As I sit here in my bed sick as a dog today, I felt I should write a post. Because there's nothing better than writing a blog when you're sick. Sarcasm for the win. Anyway, the post I have for you today is one I actually came up with when I was doing something I do almost every day: reading a game review. As I was reading this review of an undisclosed game from and undisclosed website, I realized just how much caution gamers need to take so they don't lose their money to a bad game and so they don't rely on the media to determine what they will and will not like. Unfortunately, the only way to know good things about games is to listen to the media about them. It's quite the Catch-22. So I came up with 5 things every gamer should take caution of when they go to the media for game information.
1. Be careful of the reviews.
As I have always said in this blog and in my opinions, there is no such things as an unbiased review of a game. Whether a game is reviewed by one person, several people, tons of people, or even the whole planet, bias will seep in. It's impossible for the human mind to remain completely objective about anything. We all have opinions, tastes, and differences. This applies to games. Readers of reviews need to know this in order to gain anything from reading the review. When a gamer reads a review, they need to know that the person reviewing the game (hopefully) played the game through, and garnered his/her own opinions about it. Some reviewers could like a racing game because they love racing games, and they may be less harsh on a game that may be flawed in the racing genre because of that love. Others may bash the game harshly because they hate racing games, and therefore cast a much more critical eye on the game. It isn't their faults they do this. That's just their preferences as a gamer. Just as one person may be more critical of the government than another, or one person may prefer english instead of math, gamers are different. This is not a bad thing. It's what makes gaming such an awesome community. It's just something that should be considered when reading a review. No review is objective.
2. Read multiple reviews.
Once you realize that all reviews are biased in some form, everyone should come to a decent conclusion: if you're really curious about a game, you should read multiple reviews. Just as a good voter should take in all opinions, gamers should really look at multiple opinions about a game to judge it correctly. Reviews all have things in common: they go over the good and the bad. Some reviews may have more of one or the other, but it's a guarantee that each review will have something in common with the others. If something in a game is most evidently a good thing, most reviews will mention it in some way. If something is blatantly bad in a game, reviews will also mention it. It's the idea of grabbing the similarities out of comparisons that can really show what a game is. Because even if reviews are biased, the fact that they all have the same thing highlighted in them guarantees validity. For example, if 10 reviews state that a particular game has a bad storyline, you can gain the following conclusions just from knowing that this was mentioned in those reviews: that the idea of having a bad storyline is not made up since multiple people noted it, and that the storyline is bad because most people noted it was bad. This is how you can really tell if a game is of value or not.
3. Pick good reviews to read.
This may seem obvious to some, but the internet is full of shit. Absolute, undeniable, bullshit. This includes game reviewers. There are a hell of a lot of websites and reviewers out there who do not know what they are talking about at any moment of the day. They just want to fill your head with the worst crap ever. I don't intend to list these people who dilute their reviews to publicity stunts, but I can tell you great websites that are super trustworthy and do care about delivering the best reviews possible. This is because these websites are made up of gamers just like you and me, and these websites actually play each game thoroughly to make sure they are as truthful as possible. IGN, 1up, GameTrailers, GameInformer, and GamePro are all great industry leaders in reviews and gaming overall. Each website provides the best information and the most in depth reviews possible, and they are truthful about their reviews. In particular, you'll find great writing on IGN and great video reviews on GameTrailers. Using these websites to read your reviews will never steer you wrong. Other websites such as Destructoid and Kotaku are much less professional and much more laid back, but they are still great places to read reviews. They offer a much more personal touch to reviews as they are smaller, and they seem to pick out things many bigger companies forget.
4. Avoid aggregators.
Throughout this post I have been emphasizing the fact that reading multiple reviews is key to gaining something from them. Some websites have seen the value in this idea, but they have gone around the idea and taken the easy way out instead of being thorough. These are websites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, called aggregators. They assemble all the scores given from reviews from every website on the internet, average the scores, and give the game a score based on the average. This may sound like a good idea at first, since the idea is to get rid of the reading you have to do and just give you a sound score based on many reviews. The problem with this is that it narrows game reviews down to a number. Always remember that game reviewers assign numbers and grades in order to summarize their own individual review. It's to help the understanding of their review, not a replacement for their review. And it's for their individual review. Every website has a completely different way of scoring or grading, and it's not fair or good to take all the numbers/letters, average them, and spit out a number. Don't think aggregators are a fair way to find good games. If you want a good game, take the time to find one. Don't fall in the trap of aggregators.
5. Stay true to what you want.
Never, ever, EVER let a review completely stop you from getting a game you know you would enjoy. Just because a game doesn't get a 10 or an A+ doesn't mean that it's a bad game. Many games get scores of in the 7's and 8's. They are amazing games. They aren't perfect games, but how many games are anyway? Never think that buying a game that got some bad reviews is a bad thing. If you felt that some reviews were unjust and that you do think you'd like the game, go ahead and try it. Reviews can never tell you if you like a game or not. They can only give you perspective from another person's eyes about a game. They are there to help, not to replace your decision-making skills. This is why when I do reviews, I never put a number or a letter grade. Although these are great techniques and appropriate for those companies that use them, it doesn't work for my reviews. I own and have played multiple games that have NOT gotten top scores. I enjoyed them. Scores are not a review. A review is a review. And always take into context multiple reviews and your own opinions about a game before you even think about a score. This is why reviewers always put the score at the end of the review, and not the beginning.
I hope this helps in your review reading and your game decisions. I know it took a while for me to learn how to really read reviews properly. As I have experienced with the blog, it is not easy by any means to write a good review of a game. It's tough. So while your reading a review know that a lot of work goes into it. Good hunting.
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