Review Guidelines

Need more help? Below you will find some tips to structure your thoughts and help write a review that is clear and helpful. You'll be surprised about how much you have to say! By the way: following these guidelines isn't mandatory in any way. If you feel the need, go ahead and rant uncontrollably :-)

Introduction: What kind of game is this and what kind of gamer are you?

You may want to start with a short introduction of the game and your expectations. Is it part of a series? If so, are you a fan of the series or have you played earlier versions? Are you a fan of the genre?
A little background will help readers place the game and your opinion into perspective..

Examples:
About NFS Carbon: "The Need for Speed games have never been my favorite race games, I prefer games like Gran Turismo or Forza. The NFS controls are too arcade for me and I didn't care much for the cosmetic tuning of my car. But after seeing some NFS Carbon screenshots, I figured let's give it a go.".

About Mario vs DK2: "I liked the original Mario vs Donkey Kong game on the GBA. Games like this are a good fit for a handheld device. The one-screen puzzles offer nice small chunks of playability, perfect for picking up in a spare moment. The gameplay of this version 2 is quite different, as it is all stylus-driven."

About MoH: Vanguard: "So after playing a bit of Red Steel and failing miserably at it (and thus giving the game a bad review) I wasn't very anxious to play Medal of Honor: Vanguard. It seemed pointless as I wasn't very good at pointing the Wii-mote and moving around with it. Still, I wanted to play in this draught period of the year when it comes to games, so I put it in my Wii and started."

About SSX Blur: "I love snowboarding games and the SSX games have always been my favorites, because of their cool mix or board racing and over the top tricks. I have played them all to death, especially SSX Tricky. So I have been looking forward to SSX Blur, hoping that it would be a good addition to the series."

Your opinion: What did you like about this game and why? Any parts or aspects you didn't like?

This is were you describe the things you liked and the things you didn't like. Typical aspect to discuss:

• Graphics: Does the game look good? If possible, compare it to its predecessor in a series or to other games in the same genre.
• Controls: Did you like the control system? Anything particularly great about it or maybe annoying?
• Gameplay: Did you enjoy playing the game? Was it challenging enough or maybe too hard or too easy?
• Sound / Music: What about the sound effects and background music? Great surround sound maybe? Was the music annoying or particularly catchy?
• Story: Was there a good story in the game? Was it told well, e.g. by cutscenes, voice-overs or maybe in-game?
• Multi-player: Is there a multi-player mode? Split-screen only or also online? Did it work well and was it enjoyable?

Don't feel obliged to cover all of the above, just discuss the ones that stood out, either in a good or a bad way. Is the music outstanding? Then say so. If it was just average, skip that part. Also pick those that are especially important to you. If you aren't interested in multi-player features or just didn't try them, just leave em out. But in the end it's all up to you, the above are just some pointers to jump-start your brain :-)

Examples:
About the graphics in Gran Turismo HD: "The game plays in full HD on 1080p resolution, if your screen can handle it. My plasma screen only goes as far as 1080i, but even that looks perfect. On these resolutions, I was expecting the game to drop some frames here and there, but that's not the case. The track in this demo (The Eiger) is een short lap through a Swiss mountain area and it looks almost photo-realistic. The cars also look better, but it's the scenery that makes this game look better that previous editions. The mountains in the background, the cabins on the side of the road, the details like cracks in the tarmac, the grass next to the tarmac. In GT4 we still got the cardboard spectators, now these are real 3D persons and they're even moving about doing their thing"

About the controls in Sonic the Hedgehog: "The controls are terrible, the camera is going all over the place, you keep running into walls, after which the camera sweeps around, making you loose your bearing."

About the gameplay in Lego Star Wars II: "Some may find it too easy, because you can never really die. When your health reaches zero, your little Lego guy (or girl) just falls part in lego pieces for a few seconds, then re-assembles and you can continue playing from the same spot. Yep, that's right, you never ever have to start over from your last save point, checkpoint or, even worse, from the start of the level. Works great for me, it makes sure the game stays fun and never gets annoying."

About the music in Excite Truck: "The music is terrible (bad Japanese guitar noise), but you can insert an SD card with your favorite MP3 tracks in your Wii and use that as background music."

About the story in Shadow of the Colossus: "The story is virtually non existant. You dont know the protagonists name or the name of the girl he is trying to save or his relation with her. You just know that you have to get rid of all the colossi ravaging the small country you are in to get her back to life. Crappy story aside the gameplay is friggin amazin."

About the multi-player features of MotorStorm: "Amazingly, MotorStorm doesn't have a splitscreen multiplayer feature. However, this omission is made up for by the excellent online multiplayer feature. Finding an online game is quick and easy. I had one game with lag, but that was on the night of the PS3 launch, maybe servers were too busy?"

Conclusion: What's your final verdict? Would you recommend this game? Any alternatives?

At the end of your review you can state your overal opinion of the game. Did you enjoy it or not?
Also, did you enjoy it enough to dare recommend it to others? Or maybe you can recommend some better or alternative games in the same genre? If you recommend to get a different game instead, let the reader know why that other is better.

Examples:
About Ridge Racer 7: "Are you a real Ridge Racer fan and already an expert in RR-style drifting? Then you just have to get this one, part 7 is again looking better and the game's structure is well thought-out too. But if you compare this game to the other PS3 launch games and other recent race games then it's not very special. If you like arcade racers then MotorStorm or Burnout Revenge are better choices."

About Guitar Hero II: "I guess you'll have to be a bit of a rock fan to really get into this though, as it is more fun to play songs you actually know. Great game, go get it now. And if you have friends, get an extra guitar too :-)"

About Medal of Honor: Vanguard: "This game isn't worth your hard-earned cash - especially not compared to COD3. You could rent it out sometime though, you can easily complete it in 1 or 2 days."

About Monster 4x4: "Ubisoft was smart to make sure this game was released before Excite Truck (it was a Wii launch game even), so they could shift some copies of it. But now Excite Truck is available, I really see no reason to buy Monster 4x4. I am glad I didn't, I borrowed it from a friend, just out of curiosity. He had already told me it wasn't very good and he was right."