I started reviewing Switch games recently for Ladiesgamers, the handheld gaming blog I've written guest posts for previously:
Red's Kingdom (puzzle)
Detective Gallo (point-and-click adventure)
At Ladiesgamers, we've been getting pre-release review codes from publishers. These tend to be from smaller companies or indie developers, of course. But it's been fun to dip into games other than AAA games and highly publicized titles.
While writing about the two games above, I've come to realize that reviewing games on a deadline for a public audience isn't a piece of cake. And as a greenhorn, I've got to develop my own writing process for this particular genre and think through some tricky questions.
Here are four major questions that surfaced, along with very tentative answers.
Q: Should I read other reviews while drafting my own?
A: It's alright to read other reviews, but only after I've written a first or second draft.
In the wake of IGN journalist Filip Miucin's plagiarism scandal, I can't help but ask myself, "Have I plagiarized?" After writing a second draft of my Detective Gallo review, I decided to read 2 or 3 reviews from other people. I was startled to find a phrase almost identical to mine, describing Gallo as a game that "doesn't take itself too seriously." I decided to keep the phrase because it was genuinely my own. But I could do that with peace of mind only because I had delayed reading other reviews before writing my own.
You may ask, "Why read other people's reviews?" Tell you the truth, I didn't have a lot of confidence in my own opinion despite being a professional writer. (Then again, I usually write on behalf of other people, as their mouthpiece.) I looked up other reviews because I couldn't tell if I was being too lenient or too harsh on Detective Gallo.
Does reading other reviews bias my opinion, weaken my "objectivity"? You could look at it that way. But I felt, rather, that my opinion got clarified rather than biased.
Q: Should a game's price affect its rating?
A: I'm not sure.
Is it fair to rate a game based on price? Are game prices fair? I can't answer the latter question, but I'd rather we didn't rate games based on price.
Still... when I'm choosing between products on Amazon, I'm pretty concerned about price. It seems fair enough to rate an Amazon product based on level of quality and price. Or, level of quality balanced against price. But is a game merely a "product"? Is it a product like household tissue, or is it more akin to a painting? Should that matter?
O, market economics! How thou dost drive the world!
Q: Should games be rated on a scale?
A: As a reviewer, I would rather not give a numbered rating. But as a consumer, I admit that numbered ratings help me decide whether to buy one game over ten other games I'm interested in.
I struggled just to use Ladiesgamers's rating system, which is a pretty simple one. We don't use
numbers but phrases (e.g. "I like it a lot!"). In the end, I decided to rate a game without considering its price -- but to also make separate mention of its price in my review's concluding paragraph.
Q: What is my objective as a reviewer?
A: It depends who I'm writing for. Writing for Ladiesgamers is different from writing for a personal blog.
If I'm writing for a public audience (say, IGN's audience), then is my objective to help readers decide whether a game is worth buying? Or, worth playing? (if we wish to leave money out of this)
I find tension between my desires to (a) help the consumer and (b) encourage indie developers in their efforts (knowing a review could really help or hurt them). If you've ever been a creator and not just a consumer, you know that creators need both praise and constructive criticism. If you've ever had your art evaluated by a professor and a room of peers, you know it's important how that praise and criticism is delivered.
Anyway, that tension is something I have to work out until I strike some sweet, precarious balance.