Something I've grappled with for every review is "how much should I write?" I know I'm the smallest of the small-time blogs, so why write a full-length review? Not to say that I shouldn't put effort into my reviews; that would be idiotic. I just feel that, because what is delicious is not one of the commanding videogame websites or blogs out there, I should focus on concise writing that doesn't require the reader to invest as much.
Concise writing is much, much harder because there are always things you want to say that you just have to cut, but ultimately, it's more rewarding. If I can fit everything important I need to say about a game into a 120-word paragraph as opposed to a 1200-word epic review that includes all the minutia, that's doing the reader a service.
Besides, almost every "full-length" review out there from major publications only has two important paragraphs: The first and last. The first usually introduces the basic feeling about the game and the last concludes to offer a final verdict. Everything in the middle is just explaining how to play the game and how all the individual components work with excruciating detail that you've probably already read in previews and seen in videos. And that middle section rarely deviates from review to review. Only the first and last paragraphs tend to offer a truly different opinion.
So, in keeping with my new review scale that trims things down from a three-tiered rating system to just two, I'm going to start trimming my reviews down. It's certainly a writing exercise, but I'm hoping that by limiting myself to one paragraph with a 150-word ceiling, my writing will be tighter and deliver the message quicker.
The first example of this will be in my Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic review, to be published shortly.
Concise writing is much, much harder because there are always things you want to say that you just have to cut, but ultimately, it's more rewarding. If I can fit everything important I need to say about a game into a 120-word paragraph as opposed to a 1200-word epic review that includes all the minutia, that's doing the reader a service.
Besides, almost every "full-length" review out there from major publications only has two important paragraphs: The first and last. The first usually introduces the basic feeling about the game and the last concludes to offer a final verdict. Everything in the middle is just explaining how to play the game and how all the individual components work with excruciating detail that you've probably already read in previews and seen in videos. And that middle section rarely deviates from review to review. Only the first and last paragraphs tend to offer a truly different opinion.
So, in keeping with my new review scale that trims things down from a three-tiered rating system to just two, I'm going to start trimming my reviews down. It's certainly a writing exercise, but I'm hoping that by limiting myself to one paragraph with a 150-word ceiling, my writing will be tighter and deliver the message quicker.
The first example of this will be in my Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic review, to be published shortly.
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