I have to talk about reviewing PC games again on this blog.
For a while I have tried different kinds of posts about the PC games I play. First I tried barely describing the game and then only have personal notes in a spoiler section. At first I had five reviews in a post, but I really wanted most games to have their own post. But when I tried that, the format felt too confined.
Then I changed to a format I used a few years ago, before I started doing the balanced reviews. A little more text and pictures, and sometimes a spoiler section with my observations. It was better, but I was still not satisfied. It felt like rolling back to an obsolete format.
I started reading my balanced reviews again, and it hit me how much I liked writing the pros and cons in the end. Not only was it fun coming up with those, I also felt I could often write more interesting pros and cons than many professional review sites. Typically other reviews just mention that the graphics is good and the gameplay is great. I usually tried to go into the finer details there.
A line about unique game features, things that might annoy certain kinds of gamers, balancing issues, about devices and mini-games, you name it. This is not the place to just jot down a few bland lines so the review can be published. This is the valuable stuff that I like to read at the end of game reviews.
I’d like to think you feel the same way too about these pros and cons?
As you might have guessed already, I have decided to change my mind and return to writing the balanced reviews again. That’s when I had most fun writing blog posts, and that’s the most important thing. And if only a few visitors come by to read them, then so be it. As I mentioned in my first rant about PC games on blogs, it takes a lot for a visitor to be interested in a specific game I’ve blogged about. It should be a game that entices the visitor. Either it’s already on a wish list, or at least it looks interesting.
So many things make me not want to read a long blog post about a specific PC game. If I’ve never heard of it and it looks like the wrong genre for me, of course I’m not going to read it. But even if I did complete the game, I still might not want to read about it if enough time has passed. It was a couple of years ago and I can barely remember anything about it. So I’ve lost interest in reading about it anymore. There can be many other reasons why you wouldn’t want to read an amateur review from a casual PC gamer.
However, I’m going to give you a few reasons why you should read mine.
The first you already know by now. I believe I write interesting pros and cons that often mentions the small details no one else has bothered to put there. But secondly, I also sometimes write a spoiler section with my musings. The findings and opinions about the very specific things found on my way. These can be really interesting to read by other gamers that has just completed the game too.
Did you also find that weird thing? Did you find that puzzle hard? What about that one level?
This is something I also mentioned in the second blog post. I loved reading a review, then finding a spoiler section in the end and bookmarking it for when I had completed the game myself.
One thing is certain – I have to write about the games I complete, as that has always been part of how I enjoy them. Many years ago I used to write long essays in my own diaries about them. But I knew I had no other audience there than myself, which is one of the reasons I moved to a blog instead. This also changed my format and forced me to learn how to skip the unnecessary details. After a few years I also noticed I preferred reading my blog posts instead of my diary essays.
It was a good indication that I had made the right choice.
Yes, it’s a shame about the lack of readers, and I can’t run from the fact that it still bothers me. I can only hope that I get lucky one day and somehow, my blog is discovered by more PC gamers. Until then, I’m going to continue writing my balanced reviews.