Video Game Review Template

[Dukefrukem]

You do not need to be on the sR staff to submit a game review. If you are interested in submitting a review, I put together the following template to help guide you through the process in an effort to make each review look as professional as possible. The follow bullets are the KEY features of any successful review that need to be emphasized and expounded on:


1. Did you or did you not like the game?
2. What is annoying about the game?
3. What is totally awesome about the game?


The entire review is contained within 5 key sections: Introduction (which does not need to be labeled), Gameplay, Graphics/Sound, Multiplayer, and Concluding Summary. This format makes it simple for people who skim through reviews for their most important attributes. And of course you can have several sub-sections inside each category if you are describing two types of gameplay modes, or multiplayer modes.

Content is the MOST important element of a review, and the content must be about the game. Do not wax on about the three prequels or the history of the developing company…this annoys people to no end. If you spend two pages talking about how the first two games in the series sucked and only 1 page on the game you are reviewing, it will not be well received. To get a sense of how much content is needed for a successful review, you should write your review in Microsoft word or equivalent at size 12 font. If you cannot generate two-three pages of in-depth content about the game you are reviewing, chances are you probably do not know enough about the game to review it.

Did you like the game? – It is one thing to like the game, an entirely different matter explaining why in crisp, salient points. Although you may be reviewing a First Person Shooter game, do not write in first person voice. Most of the time readers have no idea who you are nor do they care. Since you are writing the piece, it is presumed you are espousing your own opinion. They are interested in one thing, “Will the story line, graphics and audio blow me away?” Situations where it is okay to use "I" would be in situations where you are making a related joke to the current topic, or possibly describing another review you wrote.

Avoid contractions as much as possible; no can't, won't or shouldn't…use cannot, will not and should not. Do not use words or terms such as: honestly, seriously or I must say. Why? Because the response every reader will have to those words is "no $hit". Of course "you say", who else is wrote the review? Take these out. . Save contractions, these terms and conversational expressions for actual conversations.

What is annoying about the game? – Aside from the three things I want to know about the game before I play it is what are the negative points. Is it hard to control? Is the story line ponderous? Will I understand everything from the get go or is there a steep learning curve? Is the game tedious? This is the case were it may be okay to use "I". For example in referring to my NFS Most Wanted Review:

Quote:

One very disappointing feature is also present in almost every racing game ever created: the cars just do not break. You could drive 140mph straight into a brick wall and the car will bounce back like a rubber ball. They did add a little bit more cosmetic damage and broken glass to the windshield, but if I am going 140 and smash into something, I want to see my body rocket through the windshield in the slow-mo bullet-time feature, and have the camera zoom to my face where you can see me mouth the words: "Oh $hit". This of course would be difficult to incorporate into the game's timeline; but maybe you made it all the way to Black List #2 and you totally wipe out, but this is why games have save options. You do not see people complaining when they get eaten by a zombie in Resident Evil saying, "Dude I totally would have survive that in real life".

The use of "I" here works in the sense I am addressing the annoyance, and making a joke at the same time.

What is totally awesome about the game? – This is what sells the game. You describe a feature that blows people's minds off and they'll run out that second to buy it. Technically, you are promoting the game for the developers. So talk about the awesome graphics, lighting and physics engine. Talk about how realistic it looks when you shoot the zombie in the face and blood flies out the back of his head. Talk about how the racing game is so detailed, you can see the pores on the character's face. But do not just limit yourself to graphics. Talk about how easy it is to adapt to the controls, which makes the game more fun to play for you. Talk about storyline and how captured you were by its originality. You get the idea.

Concluding Summary – This is the wrap that provides a succinct summary of everything you wrote about, the pros and cons. Do not include anything in here that you haven't already talked about in your review. Otherwise people who read your review, and see something in your cons section that says: "problem with AI"… I as a reader am thinking, "well, what is the problem? tell me!!!" Same goes for pros. Touch on the subjects you wrote about and do not introduce any new comments. Both pros and cons should be short sentence fragments. This is no different than the concluding paragraph in any essay. For example, "This is great about it, this is kinda bad about it, but overall this game is/not worth buying"

After you are done writing about the game, the time has come to create a final grade.

If it helps you, you can break down the game into 5 sections to decide a final grade based out of 5 D-keys. Graphics, Sound and Gameplay are the easy ones to grade, Presentation is your overall feelings about how the game is packaged together, and how you felt after the game ends. Are you satisfied? Does it leave you wanting more? Does it leave you saying “thank god that is over?” Replay Value is based on your chances of playing the game in the future or how well it holds up over the course of the years. For example: I personally every once in a while play Half-Life the original game… If I were reviewing that game, I would definitely give it 5 out of 5 D-keys.

1 D-Key is bad, 3 is average 5 is totally awesome. Then of course you have the 3.5, 4.5 etc. Your grades should reflect how you wrote your review. If you mentioned 4 or 5 annoyances and only 1 or 2 good things about that aspect, I would suspect you would not give that section 5 out of 5 D-Keys.

If this still doesn't help you… go here:

[bacon_x]

soooo i can review games and submit them to you?

[Craig]

Anyone can

We're going to work on the grading a bit but feel free to write away

[bacon_x]

Awesome!

[SonicSpeed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Anyone can

We're going to work on the grading a bit but feel free to write away

lol awesome... too bad I can't get anywhere in Neverwinter Nights 2 (aka the 4 fps slideshow) to test the new stuff