I Love Video Reviews

Does anyone else take great joy in watching video reviews of games? I find this to be the perfect thing to do just before I go to bed, even if i'm not initially interested in the game of subject, or if i completely disagree with the reviewer, I love watching reviews. Especially if there's a game I'm excited to buy, I'll go watch all the video reviews I can find. Is anyone here the same?

@noahtheboa999: 100% the same

I like them too but it seems like Giant Bomb has completely done away with them. Quick Looks basically fill the same role.

Yeah, I recently happened upon a few Gb video reviews from back in the day and I would absolutely love to see them again. I'm not holding my breath though. They've been fairly transparent as to why they don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

I want video reviews back ... sometimes I want an actuall thought about the game being covered instead of sarcassm 101

Not to be contrary, but video reviews are very often to me, simply redundant with their written reviews. Like many others I invest in the QL's

What I miss is their often inspired sketches. There was just one in a thread lately about Jeff hoarding games I had never seen before. just f***ing hilarious. I can think back all the way to Ryan, early Whiskey Media, banging on a box for sound input into a designed-for game. It was jank, but he found with adjusting he could make it work. Their Too Human Gang-Star is classic , but it isn't the only one. And Pat even (and also) when he was in the main office, was capable of some physical comedy. One was that 'modified' interview with the dev of Deadly premonition. Over the years they have a decent catalogue of this sort of thing, sometimes buried in their other shows, also.

That is what I miss.

They are hit and miss for me. Personally I just would like them to do more reviews in general. They really pulled back that whole review process and with GB:NY starting does that mean Alex is going to be writing less? We will see...

I do like video reviews a lot, but they make little sense when written reviews are offered in the same place. While video is hugely more consumable than text, the written review will always be technically superior and without the time and length limits of a video.

In the case of Giant Bomb, Quick Looks allow me to make up my own mind about the quality of a game (and it's suitability for my tastes), while also having some extra commentary that basic gameplay videos do not provide. If I want something more indepth, I would look at a more comprehensive written review than a short video summary.

thats what i like to hear :)

To try and reply to everyone, I know written reviews essentially accomplish everything a video review can. I just enjoy hearing the reviewer offering their opinion, with video to help explain the gameplay elements they're talking about. I assume GB just thought quick looks could replace video reviews, but I still really miss them. Also it kind of puzzles me why GB doesn't review more games, but with the amount of work they put into other content it's completely understandable. Video reviews might have less appeal than I previously assumed, now that I think about it...

Maybe you should marry them then.

@handlas: maybe ;)

I love video reviews, and I was pretty bummed when they dried out around here. Maybe they just aren't worth the time, but I would take just the dude sitting on the couch basically reading it. Just to hear tone and inflection.

I prefer quick looks over reviews.

hmmmm, nah, I think chatting about the game on the bombcast and in quick looks get the point across better because it's a dialog between either 2 or 3 people about a issues of the game itself. Just editing down and polishing up a video review is competing against the attention of other sites considering how much lets play get more attention today.

And beside Vinny is the best there is at editing, if he's not editing videos I'm not sure who would take up that job now that Vinny is making content for GB East.

Quick Looks do a pretty good job of telling me if I should buy something or not. If they don't QL it, they usually talk about it somewhere else (bombcast, bombing in the am, UPF, etc) and I use that info to make purchasing decisions as well.

Giant Bomb, or at least the SF office, seems disinterested in making structured, scripted and heavily edited content anymore. They appear to view off the cuff and kind of charmingly ramshackle videos with lots of gameplay as the sort of 'future' of the industry, for lack of a better term.

I personally disagree with this, I find most of the thoughtfully edited content that Gamespot is doing right now (especially Danny's stuff) to be more appealing than anything Giant Bomb has done in a while, but that doesn't really matter cause plenty of people who aren't me seem to be enjoying where GB is at.

However, with Vinny now sort of detached from that SF mentality I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him producing some more stuff along these lines over at the NY office. His history is as a video editor and any time he gets to show off those chops it always makes for an entertaining video.

Never Forget

@euandewar: I like The Point, but that's pretty much it for what I like of GS' more edited content.

I was never a fan of video reviews, so no, I do not miss them.

A well edited video review will very often convey a score much better than plain written text.

I really just liked the character the staff could put into a review via video. Written reviews just feel dry.

Yeah I found them hugely useful. At least they've been honest and admitted that they just can't be bothered to do that much work for something that they didn't think got the views to justify it.

My biggest problem is time. I don't have the time to dedicate to hour long quick looks. I seldom see any. When I'm able to they're great. I've followed GB since, well, before Arrow Pointing Down when they were still with Rich back at Gamespot and doing the Hotspot so I'll always love the site and the crew. However for me, I visit the site daily but am mainly here for the podcast and now, Patrick's written features, the awesome video features they do. I like Alex's reviews but reviews seem pretty rare. I get that QL's give a better impression of a game. I don't even care about a 'review score', but I often find I'll check out a video on somewhere like Gametrailers simply because of the short length of the video review coupled with edited gameplay footage is easier for me to take in. Not that the 'review' is qualitatively better (and I still hate the decimal point scoring system) but a 10 minute review is easier to fit into a schedule than an hour long QL.

Video reviews are probably the least efficient thing to produce for them. Think about how much more work must go into a good video review vs a Quick Look. Aside from having to capture specific footage from all over the game and cut it in a logical way to match what the critic is saying, the critic also has to play the entire game (at least that's seems like the rule here) and have something worthwhile to say about it. I bet the return on those videos is pretty small after the first week, so it's probably not worth it when they can just sit down for 40 minutes and fire out content that'll last just as long.

Edit: Also, I prefer written reviews. They're more thorough, and being able to point at exact words is better for initiating discourse. Though I do understand the easily digestible benefits of a video review. Either way, reviews have never been a draw for me here. I love the opinions of most of the writers here, but I don't think they're always the best critical writers (or at least not consistently). I think they're playing to their strengths these days.

I like them but I've got some many points of reference now thanks to quick looks, podcasts and streams that they're all just a cog in the decision-making process.

Depending on my interests in the game. I'll listen to it, but not actually watch it. Sometimes a video review might spoil shit I didn't want to see.

How could I?

What about a video review vs a good Quick Look?

Quick Looks > Video Reviews > Written Reviews

I get more out of 'watching the game being played' than watching someone 'recapping a game they played'.