When reviewing a videogame, the most important thing is to think of the person reading the review. The reader already knows what type of games and styles of gameplay are appealing to them. They know what they like. I think the important thing to remember when writing a review is that just because you like it, doesn’t necessarily mean others will, too. Exploring the “feel” and style of the game would be more beneficial to the reader than if the reviewer mostly talks about the graphics. Not to say graphics aren’t nice; they certainly add to the game, but just because a game has good graphics doesn’t make it fun to play. A game review is about helping the reader decide if they want to buy the game.
I’m going to be writing reviews soon, and one thing that I thought was important I read was from “Chewing Pixels” where they said games are judged on what they do just as much as what they don’t do. This was interesting because it makes it difficult to decide whether a game is “good” or not when you could look at it in different ways. A game could be good because the combat system was made simpler and easy to use, but this could also be a negative aspect to someone else. One must also look at all of the aspects of the game and take them into account before deciding whether a feature is good or bad (and how that feature ties in with everything else). Things like this aren’t necessarily good or bad, but it is up to the reader to decide that for themselves.
I also read something interesting from “The Cut Scene” which was talking about how critics debating whether something new or innovative is a good thing (or not). This is nice because it provides more in-depth views, but with videogame critics, they are shot down by the consumers if they are too far from what the other critics are saying. This really is a shame because it seems like all of the critics are in agreement on whether a game is of high or low quality. Critics disagreeing would make more of a diverse analysis of a videogame, which would provide consumers with more than one point of view of a game. This happens most likely because videogame reviews seem to get stuck in their formulistic approach to writing reviews, which gets very tiresome to read.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think something that absolutely must be taken into consideration - and really is not for the vast majority of review critics, whether in film, print, or gaming - is objectivity. Sure, everyone, including reviewers and critics, have a set of preferences and things that they look for most in a game. But these thing are subjective and matters of opinion - it does the reader of a video game review precious little good if the words of a review are entirely opinion-based (although this can be a huge benefit if the reviewer is someone the reader is familiar with). If aspects of the game can be looked at with a critically objective eye, I think that everyone would benefit. Granted, a certain element of each of these decisions will come down to opinion - whether a new mechanic is innovative or stupid, whether the art direction is charming or cartoony and dumb, and so on - but I feel that it is the burden of the critic to make clear when his opinion is stepping in the way of his objectivity.
ReplyDelete^what he said^
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing worse than seeing a game series get praised for very little. I'm not pointing any fingers but when sequels are pretty much the same game (that is, nothing is improved) and still get really high marks just because the first game was hugely popular, it upsets me. Every game, regardless of what came before it and what's going to come after it, should be looked upon with an unbiased eye. Reviewers who let there own personal likes and dislikes affect there reviews are not only doing a disservice to those reading, but are also taking from there own credibility.
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a reviewer needs to have a certain degree of objectivity of their reviews. Yes, it will always come down to the reviewer's opinion, and they should make it clear when it comes down to that, but they should also make sure they are consistent with their opinions and biases, so the reader will know where the reviewer stands with different aspects of videogames. This would help readers become familiar with the reviewer as you say, and could be a benefit.
MetaMeeks,
ReplyDeleteI think that a new videogame that was part of a series shouldn't receive good reviews just because of its earlier titles, but in some instances it should be held to a higher standard. A videogame series that is excellent and has a specific style will have a certain degree of fans that loved the series. Any huge change to the style of gameplay or a lesser quality game that doesn't live up to the earlier games should be held accountable for this.