OH right, I see. Apologies. I skim read and just saw that a wordy version of A-F. I was thinking there'd be multiple sets of faces, the number and attitude of them indicating how many plus/flaws a game has. Or something.

It's to late to edit my post, as you've replied, but I was thinkng of this, really:
http://www.spaaace.com/cope/?p=46


Except top-hatted gentlemen and scaggy maids, natch.

I vote scullery maid, and I'll vote with my feet if I have to*.




like, for instance, if I was wearing mittens or had my hands tied behind my back.

At the end of the generation you would expect their to be only a handful of S ranked games across all platforms. A hall of fame kinda stuff.

Any current examples? Guitar Hero II, perhaps?

That's a good example, I think.

I'd probably give an S to, let's think...

OutRun 2006.
Resident Evil 4.
San Andreas.
Oblivion.
Dragon Quest VIII.
Halo.
Portal.
Disgaea.
Animal Crossing: Wild World.
Mario Galaxy.

To name some from the last couple of generations.

Does anyone ever read Top Gear magazine?

In their monthly update of the long term car reviews (I think they call them lifers) the show a little 'lifeline' stlye graph with peaks and troughs annotated with their views on the pros and cons of the cars. Could something like this ever be used for games? A short, brilliant game would be a massive peak. A long game with terrible end section would have steep drop off. A love-hate game would be a jagged mountain range. A slow grower could be like a nice upwards curve.

Actually, this seemed like a great idea when I thought of it a few minutes ago, but after writing it down seems more than a bit daft. Ah well.

As for 'S ranked' games, the two that instantly spring to my mind are the (very) often seen mario 64 and Zelda OoT. But I think nostalgia may play abig part in my decision. But but, at the time the were fucking immense (for me). But but but do they seem dated now? I haven't even played them in a long time. Does that even matter?