"Look mom, SOCOM 4 got a 7.75 on Game Informer! I'm bout to pop online and break me off some noob-salad!"
 

I subscribe to EGM, Game Informer, and @Gamer magazines. Every month I become awash with news, previews, and insights into upcoming games and projects. I get to know the minds of those in the industry by reading all articles, and I read the reviews, even if I've played the games. Needless to say, I read the magazines cover to cover.

Do I make up the majority of video game magazine readers out there? That is a resounding, yell-high-on-a-mountaintop "no." I work with mostly young guys, and there are at least 50 of us at a given time in our ready room (I work on the ramp for an airline). When I bring my magazine to work to read, most of them will see it and ask to read it. They'll skim through it by looking at the pretty pictures of new games, and the review scores. That's it.

A few minutes pass after I hand it to them, and they give it back to me.

"I'm done..." they will say.

"You sure? You barely read it..." I reply, with shock. It takes me a few hours to declare that I am "done" with a magazine. Unless I'm reading Teen People.

"Naw, I just wanted to see what they rated Operation Flashpoint at...and to see if they had any pictures of the new Call of Duty."

"You should see the Battlefield 3 article spread in here, it's gonna kill Call..."

"Naw bro, Call of Duty is tha shit. Ain't nobody gonna top Call of Duty."

Sorry, I digress. Anyway, this tells me that for one, most readers BARELY get into the long pieces of articles in these magazines. Secondly, they don't read the entire review. They just want that number score, and maybe read why it is they assigned it. So just the bullet points.

However, they miss a key point in these reviews; a more in depth analysis as to what the game is about. I can almost guarantee that if people actually read the reviews for Fallout New Vegas, they would have read more about all its bug issues. And for some reason, it got a 84 on Metacritic! Many of the reviews for this game stated its bug issues, and the frustrations some gamers may have with them, however they seemed to have been passed up for that final score. So sometimes number scores cannot accurately define if a game is REALLY GOOD, or not.

Not to mention some reviews out there can unfairly judge a game based on comparison points. How does this FPS stack up to its competition, or how does this newest edition in this series stack up to its predecessors, that kind of stuff. We need unbiased, true-to-fact reviews of games these days to better help educate those oddball gamers that can't make a decision on their own.

We owe it to them to tell them WHY. And with very little words as possible. A game magazine reader like myself will sit down and read a long article like that, however I am not the majority magazine readership.

So here is my first piece of a revolutionary new way to review a game. Ok, maybe it's not totally revolutionary, and maybe it's not new. Maybe it's been done before, on a website or magazine I have't read yet. The only thing I hope for that it we start seeing something similar pop up in more places. Hell, even if you disagree with me on this, that works too. My idea alone cannot change the face of video game journalism. It takes a few trips through the washing machine to come out looking nice.

Not literally. Don't throw your laptops of iPads in there, I hear they don't take too well to water.

Anyway, here are my review criteria that matter MOST to gamers.

Plot/Story
Graphics
Sound (quality/amplification/etc.)
Gameplay
Fun Factor
The Closing (what is the final impression)
Fans Of This Game Will Like...

I know this sounds like it's already been done, but click over to the next page to see how I apply it to my review of L.A. Noire. You'll noticed it's streamlined with bulletpoints, making it easier to skim through, but still offers much in detail and a fair opinion on the game.

And no comparisons to other games...except in the "Fans Of This Game..." section at the end.

Let me know what you think!

Oh yeah, I don't read Teen People. I was kidding.