In the aftermath of my last Freaking Rant, I thought that I'd share some of my other thoughts about what makes a good game review.  This article comes from a couple of perspectives, both as a reader and as a writer of reviews.  It is shaped by what I find valuable in reviews that I read and by my ideas of what the purpose and who the targets of a review really are.  Again, it's meant to be more of a discussion topic rather than as a definition of all that is true about reviews, so feel free to agree, disagree, or build upon what I've written.

Okay, enough introduction stuff.  Here are my 5 keys to writing meaningful reviews:

1) Know why you're writing the review!

Who is your target?  What are you trying to accomplish with the review?  What point are you trying to get across with it?  What are you looking to get out of it?

This is sort of like having a mission statement for the review.  It's something that will help keep you on track and focus the way you write it.  Because remember, a review is ultimately for the readers, and you need to make sure that it's valuable to them or the whole thing becomes rather pointless.  Everything in a review should support and enable you to give a meaningful opinion to people who are looking for it, end of story.

And if you're just trying to write a review to get GeekGold on BGG, pick up a camera and take some redundant, crappy pictures to submit, 'cause I promise you (from personal experience) that it's a lot easier to make GG that way...  

2) Be knowledgeable about the game! 

I don't need to rehash all that I said in my rant, but regardless of how many times you actually play a game, you really need to know the rules and basic gameplay inside and out.  There's nothing worse than reading a review for a game you've played a couple of times and realizing that the author has totally missed something really basic either about the rules or how the game is played. 

But on the other hand, there will always be people who know more about the game than you do.  There may be people out there with thousands and thousands of plays of the game under their belt, and I guarantee that they will be able to find fault with any conclusions that you make about the game after your 5-10 plays.  But, since most people aren't going to play a game thousands of times, your relatively well-informed opinion of the game is probably more relevant to readers than that of the uber-experienced player.

So, give your due dilligence to the game, have a very solid working knowledge of it, and make sure that you're comfortable with at least basic strategies before writing the review.

3) Don't try to teach all the rules!

There is nothing more boring than someone trying to literally teach a game, from beginning to end, as part of a review.  First of all, it's almost impossible to do, because the reader doesn't have the game in front of them to see and manipulate and understand what's really going on.  Most games even make their rules available online these days, so why reinvent the wheel when you can just link to the rules.  And even if the published rules really suck, a review isn't really the place for you to rewrite them.

Readers only need a basic understanding of the game and how it plays to have some context to go along with your opinions about it.  Give a high-level overview of the game and what mechanics are involved.  If you go more in-depth, make it about some part of play that is particularly unique or interesting, or maybe about the particular elements or interactions that really fascinated or frustrated you.  Don't feel the need to give extraneous details about things like specific cards or powers or exceptions to the game unless they are absolutely vital to understanding the basics of the game.  

Stay focused on how the game feels when you play it.  People want to know what the game generally does and what experience it delivers, so only explain the rules necessary to support this. 

And since I'm one of the main "game explainers" in my group, I tend to find myself falling into this trap from time to time as well.  But as I'm writing, I try to ask myself, "Would I want to bother reading this?", and if I would see myself using the scroll wheel to skip past it, then I try to cut it down as much as I can.

4) Share your freaking opinion about the game!

Way too many times, I read reviews that go on for 4 or 5 paragraphs (or more) trying to teach the game, and then conclude with one little anemic paragraph where the author says that that liked the game and little more.  So let me make this clear, the point of a review is to share your opinion!  I've already talked about limiting how much you write about the rules, so now let's talk about beefing up what you write about your thoughts on the game. 

First of all, as you're playing games, you need to start thinking critically about them and evaluating your play experience.  I mean, sure, it's easy to know whether or not you liked a game, but it actually takes some effort to figure out why you liked it or not.  And in order for you to intelligently share your opinion with others about a game, you first have to understand it yourself.

Once you've got your thoughts straight, share them in the review.  Give your overall impression, but also get into the details of what you liked and disliked about the game.  Talk about what worked and what didn't, the pace and atmosphere of the game, and maybe even some of the strategies/tactics that you were able to use and/or explore through play.  "Show" people what you think about the game through illuminating details rather than (or really, in addition to) just telling them straight out.  And sometimes, it's also good to give some details about yourself, your background, and your gaming preferences if it might help explain why a game did or didn't work for you.

All the extra effort you put into this part of the review will help the reader to have more context to interpret your opinions.  Because I've definitely read some positive reviews that went into this kind of detail, but the things that the authors were describing were things that I absolutely hate in a game, so I was able to understand that the game probably wasn't going to be for me.  And, of course, the opposite has happened as well.  As long as you keep your comments clear, concise, and focused (and not rambling, scattered, and inconsistent), more information is usually better for the reader.

5) Write more reviews!

Once you've figured out how to do all this relatively well, just keep writing reviews!  The only real way to get better at writing is to write, so you should see a general development in your style and how easy it flows with more practice.  Plus, one of the most valuable things in reading a review is having a "relationship" with the reviewer; knowing their likes and dislikes and how they match up with your own.  So work on developing your own voice and style, figure out a format or layout that can be unique for you, and continue to work out what you're trying to accomplish with your reviews.
     


The keyboard can be intimidating sometimes, but keep writing anyway!