Rambling About Games #1 - Our Video Game Review Method
Hey, all! Your friendly neighborhood RPC founder and EIC, Neoplasmic, here. Just thought I’d write out some stuff about our video game content and rating system and what we love to do with them! As you’ve no doubt discovered by listening to our awesome Renegade Arcade podcast, we love games, and we want to be clear about how we choose the games we cover, how we review them, and what our scores mean.
First, let’s talk about the games we cover, and how and why we choose them. We’ve reviewed just three games so far on the site: the first was Bethesda and id Software’s Doom Eternal, which was a huge release. Then we delved into Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, a monstrous game to review, and we followed up the written piece with a spoiler podcast, to cement its place in the RPC Gaming pantheon. Finally, we reviewed Sony and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us 2, a divisive game to be sure, but one that we thought deserved a showcase on the site.
All of these reviews were written by yours truly out of necessity, as we are still building up our writing staff and we do not receive any game codes from publishers. We’re still in our nascent stage here at RPC, so if you’re reading this, you’re playing a huge part in establishing us. We’re here because of you, and we thoroughly appreciate the fact that you spend time perusing our pithy, and at times ponderous, prose.
Second, let’s talk about our method of reviewing these games. Although we do not have the capability of providing our perspective on a game prior to its release, we do play them all the way through, and we make sure that we have a fully formed opinion about the game’s graphics, sound, gameplay mechanics, and, of course, fun factor. (Shout out to all the GamePros out there!) We also articulate what we like and dislike about the game in a detailed fashion, and while we know we can be long-winded, we want you to know that we spent time with the titles we review, and that we have a logical reason behind the score we give at the end of the article.
Speaking of which, we now want to discuss our final point: the score itself. This was something I personally questioned up to the time I finished the Doom Eternal review. Should we even have numerical scores? In the end, I decided to include them, but I still had some misgivings. A single number at the end of an in-depth analysis felt perfunctory at best and unnecessary at worst, yet I found myself looking at them when I sought out a new game, as well. I guess they’re useful as a reference point, but I hope that people read the entire article before skipping to the score itself.
That said, I believe the purpose of a review-especially the type that we write here at Renegade Pop Culture-is to provide you with our subjective opinions and experiences with a game. A numerical score can provide readers with an easy to understand frame of reference regarding the writer’s enjoyment of said experience. We’re not the arbiters of objectivity or the gods of gaming criticism, bestowing our knowledge unto the unwashed masses. We are simply individuals who play games and love to do so. If we strongly recommend that you try one out, it means that we had a great time with it, and we think you will, too. Nothing more, nothing less.
Oh, and we like to have a bit of fun with our analysis. Hence the sometimes (alright, often) corny humor you’ll find in our reviews.
My personal hope is that we will be able to add more articles to the site, like even more reviews, commentary, and analysis, as well as roundtable discussion features with multiple writers contributing their perspectives. I hope that these “Rambling” short articles will become a regular feature on the site, as well. Lastly, we pledge to remain an independent voice in this world of corporatized, homogenized, and clickbait-ized pop culture coverage. Not only in terms of gaming, but also film, TV, and animation.
Now we want to know your opinions! How do you like the gaming coverage you’ve seen on this site so far? Trust me when I tell you I’d like to add more diverse and discerning voices to RPC Gaming, and I’d absolutely LOVE to cover indie games or even import titles that remain out there. I know that particular scene is very different than it was when I was a kid, but I’d love to have us cover it nonetheless.
In the coming weeks, RPC Gaming will feature a Renegade Arcade spoilercast on the Last of Us 2, so be sure to tune in to that. We’ll also be playing Sony’s latest first-party PS4 release, Ghost of Tsushima, so keep an eye out for our final verdict on that game. In the meantime, go give the Tooned Up and Streaming Wars podcasts a listen! They’re loads of fun!