Its A Matter of Taste

Ask two reviewers what their opinion on a game is and you'll likely get a different answer. Reviewers are people and not everyone has the same taste. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately (depends on your point of view), reviews all come to down to personal preference. One reviewer might think the controls are imprecise, while another may have no trouble with them. Another reviewer may find a game boring, while yet another reviewer may rave about the same game.

 When a game developer lets reviewers review their game, they are taking a chance. I'm sure no one ever thinks they created a bad game. I'm sure each and every developer thinks their game is great or really good. I mean, they have to right? They are putting their game out there and hoping people will buy it. You have to be gutsy and believe in your product. Right? I'm just guessing here. I'm only a reviewer.

I never like writing bad reviews. Its not fun. Its not fun to play bad games and its not fun to rate someones game low. But I want to be truthful to the developer and to my audience. If I don't like a game, I tell you I don't like and I explain why. Sometimes, I fail at explaining why or I forget something. I'm only human.

It seems like writing bad reviews comes easy to me. That doesn't mean I go out of my way to write a bad review. I go into each and every game I play hoping, sometimes desperately so, that the game will be good. But when a game is bad or is not that good, its pretty obvious whats wrong. Well, at least to me. Everyone has different standards as far as how a game should be. Some people love cellphone games or smaller experiences better than bigger experiences. For some people, a game has to have a lot of content or why bother.

Writing reviews for good games is much harder. You have to make sure that the game is as good as you think it is. Are you just a fan of this particular style? Is your judgement missing some flaw? Yes, you have to look at it from all angles. Sometimes, you have to be tough on the good ones too.

In the end, reviews are a matter of taste. You put your trust in a reviewer when you read their review. You hope that you agree with them. Sometimes you don't. I think, sometimes, you have to read between the lines and find out if the game sounds good to you.

I do my best to review a game. I won't apologize. If I mess up, I'll try better next time. If you don't agree with my review, thats fine. Its my opinion. What's yours?