Hi JeckeL, this is Jill, the writer of this piece. I think you're really right about the fact that there are two approaches to reviewing something: how a game made you feel personally versus how the game stacks up against "standard criteria." I think an interesting review balances both approaches. For example, last month I gave Hyrule Warriors a 3.5 out of 5 even though I love it, because I was balancing my genuine enjoyment of the game with the game's own limitations according to "standard criteria." With Evil Within, it was kind of the opposite--my personal experience of the game was largely negative. I didn't like the overdependence on gore and jump scares, and a story as jumbled as Evil Within's is enough to turn me off of a game. But by using the "standard criteria" I can tell you that Evil Within does do some things really well, like environmental and sound design, and creating something close to a Resident Evil feeling. That's how I arrived at the score I did.