Comments on: Editorial: With a Great Review Comes Great Responsibility

By: Jonah

Jonah — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:52:33 +0000

This is why I have a hard time with sites and publications that bother with assigning scores. I always lean more toward outlets that skip that whole process. That way I don’t cheat and look at the score before reading the article, as I’ve found it can even taint my experience reading and enjoying their review.

As a critique: In this type of editorial, I would avoid any kind of religious reference. It will only serve to take away from the point you are trying to make.

By: Some relevent video gaming links | Uhfgood's Game Reviews

Some relevent video gaming links | Uhfgood's Game Reviews — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:37:48 +0000

[...] 9) SideQuesting’s Ryan Gan gives us an editorial entitled “With Great Reviews, Come Grea… [...]

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:58:58 +0000

Definitely True, I frequently use GameSpot as my reviewer of choice because I find their reviews to not be written by as hardcore gamers or as easily frustrated people as reviews such as zero punctuation, who will rabidly attack and shortcomings (and anything that is only pretty good). But when I see the reviewer complaining about how terrible the design team was because it allowed you to zoom out quite far I ignore it, because I like to be able to zoom out. When I see reviewers giving games lower scores because they are short and easy, I am more likely to buy the game, because I like short and easy.
A game review is only as good as its relation to you.

By: Nathan Andrews

Nathan Andrews — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:43:48 +0000

Agreed, on pretty much all points. People forget about the personal aspect of game reviews. They are not a purely objective look at the quality of the game, they are an individual person’s opinion of their experiences with the game, as you said.

I use the same type of process with movie reviews. I love RottenTomatoes, and I *generally* trust their scoring on movies. Many times, I’ll still go see a movie that gets a low review, just because it’s something I already know I want to see for whatever reason.

I use the bulk score as an interest gauge. If I’m not already interested in a movie, a 90% Tomatometer will get me to do some more research on a movie. If it’s something I already want to see, I’ll check the summary, and if the complaints are things I’m not concerned about, I’ll still go.

When reading individual reviews, I’ll check the reviewer’s previous articles on movies that I know I like or dislike already. If they seem to agree with my own opinions about them, then I know we share similar tastes, and I can trust the reviews. If the reviewer hates every movie I love, or vice-versa, then I know to move on to a different reviewer.

As you said, critical thinking in decision making is…. critical. While looking to the opinions of others can be a great guide, letting others make decisions for you is simply dangerous in several ways.

Also, I think ‘you’ was a good choice.