Reviewing Tutorial Layout and Writing Pattern Presumingly, the idea of making a reviewing tutorial was to improve the current conditions of the reviews submitted because there are only a handful of good up to detailed reviews that you come across rarely. It's also vital to give a head forward to the review sec. and making it as popular and content-rich or it would rather die due to minimized user activity as other forum sections notably the Romulation magazine project which was rather taken up with zeal at the start and after the first issue, like the user activity had just vanished and many deserted as well. So here's a brief information about how to make your review applicable enough to go past the moderation filter. Although taking in account the recent sights of it, many newbies who submit their review firstly go through the locked review section and secondly don't write it in an applicable way. ( which is maybe an outcome of not reading the review rules properly or not even reading them.. ) So, this reviewing tutorial should actually pick up some viewers to improve the current conditions or the review sec. would remain the same. Now, what's going to be written will rightfully explain an ensconce layout and in what quantity and pattern you should write. It will also explain what tips can help you gain an extra edge. It is fairly important that you go from point to point not cramming everything at once. Preferably starting with a brief explanation of the genre that the game is based on. If you aren't much genre-oriented then its optional enough to skip this part. After that, starts more of like a crucial part of the review ( where most people often make mistakes ). It's opinionating to start the review with a brief introduction, giving your viewers the basic insight from the very start. In case, you are finding difficult of to what to include in the intro then I'd say, start about expressing your feelings about the game and your personal experience, then how the game feeds into the current generation and lastly moving on to the bad and good points of the game. It's good and well, if you also stat some cool new features that make it unique. After you are done with the intro, it's more basic you start with a brief synopsis or a small collection of events and a small description about the protagonists and antagonists of the game. If there isn't any storyline, it is better to start with the explanation of gameplay features itself. Now, the gameplay selfly can be the most intriguing part of any game, it would mostly include interface items, actions or stealth sequences ( mostly in action or adventure genred games ) and other more similar esoteric gameplay features depending on various genrical titles. It's good that you have a share of knowledge about the games that are similar to your reviewed game, to make a suitable comparison. Couple of paragraphs are then followed up deciphering every little feature and parts of the game. Also a bit of comparison between the console versions and PC version can be delightfully helpful ( If you possibly can...). Then you reach to graphics, again being part descriptive and the other making it as small as possible should be the key in the review. Now graphics can be a major point that appeal people to buy the game, well for what I think. Graphics can include, how well the characters and the environment is rendered, or what engine is it based on, whether it keeps the system requirements high or low and stability of the frame rate are the actual aspects of graphics. Lastly, you are roused to sound, in which you can rightly explain about how good are the sound effects, voice acts and soundtracks included in the game. Conclusion, should be quite similar to the intro, but this time just making it small and telling whether game is worthwhile or what? Then finally you can wrap it up with the score starting from presentation to graphics, gameplay, sound, replayabilty/lasting appeal and finally the score on the whole which should be out of 50 and sub topics should be out of 10 each. Remember guys the score should be sensible and logically backed up. Some Useful Tips Screenshots Screenshots are very important for a gamer to conceptualize the real image of the game as the phrase goes, actions rather speak better than words or text in our situation. Now, for the screenshots they can be either uploaded by yourself or from other gaming sites ( preferably IGN, as they give images in the right size, not so big not so small ) and don't forget to add a box art as well. It is important that you select varied handpicked screenshots to give a good insight. Actually if you end the review with couple of fictional fan arts, only because I had this in mind, it would look attractive & recreational. It is also advisable to centrally align the screenshots to just give it that shimmery effect, also some description or statements can be placed at the bottom of screenshots which can be written either full of sarcasm ;D or sensibility. Vocabulary, Fonts and Acceptable length of the review Correct vocabulary and grammar has become more important on the reviews sec. because moderators select only the master content and they really do. So, I'd recommend high precautions about correct spelling and punctuation. Another helpful and dinky little detail is the bold and italicized use of fonts for highlighting some key terms, eg. the final score and its sub categories ( to prevent conflict between some words ). Talking about length which is essential to give your viewers content-rich experience, has to be at least two pages of text on MS document. References and Miscellaneous content Yes, reference is wholly welcomed but plagiarism is highly resented, I am saying it not only for the sake of being lawful but also coz' I have learned my lesson as well. For making the review to be easy to tract it's highly recommended to add system information content for the viewers to get the whole look of it. If the game is on PC, then stating about system requirements is also well and good. Final touch is that your creativeness is equally necessary.
I would suggest using a point system (like actual teachers use to grade English papers) would make it easier to approve/disapprove without having all of the gray area. Basically, a rubric. But I'm glad that you posted something like this. Hopefully, the review submission section won't be so clogged up.
I really don't think that it needs a point system, as I find that most readers seem to just scroll down and judge the game by numbers to see if they should get it or not. To me, it makes my entire review a huge wall of text that is disregarded, and most of the spotlight is shown on the numbers. I think that we shouldn't use points if we don't have to, as long as the words that describe the game are stressing on how good it is (or the opposite of that), that way readers get a better impression and judgement than that of numbers. I also think the IGN way of rating is a bit bad because it kind of disregards a rating for a good story (although I'm well aware that some gamers are into gameplay only, and that some games lack story altogether). I think our own essential categories for rating would be better, like Story, Gameplay, Control, Graphics, Replayability, etc.
Yes, and I disregarded all three of your "walls of text" because they didn't have scores, and are too short to be deemed a "wall of text." They are too short in general...
Can anyone give me an example of a review? Is it necessary to put a screenschot? and I relly don't get whatthe intro means, can I just make a review without it?
Err.. Did you mean that the length of the review is a maximum of 2 pages of MS Word? Or minimum of 2 pages of MS Word?
Here's an example of a high quality game review that Vincent_Valentine does: https://www.romulation.org/forum/index.php?topic=20120.0
This is basically what goes on in my mind as I read these reviews. If at any point my answer is no, I scroll to the bottom, look for scores to see if those are correct (probably not), scroll down to see comments, next review. Look at Title. Is it correctly formatted? Does it have box art? Is the information correct? Intro: Is it a good length? Quick scan for typos. Is it clear of typos? Any pictures? Are they of gameplay? Body: Does this review even have a body? Same stuff as Intro: Conclusion: Does it even attempt to conclude? Scoring? Explanations of Scoring? Is the format congruent with the other scoring subheadings? (ie. if Gameplay is bolded, is Sound also?) Score is /50? If every answer is yes, then I will actually read your review and if it is semi-decent in substance, chances are you'll get positive feedback.
