dudacles

When I was 7, I used to dress up as Batman and Superman. I always thought the cape was awesome, but it's also extremely hard to use and not something that any hero would don in real life. You can't fight worth a damn when you're constantly entangled in your own cape.

Right, so after watching that camera-condom video, I am officially sold on this site. I'll be keeping an eye on it at all times, I think.
 
For some reason though, the mail to confirm my account isn't coming. I want to access the fora and stuff! :(

Quick Looks make for some of the best content this excellent site has to offer. Simply put, I love the idea behind them, and I love their execution. The staff's sense of humor fills these vids with excellent commentary and personality. Thing is, the crew occasionally invites (or is offered, I don't know) a developer to show off his or her game. 
 
I honestly don't like watching those. The crew is constrained in their commentary, because they can't offend the dev, of course. Seeing as he is working on the game, his comments will be very biased (which is only natural, I don't blame them) and the only things you'll see are the parts the company will want you see. In the same vein, I don't care for trailers or interviews either. The representative can be the greatest guy in the world, but even if he is, I still honestly don't care for hearing him talk about his own game. I just want to hear the crew play a good chunk of gameplay and offer their insight.
 
How do you feel about developers bringing their games to show off?

I figured I should respond to the tips given here, so there:
 
@natetodamax said:

" That was a really good review. The only thing I would have done would be to go into a little detail about the story, like what it is about (Shepard's mission). Other than that, well done! "

" Quite well written, especially for a User Review. What makes it especially impressive is the fact that your native language isn't English.  The only problems here are some issues with sentence structure; not that there were any mechanical errors, but some of the structure was awkward, and forced me to go back and re-read the sentence.  Apart from that, cutting out some bloat by streamlining transitions between topics is the only other thing I would work on. Beyond those two minor gripes, it's quite well written. Good work sir. "

" That was a great review man! Honestly, if you just had me read that I would've never guessed that English was not your native language. That is very impressive since English is not an easy language to learn. Luckily it is my native language so I never had to learn it the way you did but from what I hear it's not easy.   I will definitely read your reviews in the future especially if they are as detailed as this one. "

" It's a good review!  English does NOT seem like your second language judging from how well you've written your review.  That said, it reads more like a fan's extended forum post more than an actual game review.   I'll explain a bit... Your piece  jumps right into the nitty gritty of Mass Effect 2 without really introducing the concept behind the game to a reader who may not be familiar with the series.  In general I got the sense there was a lot of assumed familiarity with Mass Effect.  But it's a minor detail compared to how well the review is put together.  Your breakdowns are nice.  You go on a bit long but I can relate to that as my game reviews tend to be on the longer side of things. The challenge of every writer, in my opinion, is brevity:  to say what you need to say in as few words as possible. "

" Great review brother! Also I hate sounding like an old-school english teacher, but the best way to write better reviews is to play more games with a reviewer's kind of mindstate, and of course write more. "

These are all very true, and I appreciate you guys taking the time to offer feedback. Thanks!
 
Keep 'em coming. :p

As the topic title states, I enjoy writing reviews of the games I play. I'm getting better at it too. As someone who does not have English as his native language, I grapple with the language every day, though it is, of course, ever improving. And so as well with my reviews: I've come a long way from this review to this review. 
 
But there is still a lot of room left for improvement. So I'd like you guys to help me out. I have recently written a Mass Effect 2 review. What I'd like you to do is to read it, and then offer me feedback on what I can do to improve the readability of my reviews. Your gripes may concern anything and everything, from poorly explaining a point I try to make in the review to over-using certain words (which I know I do.)
 
The review is here. Please help me out by telling me what is wrong with it, so that my future reviews continue to evolve and improve.
 
Much appreciated.

I play the game, without thinking about it in the context of a review at all. Then, when I feel like it, I start writing the review. I think back, and assess the game purely on what I remember from it. Then, I talk about all aspects of a game in a pretty specific order, because knowing what I'll talk about in what order makes it easier for me to structure my review and avoid forgetting anything major.
 
The order goes like this:

1. A small intro that basically says in one or two sentences which demographic would enjoy this game, and for which reasons.
2. After that, I explain the premise of the story.
3. Then, I dedicate some lines or a new paragraph to judging the story.
4. I then move on to gameplay. I spend a number of paragraphs talking about various gameplay aspects, such as controls, mechanics, etc.
5. After the gameplay, I tend to work on presentation.
6. Finally, my finishing paragraph basically sums up my feelings on the game, and whether or not I'd recommend buying or renting it.

 So I picked up this a couple of days ago, and it seems pretty cool. I've never played the original Escape from Butcher Bay, so I figured this was an excellent opportunity. Thing is, the game is sort of frustrating me.

The part I'm stuck on has me crawling through a gap in the wall, turning a valve to stop fumes to impeding my progress, and fight a couple of patrol goons.

I only have a single block of health left, due to some very bad play in the earlier parts of this stage, but I can get around the guards by shooting them all in the face as they're turning the corner.

But then I'm ambushed and this robot comes down with an elevator, and always proceeds to destroy me.

I've already checked walkthroughs, and they tell me that I can avoid the robot by getting him to come after me and then dashing for the elevator, but I can't get it to work. I've tried luring him into one of the alcoves and then going for it, but he always manages to spot me in time, and for some bleeping reason, pressing the Y button in front of the elevator console, like the game is telling me to, doesn't freakin' work. Riddick doesn't do anything when I hit Y, and the damn robot is pelting me with gatling gun fire as I'm standing around in front of these stupid elevator controls. With only a single block of health, I can't afford to stand around either, because it degenerates extremely fast.

Am I simply bad at this game? I can't get the hang of the stealth either. Having watched Pitch Black, I was assuming Riddick could see in the dark. However, when I crouch in the shadows, the blue haze gives me ever so slight improvements to my vision, but I can still only barely see a couple of feet in front of me. Furthermore, the guards always seem to spot me, even when I'm not moving, the blue tint tells me I should be hidden, and they're not shining their flashlights on me.

Can anyone offer some tips? Should I simply keep playing and attempt to kill the stupid robot? Will I get better at being stealthy by just playing, or am I missing something key to getting around guards without having to resort to shooting them in the face, a rather unsubtle tactic.
 
Any help would be much appreciated.

Very odd, I finished the game yesterday and never noticed any low-res clothing on anyone.

" You're not really throwing away money if you're spending points you already have. You already threw away your money when you bought those points whenever ago. "