Crappy videogame writing

[gamevet]

I'll probably regret this, but I'm curious to see if you all on here think my writing is crap or not.

If you aren't familiar with my stuff, here are a few examples. There are perfect examples of how the limitless space of the internet gives a person far too much room to write a review in. I don't have much of my stuff online right now, though, so they are the best I can do.

Phantast Star

Nice review, but I believe that Phantasy Star has been out for 17 years.

[rezo]

Shidoshi reviewed it in 2003.

[gamevet]

Shidoshi reviewed it in 2003.

Whoops!

I read the top date, but still, he said 13 years later in the review.

[NeoZeedeater]

Shidoshi reviewed it in 2003.

And he did it in 2001 for GameGO!.

I like the retro review although there are a few spelling mistakes. "Beserk" should be "Berzerk" assuming he's talking about the old Stern game and "pallet" should be "palette".

[Regus]

One thing I've noticed in reviews that bugs me is when they waste my time at the start of the review by giving me a blow by blow synopsis of the story line. Most of the time I would prefer that they would just gloss that over and just tell me if the game sucks or not already.

[Johnny Undaunted]

It is? News to me.

They were founded by the same people at least. I know PSM (and GamePlayers) were both published by Imagine (which is what IGN used to be).
http://www.futurenetworkusa.com/about/management.html

[MarkRyan]

IGN is totally separate from Imagine now. Has been for years.

[Master]

I read the reviews. They get the job done, as do most reviews. No glaring errors, though they could use some editing. Nothing special, but certainly not bad.

A good review is tough to come by these days though. It is very hard to ride the line between writing like you are telling something to your buddy and not drawing the attention of the reader. You seem to err on the side of making sure people are "with you" a little too much, but again, most game reviews these days do this. They are written in the manner of most game reviews, which isn't good or bad, it is the status quo.

I just wish reviews (of all kinds) would make their case more than make a friend. The catch 22 is that very few can acheive this and still relate to the reader while keeping them captivated. That is my pet peeve to live with. I'm just saying you don't have to say "I have been a fan of X" and explain details to draw them in. If you paint a picture of the game well enough, and compare it to things in "X", the point will come across.

(Again, I'm no writer. My opinion really doesn't mean a heck of a lot)

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Something that's tangentially related to this that really bugs me is bad ADR in games. I'm not just talking about the acting, either, I'm talking about when the director can't be bothered to do their job and you get things like "Wyvern" being pronounced as y-vern (see Ys VI), or every character pronouncing a given character's or place's name differently (see... uh, any voice-acted game ever).

[Brisco Bold]

One thing I've noticed in reviews that bugs me is when they waste my time at the start of the review by giving me a blow by blow synopsis of the story line. Most of the time I would prefer that they would just gloss that over and just tell me if the game sucks or not already.

Funny, because I was bitching about reviews that don't do this.