Is The Technical Quality of a Review's Writing Important?

PS2.IGN Ratchet and Clank review

PS2.IGN GTA3: Vice City review

Does the technical quality of a video game reviewer's writing matter to you? Or, really, what level of writing do you expect from a video game reviewer? When you're reading a video game website, or a magazine, do you expect the writing to be at what most people would consider a professional level? Are you fine with Gamefaqs-level writing, as long as the review is comprehensible and useful?

The two links above attach to recently unlocked Doug Perry ps2.ign reviews with almost painfully sloppy writing - writing so juvenile that it, I think, ought to be unacceptable from any publication that charges money for its product.

We've all bitched about IGN reviews before, but I can't remember the technical quality of the writing being this horrid. I think I've been more concerned with content issues in the past, at least, things like "this game is too easy because of infinite continues."

I think IGN's been cutting staffers at most of their various video game sites, so maybe Perry has so much work that he can't bother with copy editing, so on. And, that's understandable, if people are willing to pay for his work when it's in this state. So, back to the question - do you care about the quality of a review's writing?

I can barely write reviews, because they read nothing like these guys. It seems that the 'writing' in video game magazines has drifted more and more from professional writing to writing as if you're giving a speech to an audience or talking to a friend. Every review I've read for the past few years has been a grammatical nightmare.

They're ok, but the constant barrage of unbelievably overused words like 'goodness,' 'kiddies,' etc usually means I don't read them. Pictures are nice, though.

It doesn't matter if its fair or not- but your syntax in both speech and in writing goes a long way in how people take your words.

Many (most) readers would take a reviewer's opinion more seriously when they have good technical writing skills.

If these guys are being paid to write reviews, they'd better have perfect grammar and sentence structure, absolutely. Cliched phrases are a matter of writing style, not technicality, I think. Put poor writing style and poor grammar together in the same review, and it's enough to make one's brain boil.

I don't care for Dave Halverson's viewpoint much, but I admit that guy knows how to write. He's got a technically fine, clean, distinctive style that I find pretty appealing.

The thread comments for this thread are "Does it matter to you if a reviewer writes good?"

:)

Well. Writes WELL. ;)

And yes, it obviously matters to me.

Heheh - I hope you knew that was an attempt at a joke, Master. Hell, I would've liked it if the quality of writing in my post was high enough to make that clear.

Zerodash, X-men 2 Clone Wars is on the Genesis.

Either way, I'm just ribbin' ya. :)

Maybe reviewers spend so much time reading shoddy English RPG scripts that their writing suffers as a result, heh. But seriously, I would welcome a higher level of quality in video game review-writing. It doesn't make sense that reviews read like they're written for grade schoolers when supposedly seventy percent of the industry's supporters are over 18 years of age. EGM's reviews sound like they're coming from the GamePro of old, for crying out loud. Maybe if the reviewers (or editors?) weren't so focused on having "attitude" and as far as print mags go, cramming five or more reviews on a single page, we would see a bit more clarity and maturity in the reviews.

Another influence could be marketing. Who knows how many letters or emails filled with catchphrases and press-release nonsense are read by reviewers every week?

The best-written reviews I've read lately have been in Computer Games magazine, which is one of the only magazines left that doesn't pander to the circa-mid-teens crowd. The magazine as a whole has a very mature, respectable tone, is relatively free of hype, and is a pleasure to read.

20 bucks says if Stone reviewed a game it would be long and boring.