Guide to Writing a Video Game Review 

Video games are some of the most popular hobbies out there and many people of all ages play video games regularly. Video game reviews are a great way for them to get a detailed idea of what to expect from the game before people start playing. The gaming industry is actually estimated at more than 90 billion dollars, so as a writer you might be interested in writing game reviews and submitting them online to gaming and review websites to earn some money from this very lucrative industry. Here we’ll explain how to write a good video game review.

1. Play the Game

This may seem obvious, but before you can write about a game, you have to know it well and the only real way to do that is to play the game. However, you have to play the game differently than if you were just a casual gamer. You have to pay attention and work on not getting lost in the game. Frank Spence, a game reviewer at Essayroo and OXEssays, says to “focus on all the details and notice what’s going on around you, and as you do write down all of these observations. Also, take note of what you enjoy and what you don’t like as much because these aspects are what will make your game review unique and accurate.” 

2. Introductions First 

Once you feel like you know the game well, you then have to step away and start writing about your experience playing the game. Like with any other piece of writing, you’ll want to start with the introduction. It should be short and to the point so you don’t lose any readers, and it should also be engaging and attract the reader making them want to keep reading more. 

3. The Game Review

At this point, you need to get into the nitty-gritty and describe the entire game and its features. This is when you’ll refer to the notes you took while playing the game and talk about your experience with your readers. Penny McFarlane, a tech journalist at AustralianHelp and Academized, suggests that “in your review, you shouldn’t just write about the gameplay and what you liked and didn’t like, but you should also discuss the design, the graphics, the different options and features, and whatever else you can think of that you would want to know yourself if you were reading a video game review.”

4. Honesty is Key 

It’s important to be honest throughout your review, even if there’s something negative that you didn’t like about the game. Your readers will appreciate the honesty and will be prepared for that aspect if they do decide to play that game. Even if it’s small and a minor thing, you should still be sharing every detail, so you shouldn’t be afraid of giving that information so your readers can make an educated decision about the purchase. 

5. Stay Light on Details

While you do want to be precise and give details about the game, you also need to be careful to avoid giving any spoilers to your readers. The anticipation of a game is a big part of the excitement for gamers, so the last thing you want to do is give too much information and spoil the game for others before they can try it themselves. Instead, you should focus on the experience of the game itself and how it feels to play it, as opposed to details about the game plot and objectives and development. 

6. Summarize and Conclude

Your last paragraph in the video game review should summarize everything. This is where you make the final decision about the game by weighing up what you liked and what you didn’t like in a short and concise way. As per William Kelly, a blogger at Dissertation Help, “you also want to be very clear in your conclusion whether you recommend the game or not for your readers. Maybe you want to have a rating system if you’ll write frequent game reviews, from 1 to 5 stars – if that’s the case, be sure to explain exactly what that means.” 

By following these suggestions, you should be able to write excellent video game reviews that you can submit to different websites and inform readers about different games before they decide to buy them.

Aimee Laurence, a tech blogger at Top Canadian Writers and Student Writing Services writes different lifestyle and technology articles. She is very interested in the world of e-sports and gaming and loves to explore those advancements in her writing. In her free time, she is often found with a game console in hand playing her favorite video games. She also works freelance HR at Best essay writing services Queensland.