Game Rankings

Game Rankings is a website which keeps track of video game reviews from other sites, and combines them to present an average rating for each game. Similar services include Metacritic (also owned by CNET) and GameStats.

Current State

As of 26 June 2008, Game Rankings no longer accept user inputs, login or registration but instead returns a "We're sorry, we have temporarily disabled logins on this site." when one of those links are accessed.

Rankings

Game Rankings collects and links to (but does not host) reviews from other websites and magazines and averages specific ones. While hundreds of reviews may get listed, only the ones that Game Rankings deems notable are used for the average. Scores are culled from numerous American and European sources. The site uses a percentage grade for all reviews in order to be able to calculate an average, however, because not all sites use the same scoring system (some rate out of 5 or 10, while others use a letter grade), Game Rankings changes all other types of scores into percentages using a relatively straightforward conversion process. At this time Gamerankings is going through some system adjustments and have been for 12 months. Their interactivity options as message boards, sign-ins and user reviews have been disabled. No notification on when it will be enabled.

Top 10 ranked games

The following games have the highest average score of main sites as of October 5th, 2008:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — Nintendo 64 (97.613%)
2. Grand Theft Auto IV — PlayStation 3 (97.419%)
3. Super Mario Galaxy — Wii (97.208%)
4. Grand Theft Auto IV — Xbox 360 (96.726%)
5. The Orange Box — PC (96.422%)
6. Metroid Prime — Nintendo GameCube (96.264%)
7. The Orange Box — Xbox 360 (96.264%)
8. Soulcalibur — Dreamcast (96.259%)
9. Super Mario 64 — Nintendo 64 (95.905%)
10. Tekken 3 — PlayStation (95.804%)

The following games have the highest voting average as of October 5th, 2008:

1. BioShock — Xbox 360 (9.3)
2. Resident Evil 4 — Nintendo GameCube (9.2)
3. Super Mario World — SNES (9.2)
4. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion — Xbox 360 (9.2)
5. GoldenEye 007 — Nintendo 64 (9.2)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess — Wii (9.2)
7. Super Mario 64 — Nintendo 64 (9.2)
8. Mass Effect — Xbox 360 (9.2)
9. Chrono Trigger — SNES (9.2)
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — Xbox 360 (9.2)

The following games have the lowest average score of main sites as of October 6th, 2008:

1. Charlie's Angels — Nintendo GameCube (23.958%)
2. Batman: Dark Tomorrow — Nintendo GameCube (27.825%)
3. Ping Pals — Nintendo DS (29.175%)
4. McFarlane's Evil Prophecy — PlayStation 2 (32.450%)
5. American McGee presents: Bad Day L.A. — PC (32.500%)
6. Bomberman: Act Zero — Xbox 360 (33.363%)
7. Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure — Nintendo GameCube (33.500%)
8. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire — PlayStation 3 (34.382%)
9. Fight Club — PlayStation 2 (35.844%)
10. Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt — PlayStation 2 (36.522%)

Top games per platform

Note that a minimum of twenty reviews/votes and average score of main sites used.

This list is a ranking of the highest scoring game per platform as voted by "reputable" websites as decided by GameRankings.

Platform	Platform Release	Best Game	Game Release	Average	Last Confirmed
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive	1988	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
Game Boy	1989	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
Neo Geo	1990	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
SNES	1990	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
Sega CD	1991	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
Atari Jaguar	1993	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
3DO	1993	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
Sega Saturn	1994	no result	—	—	September 6th 2008
PlayStation	1994	Tekken 3	1998	95.804%	September 6th 2008
Nintendo 64	1996	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	1998	97.613%	September 6th 2008
Game Boy Color	1998	The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons	1998	91.500%	September 6th 2008
Dreamcast	1998	Soulcalibur	1999	96.259%	September 6th 2008
PlayStation 2	2000	Resident Evil 4	2005	95.649%	September 6th 2008
Nintendo GameCube	2001	Metroid Prime	2002	96.264%	September 6th 2008
Xbox	2001	Halo: Combat Evolved	2001	95.463%	September 6th 2008
Game Boy Advance	2001	Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2	2002	92.476%	September 6th 2008
N-Gage	2003	Pathway to Glory	2004	86.371%	September 6th 2008
Nintendo DS	2004	Mario Kart DS	2005	91.664%	September 6th 2008
PlayStation Portable	2004	God of War: Chains of Olympus	2008	91.406%	September 6th 2008
Xbox 360	2005	Grand Theft Auto IV	2008	96.641%	September 6th 2008
PlayStation 3	2006	Grand Theft Auto IV	2008	97.419%	September 6th 2008
Wii	2006	Super Mario Galaxy	2007	97.405%	September 6th 2008
PC	N/A	The Orange Box	2007	96.306%	September 6th 2008

Note that a minimum of twenty reviews/votes and voting average is used.

This list is a ranking of the highest scoring game per platform as voted by users who vote on GameRankings.
^{Please note that voting is currently disabled at this webpage and current generation consoles are not included in this list.}

Platform	Platform release	Best game	Game release	Average	Last confirmed
Sega Genesis/Mega Drive	1988	Sonic the Hedgehog	1991	8.8	13 June 2008
Game Boy	1989	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening	1993	8.7	13 June 2008
Neo Geo	1990	Metal Slug 2	1998	8.3	13 June 2008
SNES	1990	Super Mario World	1991	9.2	13 June 2008
Sega CD	1991	Sonic CD	1993	8.5	13 June 2008
Atari Jaguar	1993	Tempest 2000	1994	8.2	13 June 2008
3DO	1993	Super Street Fighter II Turbo	1994	7.1	13 June 2008
Sega Saturn	1994	Saturn Bomberman	1997	8.6	13 June 2008
PlayStation	1994	Metal Gear Solid	1998	9.1	13 June 2008
Nintendo 64	1996	GoldenEye 007	1997	9.2	13 June 2008
Game Boy Color	1998	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX	1998	8.8	13 June 2008
Dreamcast	1998	Shenmue	1999	8.8	26 August 2008
PlayStation 2	2000	God of War	2005	9.0	13 June 2008
Nintendo GameCube	2000	Resident Evil 4	2005	9.2	13 June 2008
Xbox	2001	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	2003	9.0	13 June 2008
Game Boy Advance	2001	The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past	2002	9.0	13 June 2008
N-Gage	2003	X-Men Legends	2005	7.7	13 June 2008

Other features

• Along with averaging reviews for individual games, Game Rankings compares games (once a game has at least a certain number of reviews it is added to the listings) (see the page legend). The description for games lists its position in the rankings for the specific console (multi-platform games have multiple records) as well as its ranking among all games in the database.
• As of June 9th, 2008, the database contained 25,610 titles. Each game page also contains links to external sites for news, downloads, and other gaming sites.
• The site also accepts user ratings. The site claims to have over 106,041 "active users". There are also message boards for each game, as well as more general discussions.
• The site also includes a searchable database, allowing parameters such as name, system, scores, etc. While registration is not required, users can create accounts to get custom rankings, submit scores, reviews, and post to the message board.

Notes and references

• Note: This article cites information posted on the homepage which is not archived.

External links

• Game Rankings website
• High Scores Matter To Game Makers, Too - Wall Street Journal (9/20/07)