If you want to start writing or creating your own video game reviews, then you’re going to need to know exactly what to do to make people care about them. Everybody starts out without about two readers (and that will include your mom), but there are things you can do to steadily grow your audience until you’re successful. Who knows? You might even be asked to do a little freelance journalism, or get sent games for free to review. If you love games, this could be a great hobby.
Read on to find out how to make people care about your own video game reviews:
Understand You Have A Narrow Window
There aren’t many game manufacturers that actually give games away for free for people to review – so if you want people to care about your reviews, you’re going to need to be fast. You’ll need to buy games the second they are released, play them enough to get a well rounded picture of how it plays, and then review it. People often watch reviews on a game when deciding to buy it, so ideally, you’ll publish your review within a few days of the game being released. At the absolute most, your review shouldn’t be published any later than a week after the game is released. If you are expecting people to send you things to review or look out, then having web po box services can be useful – you will be able to view and manage your postal mail online easily.
Give The Game A Chance
You aren’t going to get a good idea of the ins and outs of the game for your review in an hour or two. 7-10 hours is a good amount of play time to aim for if you want to write a great review. You should get a decent amount of information at this point to formulate your review, and the review shouldn’t take you too long to put together if you do it right. Do take into account editing time, though – especially if you’re vlogging it.
Make Notes As You Play
Make sure you make notes as you play so you don’t forget anything important that a buyer might want to know. What elements stand out? Any immediate problems? Are there any exciting/boring features? How does this game compare to other games out right now?
Things To Remember
This isn’t your chance to completely dissect the game’s narrative or anything like that. You need to strike the right balance. People won’t want to read a bunch of useless musings that bogs down the content. Many people will like a review that is anywhere from 800 – 1500 words.
You’ll also need to make sure the most important things in your review are covered. This includes:
Sound
Graphics
Gameplay
Replay value
Story
Your own personal opinion
You might find it useful, once you have written your review, to step away from it for a few hours before you come back to edit it. This can make it so much easier to see things you need to edit. You’ll be able to spot any spelling/grammar mistakes, awkward sentences, and formatting issues. You might also want to have somebody you trust read it over before publishing it.
Once you’ve published your review, monitor its success and see what you can learn for your next one!
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Jim Franklin
Jim Franklin is a freelance writer, living in Derby UK with his wife and his player 3. When time allows he likes nothing more than losing himself in a multi-hour gaming session. He likes most games and will play anything but prefers MMO's, and sandbox RPG's.
