Reviews Have Changed....

Or at least mine will be. From here on out I've set out to clarify my scoring and review techniques.

Before I write a review, I try to play as much of the game as possible, for example if a game has a single player component, I will try to finish that so I have good ground to discuss. If a game also has an ample multiplayer component, I will play it to the point where I feel I have formulated a good enough opinion of my experience playing the game.

What I've found in the past is that I have been changing the categories under which the games I review are rated, such as Unlockables or Multiplayer etc. So what I am now trying to do is tie up my system to consist of basic units which can be counted for every review, and thus allow if a game doesn't come with multiplayer or specifically isn't designed with unlockables. So below is the criteria for all future reviews:

Presentation - this deals with graphics, appearance and sound. Basically it deals with all elements into which the game looks. This won't deal with my personal taste for style choices as I will leave that to the design element.

Gameplay - this scores how well the type of gameplay being presented is executed and allows for innovation in the genre. This score will not be hampered by performance issues but is subject to a FUN factor.

Story - as you may have guessed deals with the storyline if there is one, but also entails any voice acting, character design, atmosphere, setting and architecture. For example - even if the character models don't look "good" they can still be good characters to interact with, and any unimpressive visuals are accounted for in Presentation.

Design - mainly deals with framerates and game peformance and general score for the idea or style behind the game and whether I feel the developers have successfully implemented what they advertised they would do and whether or not they could have achieved more.

Content - covers anything from unlockables, trophies/achievements, length of the game, replayability, multiplayer etc, anything which can give you an idea if you've got something that's worth your money. A game won't be critiqued on all of them, for example Bioshock is 20 hours long, but has no mulitplayer and no unlockables for completing the game, but that doesn't suggest your not getting a great experience for your money.

Hopefully these changes will turn out for the better, check out the LittleBigPlanet Review above to see how it works.

~The Damo