Game review writing 101
I know that I’m not the one that actually gets paid to write game reviews (Dan is that guy, for those of you that don’t feel like playing along,) but I have to say something about 1up’s latest review for an EA Sports title. In this case, the title is NHL09.
For those of you here that read Bill Harris, he put together an article detailing how 1up, almost without fail, gives EA Sports titles higher review scores than any of the other sites.
I get that sites all have their own scoring system and their own definition of what an excellent title is, but my issue comes with the writing of this review. If you actually skip the score at the top of the page… you can’t read the review and think that the score given actually matches what he is saying. Here are some examples.
In reference to the “Be A Player” mode…
As an experiment, I played five strong games in a row then purposely imploded — completely disregarding Be A Player’s visual cues — in the sixth. Was I benched? Demoted? No. Instead, I was given props and bumped from the third to second line.
In reference to gameplay issues….
Unfortunately, no matter which configuration you prefer, NHL 09 is not free of past unrealistic annoyances. I was still privy to bizarre last-minute goals that were seemingly designed only to keep the score close, and I still feel that one of the best defensive moves is to viciously chop players to the ice. It is time for EA to correct such indiscretions.
So, just to catch up with what he has to say… the new mode, has flaws that seem to indicate that regardless of your performance… you will be rewarded for it.
Also, the game seems to have rubber-band AI.
The score he gives the game? A, the second highest rating possible. The review just screams of “Despite all it’s flaws….”
Memo to the 1up writers, particularly this “hockey-playing madman.” When you point out flaws in a game, those are things that DETRACT from a score. Maybe I’m just old-school, but I think that’s how you write and score a review.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Actually Bill’s conclusion about 1up’s scores was way off because he made up his own conversions between the letter and number grades. If he had checked the mapping provided by 1up :
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/27/1ups-letter-grade-conversion-explained-analyzed/
there would have been almost no difference between 1up and the other sites. Where he reported that the scores were 8.5 points higher than the metacritic average, they were actually only 1.5 points above the average and not even the highest among the major sites he mentioned.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
btw the B+ for NHL translates to 8-8.5; unless the game has gotten worse I would say that is on the low side for what was easily last year’s best sports game.