Game Writers SIG/Initiatives/Game Reviews/Example Game

International Game Developers Association

This article is meant to simply serve as example for other articles of a certain type. The content herein may have no bearing on any real thing or things and is probably entirely made up for purposes of demonstration only.

Example Game

Mobygames Page

Reviewer: Example Reviewer

Credits

Writer: Some Example Lead Designer: Ann Example Developed by: Example Dev. Co. Produced by: Example Prod. Co.

Game Writing Reviews Review main page | All reviews

Example game is a game which takes place in setting with an emphasis on things which the player does throughout the game. The game has several selling points of different natures. The game had (good/bad) reviews, and sold (many/few) copies. Other brief information about the game might go here. A list of comparable games might be useful for some reviews.

Please note: All the notes here are optional and your writing style might be totally different. The main thing to include is the template to the right (See this template).

Table of contents 1 Overview and Story Synopsis 2 Review 2.1 Part 1 2.2 Part 2 3 Additional notes on writing 4 Conclusion

[edit] Overview and Story Synopsis

The games brief synopsis. This is what you might explain given a minute or so to sell the game. Make sure that anyone who has not played all the prerequisites, doesn't own the console and doesn't play any games of the genre knows what is going on. The mechanics (eg; jumping puzzles? shooting? scoring?) and other things might need to be mentioned.

The second paragraph might contain the story synopsis (a brief overview of the story) if there is one. This might contain a list of characters as applicable (player characters and non-player characters). It should not contain spoilers since that spoils the brief overview, while spoilers are generally saved for the full review.

[edit] Review

Review of the game and its story. Include pictures in various places, such as alternating left and right with appropriate context and captions.

For better analysis of writing this section will of course be full of spoilers. Structuring them so they make sense with games which have multiple paths is a good idea.

Filler text for example layout: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

[edit] Part 1

You might want to break the review up into a linear overview of the story in detail, with subheadings, or write a general quick review of the game and how it plays.

More filler text for example layout: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

[edit] Part 2

Yet more filler text for example layout: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

[edit] Additional notes on writing

It is sometimes a good idea to have another section which details anything additional to the review. This might be any of these points:

• Localisation and Language - What options are available, subtitling and voiceacting
• Facts and Figures, like;
  • How long was the script? (Some are available online, linking to them is a good idea!).
  • How many words of dialogue?
  • How many recorded lines? (and how many is that compared to unrecorded lines?)
• Links to articles about or from the credited writers themselves
• Anything else a writer would find useful

[edit] Conclusion

Writing up a conclusion to the game is a good idea. Generally listing a set of good/bad or pro/con points to playing the game, and its writing.

Generally these reviews won't score games since it is more a game resource then a game review, but comparisons with others would be a good idea.

Sign off at the end, either with your username (by using ~~~~) or by adding your name.