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GooberMan
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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject: A game developer reviewing games? |
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It's not a new thing. I know a few people at my company that do so. Even the random gameplayer posting their own reviews is not a new thing, as is evidenced by the fact that the internet is pretty sick of random game review blogs being pimped to death by their writers. However, I'm taking an entirely different approach to things.
I'm giving the idea a trial run with a blog. The first post explains the reasoning behind both my decision to post reviews and how I'll be reviewing them. In short - I'm of the opinion that if games want to legitimise as an artform, then reviews should legitimise in the same way.
The first review I've posted is for Far Cry 2. I haven't read a review like it out there. Pass it around to people you know on other sites. I'm really curious as to whether my review style will resonate with people, and consequently whether it will be worthwhile going ahead with my plans to make a full review site.
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Nietzsche
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:58 am Post subject: |
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I liked the review, for it showed how one could play the game and what kind of gamers would enjoy it. It was a bit praise worthy for there were no flaws (like the endless walking) but it would get me to buy the game (if I had'nt already).
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magrat
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:05 am Post subject: |
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I'm interested why you decided to score the games, given your point about the excessive industry focus on scores and the problems that can cause when the score doesn't match the review, thinking about the review of GoW 2 here as an example. Had you considered not scoring them and just as you said dissect them in depth?
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| magrat wrote: | | I'm interested why you decided to score the games, given your point about the excessive industry focus on scores and the problems that can cause when the score doesn't match the review |
Ultimately, I put it up front to give an idea as to what I thought of a game without reading the wall of text that follows. This is counter to using a score to sum up an article after the fact. Rather than focusing on a specific score, I've followed the lead of film reviewers and used a simple star rating to indicate the overall quality of a game and explained what you can expect a star rating to mean.
| Star ratings wrote: | * 5 stars: Excellent. It ate up my hours without thinking twice.
* 4 stars: Good. Enjoyed it but not the greatest thing ever.
* 3 stars: Alright. Don’t see myself touching it ever again though.
* 2 stars: The wrong side of average. Expect problems that seriously hamper your enjoyment.
* 1 stars: Bad. It really annoyed me but there is worse out there.
* 0 stars: Terrible. Avoid. I’d sell the game if it wasn’t for the fact some other sucker would have to endure it. |
If they end up being too much of a focus, I'm yet to decide whether to ditch them altogether or whether to stick with them and hope their usage catches on. Either way, if I roll it over to a proper site I'll make sure the meaning of the star ratings is more easilly accessible than on the first post of the site. It may even be worthwhile putting the meanings with each star rating so that there's no confusion. I'm no doubt overly optimistic about it though - I'm sure if I rate a game 3 stars and explain in depth why, it'll still attract the trolls.
| Nietzsche wrote: | | It was a bit praise worthy for there were no flaws (like the endless walking) |
Had I focused on what I felt were flaws, it would have covered stuff like the AI being retarded on occasion and insta-respawning guard posts. These are complaints to be sure, but I viewed them as the more technical issues I was trying to avoid while praising it's artistic merits. There may very well be a happy medium for the two to exist in the same review, but I haven't quite found it yet.
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mikezilla2
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:26 am Post subject: |
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il need to read it later but i like the idea 
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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I have had some discussion with friends about it. The star ratings are going to die. They will be replaced with easily identifiable icons that say similar things to what the explanation of my star ratings do. Not having an easily quantifiable opinion system should clear up my concerns about the number of stars being the focus whilst still giving the immediate overview that I feel is needed at the top of the article.
Also after discussing with friends, it seems that some get the point of the review style while others don't. I haven't quite decided yet whether I should mention more technical issues than I did - especially as I'll be writing up one for Mirror's Edge by the end of the week - but people have definitely been noticing the fact that I didn't mention insta-respawn guardposts. I'll need to think about it some more and refine accordingly.
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Toastfarmer
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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This is cool, I've always tried to motivate myself to do something similar in terms of attempting a new reviewing style but it just hasn't happened.
In terms of scoring, I've personally always liked the either /100 or decimal system. I feel you can say more with it in a way. On the other hand I can understand why people prefer a more direct and simplistic five stars or /10 score.
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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Someone remind me to start writing up my Mirror's Edge review when I get home, otherwise I'll play Rock Band some more.
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Sin Ogaris
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| Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:02 am Post subject: |
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Write up your Mirror's Edge review when you get home.
I only just read the Farcry 2 review, I quite liked it, it's good, although I do feel that the lack of technical hurts the overall review as, in my opinion, if you ignore the technical failing points then you're more reviewing the game on the basis of what the Developer was "trying" to achieve and not what they actually did. Wow... that was quite the run-on sentence.
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I'm realising that I can't write up a Mirror's Edge review without mentioning the technical issues that get in the way. But then again, that might not be so bad - if I was to write up a review for The Darkness, I wouldn't mention technical issues at all either simply because they didn't get in the way.
I think the ME review will definitely be more indicative of how the review style will be at the end of the day simply due to the feedback I've gotten on the FC2 review.
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Sin Ogaris
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:47 am Post subject: |
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One thing I was disappointed with was I was expecting the entire review to be written from the first person perspective... but then the story stopped.
It would be sick if you could incorporate the whole review as a kind of novel but still be able to express the pros and cons but through the novelistic style rather than a purely editorial style (is that the right thing to call a review? Or is it an opinion piece?). Hell, I'd pay for reviews that were offered up to me like that.
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Nietzsche
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| Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: |
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So is there any more reviews coming up? Looking forward to the mirror's edge one as I have already came up with an opinion on it and would like to see yours.
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Yes actually, I've just about finished thrashing a few games and have opinions all ready for them. Just a matter of sitting down and writing them up now.
Due to christmas shenanigans though, it'll probably have to wait until this weekend before I get a chance.
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