How to do a good Review? Thread

I want to review a mod, could someone help me to know what are the elements to do a good one?

It always helps to play the mod quite a lot, as well as the game it is for, and probably a few similar mods. That allows you to get a good subjective opinion of the mod.

Get to know a bit about the history of the mod and the creators intentions (try to get it without all the creator hype too, lol) - this gives you both something to talk about, and you can see how well the mod fits the intent and aim of the creator.

Make sure you can sit back and tell us what's good, what's bad, and why that makes it good or bad, as well as if it's different, why it's different. I find that scoring a review afterwards is also something to be avoided as it tends to make a mockery of the reviewing process itself.

ambershee wrote: I find that scoring a review afterwards is also something to be avoided as it tends to make a mockery of the reviewing process itself.

All great advice, but I especially agree with you on that last bit. I really wish that game reviewers would stop the use of review scores. It is truly impossible to sum up a game in a review score because all the different pros and cons may be of differing relevance to different people.

Sallycin wrote:

ambershee wrote: I find that scoring a review afterwards is also something to be avoided as it tends to make a mockery of the reviewing process itself.

All great advice, but I especially agree with you on that last bit. I really wish that game reviewers would stop the use of review scores. It is truly impossible to sum up a game in a review score because all the different pros and cons may be of differing relevance to different people.

Yes I agree with you both and I was thinking to don't score the mod. I think that scores are good if they are done by lot of players that can tell their opinions about the mod/game. It is more representative that only an alone score by a reviewer.

For example this:
Meristation.com

Thanks.

I encourage you to do reviews, it's good to make information available about mods/games for the users of mod data base.

Also it's fun to describe how bad or how good have been the time that you have spent downloading installing and playing the mod, you can use the review to express your frustation when the mod was bad or your surprise when the mod is good and it don't have the attention it deserves.

I saw that There were 3 reviews about PARANOYA MOD for Half life. 1 very negative 1 very positive.

I think that both reviews were good. I had a better Idea of the game when I raed the three of them instead of reading the one that score higher or only the one that score lower.

I think that as mod reviewing is not done by professionals, one way to do them more representative is to allow "Gamers" to RE-review the mods inside every review posted.

As in the link I pasted above. Where Reviewer scored The witcher as 8.5, and mos of the users gived the game a 9.

In mods the opinions could even more defferent so I think it is more important to have a RE-Review option in the site.

Thanks.

Write notes as you play. It really helps to have a pen and a notepad nearby. Not pages and pages of them, but just bullet point type notes. Helps you to remember what you enjoyed and what you didnt when the time comes to write your review.

Even if a game is awful there is normally at least one thing that stands out as better than the rest, so try to get a mix of good and bad points to talk about even if the mod is mainly awful.

Try to not write with an attitude. Yes a game/mod may have annoyed the hell out of you, but if you go into it all "this mod is TERRIBLE and should be BURNED" sort of thing, then it's not really a review, it's just a rant, and it wont help the developer do better next time, as they're likely to just ignore your points because you made them in a hostile way. One or two things with attitude can help to give your review a bit of umph, but too much of it and you'll just come across as a jerk.

I try to read as little as possible about the mod before I've formed my own opinions by playing it. I read about the basic features and the blurb, but other than that I let the game tell me about itself rather than pretending to form my own opinions after reading other peoples.

Perhaps this detailed review guidelines article will help.

The system is used throughout HeavenGames, a collection of gaming communities specifically catering to the 'Age of' series, proving its versatility across a wide variety of game styles.