This argument between Secret Fawful and Jazzy is about a simple matter of determining whether one grades something relatively or absolutely.
Of course, relative scores refer to the grade given to something, compared to everything else in the same class.
Absolute scores, on the other hand, should only grade the item itself for its intrinsic qualities, without any reference to anything external.
I thus think that both Secret Fawful and Jazzy make valid points. It's just that Secret Fawful is from the absolute camp and Jazzy is from the relative camp.
Therefore, I think it is only sensible to be able to give the game two scores:
For me, the series' absolute score is 9.5, because the game itself was a very impressive resurrection of the MI franchise, and rose above my expectations. I remove half a point because of character model recycling, Guybrush saying something different to the options given to the player, errors in the subtitles (I'm a stickler for grammar and accuracy), and for the strange new navigation system for his walking (although I used the keyboard, instead, anyway). To me, these are negligible flaws though, hence they only amount to half a point, in my view.
My relative score would be 8.5. I felt that, compared to the other games, this game had some quite repetitive puzzles. Also, most of the puzzles were extraordinarily easy. That said, it was creative, atmospheric, clever, witty, and a rollicking piratey ride. It just didn't feel quite as fine-tuned and polished as the other games.
My overall score, which takes into account emotions as well as the quality of the game, would be a 10, because I think that Telltale has done an absolutely marvellous thing, bringing back Monkey Island. I'd pretty much given up hope for the franchise, having religiously checked for updates and news on the alleged MI5 ever since I finished MI4. For resurrecting my childhood love, I will be eternally grateful to Telltale - and I think considering the fact that they are a much smaller (and probably less affluent) business than LucasArts, they did a fantastic job and I was thrilled with the result.
Comments
Sounds good.