Reviews vs. Previews

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fwylo

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Edited By fwylo

Dammmn

I've noticed a certain trend among game sites and it got me wondering something...

Now not all writers are like this obviously and i should hope they all try not to be, but it happens...a review is biased or the writer personally doesn 't like a certain aspect of the game.  So you go and find the person who's views most represent yours, to get their opinion to see if you should actually give any certain game a chance.
 

 I'm a huge Afro fan so this game was awesome for me....YOU probably shouldn't play it
 I'm a huge Afro fan so this game was awesome for me....YOU probably shouldn't play it

But I’ve noticed I barely read reviews anymore.  I used to read every review I could find on a game, and form my opinions based on what I saw was similar between the reviews.   But it led me to buy games that I actually wasn’t interested in.  Playing through them because someone else said it was good. It became a chore and I found myself saying, “ Ah, I have to finish ( insert game name)!! ”  But then I would see a game that didn't have very good reviews, or something that I was slightly interested in but it wasn't seen to be a "big" game release.  I would travel the internets and find what the game was supposed to be instead of what it " is" in a review.  That in turn would lead me to buy the game and I would turn out to love it.  Based solely on the fact that I thought it looked like something I would like.

 I don't know how many people out there strictly buy games based on their own tastes, opposed to buying games based on exactly what certain reviews say.  I have a few friend's that won't even touch a game if it doesn't get above a 70 metacritic rating, and sure they may have a sense of security in that. But it seems that when I ask them about the game, they just repeat things word for word from a review they read.  Before you even play the game, your view is blurred by the little voice in the back of your head that says, "Oh, watch out for that long loading screen between chapters." One of my friend's didn't even notice the faults of one version of a game until I made him watch a video on youtube that showed the differences.

Load Screens, but who cares!?
Load Screens, but who cares!?

But that brings me to my point, why can't we just have the confidence in our own interests to buy a game?  Is it too much of a risk that a game might be terrible?  What if the other aspects of the game, like the fan service, make the other faults not seem too bad. I think it is because there isn't an easy place to find all the information that is needed.  It's hard to find a site or article that just has what the game is supposed to be, and not what someone thinks its going to be.  Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to find the information myself but where are all the game previews?

Or maybe it’s the fact that I just don't go to the right game sites to look for them.  I think there are a few sites that do, maybe gametrailers does the odd one, and ign maybe, but who really likes those sites anyways.  But a certain man named Steve Tilley, who is a writer for The Edmonton Sun, always has previews .  He is a one man video game writing team for the Entertainment section of the paper (Sunday only) so he can't do things like write 4 reviews a week, or play through 3 games a week to get those reviews up.  So he chooses the biggest game for that week and usually writes a preview about it the week before if there isn’t a big review to write... Then promises a review about the game the next week.

Whether it be the new dialogue trees, or the new mark and execute mechanic, or the next assassin's story in the lineage.  I find there are a lot of things people don't know before they buy a certain game, that they should know is fact instead of opinion.  

 Honest enough to love babies.
 Honest enough to love babies.

 
So I've decided I'm done reading reviews, unless the GB crew puts one up because they seem to be the most fair of them all(and watching zero punctuation because it is usually hilarious).  I'm going to start buying games based on a personal like or dislike for what the game is supposed to be.  It could be a dangerous choice, but it seems the to have paid off with the last few games I've played.  But in my research I may as well put it all together somewhere.  So I'll be putting my "previews" up here in my blog for all to see.  So feel free to check back to see if there is a game you're interested in.  Or if there is one you would like to see then shoot me a message.  I obviously won't be doing ALL games, but definitely the important ones.  And will try to keep them as opinion free as possible.  I play all games, on all platforms so basically no limits.

 
 
I wish I had gotten this up a bit sooner, Splinter Cell would have been a good start with all the "new features" being brought to that.
 
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you're interested.
 
-Respect

Avatar image for fwylo
fwylo

3571

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5013

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#1  Edited By fwylo

Dammmn

I've noticed a certain trend among game sites and it got me wondering something...

Now not all writers are like this obviously and i should hope they all try not to be, but it happens...a review is biased or the writer personally doesn 't like a certain aspect of the game.  So you go and find the person who's views most represent yours, to get their opinion to see if you should actually give any certain game a chance.
 

 I'm a huge Afro fan so this game was awesome for me....YOU probably shouldn't play it
 I'm a huge Afro fan so this game was awesome for me....YOU probably shouldn't play it

But I’ve noticed I barely read reviews anymore.  I used to read every review I could find on a game, and form my opinions based on what I saw was similar between the reviews.   But it led me to buy games that I actually wasn’t interested in.  Playing through them because someone else said it was good. It became a chore and I found myself saying, “ Ah, I have to finish ( insert game name)!! ”  But then I would see a game that didn't have very good reviews, or something that I was slightly interested in but it wasn't seen to be a "big" game release.  I would travel the internets and find what the game was supposed to be instead of what it " is" in a review.  That in turn would lead me to buy the game and I would turn out to love it.  Based solely on the fact that I thought it looked like something I would like.

 I don't know how many people out there strictly buy games based on their own tastes, opposed to buying games based on exactly what certain reviews say.  I have a few friend's that won't even touch a game if it doesn't get above a 70 metacritic rating, and sure they may have a sense of security in that. But it seems that when I ask them about the game, they just repeat things word for word from a review they read.  Before you even play the game, your view is blurred by the little voice in the back of your head that says, "Oh, watch out for that long loading screen between chapters." One of my friend's didn't even notice the faults of one version of a game until I made him watch a video on youtube that showed the differences.

Load Screens, but who cares!?
Load Screens, but who cares!?

But that brings me to my point, why can't we just have the confidence in our own interests to buy a game?  Is it too much of a risk that a game might be terrible?  What if the other aspects of the game, like the fan service, make the other faults not seem too bad. I think it is because there isn't an easy place to find all the information that is needed.  It's hard to find a site or article that just has what the game is supposed to be, and not what someone thinks its going to be.  Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to find the information myself but where are all the game previews?

Or maybe it’s the fact that I just don't go to the right game sites to look for them.  I think there are a few sites that do, maybe gametrailers does the odd one, and ign maybe, but who really likes those sites anyways.  But a certain man named Steve Tilley, who is a writer for The Edmonton Sun, always has previews .  He is a one man video game writing team for the Entertainment section of the paper (Sunday only) so he can't do things like write 4 reviews a week, or play through 3 games a week to get those reviews up.  So he chooses the biggest game for that week and usually writes a preview about it the week before if there isn’t a big review to write... Then promises a review about the game the next week.

Whether it be the new dialogue trees, or the new mark and execute mechanic, or the next assassin's story in the lineage.  I find there are a lot of things people don't know before they buy a certain game, that they should know is fact instead of opinion.  

 Honest enough to love babies.
 Honest enough to love babies.

 
So I've decided I'm done reading reviews, unless the GB crew puts one up because they seem to be the most fair of them all(and watching zero punctuation because it is usually hilarious).  I'm going to start buying games based on a personal like or dislike for what the game is supposed to be.  It could be a dangerous choice, but it seems the to have paid off with the last few games I've played.  But in my research I may as well put it all together somewhere.  So I'll be putting my "previews" up here in my blog for all to see.  So feel free to check back to see if there is a game you're interested in.  Or if there is one you would like to see then shoot me a message.  I obviously won't be doing ALL games, but definitely the important ones.  And will try to keep them as opinion free as possible.  I play all games, on all platforms so basically no limits.

 
 
I wish I had gotten this up a bit sooner, Splinter Cell would have been a good start with all the "new features" being brought to that.
 
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you're interested.
 
-Respect