My advice as Spanish reviewer is that you get the "feeling" from the game.

Games are culture, they are the 8th art. It's all about feelings. What they give, what they make you think of, do they have a story to tell, do they teach something, do they aim to our souls, do they make you feel something you had never felt before or made it bigger than ever, will they change your mind about a situation in real world, the way you act....

Sometimes, if you are lucky enough and you have your eyes and heart open, you'll eventually find authentic "experiences". Some games that give you so much that become a "life experience". Some kind of trip to another place, where you will belong and where you will find joy, sorrow, love, pain, friendship, moral dilemmas, hate, injustice... Other "life experiences" will make you feel alive while playing... Those are the truly 10's for this industry. Don't be afraid to give 10/10. A game doesn't have to be perfect to deserve a 10.


And from my experiencie, and change this:

1.) Replay Value
2.) Gameplay
3.) Originality
4.) Polish
5.) Graphics and Sound


into this:

1.) Gameplay
2.) Story-telling/Originality
3.) Polish
4.) Replay Value
5.) Graphics and Sound

i agree with you. i really do.

but the fact remains, you still spend a whole lot more time with those games. they provide you longer entertainment, and you actually play the game a lot more. bottom line, your money goes a long way farther. and besides, it's not as if you got bored playing through the hundreds of quests in Fallout 3. quite simply, a game like that really gives you value for what you paid. and in the end, Fallout 3 will stay in your game library far longer than Ico would, unless you're a collector.

you misunderstand me. if you look at my OP again, you'll see that yes, 1.) is replay value. but gameplay and originality are not far off. of course, i'm not a fool to award tripe a high score just because it's long. in the first place, i wouldn't play it for a long time if it sucked. it has to be a combination of all things, but i just put a higher premium on games that deliver a longer experience.

Well, first of all when we review we don't have a standard weight for different factors. Some games require certain things more than others. For example, replay value is a non-factor in a P&C game, but a huge factor in a shooter which needs good multiplayer.

We divide things up in 3 basic categories with gameplay, presentation, and value. Presentation covers graphics, story, sound, characters, etc. We don't score these individually, but we do address their individual quality in the text. These again do not have equal weights. Certain games require heavier focus on one or more of these categories.

My biggest tip as the senior editor in charge of the reviews on this site is: Be complete, review each game for its individual merits, and never forget your target audience.

You and MM both make me feel like I suck at the game- my first playthrough took over 13 hours.

Mine took me like twenty.

But I think I probably did suck my first time through. It took me about an hour, maybe more, to kill number 16.

Thats good news for you. Make sure you always proofread your articles before you give them out to anyone. Always be consistent and make sure you try not to be bias toward a certain console or game. All you have to do is work on making good reviews and everything will fall into place. Congratulations and Good luck.

Me, too. Number 13 (flying dragon) also took over an hour, as did number 12 (god how I hate him- the guy in the bay). I sucked so much my first time, the first 10 took me like half an hour each.

Oh man number 12

I killed him in the stupidest way possible, nobody I've ever asked has ever heard of anyone killing it like I killed it.

But I kind of did the same thing with Number 4.

I was stupid, sure, but I looked awesome doing it....

Good luck sounds like a fun job your criteria list is very good as well, i orefer games to be rated out of 5 tho like films.