A lot of gamers love to rate our favorite and hated Video Games with their own perks and their weaknesses. Some love their games for their gameplay, the pace of the story, the music, and sometimes their graphics. Here is how I rate my video games and which categories really matter to me.

I always prioritize the story

The first thing that I look into with a video game is its Story Telling. I love novels and reading long stories, which is why I love a game that has a great story to follow. Even if the gameplay sucks or it is just so simple to do, the value of its story will always matter to me.

I also like to have the game’s story to have a good and balanced pace. It starts with a good introduction of characters, the goal of the main characters, a few sidetrips, a plot twist, and a worthy ending. I especially like plot twists because it adds a surprise element to the story telling.

I would not care if the ending is a good or a tragic one, as long as it is justified and satisfactory. I usually like the good guys to win in the end, but a flip of the ending or a mysterious one would be nice too.

Fun gameplay

The second category that I always look into with a game is its awesome and fun gameplay. Never mind the graphics and the sound, all I care about are the mechanics for playing it. My top genres to play are tactical, JRPG, action, and beat ‘em up types.

Video games that have interesting gameplay will always have a high value for me. Others that only value their graphic visuals and have disastrous gameplay will not have a place on my gaming shelves. These games would only waste a lot of my free time due to how uninteresting they are to play.

Engaging and immersive gameplay is what I crave, like “XCOM 2,” “Valkyria Chronicles 3,” “SD Gundam G Generation Genesis,” and more.

There are other video games out there that deserve high praise as well, but these are the ones that are close to my heart. These are the ones that I most would likely come back and play again.

Satisfactory replay value

Another category that I always look into with a game is its replay features like a New Game Plus. The ability to make the game interesting even though the main story is done is another thing to look out for.

Most video games do this now, but there are other games that are linear and are cut short after the ending, but the journey is still enjoyable with its sidequests.

Some of the features that I want to see are new difficulty levels, carry-over items like equipment, unlockables like secret galleries, secret endings, and more. If a game is able to deliver such delicious features, then I would be able to give it a high rating. Numerous and interesting sidequests aside from the main quest is also another part of replay value.

Graphics, animation, music, and voice are just other categories I would like to add to spice things up, but they are not necessary. All I care about are the three important categories that will make a video game valuable to me.

Check out one of my highly-regarded video games, "NiOh" with its Accolades Trailer below: