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In Which GameDaily Editor Chris Buffa Asks the Obnoxious Honest Questions
Chris Buffa, GameDaily editor and resident pot-stirrer (who "needs to go work at McDonalds" because he gave a game 8/10) took the question-asking reins this week. We kill some sacred cows of gaming (*cough*Miyamoto*cough*Wii Music*cough), list our most overused gaming cliches, and call out game publishers who are seriously lacking. Are we trying to start a fire? Of course not.
- Robin
(1) OK, secret's out. Not every journalist beats the games he or she reviews. Do you and your staff finish all these games, and if not, at what point do you stop playing and review them?
I don't review games. As for when do I bail on a game, if it's bad, I bail early. If it's good, I try to stick with it as long as possible, but sometimes real life or other games interrupt me and I often don't go back.
I don't review games, so I don't feel I'm obligated to finish them. That said, I love getting to the end of both games I really enjoy (Gears of War 2, Fable II) and those which, while flawed, I just have to see what the developer did in them (Too Human). But what I've struggled to do is recognize when a game isn't fun for me anymore and have the courage to bail out, even if I spent many hours in it (Final Fantasy XII).
Slippery slope, no? What's "completion"? Completing every sidequest in Fable 2? Getting every achievement in Fallout 3? Or playing enough to give you a really competent impression of what's being offered? I think this is a decision that should be evaluated on a per-game basis. Gears of War 2? You should probably complete the single-player campaign, but I don't think tackling Lvl. 50 on Horde is necessary to render a fair verdict.
For me personally, I try to at least beat the game to get the complete experience the developer wants to give the player. If I can't, then I at least try to get a good idea of the game's pace, features, etc. to be able to give an honest opinion that I believe would be beneficial for the reader.
I always make it a point to, at the very least, finish a game before I review it. I wouldn't review a film without watching it all the way through... and I refuse to review a game without playing start to finish. That's why I am so behind with my reviews. The holiday game rush combined with my stupid beliefs are getting in the way!
Me and most of my staff do not finish games before reviewing them. We have to turn around copy so quickly at GameDaily that we don't have time for completion. Our general rule of thumb is "play the game until you get a good feel for it."
I try to play start to finish, unless the game is really really bad; those games rarely redeem themselves. But I tend to find some entertainment in even the most mediocre of titles.
Chris TaylorIt all depends what type of game it is. If it's something casual, a sports game or a racing game I'll generally just play through all the features to get a feel for it. However, if it's a rather deep RPG I'll try and play up to my deadline so I can get a proper feel for it, even if I don't finish it. It's quite bad I know, but I don't have a lot of free time to play through games. I do have enough, however, to get a proper feel of a game.
Of the few dozen reviews I've written in my career I've always ended up finishing the title before putting pen to paper. I don't think it's necessarily needed but it always makes me feel more confident in my final product. Sometimes if you play a game that is just broken, you know it's a mess. Finishing up that quest isn't going to change anything but if your complaints and the review itself is story based then you should probably see how it ends.
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