A Beginners Guide to Reviews

Alright, when you're looking online; trying to figure out whether a game is worth buying, generally, you look at reviews am I right? I mean, what better way to know if something is good than to hear it from other gamers; people who share the same tastes and standards that you do. Now that being said, I'll admit I don't fully listen to the reviews that come from the mouths of actual review sites all the time. Sure they are just as credible, but they tend to be a little more unbiased than myself, and do not always share my taste in games. Normally, this is where I would hope the other gamers, to come in and share there oh so biased opinions.

Alas, to anyone who chooses to use this method, I'm afraid you'll actually be left in the water. Because for some reason, people who post reviews(at least the majority that I've seen). Don't actually post reviews. Instead they think a "THIS GAME IS THE AWESOME!" will suffice, and expect others who read their review to take their advice. Now either this is due to a lack of effort, or they just flat out don't really know what to say. I know I've come across countless people who will say a game is great and then simply respond with "it just is".

I mean, there has to be some reason why you found a particular game enjoyable, right? It just isn't good by the grace of someone's god. And it sure as hell isn't great "just because". Believe it or not, there is actually a system for this. It's simple too. It doesn't require three page essays of every little aspect. I just expect to see something to tell me why it's worth checking out. So, out of my own boredom, I shall sit here and write out a little guide for those planning on writing reviews, so they can actually write one that is helpful.

1. Presentation

Now, as much as I've always said graphics and music and all the bells and whistles are really just a secondary attribute to gaming, it really can be an integral part of making a game good. Just look at Dead Space for example, it had good graphics, good music, and a mood that you will be hard pressed to match. That is really all this category is about. Visuals, sound, atmosphere and story(Even though that should be something much by itself).

Graphics:

This should be one of the easiest things to judge, because generally you can play five minutes, and be able to decide whether they appeal to you or not. But don't just say whether you like them or not. Like the whole of a review, your parts need to detail it to some degree. In this case, graphics run the gambit from cartoony cell shaded graphics to the dark mature and realistic. And not every person likes cell shaded or realistic graphics. Detail why you liked them, and maybe it will give others an idea of whether they will like the visual feel to the game or not.

Now clearly this category can get broad, and some people can pick apart everything from details to textures and lighting. But, I'm not gonna sit here and explain ever tiny little detail. Just pick out what you like and say it in the review. The bare bones can really be helpful sometimes.

Sound:

Sound in itself encompasses more than one thing. This includes voices overs, music and sound effects, all which will roll around to equaling the all important atmosphere of a game. Now in games like Guitar Hero, or Rock Band, music is probably the most important feature, and really will come down to musical taste, so that should be a no brainer. BUT, with everything else, music should be suitable for what is going on. I don't want to hear an epic power ballad if I'm sneaking around, trying to survive in a horror game. Granted I don't think that's ever happened but you get the idea.

Now sound effects, I'd say may even be just as important as music. The right sound at the right time can either make you crack a grin and smile or flinch expecting a big baddie to pop out at any second. Hell, even a level without any music at all can really turn out to be great if they sounds fit the tone of the game just right.

Voices which I'll admit, have actually ruined a game for me. I don't want to be in the middle of what should be a serious cut scene and then I end up laughing my face off at the horrendousness of a bad voice actor. Other games, I actually enjoy the cut scenes just because of the acting(sometimes more than the game play itself to be totally honest). So if a game has stellar voices, make note of it, some people really appreciate this.

Atmosphere:

Really, atmosphere is a combination of every other presentational aspect. It is the mood of the game and should drive how you feel in general. Now, I'm not saying you should be jumping around every corner expecting to get slaughtered, or cracking up at every line of dialogue and stupid sound effect. BUT, it should at least be close. As I noted above, Dead Space did this spectacularly, while I'm not exactly the type to get scared, I did feel a sense of edge. That is a very good thing.

Story:

As I said, I could do an entire section on just this. But, for the sake of anyone reading this, I'll keep it brief. Story is in my opinion, the most important aspect of any presentation. If you can actually get absorbed into the game, start caring for the characters and really think about your actions in game, then I think you have a good story on your hands. Now, there are a lot of games that will get praised for having a good story and I'll strongly disagree. So it's best to play this one out as purely an opinion based thing. Not everyone thinks Halo has the best story ever after all.

2. Game Play

For all purposes we are playing games. Game play is clearly the most important part of that; everything from the sing player AI, to the connection speed of the online multiplayer is important. Thankfully though, you don't need every aspect to be perfect in order to have a good game. Now, I'll keep this one as brief as I can, because there is just so much someone with the knowledge could go on and on about when it comes to game play, but not everyone understands what collision detection is(Let's try and keep things casual safe).

Single Player:

I've always been under the impression that the single player campaign and or other modes should always be the driving force behind a game. If everything that happens while I'm playing by myself is enjoyable, I would hope that things would translate into a multiplayer setting(at least in multiplayer games that is). Now, usually the biggest problem with most games is bad controls and cameras. Honestly, I've dropped games within five minutes just because of these little bugs. So, just outline how it controls, and if you can see everything you are doing(if you want to include this information. The more helpful, the better though).

Now, generally, a stealth game is just looked at as a stealth game. But, if you can highlight little details for someone and explain to them how things work just a little bit more in depth. It really can be a game changer. Say for example Sam Fisher seems to have a hard time staying quiet, and you are setting off alarms and having baddies shoot at you for no reason(generally this will show that the game is too hard and has problems with some of its game mechanics; and no, I've never really played Splinter Cell). Just small things, you know?

For fighting games and shooters… And any game type for that matter, AI is also a key to the single player experience. Now, stupid AI isn't really a bad thing, as I know some people enjoy breezing through the campaign and thus making oneself look like a complete bad ass. Yet others, who enjoy a challenge, don't want the AI to just stand there while they mow them down with a mini gun. They want the AI to fight back and have a potential chance of killing them during every encounter.

Multiplayer:

Even though this isn't the whole shebang for me, multiplayer has become extremely important to those who choose to incorporate it into their games. Some games entire lives thrive almost entirely on multiplayer and have huge player bases to show for it. So never discount a game just because it has a weak single player experience.

Now, clearly, why you like that type of game is left to be said, and you can basically repeat so of the same stuff from single player here. How are the controls, are they responsive? Do all of the mechanics mesh together well and make a fair, enjoyable experience? And you can include a few things about bugs. Games have been ruined entirely because there have been just too many exploits, and make it impossible for a new player to jump in without being horribly destroyed on sight.

Now, connectivity is equally as important. So if you felt like a game was too laggy no matter what the connections showed, then chances are this is a problem. So, outline how easy it was to get into a game. How easy it was to stay in the game, and whether or not disconnects were frequent for others. This is something you can almost be sure of not being an opinion oriented thing, Who likes a laggy game filled with incompetent servers.

Yet again, there are boatloads of things you can bring up in a review to actually make it useful. So this was just a little bit of a help page. You don't need to waste space with irrelevant reviews if you just take a few minutes to actually write out some of your thoughts. So, if you do have problems writing a review that actually has a point, I hope this little bit of information was helpful in some way. Otherwise I've just been blowing steam.