What makes a good game review?

View blog entry: What makes a good game review? – Twilight Lynk

One idea I just came up with is to maybe do comparative game reviews. What I mean by this is review two games that are often compared to each other or being released around the same time to see which game is the better buy. You could compare them on different factors and see which game does what better.

What about numeric representations of the different factors that go into making a game (fun, playability, controls, graphics, creativity, originality, appropriateness to apparent target audience, etc) and then presenting an aggregate score...along with comparative ratings putting the currently reviewed game(s) against other games in a similar vein or genre (i.e., better than _____ but not as good as ____) as Jeff suggested?

screw that, i agree with the pic the lynk has.

if its fun to play with friends, even if its a 1player, then it should score higher

Not all games aim for that though, and not all people want to play multiplayer. I enjoy multiplayer on most games but on others they are better as single player.

@ spinkle:

Actually, the way I see it... what really needs to be done is to make the scoring system as simple as possible. There's no point scrutinising over numbers here because we aren't robots who are obsessed with specific scores and formula's. We just want to know if the game is decent or not.

I think one of the best ways to do this is to use th 5 star system. I know you've seen them before on movie reviews.

5 star = excellent
4 star = good
3 star = mediocre
2 star = sucks
1 star = should never have been made

Also, none of this half and quarter star crap, keep them as whole star scores. As for the other details, I'm sure we can think of something.

I think that's decent, and very rounded...you'd have two five-star games instead of 9.4 and a 9.5, which was your original sticking point. I can get behind that.

I would say, however, that you might want to retain No Stars for "should never have been made" since there are low-grade games that might make for a fun rental, etc.

*revises*

5 star = excellent
4 star = good
3 star = mediocre
2 star = rent only
1 star = sucks
0 star = should never have been made

Like that?

exactly!

also: what about quick-reference bulleted lists for strong and weak points in a particular game?

Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing
Maybe not XD
I think being critical of or pointing out the little bad points even if you realy like a game could work There could also be a quick PRO and CON list at the start so people can read that quickly instead of going through lots of descriptive text XD
I don't usally look at reviews btw
Edit: Lol Spinkle, i saw your post after i posted this post XD

"Good Review" has become somewhat of an oxymoron these days, well then again they weren't ever really good in the first place. The big problem here is that the majority of reviews are done by a single person, with one narrow minded point of view. If you think about it, how many times have you come across a game that you thoroughly enjoy, but your friends consider to be crap? The point being that unless you tend to have very similar tastes as the reviewer of a game, that review becomes useless to you.

However, if you let everyone score a game, you have those passionate outliers that try to skew the score to fit their image of a games "deserved score". Human nature dictates that this situation is impossible to remedy as everyone likes to believe they are right. Anyway, back to reviews, which I tend to use as an extended preview of a game. I tend to favor game reviews that list the pros of cons of the games first and present the final verdict upfront. By doing so it allows me to glimpse to see if indeed I'm interested in the game and if I am then I can read "in-depth" part of the review.

I like the 5 star system versus the arbitrary numerical approach towards rating games. About the Moelman's suggestion about doing comparative game reviews, I'm not too fond of that. The thing that happens sometimes with those type of reviews is that they just feed this whole idiotic "console war" attitude. I do like when certain features or elements of a game are compared to an already existing game as it does help the reader visualize certain aspects of a game.

Something that I've always thought of is having a game reviewed by a panel of gamers with different tastes. The problem with this of course and the reason major reviewers don't usually do this type of thing is that it means a lot of people need to purchase/play the game and submit their review which takes time. The main idea though is that you'll have a lot of varying opinions from which to draw your own conclusion as a reader.

That's legendary, I can't believe I've never seen that before. Definitely made my day though, thanks XD


If it's a game I intend to play, I typically won't read reviews or commentary until I get around to it. If I don't care, or it's not a game that's on a platform I support, I'll likely read the review to see what I'm missing out on.

haha, no problem, I realized after my initial post in the thread that I was almost paraphrasing Jeff, so I think we're breaking even here

I think have reviews posted up on a blog is a great way for people to give their own thoughts in the game and openly dispute or agree with points in the review. Hell, if people wanted, they could even post their own review of the specific game being reviewed in the comments if they wanted to.

Writing a review is very tough, I've written a few anime reviews back on my old web site and found it especially difficult, however it's not going to stop me from trying.

Keep throwing out ideas and opinions, I'll try to come up with a mock-up of sorts and post it in here...

You know, for me I like it when a review has some humour/jokes put into it. May not necessarily relate to the game itself but I always like to have a good laugh.

I remember reading through one of my old Playstation magazines and there was one short review of a diabolical game. The line that made me laugh was "and they run like they haven't pooed in a week" XD.

I think I may have an idea to add a little humour into the review without ruining it for those who want the detailed part of their review to be "serious business"...

Mr. Weasel says:



MGS4 is the best game I never played, half the time when I wasn't staring at the old guy's perfectly sculpted ass, I was watching some movie where I had no idea what the hell they were talking about and didn't really care. I'm going to have nightmares of Old Snake's ass when I go to sleep tonight, I just know it...




*looks around* One of those would be at the very end of every review... just... cause, I guess. Yay or nay?

EDIT: Oh and look...

/ 5

Yes and nice stars

To do a good review, it can't really be done by just one person, To try out a game you need a group either 3 or 5. you have them all sit down and try out the game, Each person has their own go and from it each person gathers what that like and dislike from the game, One person is elected the leader, write down notes that the others give him, then they vote yay or nay or a figure out of five and the number with the most votes is selected as the overall score

Unfortunately, Hawk... I am only one man with no local staff.

I know... and that would be the problem..... Oh well you could do what The Gadget Show (UK Tv show) does and take a couple of random People [you case friends] and take them off the street to try your games out.

Or I could use the advantages of a blog and let people write their own reviews within their comments. Remember, this isn't any ordinary blog since the forum and the blog work together, so it'll be easier to write and edit your reviews than in a normal blog site.

If I'm writing a review about Metal Gear Solid 4 and you've played it too and want to write your own review, you can do so by posting in the MGS4 review thread.

How does that sound?