Dracomut1990: 1. Thou shalt not ignore a game’s flaws. No game is perfect and each is always going to have at least one problem. Even if you think it minor, be sure to divulge anything you think is an issue with the gameplay.
Indeed, no issues with that.
Dracomut1990: 2. Thou shalt not complain about the price of the game, sales exist and can render complaints about price moot. If you sincerely think a game is overpriced, just say “wait for it to go on sale”.
Strongly disagree. As Lifthrasil said earlier, value-for-price is part of the decision making process for many people. A game costs a certain amount of money. What justifies this price tag? Does this $10 game provide enough value to live up to its price? Does this $60 game provide very little to justify putting that much cash on it? When comparing games, do I spend $10 on a game that can be done in 30 minutes with no extra content, or do I spend $30 on a game with a healthy modding scene, multiplayer that doesn't rely on any specific clients, tons of extras and tons of freedom, hours of gameplay and extremely replayability, etc? The price tag can make or break a game! Don't "wait for it to go on sale" on me. Besides, for how long would I have to wait to get a game exactly? Obviously a game that is released in the few days before the Fall Sale will not be discounted in the Fall Sale and will still sport full price. So yes, I want to know if spending $10 on that game with little content is better or worse than spending $30 on a game which I'll play for ages.
Dracomut1990: 3. Thou shalt not complain about the game not working on your computer when others clearly show the game itself is in working condition. FAQs and customer service exist for a reason, take your complaints to the people who run Gog and spare us.
Disagree. You should be able to. Especially if none of that work and the developers don't offer you a solution.
Dracomut1990: 4. Thou shalt not complain about modern games, yes there are problems in the industry today but overall games have gotten better over the years: less bullcrap difficulty, more varied gameplay, more innovation, better graphics, learning from the mistakes of old games, more multiplayer... No need to waste your review grumbling on how you think new games aren’t good.
Disagree. Games have gotten worse over the years: the difficulty of new games often rely on a long grind alleviated by in app purchases, and this more varied gameplay can be as without effort as "having new gameplay with few changes here and there." People have the right to see past the "better graphics" and rightfully call out stuff that are just nickel and diming, like in app purchases any form, excessive DLCs, etc.
Dracomut1990: 5. Thou shalt not take into account whoever makes the game in your review. Some companies are scummy to be sure, but even they can make good games. Leave your opinions on them out of the review, review the game itself.
Strongly disagree. Yes you should, doubly so on GOG. You should call out a specific developer or publisher for not updating their games or holding back some content. You should call out for discrepancies in price when compared to another PC "store." You should call out publishers for holding back the full potential of a game. Even if they did nothing with that particular game, reminding the reader that this game was published by EA is a good reminder as any.
Dracomut1990: 6. Thou shalt not title your review “best _ ever”, I hate to break to you but that one DOS game from your childhood is not the pinnacle of whatever genre it is, even if it is hailed as a classic there really is no one best game in any form. You can praise something without using hyperbole.
Don't care. It's all a matter of the reviewer's taste and language, and would in a normal scenario, not paint the rest of the review with that brush.
Dracomut1990: 7. Thou shalt actually give details on how a game is “innovative”, “fun”, or “unique”, those words aren’t specific and don’t help anyone.
8. On a similar note, thou shalt not make a review that is just “this game is good. I’ve played it a bunch”. You are given a substantial amount of letters for a reason, use them and clarify what you actually like about the game
Agree
Dracomut1990: 9. Thou shalt not talk about how you grew up with the game. You can gush about a game without giving your whole life story
Disagree. You can talk about how this game is what kept you entertained for hours and still keeps you entertained for hours.
Dracomut1990: 10, In general, thou shalt not let nostalgia influence your review. Nostalgia isn’t a bad reason to like something, but it really doesn’t work as a reason to recommend a game to someone. Not every game is a classic or has even aged well, and that is perfectly fine. I myself love the game Wizardry 8, but also understand why a lot of gamers would not be into it, even those who enjoy CRPGs. Once again no game is perfect and not everyone is going to get into them.
First of all, I don't agree with the "age well" and "didn't age well" thing. Unless your system has troubles running a game properly, it plays today just as it did ten years ago just as it did twenty and thirty. Admit that it's not a matter of a game "aging" well or not, but rather your "taste" changing. You preferred Ultima 4 back in the day but now don't. Something like that.
And secondly, I also disagree with the whole nostalgia thing. GOG itself was built on nostalgia, that people wanted to pick up titles like Doom or like Wolfenstein or Fallout 1 or Diablo and relive the games they played ages ago, made compatible with their system and getting active customer support from GOG, along with the goodies delivered digitally. It wouldn't make sense to separate how playing Sacrifice back in the day made you pick it up on GOG and you enjoyed it just as well as you did a couple years ago.
