RealViews takes pride in giving you the most accurate possible breakdown of each form of media we review. Whether you’re the casual reader, the headbanger who wants to know our thought on a song’s production, the film nut, or the nerd wondering about our take on a game’s audio design, we want our audience to know what we think of each aspect.

Our “Report Card” section breaks down multiple categories (which I’ll further elaborate on by each media) and pins a score to each category and we give our final score under the “Overall” grade. The “Overall” grade isn’t the mathematical average of the grades given to each category, just the overall gut-feeling our reviewer believes the media deserves. Basically, each grade is completely separate from each other.

The Scale

100 (Masterpiece)
95-99 (Astounding)
90-94 (Amazing)
85-89 (Excellent)
80-84(Great)
75-79(Good)
70-74(Solid)
65-69 (Decent)
60-64 (Meh)
50-59 (Mediocre)
40-49(Bad)
30-39(Terrible)
20-29 (Awful)
10-19(Horrendous)
1-09 (Abomination)
 0 (What the Fu–)

The Breakdown

Games

Story This takes into account the presentation of the story featured in a game. Is the dialogue well-written? Is the pacing well thought-out and executed? We look at the quality of the cutscenes or whatever means a game uses to present to us its story.

Graphics We look at the quality of a games visual fidelity. We score how well the environment is rendered, how well characters animate and look, and numerous aspects such as frame rate (how smoothly the game runs) and lighting. It’s worth noting that art direction (that is, the design of the displayed graphics) is taken into account.

Audio This encompasses a game’s sound effects and music soundtrack. We also take into consideration the voice acting of the game’s characters.

Gameplay The smoothness of the controls and the way the game plays and executes is the name of this category. Repetition, any control awkwardness, and gameplay mechanics (such as the camera of an FPS or the stealth segment of a game) are looked under the microscope here.

Lasting Appeal This simply suggests that, after you beat the game, how much content there is left for you to explore. Whether it be a multiplayer component, a New Game+ mode, or extra features, we’ll let you know how justified your spending of 60 bones was.

MOVIES

Story When we watch a movie, we gauge our interest and level of engagement to the movie’s plot. Is the dialogue written well? Is the premise original and, if not, is it at least executed well? Does the pacing leave us bored or are we soaking up each shot? These are just some questions we ask ourselves when scoring the absolute essential part of a knockout film.

Direction This refers to the man behind each scene, calling all the shots. How well were the actor’s performances guided? Were the action scenes well-shot? Did the love scene actually add anything to the movie? Was he/she lazy and didn’t put any care into the project at all? We evaluate how well the movie’s leader led all the behind-the-scenes action.

Cinematography The angles and perspectives the cameramen and photographers provide for the feature film. Some movies show scale in epic proportions due to their cinematography and we at RealViews like to give this very under-appreciated aspect of films recognition, praised or damned. Don’t expect comedies to score highly, however, as their cinematography is usually serviceable, not extraordinary.

Special Effects This refers to the movie’s CGI (computer-generated imagery) and how realistic or artistic it is. Make-up and prosthetics is also taken into consideration here as we grade how well these elements add to the film.

Score: This refers to the movie’s soundtrack, whether it’d be original (composed from the ground-up for the film) or licensed (bought from an existing catalog from an artist). We evaluate how well-incorporated the score is, citing it’s effectiveness.

Actor Performances We simply evaluate how well the actors suit their roles and what kind of life they breathe into the characters they’re portraying. Do they energize the movie or are they distracting us with a terrible performance?

MUSIC

Instruments The technicality/complexity of the drums, guitar, bass, synths, keyboard, or whatever other instrument is scrutinized under this category. It’s not always about how complicated the instruments are, but rather how effective they sound as a whole. Does it add that extra “thump” to the song?

Production This is related to the “Instruments” category but focuses more on about how well the song as a whole (meaning the vocals and the instruments) sound and how well-mixed thy are. Does the music drown out the vocals or vice-versa? Is the bass present or does everything sound muffled? We look for clarity here on RealViews.

Lyrics We evaluate the content of the words being sung/rapped/screamed in this category. Creativity, wit, and ultimately originality will score a song/album a high mark. However, not every set of lyrics has to push the boundaries, they just have to be good enough for the song’s purpose.

Vocals The way the singing/rapping/screaming is delivered is listened to under the trademark RealViews critical ear. Does the vocalist hit impressive notes and, if not, does their tone sound good? A singer doesn’t always have to blow our eardrums out with soaring notes, they just have to sound good doing what they’re doing without sounding too generic.