Over the course of reviewing things (mostly games) for this blog, I've switched up my mindset about the reviews quite a lot. At first, I'd write massive novels about a game. I tend to ramble a lot about things that I don't think people really care about, this seems to me to draw out the review into something I think is a good piece of work but can end up being unbearably long. To put it in WoW forum terms - TL,DR (too long, didn't read).
Several months ago I decided to switch things up and do bullet-point reviews. These presented what I thought of certain aspects of the game in a very clear and easily manageable manner. In those reviews I might talk a little more in depth about a bullet point I'm rather passionate about, but nothing other than that.
So, I end up reading other blogger's reviews - whether they're professional game reviewers or just doing it on their own time - and just about everything I read is better than what I write. So, I'm kind of at a loss about how to go about this game review thing. Maybe I just suck at it and will never be able to actually write a good, informative review.
What I think I need to do is come up with some sort of template or format to use for all my reviews that combines what I like about other reviews I read around the Web and in print publications. I need to have someone (most likely my wife, because she's good at it) proof-read the reviews, because usually I'll post them, then read them over and fix spelling and grammatical errors, but then several days down the line I'll read it again and think something sounds stupid. But, at that point, I don't think its worth changing since its likely anyone who reads my blog will have already read it anyway.
Lastly, I want to throw a spin on my reviews that I don't see much of - something different, something that some people don't think about. I'll ask the question in every game I review - what type of gamer would enjoy this game the most? Perhaps this may be a certain demographic, or someone who has a history of enjoying these types of games, there won't really be any standard and it will likely be different for each game.
For example, there are some very niche JRPGs coming out - quite a few by Atlus. I can review one of these games in general, according to my preferences and what I know about the genre, but what I say can't be said of everyone. Half the time I read reviews for JRPGs by professional reviewers and actually think the things they disliked about the game will make me like it even more, because I love the genre or the way the game is presented or a certain aspect of the game that brings out a feeling of nostalgia. Gamers who like JRPGs and, perhaps, a certain developer's games or a certain sub-genre will like it, but it might not be for many others. I won't discuss this in depth, really, perhaps there will just be a little blurb at the beginning or end of the review that will simply look like this:
If you like these aspects, you will likely enjoy this title:
- Action JRPG
- Anime-inspired character designs
- Typical JRPG dialog
And I'll likely leave it at that.
I enjoy talking in depth about certain aspects of the game, so perhaps I'll try to reach a happy medium between short, to-the-point reviews and an encyclopedia-length review. If I had more readers here, things I don't talk about in great detail could be discussed in the comments, but since I only have a few readers, that will likely not be the case.
In summary, my review format is likely to change once more in the near future. I'll most likely kick it off when I review Star Ocean: The Last Hope.
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