I rate software using up to five guidelines; “gameplay”, “sexual content”, “story”, “sound” and “visuals”. Each of these guidelines are divided into smaller sub-guidelines, which differ between genre and availability.
For example, I typically have more to say about “story” when I’m analyzing a visual novel than I do when writing about puzzle game.
I rate each category on a scale of “one” to “five”; a “one” is really bad, a “two” is “meh”, a “three” is average, a “four” is good, and a “five” is exceptional. The final score (or “verdict”) is an average of all guidelines.
Why is this game rated "X" but not this one?
Scores mean different things for different genres.
I don’t consider a “5/5” puzzle game to be a better game than say, a first-person shooter. In my opinion, it’s unfair to rate all software equally. What makes a puzzle game fun won’t apply to any other genre.
In an effort to maintain an objective stance when I publish ratings, I only compare like-games when I deliberate scores.
I wouldn’t rate an RPG poorly because a visual novel I played doesn’t feature “grinding”.