Should reviewers play through?
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So now I have Fallout 3 done and reviewed at Citizen Game (please go take a look), I'm now looking ahead to Midnight Club: LA and I believe this will be my first review without playing through the entire game first. It's always been my thought that no game should be reviewed without completing the main story first, but really, where does that end? To see all that Fallout 3 has to offer would require more time than reasonable and these side quests are really no less relevant than the main one except that they are purely optional. It makes me wonder if freelance writers get paid more to review Tales of Symphonia than, say, Gears of War. Either way, it should be up to the writer to decide how much of the game needs to be played and if you trust them enough that you're taking their review seriously then you should trust their judgement on when to cut the game short and put pen to paper (data to screen?).
What are your thoughts guys? Have you written any reviews without getting through the whole story? Where you satisfied with the outcome?
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posted by Elk at 22:43
1 Comments:
You know, I asked someone who we both respect a lot pretty much this very same question not too long ago. Here's essentially what he said, though I make no claims about the accuracy of my recollection.
"If it's a story-driven game, finish it." I don't think this means that, with a game like Fallout 3, you need to see every bit of story, every side quest and scrap of content the game has to offer, but that you at least have completed the main quest.
"If it's a racing game or something along those lines, make sure you've seen all the tracks, and tried out at least every type and class of vehicle."
"And if it's a painfully bad game that doesn't fall into either of those categories, play until you get to the point where you absolutely, positively can't stand to play it anymore, and then play it for three more hours."
Anyway, I hope that helps.
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