What makes a good review?

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networkn

Networkn
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#280354 10-Dec-2020 10:30

So, I was pondering, with the release of Cyberpunk and the huge variance in the scores, what sort of things are important to be included in a review for you?

I prefer my reviews out of 10.

Do you like it when a game gets scored down because it's buggy, even if it's unbelievably amazing otherwise?

Do you have any review sites, youtubers or otherwise that you trust, or particularly like?

I like it when areas of the game like graphics, sound, fun levels are broken down and addressed.

I also like it when a reviewer states other games they played similarly that they enjoyed to give context. I prefer reviewers who don't like particular genres, to just skip them. I think larger review sites with multiple reviewers like IGN do tend to cover this stuff better.

Thoughts?

Deamo

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#2619251 10-Dec-2020 10:50

I don't generally look at reviews, when I do, I'll give more weight to a review that doesn't boil everything dow to a score or award.. i find that meaningless.

Agreed providing context is important. I also want to know of any in game bugs or issues they had getting the game to start, including what the dev is doing (if anything) about them.

Reviewers that don't enjoy the genre I think provide a useful experience (some can be awful), particularly when it's a genre that I wouldn't normally play. In my experience some of the overwhelmingly positive reviews feel like they gloss over things, simply because they play a lot of those games, and write the reivew with the expectation that anyone looking knows about the common complaints in the genre.

I'd mainly want an overview, like "this is what it's about", "these are the mechanics", "i liked ..", "i didn't like ..", etc.

Totalbiscuit's first impression series was a good exmaple of the style i like.

Senecio

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#2619362 10-Dec-2020 12:34

I will often use Metacritic.

What I like about it

It's an aggregator so you get many different reviews in one place
Using the Metascore helps to eliminate the complete duds from those worth looking into
It also combines user reviews as well as critics. I often find critic reviews too favourable, users are much more honest, particularly on bugs
All my media reviews in one place. Games, Movies, TV and Music.