In a recent episode of ListenUP, David Jaffe said that reviews should be shrunken down to a single paragraph. What do you think?


Here's my blog post from GameSpot, an extension of a blog post on my personal site, which I formerly posted on the ning site, and am now spamming here. I want everyone's thoughts on this, because A) you're all passionate about reviews and B)you're writers.

So I'm doing this thing on my personal blog, DownWriteFierce.com, where we're going to be writing reviews in a single paragraph. You can see why here, but the gist is that David Jaffe and I don't see eye to eye on how reviews should be done, and why they exist to begin with.

So for the entire month of May we'll be doing a one paragraph review every day until the end of the month, and follow it up with some articles about how the adventure went for our writers, how readers are responding to it, and ultimately, whether or not a review should be as brief as a paragraph, or as in-depth and thorough as they are here at GameSpot.

Clarity is something that GameSpot is passionate about. Giving readers an intimate look at their thoughts, sharing explicit details, and dishing out examples is something that is important when it comes to deciding whether or not you want to check out a game. But if it's limited to a single paragraph, will it be as worthwhile for you as a consumer, rather than a reader?

I'd like to take early feedback for a future feature, though, so if anyone has an opinion on the validity of a one paragraph review, please let me know. Leave comments, send messages, emails, whatever. I am compiling as many useful thoughts as I can into a large thing, so if you wanna see your name in an article or something (or, you know, want to contribute because it's interesting) please do!

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If anyone has any response, please, please leave some. I'm hoping to do an epic blowout feature in June with the results of everyone's opinions.

I think the concept of a one-paragraph review is intrinsically an effective one. Personally, when I want to check out a review on the game, I usually go to the closing comments area - which is roughly one paragraph long. Nine out of ten times, that paragraph tells me all I need to know about the game.

 

As game reviewers, we have to acknowledge that the vast majority of people who read our work don't pore over every word as they read it, like we do when we write it. Typically, most gamers are interested in the bottom line. There's the rare exception, like when a game is so unique in its design that it has to be properly explained in detail - although even such games can be explained in a paragraph on a conceptual level.

 

After all, one of the primary rules of writing is to never throw in words just for the sake of it. Most of history's great english writer's followed the maxim that every sentence should have a purpose, and if it doesn't, you don't need it in. Granted, this convention is less prevalent in the literary traditions of the rest of the world, but as this is a primarily english-speaking site, I'm willing to wager we all identify with Hemingway and Twain more than we do Mann or Sartre.

 

In the spirit of the topic, I will now sum up:

 

"Great idea - shorter is better."

The idea of reviews condensed into a single paragraph is one that has popped into my mind a couple of times. When a gamer goes looking for a review on a game he wants to buy he'll usually take one look at the scores or the final paragraph and be off, especially since a page and a half of writing can be very intimidating.

 

Why bother reading 2 pages when you can get all that information in a paragraph. In the case of reviews, bigger is not better.

Hey Mitch,

 

With the way technology continues to ramp up and attention spans wane, I think there's definitely an important place for short-and-sweet reviews in our repertoires - particularly moving forward into the future. You can say a lot about a game in a graph or two, and many readers perfer a concise take on a game that boils it down to its key points. That said, there's definitely a place for lengthier reviews as well. Especially when readers are seeking in-depth coverage to determine whether they're really going to dig a game or not.

 

As a journalist, it's sometimes tough to know you're pouring a thousand plus words and hours of work into a piece when many readers are going to skim a few graphs, check out the score or final rundown, and then move on.

 

In any event, I feel that shorter is better. Should everyone jump on the one-graph review bandwagon? (Which I've enjoyed Mitch- good job) Absolutely not. I feel the 300 to 600 word range is close to the sweet spot. Venture much further beyond that for a standard review and reader's attention spans begin to slip.

 

I'm not completely sold on single paragraph reviews. To me, a single paragraph feels more like a summary, something you would see as the description of the game on say GameFly.

I personally crave details on a game. I enjoy highlighting a title's strengths and faults, but we don't need term paper essays on games, no no. I like the 400-600 mark. While an article of that length isn't something you can just skim through, it's not an article that will take most of your day to get through and can still be incredibly informative without being boring.