GameSkinny Guide to Success: An Effective Review

Your Audience

Let’s talk about the people you’re trying to reach. Obviously, for reviews, your market becomes the players of any specific or series of titles. Fairly simple. Just keep in mind that this audience is diverse and may have different levels of understanding. Decide who, primarily, you will be targeting. Noobs? Maybe pros? Maybe the casual gamer? Deciding this beforehand will help you define the kind of language you will be using. Pros tend to understand the jargon and need less explanation for acronyms and terms. Newer players may need you to tell them what certain things mean.

Cool, you know who you’re talking to. What about the game itself?

The general rule of thumb is to review games that you have some insight on. Talk about your experience level (how often you played, what class, etc). Readers want to know they’re reading a review from someone who actually played the game. Not a writer who was paid to say super great things.

Your opinion really is important!

We’re taught all throughout school not to include personal voice in our work. Especially if you don’t have an interest in writing or even like to do it very often, it’s important to understand that a review almost requires your opinion. It isn’t a review without some personal perspective. It’s all about what you found interesting about the game, what you would recommend, what you would avoid. News should be objective–reviews should not.

Be Honest

Most importantly of all, be honest. It’s frowned upon on pretty much any community across the internet to play the paid spokesperson. Even if a company has given you a title to try, it’s very important to give your honest opinion and not string consumers along to score a paycheck or a free game. This will often times cost you your credibility.