Game Review Primer :
Introduction :
The purpose of this entry is give an outline into how I intend to review games and what I base my choices on. I’ll say this now and probably again and again, that art is an entirely subjective domain. I’ve seen some review sites say that the media review process is not just an opinion, and with good criteria and a solid review process you can achieve a good and solid conclusion. I disagree. However with that said, I do hope to achieve a common ground with readers so that they themselves can take the opinion I present and draw a preliminary conclusion themselves. For whatever purpose that may be, be it looking at new\old games to play or simply to get a feel for the public opinion on a game the reader may have finished already.
Game Review Criteria :
After spending some time with my head buried in game reviews, and speaking to some of my gamer friends lately, I realized that most gaming reviews cater for certain gamer groups and although there is a fair amount of criteria that the reviewers follow, they still often mis-represent the game, unintentionally I think. Even with that taken into account, reviews of games ( or any other media for that matter ) are helpful and informative, especially for the legal gamers out there. Sure you could argue that trying the demos are a viable way of testing a game before buying, but demos are less common now amongst new releases and even the demos that are available still take more time to try out than reading a review or two. Lets face it, there are a lot of good games out there, and filtering out the games you are most likely to enjoy is an important part of gaming.
Another side of the review process is not actually giving away too much detail. I will do my best to find the balance between a review, and an outright spoiler. No guarantees though, because this is again a very subjective domain.
I’m going to try set up a list of review criteria here ( which I will also continue to review ) that will try and encompass as many dimensions of a good game as possible. I’ve always liked a scoring system of sorts to allow essentially for a feel for the game at a glance. A score out of ten gives enough flexibility to give a really bad to really good score while allowing for in-between.
Here is a basic list of criteria that I will add to as time\research allows :
Game Play :
- Game Play Style : See the Wikipedia Article on Gameplay for a thorough explanation.
- How interactive is the game to your input?
- How intuitive\clear are the game objectives? Are they meant to be clear?
- Do you feel like you’re taking part in the atmosphere\story?
- Are the game rules made clear and consistent?
- Are the controls and in game interfaces fluid and effortless?
- Artificial Intelligence
* Scalability
* Creative
* Adaptive
Effects :
Visual :
- Are the graphics out-dated? ( Release Date Contingent )
- Do the system specs correspond to the quality of graphics?
- How stable are the visuals? ( Does a single detonating grenade kill the frame rate noticably? )
Audio :
- Are the sound effects appropriate?
- Does the music suit the game style and is it applied appropriately?
- Are the cut-scene visuals synchronized with the speech?
Story Line :
- Is there a story line?
- Does the story style fit the setting of the game?
- Is the story line coherent?
One additional area that I want to mention and define to some degree is spoilers. The wikipedia definition of spoilers in media refers specifically to storyline and conclusion of the game. I would like to add that revealing certain game-play or functional features may also reveal\spoil the conclusion on some level. The best way I can describe this is with an example of Deus Ex. If a review was written mentioning the nano-mods and listing all the details of the mods that were available, that review could potentially devalue the gaming experience ( for atleast some ). Part of the value is exploring game-play as well as story. The balancing act of any review is revealing just enough information about the game to describe the scope, depth, and sophistication of a game with out ruining the gaming experience.
Conclusion :
The irony of publishing game reviews is the catch-22 of consumer opinion and how broad those opinions are. Regardless, I hope there is some value found in whatever may come about from these reviews.
Ciao
Introduction :
The purpose of this entry is give an outline into how I intend to review games and what I base my choices on. I’ll say this now and probably again and again, that art is an entirely subjective domain. I’ve seen some review sites say that the media review process is not just an opinion, and with good criteria and a solid review process you can achieve a good and solid conclusion. I disagree. However with that said, I do hope to achieve a common ground with readers so that they themselves can take the opinion I present and draw a preliminary conclusion themselves. For whatever purpose that may be, be it looking at new\old games to play or simply to get a feel for the public opinion on a game the reader may have finished already.
Game Review Criteria :
After spending some time with my head buried in game reviews, and speaking to some of my gamer friends lately, I realized that most gaming reviews cater for certain gamer groups and although there is a fair amount of criteria that the reviewers follow, they still often mis-represent the game, unintentionally I think. Even with that taken into account, reviews of games ( or any other media for that matter ) are helpful and informative, especially for the legal gamers out there. Sure you could argue that trying the demos are a viable way of testing a game before buying, but demos are less common now amongst new releases and even the demos that are available still take more time to try out than reading a review or two. Lets face it, there are a lot of good games out there, and filtering out the games you are most likely to enjoy is an important part of gaming.
Another side of the review process is not actually giving away too much detail. I will do my best to find the balance between a review, and an outright spoiler. No guarantees though, because this is again a very subjective domain.
I’m going to try set up a list of review criteria here ( which I will also continue to review ) that will try and encompass as many dimensions of a good game as possible. I’ve always liked a scoring system of sorts to allow essentially for a feel for the game at a glance. A score out of ten gives enough flexibility to give a really bad to really good score while allowing for in-between.
Here is a basic list of criteria that I will add to as time\research allows :
Game Play :
- Game Play Style : See the Wikipedia Article on Gameplay for a thorough explanation.
- How interactive is the game to your input?
- How intuitive\clear are the game objectives? Are they meant to be clear?
- Do you feel like you’re taking part in the atmosphere\story?
- Are the game rules made clear and consistent?
- Are the controls and in game interfaces fluid and effortless?
- Artificial Intelligence
* Scalability
* Creative
* Adaptive
Effects :
Visual :
- Are the graphics out-dated? ( Release Date Contingent )
- Do the system specs correspond to the quality of graphics?
- How stable are the visuals? ( Does a single detonating grenade kill the frame rate noticably? )
Audio :
- Are the sound effects appropriate?
- Does the music suit the game style and is it applied appropriately?
- Are the cut-scene visuals synchronized with the speech?
Story Line :
- Is there a story line?
- Does the story style fit the setting of the game?
- Is the story line coherent?
- Is the story line dynamic or fixed? (Decent fixed story line, or well implemented dynamic story line?)
Miscellany :
- Was the game originally developed for the review target platform?
- Was the original release buggy? Were follow up patches released? Follow up DLC?
- Game worth the money spent?
- Single Player VS Multi-Player VS Co-op?
* This is particularly broad element in modern gaming and should be covered thoroughly and objectively.
The Sum of All Parts
At the end of a review you should help the reader make a decision as to whether to get it or not. For any reader that has already tried the game, it should serve only as some entertainment value. For the rest it should be a brief summary, a bottom line if you like as to whether the game is worth spending the time or money on.
Last Thoughts :
These topics are just a general outline as to what to look at to try evaluate its game and its value. Even with thorough criteria, as with any piece of art ( meaning anything under media and entertainment as well ), they can be viewed subjectively. With art, the truth really is in the eye of the beholder. What I aim to achieve however is common grounds so that people can recognize characteristics that I mention in a clear context so they can decide for themselves whether they should try the game or not. That’s not to say that game reviews are exclusively for people looking to buy\try games, but I’m sure a great deal of gamers rely on reviews to lay out a game plan ( pardon the pun ).
One additional area that I want to mention and define to some degree is spoilers. The wikipedia definition of spoilers in media refers specifically to storyline and conclusion of the game. I would like to add that revealing certain game-play or functional features may also reveal\spoil the conclusion on some level. The best way I can describe this is with an example of Deus Ex. If a review was written mentioning the nano-mods and listing all the details of the mods that were available, that review could potentially devalue the gaming experience ( for atleast some ). Part of the value is exploring game-play as well as story. The balancing act of any review is revealing just enough information about the game to describe the scope, depth, and sophistication of a game with out ruining the gaming experience.
Conclusion :
The irony of publishing game reviews is the catch-22 of consumer opinion and how broad those opinions are. Regardless, I hope there is some value found in whatever may come about from these reviews.
Ciao
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