A community poll about reviews in the Games Beaten thread.

[Sarge]

Much appreciated, good sir! And yep, I love my 8-bit!

[Xeogred]

Thought about this more the other day, there is a 90% boosted chance I will read the full review if it's a retro game. I generally know what I want for current stuff and personally it's far more interesting and fun to "discover" or read thoughts on older titles in comparison.

[Exhuminator]

there is a 90% boosted chance I will read the full review if it's a retro game

Agreed. I come to this forum to discuss legit retro games, not brand new PS4 and Switch releases. Granted I don't mind a little discussion about modern gaming, so long as the ratio is like 85% retro talk. That's my ideal ratio anyway.

[chuckster]

I'm in the read them all camp, and I prefer in-depth reviews with pictures. Both of those things help me decide what I really think of a game and whether I want to play it. Generally you can watch a trailer or read generic marketing to get everything contained in a short review. I come to RB for unique perspectives of people who are informed by years of gaming classics, so share those opinions!

I've personally been guilty of short 'hot-take' style reviews, but I am trying to take more time with my thoughts on the games I play.

By the way, does anyone mind pictures? Should anything over say 500px be spoilered? I've always been unsure whether or not pictures were welcome, what size, etc.

[Exhuminator]

Generally you can watch a trailer or read generic marketing to get everything contained in a short review.

I don't really agree with that. If someone is good at consolidating their thoughts to the most important takeaways of their experience, a short review can be informative in ways trailers or ads aren't. I mean someone could write "This game sucks because it crashes every ten seconds, and the last boss requires pay-to-win DLC to beat ." and you'd know more in that one sentence, than a three minute trailer would lead you to believe.

I've personally been guilty of short 'hot-take' style reviews, but I am trying to take more time with my thoughts on the games I play.

Ultimately I've decided I enjoy concise reviews, a large paragraph or a few paragraphs is good. Focusing on the big picture and what your basic experience was like, with a conclusive opinion to wrap it up. When people start writing meandering two page long reviews with a dozen paragraphs, I start to lose interest honestly. I'd rather have known the overall gist of their experience, not every anecdotal thought that comes to their fingertips.

By the way, does anyone mind pictures? Should anything over say 500px be spoilered? I've always been unsure whether or not pictures were welcome, what size, etc.

There seems to be only one member here who gets upset about picture sizes or animated gifs. I've never been on any other forum before where people worry about the size or frequency of images posted, honestly. I for one enjoy pictures as they add spice to all the text. Large pictures are good for screenshots because they show more detail. My pet peeve though, is animated avatars. I've never liked that, as it's distracting and irritating. I tend to block those types of avatar images quickly.

[Ack]

So what you're saying is that you read my reviews, Exhum?

[Exhuminator]

So what you're saying is that you read my reviews, Exhum?

All day every day chief.

[Ack]

So what you're saying is that you read my reviews, Exhum?

All day every day chief.

Well in that case, I'll try to get through these CRPGs a little faster.

[chuckster]

Generally you can watch a trailer or read generic marketing to get everything contained in a short review.

I don't really agree with that. If someone is good at consolidating their thoughts to the most important takeaways of their experience, a short review can be informative in ways trailers or ads aren't. ...

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. I'll be on the lookout for short but sweet reviews!

[marurun]

There seems to be only one member here who gets upset about picture sizes or animated gifs. I've never been on any other forum before where people worry about the size or frequency of images posted, honestly. I for one enjoy pictures as they add spice to all the text. Large pictures are good for screenshots because they show more detail. My pet peeve though, is animated avatars. I've never liked that, as it's distracting and irritating. I tend to block those types of avatar images quickly.

Me? No, it's simply tedious to scroll through those too when looking just for the summary or not being interested in a particular review. But of course the spoilers tags can help here.

People like pictures over text. A lot of people barely read any longer texts online at all and struggle to get through 10+ minute youtube videos. Not sure why you'd want to cater to them though.

I actually get really annoyed at a lot of YouTube reviews. They often take way too long to get to the point. Too much prologue and not enough review. Most YouTube reviewers could learn something about video reviews from a quality review TV show Siskel & Ebert: At the Movies. I know that show is historical at this point, but they didn't just monkey around. They reviewed stuff and got to the point.