on Gaming Trend is not endorsing it as such.

Here is the complete score breakdown and what each means:

  • 100
    Phenomenal - Mind-blowing. Redefines its genre.
  • 90-99
    Excellent - Very hard to find negatives and is of extremely high quality.
  • 80-89
    Great - Only a few minor things holding it back from a higher score.
  • 70-79
    Good - Not ground-breaking, but largely a positive experience.
  • 60-69
    Alright - Better than average, but with its share of faults.
  • 50-59
    Mediocre - Hard to describe as "good," but calling it "bad" would be a little harsh.
  • 40-49
    Below Average - More bad about it than good.
  • 30-39
    Bad - A few redeeming qualities in a bucket of crap.
  • 20-29
    Very Bad - Functional, but with virtually no redeeming qualities at all.
  • 5-19
    Terrible - Can scarcely be considered functional.
  • 0
    Broken - Literally doesn't function.

We love what we do!

GamingTrend is our home. We do it because we love it, and we want to be great because we love it. We hope you love it, too!

If you are left with any additional questions after reading this, feel free to reach out: reviews@gamingtrend.com

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