I was just reading comments on one of my recent game reviews. The game, Sacred, is an action RPG similar to the Diablo series. I gave the game a poor review score, because I felt it was boring, buggy, and in general just not an interesting title. Of course, the fanboi contingent can’t understand someone having a dissenting opinion, so the comments range from “bad grammar” to “the lackluster, poorly done, and overall craptastic review of Sacred indicates that it was a thrown together half-effort done by someone who didn’t play the game much, doesn’t like the genre, and didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with the game (must’ve taken away from his console or FPS play time).”
My reviews are edited, thank you very much. Sometimes mistakes slip through; sometimes they’re added in. Believe it or not, finding one grammatical mistake out of 1000 words that may or may not have been in the original draft does not invalidate the entire review.
I played the game for over a week (I have deadlines to meet, so I play as much as physically possible), every night, far past my pain threshold. I was bored, and kept playing. I played and played and played and played that damn game. I kept wanting to like it, believe it or not. We don’t review games because it makes us wealthy and famous. Because I can assure you, it does neither. We do it because we really, really like games. We have to play the games even when the suck. You don’t. We do that so you can save your $40 and buy something worth buying. When I review a game, I don’t think, “Gosh, those developers worked so hard on this game. I shouldn’t be so harsh on them.” Nope, I’m thinking, “Should you spend your money on this title? It’s a lot of money; is it worth it?”
I love the genre. I love all types of RPGs. I’ve completed the original Diablo at least 6 times. I’ve completed the sequel once. I’ve played Dungeon Siege, DS: Legends of Aranna (and reviewed it highly, I might add, because I had fun with it), and various other lesser action-RPGs.
I’m a she. It’s kinda obvious by my byline.
I play console games very rarely. I spend 12+ hours on a computer every day. I’ve spent that much on a single game before, to the point where I had to use a wrist brace. FPS? Yeah, I play them. Sometimes. I tend to like very story-driven FPS, though, preferably with RPG elements. I also like The Sims, adventure games, old-school RPGs (my favorite), some RTS and TBS titles, and quirky strategy games. Funny how those weren’t mentioned in your generic “FPS/console-boy” insult.
I didn’t like the game. Get over it. If you like it, that’s absolutely wonderful. I’m truly glad for you, and I hope the developers go on to make many great titles. I just happen to think this isn’t one. I’ve liked games that other reviewers hated. I’ve hated games that other reviewers loved. They’re called opinions, and we all have them.
I know that being a writer means hearing negative opinions about my writing, and I know those people don’t know me or anything about me. I guess this is just my chance to say what I’d like to say on that other board. I’m not providing a link for obvious reasons.
Ranting about this definitely makes me feel better. Thank you if you read this far.
I’m just a freelancer, so it’s not something I do full time. There are a few others like me on this board. I recommend you start with them.
Seriously, if you’re interested in it, you should have a firm understanding of the computer (or console) games industry, and like quite a few genres. It’s a little harder to find work if you only play one or two types of games. After that, write up a couple of sample 300-500 word reviews of recent games (preferably one game you like and one you don’t), use a similar scoring system for the site or magazine you want to write for, and submit a sample. You’ll probably want to submit the samples in the body of the email, since companies might immediately filter anything with attachments. Alternatively, you can submit a query with an offer to provide samples. The head editor of the type of system you’re reviewing for would be ideal, but if you can’t find that person, editor-in-chief is the next best bet.
Look around for submission guidelines first and foremost. If a site or magazine specifically says they aren’t interested, however, you probably shouldn’t waste your time if you don’t know someone on the inside.
You could always review for free, like me! All the hassles, none of the cash!
Expecting anything decent from the Raving Looney Fanboi contingent…well, it’s just not going to happen. It’s impossible for them to fathom someone not liking their pet game. Just ignore em, they’re idiots who get emotionally involved with a CD-ROM. Though they are hilarious, at times.
When I ran my site, for example, we reviewed some strategy game and my writer gave it a poor review, because the interface was buggy as hell, there was no manual, and the game made very little sense. We got emails in response saying, verbatim, “You shouldn’t have given it such a low score! Sure, the interface is really buggy and single player doesn’t really work, but if you’re willing to look past that, it’s a lot of fun!”
Either that, or they’ll decide that being female actually makes me a less capable gamer. “Oh, well, she didn’t like it because women only like Myst and The Sims.”
I got the same “They didn’t like it because they’re all FPS players,” on the messageboard for the hideous adventure game, Full Moon In San Francisco (which should be dubbed, “Only game not even worth stealing.”) Never mind that I’ve played dozens of adventure games and a quick look at the site would prove that we review a lot of the genre. Just a blanket, “Oh, if they didn’t like this one, then it must be because they don’t like any of them.” I hate to break it to you, guys, but just because the developers are really nice people (and most of them are,) doesn’t mean they made a good game.
“I mean, yeah, it doesn’t work, and it reformats your hard drive. But other than that, it’s a terrific product.”
Heh I’m not a reviewer but I felt some of that frustration in the RPG thread where I was talking about not liking Morrowind suddenly I didn’t like all sorts of things like open ended non-linear game play which I had always thought I loved. Strange how my lack of enjoyment on one game completely defined who I was and what I did and didn’t like.
I didn’t get very deep into the game before I gave up in frustration. The major ‘bugs’ I ran into were I couldn’t get some quests to trigger correctly (apparently I’m the only one that had that particular problem) and serve load times (this may have been addressed in a patch or system specific) I could have lived with those however. My problems were with the ridiculous quests you’d get “Go give this package to John in Freeport city” (note I just made up the names though I know I got quests just like this one) well…unless I look at the map I have no idea where Freeport is. Going there directly takes a ton of time the instant travel striders don’t necessarily bring you right there. Then when you get there you find Freeport is a huge city with tons and tons of people so tracking down “John” is quite time consuming. Then for a reward I get a slightly higher standing in their guild. Whoopie. Just very uninspiring for me. Combat sucked at lower levels you would swing 50 times for about 1 hit. I never got far enough to reach critical mass but from what I understand it’s EASIER to level up the higher level you get b/c your level goes up by successful hits.
The upsides of the game are great graphics and you’re allowed to roam wherever you will. Leveling up is also skill based so you’re rewarded for roleplaying your character instead of hitting everything with a sword then putting 10 points into fireball skill or some such. Also many people seem to enjoy just wandering around the (admittedly) vast world and interacting with it.
I couldn’t get far into Morrowind because it gave me motion sickness after about 15 minutes of play. :eek: This happens with some games, but not others (or only rarely in certain games, like a couple spots in EQ). For instance, my husband brought home some kind of giant movie monster fighting game for our PS2, and after a short time watching him play, I had to leave the room as I was nauseated.
Never even touched Everquest. I won’t pay money every month to play a game I bought (though World of Warcraft is making me want to forget I ever made that vow) I hear Everquest is…mildly addictive.
Certain types of games give me motion sickness. I’ve tried to figure out which engine that bothers me and I think it’s the lilithtech one. But not all lilithtech (sp?) games do.
Way, way too many game reviewers are terrified of giving bad reviews to even the most atrocious games. I’ve long lost count of how much money I’ve wasted on abysmal, bug-ridden, generic games, because of some pussywhipped game reviewer who didn’t have the balls to write an honest review. What the fuck were the fucking fanboys reading your review for anyway, when they’ve already bought and played the fucking game?
Thank you for being one of the few who are willing to do the gamer community a great service by providing proper, honest reviews. Please don’t let that bunch of ungrateful shitwits get to you.
Am I allowed to ask what site you review for?
Thank you, Offensive. I’d rather not name the company publicly. I’ll email you the name of it, if you’d like. Or you can ICQ/AIM me: 315407262/charke2.
I, for one, appreciate reading reviews which tell me what bugs are in the game. ALL games seem to have bugs in them, I’d like to know beforehand which bugs are present. I can deal with a few broken subquests in a huge game like one of the Fallouts. I don’t like having to fiddle with my computer to get it to run a game. In an RPG, I really want to know if it’s boring, as a boring RPG is worthless to me.
I could never be a game reviewer, I just couldn’t play a game quickly enough, plus I only like a few genres. I’m glad that there are people who are willing to review games, though.
Anyway, can we shift the focus of this thread to Sacred? I loved Dialo very much, so when I heard that Sacred was a new Diablo, I rushed out to buy it. Oops. Whatever you wrote about Sacred, I’m sure it wasn’t scathing enough.
Since Inigo mentioned it above, I think the site I write for is looking for reviewers again. So if anyone’s interested, drop me an email, and I’ll get you the information.
I’ve written a review or three for GameSpy (under “The Mystery Roach”). That was several years ago, I was living with my father (who is the reason I prefer to think that I’m actually the son of a charming, witty, attractive, and intelligent milkman). He basically discouraged me from writing reviews and… well, don’t want to hijack the thread. I had fun with it, and I was told that a guy from the Unreal devteam really liked my writing style. So I guess I got lucky with mine.
