Topic: What Should Reviews Actually Be?

This is a topic that myself and Sammy have discussed a few times now, and I thought it'd be interesting to get some input from the people who actually read Push Square's reviews.

So, in your opinion, what should a review be?

I'm generalising quite a bit, but there are usually two separate views on reviews:

- The first is that they exist to inform the reader. The idea is that you read a review to help you decide whether or not to buy a game - and that's really all there is to it. You want an informative, fair review that helps influence your buying habits.

- The second is that reviews are more like opinion pieces. A review is one person's view on a game, and that's about all it is. A review is not a buyer's guide -- it's a personal article from a critic.

Now, again, I realise that these are two very generalised outlooks, and there's a bit of clashing. For example, you can write very opinionated reviews, and still have them influence your buying habits. Of course, it's near impossible to leave out opinion entirely when reviewing something -- after all, every one of us has different tastes -- but is there something to be said for being as objective as possible?

What do you think? What's your ideal review? What qualities should a review possess? Do writers need to be there for the readers, or should they write for themsleves?

Hopefully a few of you have an opinion on this topic!

Wow great topic.

In my opinion a review should be an informative piece but with minor opinion pieces included.  Its is hard to write a review and not included your opinions on a game but as long as you can back them up with facts I don't see a problem. 

For example if you say that Super Mario Bros is one of the most popular games around well you got facts that can back it up like the amount of sales, how well people know Mario Bros etc.  Now if you say that Super Mario Bros is the most popular game and just leave it at that it can sound like an opinion.  If that makes sense at all.

It also helps if the writer explains why game A is great and why he/she likes it.  Is it cause the play control is similar to other games of the same genre that people who like that genre will enjoy for example.

To be truthfully I have not had to many problems about the reviews on Pushsquare, Pure Xbox or Nintendolife and they have pointed in to some great games and helped me avoid some stinkers.  Still though most people need to realize that a review is just that an opinion and in the end we all have different tastes.

Agree with Tasuki. A review should be informative for sure, opinions can definitely help as well, since it makes the reviewer come across as a gamer like all of us. That said, I believe reviews need to be objective. It's fine to put opinions in reviews but at the same time they should have kind of a general outlook to them, without bias. I never had a problem with that in reviews here and I think they're well written.

One thing I do wonder about is reviews about games in a series. I understand comparisons between a sequel and the game before are essentially mandatory, but I don't think it would hurt to look at not only how it compares to it's predecessor, but how it stands on it's own as well, since not all sequels require a player to have played the predecessor.

I think it depends a bit on the context of the review. When I'm reading reviews on Push Square, I'm primarily looking for (fairly objective) informational pieces to give me a rough idea of what a game has to offer. I value an informative review far more than an opinion based review, but a mixture of both is usually fine. It's another reason I never look at a reivew scores until I've read the review...

If the review has me interested in a game, I'll usually look to the comments or forum posts for personal OPINIONS from the staff/community  (and Taylor Swift gifs from Sammy).

An example of why I feel it's important is the Final Fantasy XIII series. If someone asked me what I think about it, I'd say that it's one of my absolute favorite gaming series. It's a bit of an 'extreme' example because generally I'm fairly alone in that opinion, but I'd still give my experience with that series a solid 10/10. Objectively, I can find a lot of issues with theses games. They are just issues that don't seem to affect my ability to enjoy them.