Objective Rating Categories:

Game Play
This aspect includes such things as the amount of play time needed to complete a game, a game’s difficulty, the replay value of a game, and whether or not a game runs smoothly and is free of bugs.

Graphics
This includes such things as model detail, the game world environment detail, and the overall quality of the graphics. The graphics are considered according to the platform used as well as the industry standards in place at the time of a game’s release.

Sound
This includes the usage and realism of sound effects in the game, music quality, and voice acting. Innovation
This aspect rates a game’s uniqueness as compared to other games of the same genre. This also takes into consideration the general quality of the game as compared to similar games released in the same year.

User Interface
This aspect measures both the heads up display and game controls for ease of use and practicality. A game’s menu system is also considered in this area.

Storyline
While not applicable to all games, this aspect measures the depth of the plot in a title, plot twists, and whether the plot holds the player’s interest and attention throughout the entire game.

Quality Control
We allow the reviewer a limited amount of control over a game’s final review score. Should the reviewer feel that a game’s final score is not indicative of the overall quality of the game, the reviewer may boost the game’s score slightly to ensure an accurate measurement of the game’s overall quality.

Star Ratings
The star ratings do not account for any objectionable content in a game and are not an indication of the appropriateness of a game, but of the quality of gameplay.

• ½ – 1 star
A game that receives this score is terrible. It doesn’t have any redeeming qualities and is not recommended for purchase or play.

• 1 ½ – 2 stars
A game falling into this range is poor, but may have some good elements that kept it alive. This game is not likely to be recommended and is probably unsuitable for even the biggest fan of the genre.

• 2 ½ – 3 stars
A game holding this rating is fair: not horrible, but not too good, either. You may like this game, but don’t get your hopes up.

• 3 ½ – 4 stars
A game able to achieve a score in this range is of good quality, although it doesn’t completely blow us away. Most, if not all, aspects of this game are on par with the industry standard. A game receiving this score is most likely worth buying if you like either the series or genre.

• 4 ½ stars
You can be sure we enjoyed playing this game! Although the game may have some minor flaws, we find the game is an example of excellent design and innovation and any problems that creep up are easily passed over.

• 5 stars
Games that score perfectly in our rating system are few and far between. This rating is reserved for a game that absolutely blows us away and is above all other titles at the time of release. Games receiving a perfect score, also automatically receive our Editor’s Choice Award for design excellence.

Editors' Choice Award
This award is handed out only to games that exceed our expectations of quality and design. This game is the epitome of technical excellence. We highly recommend this game for its quality. Still, use discretion before buying, as this is not dependent on a Christian Perspective.

Bar Ratings:

Language
An issue in many titles, our language category covers all vulgarities including cursing and crude language.

Violence
Violence is any action in which one willfully causes physical harm to another. We take both a game’s genre (war, strategy, action, etc.) and intensity into account when rating a game in this category. Both the realism and amount of blood in a title is considered. We view any gore (severed body parts, graphic depictions of wounds, etc ) found in a title as an automatic Extreme rating.

Sexuality
This includes nudity (partial or full), sex (the implicit or explicit sexual intercourse between two beings), and crude images (inappropriate posters or advertisements, graphic, pornographic, etc.).

Magic
This section includes all aspects of fantasy and non-fantasy magic usage. Magic such as divination, conjuring, and necromancy are all accounted for in this category.

Message
This section covers all negative social messages such as alcohol and narcotics usage. Gambling is also taken into account when determining a game’s rating in this category.

0 Bars - 8+ Suitable for children age 8 and older.
1 Bar - 10+ Suitable for children age 10 and older.
2 Bars - 14+ Suitable for children age 14 and older.
3 Bars - 16+ Suitable for children age 16 and older.
4 & 5 Bars - 18+ Suitable for adults age 18 and older.

Age Appropriateness
The Plain Games Age Appropriateness rating is given to a game based on our Bar Rating system as an alternative to a game's ESRB rating. Some games do not carry an ESRB rating, while other games carry a misleading age rating from the ESRB. We have created the Bar Rating to fill in the gaps and help parents choose games suitable for their children. For this reason, we do not rate any title for an age greater than 18. We provide this information in order to help you interpret and more fully understand a game’s rating. It is up to you to decide which games are suitable for play.