Making a game is no easy task and we here at Gameffine totally understand that, but at the end of the day, it is our responsibility to make sure that the public gets a decent opinion on what kind of stuff they are getting themselves into. With that balance in mind, we believe that having a standard review policy and a score that is easily translated into something meaningful is essential to the way we work.
How do we get our review copies?
The million-dollar question. Most of the games that we review have been sent to us as a review copy through various sources (distributors, publishers, developers, etc.). We do buy games to review (both digital and physical) from time to time. This is not mentioned explicitly in the review, and neither does it affect the score that is given to that particular game.
Who reviews what?
We feel it’s bad form to randomly assign games to reviewers who don’t like the game’s genre, because that may, subconsciously, negatively affect the review. It’s more important for a writer to be excited about reviewing a title. This way they have more motivation to give it their all, which, in turn, improves the review, which is a service to the readers, publishers, and developers.
How do we review video games?
Our reviewers have vastly different writing styles and ways they approach reviews. Instead of stifling their voice, we encourage uniqueness and adding that personal flavor to their writing. Regardless of our individual writing style, however, you can be sure that we will tell you, in all honesty, exactly what we think of a game. We owe that to our readers, most importantly, but also to developers and publishers. Anything else would be a disservice to them because it all helps with future improvements.
Having said that the primary parameters we ask our reviewers to focus on are as follows:
- Graphics, Sound, And Performance
- Game-play And Mechanics
- Story And Narrative
- Other Notables (Miscellaneous)
We expect the reviewer to clearly showcase the above-mentioned facets of a video game and provide his/her best-informed opinion so that you can form yours.
Plus in today’s time of DLC, Day 1 updates, and downloadable patches, the nature of a game may change drastically as time goes on. Our review takes into account, all the latest patches that have come out for that game, until the date of publishing until specifically mentioned to be otherwise.
We may decide to update the review score if we think an update is significant enough, or we may decide to review the latest DLC individually, for the same reason.
How do we score games?
Review scores themselves are a means to an end. Publishers like them, PR needs to see them and they help consumers, at a glance, to get a general idea of what we thought of a title. However, you must be willing to actually put your mind to work and read our full review to see why we gave it the score we did, otherwise, the score means nothing outside of your own mind.
I repeat you will not get a full understanding of why we reviewed a game the way we did without first reading the review and looking at the score in the light of what you read.
We follow a 10 point system. The translation of each number is as follows:
1: Broken/Unplayable
2-3: Not recommended
4-6: Playable
7-8: Recommended
9-10: Must Play
Each reviewer needs to stand by his/her score, and it needs to be noted that 5 doesn’t mean a “Perfect Game”, instead it means that the reviewer thinks that this one game in spite of its cracks and faults (if it has any) that you should still try out and would not be disappointed by it.
“Can you review my game?”
Yes! We typically receive a few requests through our tip line to review various indie titles, and we’d love to take a look at your game. Please e-mail editor [at] Gameffine [dot] com with your request. We are able to cover games for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
- We DO NOT review mobile games (Smartphones and Tablets). Please do not send us a request for reviewing a mobile game, as it will not be entertained.
- We DO NOT review games in Steam Early Access. We would be happy to look at it for impressions and previews, but we will assign no specific score to it.
If you are still not satisfied, or if this is not what you are looking for. Then check out the links below:
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