Review: The Saboteur (PC)

[TheDoctor455]

Let me first address a few common criticisms for this game that I've kept hearing.

1. The stealth gameplay is unrefined, and your cover will inevitably be blown.
Okay... this CAN be true, but it isn't always true. Yes, the stealth aspects of the game COULD use some work... and while your cover will PROBABLY be blown at some point during a mission... if you're skilled enough, you can easily take on another disguise and start sneaking around again... so your cover doesn't really STAY blown.

2. The climbing is a bit annoying.
Hmmm yes and no. Yes it does get a bit tiresome that I have to keep tapping the spacebar if I want to keep climbing. However, the game's intention seems to be trying to make the player think about what they're doing whilst climbing... which is fair enough when you're just exploring the lovingly rendered rooftops of Paris... but it does get pretty aggravating when you have half of the city's Nazis on your tail. But you know what? The animations are fluid and varied enough to make the spectacle of climbing a building both entertaining and believable.

3. Nazis take all of the intrigue out a story.
Okay... I will admit that Yahtzee may have a point there... but for me, the intrigue wasn't really about who was going to win (though there were a few points in the game that made a good effort to convince players that things have gone "tits-up"); what interesting for me was the copious amounts of character development that kept going on.

4. The accents are wonky.
All right all right... they are a bit over-the-top... but so what?


Now then...
The Saboteur, despite all of its flaws, is a very enjoyable experience. The shooting and stealth work well together. No matter where you are in France, the atmosphere is readily apparent and either conveys a sense of freedom and hope, or the downtrodden noir of oppression. Both the full-color and black-and-white iterations of France are striking and beautiful in their own way. I won't spoil exactly how for you, since this is a major part of the game. Though if I had to choose which one to play the whole game through... I guess I'd go with the noir feel. It really is an interesting experiment. Though there is one problem with the noir areas... and that is that for some of the darker buildings (the ones that aren't lit as well as others... like the cathedrals) it can be very difficult at times to figure out where you should be going next. Aside from that, the dual-atmosphere effect works really well.
And even the few parts of the game that did have all the potential to be completely insufferable manage to be fun and intense. I'm referring of course, to the two mandatory racing segments in the game. As my miserable experience with Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer (PC) taught me... I hate racing games. So, while I did acknowledge that without races in the game it would be pretty difficult to call Sean Devlin a race-car driver with a straight face, I wasn't really looking forward to the racing segments in the story. But the funny thing is... this segments are actually a blast to play through, and are just challenging enough to be rewarding without being ludicrously difficult. I can't really speak for the optional bits... since I never played them, but I'll just assume that they are more difficult.

However, I do have some criticism for this game:
1. The PC version comes with the DLC that everyone else had to pay for... however I just can't seem to find that "knife-throwing minigame" anywhere in France.
2. Because my PC is approaching the lower-end of the hardware spectrum now... I had to reduce the resolution to 800x600 to get a playable frame-rate. The game still looked great... but still...
3. Some of the requirements to unlock the perks are overly difficult... This game expects you to kill 10 Nazis with dynamite (which doesn't have that much of a blast radius, even when upgraded) in 10 seconds... no chance, you unreasonable dicks.
4. The game has a few graphical glitches... like say... windows and other objects hovering several feet above where they are supposed to be.
5. The game occasionally freezes up or crashes (even after the patch)... but not really enough for me to start marking it down.


So all in all, The Saboteur is a good game, and my advice for you is to put away everything you know about WWII whilst playing it; and to just enjoy the game for what it is.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

That was a little rude andy, this was a decent review, maybe a tad short. But give it more credit than that.

 

[Asehujiko]

The dynamite challenge is easy. Plant 16 of them in an area, then 16 rcxes, don't light them(hit e again right after you finish setting them, shoot up some soldiers until a halftrack or two arrives, throw a grenade and leg it. The only perk worth unlocking anyway is the terror sniper rifle, which is obtained by shooting two people at once, something i got before i even got to area 2.

Speaking of the terror , i don't see that mentioned anywhere in your review despite it being a major negative of the atmosphere/immersion part of the game. That and the Eiffel Tower section was very weird.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

Okay, fine I guess I could've divided up better. But I don't know enough source code to add images in, format them, or even format my wording. So if you'd like to be helpful, perhaps you could teach me how instead of being so damn rude.

 

[TheDoctor455]

The dynamite challenge is easy. Plant 16 of them in an area, then 16 rcxes, don't light them(hit e again right after you finish setting them, shoot up some soldiers until a halftrack or two arrives, throw a grenade and leg it. The only perk worth unlocking anyway is the terror sniper rifle, which is obtained by shooting two people at once, something i got before i even got to area 2.

Speaking of the terror , i don't see that mentioned anywhere in your review despite it being a major negative of the atmosphere/immersion part of the game. That and the Eiffel Tower section was very weird.

By "terror stuff" I assume you mean the terrorsquad... and well, I didn't mention it my original review because I thought that might be a bit of a spoiler. But since you brought it up... I thought the terror squad was supposed to be a parody of other games that used similar looking and/or tough troops like Killzone (the red-eyed gasmasks) and Medal of Honor: Airborne (Johan Gasmask). As for the "terror weapons"... hmm... while they aren't by any means realistic, they were pretty fun to use... so I won't really mark the game down for them. And... if you really wanted to get into realism for this game... then half of the weapons and vehicles included in the game would have to be removed because they weren't in production during the war. As for the Eiffel tower... hmm... that did strike me as odd. Judging by the disheveled and blood-soaked state of most its levels, I'm guessing that the developers were trying to go for a faux Bioshock feel. Didn't work, but it was still a good effort. And there have been more disappointing final boss fights in gaming history (like say Batman: Arkham Asylum).

 

[Dedae]

What makes 'the shooting and stealth an enjoyable experience'!? I haven't played the game so it's cool that you contested some of Yahtzee's gripes, but when you say 'this is good' why? What makes it good besides that it just 'is'?

I didn't have anything against with the format. No pictures? Well it's a written review! And it's not like it's long

 

[The AI]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

You just showed all the intelligence of a 1st grader. "BUT IT NEEDS PICTURES." Really? Don't be so damn rude and childish.

Good review. Still need to get around to playing it.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

You just showed all the intelligence of a 1st grader. "BUT IT NEEDS PICTURES." Really? Don't be so damn rude and childish.

Good review. Still need to get around to playing it.

HOW am I rude and childish? Pictures give a written review more value, it makes the review more interesting and it actually shows how the game looks like. Yes, pictures are a valuable thing in a written review.

Also, how the hell was I rude? I simply pointed out a few things that the OP should do to make his review appealing to the eye. HOW on EARTH is that rude?

 

[TheDoctor455]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

You just showed all the intelligence of a 1st grader. "BUT IT NEEDS PICTURES." Really? Don't be so damn rude and childish.

Good review. Still need to get around to playing it.

HOW am I rude and childish? Pictures give a written review more value, it makes the review more interesting and it actually shows how the game looks like. Yes, pictures are a valuable thing in a written review.

Also, how the hell was I rude? I simply pointed out a few things that the OP should do to make his review appealing to the eye. HOW on EARTH is that rude?

It was your tone that was rude. If you had used a nicer tone, I might have listened to your advice about images. But, on reflection... I don't see much point in adding images; because all that images can tell you about a game is what it looks like, they can't even tell how GOOD it looks, because that is entirely subjective. And besides, if you were really curious about how the game looked, you could have done a quick search on Google for videos and screen-shots of the game. However, I will admit your formatting advice was a good idea, I personally, would have used boldface and italics if I knew how. But like a child, you demanded that I use such formatting without explaining how I could do it.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

It was your tone that was rude. If you had used a nicer tone, I might have listened to your advice about images.

With a bad tone or with a nice tone, an advice is still an advice. If a medic tells you that you'll die unless you stop taking drugs you won't just shrug the advice off and continue to take drugs because he used a "bad tone".

But, on reflection... I don't see much point in adding images

Spoiler: This took me exactly 5 minutes:

Spoiler: Let me first address a few common criticisms for this game that I've kept hearing.

[HEADING=2] 1. The stealth gameplay is unrefined, and your cover will inevitably be blown.[/HEADING]
Okay... this CAN be true, but it isn't always true. Yes, the stealth aspects of the game COULD use some work... and while your cover will PROBABLY be blown at some point during a mission... if you're skilled enough, you can easily take on another disguise and start sneaking around again... so your cover doesn't really STAY blown.

[HEADING=2] 2. The climbing is a bit annoying.[/HEADING]
Hmmm yes and no. Yes it does get a bit tiresome that I have to keep tapping the spacebar if I want to keep climbing. However, the game's intention seems to be trying to make the player think about what they're doing whilst climbing... which is fair enough when you're just exploring the lovingly rendered rooftops of Paris... but it does get pretty aggravating when you have half of the city's Nazis on your tail. But you know what? The animations are fluid and varied enough to make the spectacle of climbing a building both entertaining and believable.

[HEADING=2] 3. Nazis take all of the intrigue out a story.[/HEADING]
Okay... I will admit that Yahtzee may have a point there... but for me, the intrigue wasn't really about who was going to win (though there were a few points in the game that made a good effort to convince players that things have gone "tits-up"); what interesting for me was the copious amounts of character development that kept going on.

[HEADING=2] 4. The accents are wonky.[/HEADING]
All right all right... they are a bit over-the-top... but so what?

[HEADING=2]The Expected:[/HEADING]

Despite all of its flaws, The Saboteur a very enjoyable experience. The shooting and stealth work well together. No matter where you are in France, the atmosphere is readily apparent and either conveys a sense of freedom and hope, or the downtrodden noir of oppression. Both the full-color and black-and-white iterations of France are striking and beautiful in their own way. I won't spoil exactly how for you, since this is a major part of the game. Though if I had to choose which one to play the whole game through... I guess I'd go with the noir feel. It really is an interesting experiment. Though there is one problem with the noir areas... and that is that for some of the darker buildings (the ones that aren't lit as well as others... like the cathedrals) it can be very difficult at times to figure out where you should be going next. Aside from that, the dual-atmosphere effect works really well.

[HEADING=2] The Unexpected:[/HEADING]

And even the few parts of the game that did have all the potential to be completely insufferable manage to be fun and intense. I'm referring of course, to the two mandatory racing segments in the game. As my miserable experience with Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer (PC) taught me... I hate racing games. So, while I did acknowledge that without races in the game it would be pretty difficult to call Sean Devlin a race-car driver with a straight face, I wasn't really looking forward to the racing segments in the story. But the funny thing is... this segments are actually a blast to play through, and are just challenging enough to be rewarding without being ludicrously difficult.

I can't really speak for the optional bits... since I never played them, but I'll just assume that they are more difficult.

[HEADING=2] And now for something, completely different...[/HEADING]
1. The PC version comes with the DLC that everyone else had to pay for... however I just can't seem to find that "knife-throwing minigame" anywhere in France.

2. Because my PC is approaching the lower-end of the hardware spectrum now... I had to reduce the resolution to 800x600 to get a playable frame-rate. The game still looked great... but still...

3. Some of the requirements to unlock the perks are overly difficult... This game expects you to kill 10 Nazis with dynamite (which doesn't have that much of a blast radius, even when upgraded) in 10 seconds... no chance, you unreasonable dicks.

4. The game has a few graphical glitches... like say... windows and other objects hovering several feet above where they are supposed to be.

5. The game occasionally freezes up or crashes (even after the patch)... but not really enough for me to start marking it down.

[HEADING=2]Bottom Line:[/HEADING]

All in all, The Saboteur is a good game, and my advice for you is to put away everything you know about WWII whilst playing it; and to just enjoy the game for what it is.

Spoiler: By the way, here's some gameplay goodness:

See what I mean now or do I have to explain it further?

And besides, if you were really curious about how the game looked, you could have done a quick search on Google for videos and screen-shots of the game.

But why should he? Yep, a Google search would've done wonders but it's more convenient to just see pictures and videos of the game whilst reading the review. It also ads style to the damn thing and style matters a lot of you don't want the reader to just scroll down, ignoring your review in the process, just to see the bottom line or the score.

But like a child, you demanded that I use such formatting without explaining how I could do it.

You've been on this site since April. Are you honestly saying you never once came across someone using huge fonts or embeding videos on this site? Heck, there's even a guide on how to do all of this on the forums or you can just google "How to use spoiler tags on the escapist" and the first thing that comes out is the damn guide.

Or you could have just look at the review section of these forums and read reviews with a lot of positive feedback. You could read that review and see what the author did then try and do the same. Was he funny and used style? Why not you yourself be funny and use style. Did the reviewer encompass everything that there is to the game gameplay wise, graphic wise and so on? Do the same. Did he make a video showing off the game? Why not do the same?

 

[TheDoctor455]

It was your tone that was rude. If you had used a nicer tone, I might have listened to your advice about images.

With a bad tone or with a nice tone, an advice is still an advice. If a medic tells you that you'll die unless you stop taking drugs you won't just shrug the advice off and continue to take drugs because he used a "bad tone".

But, on reflection... I don't see much point in adding images

Spoiler: This took me exactly 5 minutes:

Spoiler: Let me first address a few common criticisms for this game that I've kept hearing.

[HEADING=2] 1. The stealth gameplay is unrefined, and your cover will inevitably be blown.[/HEADING]
Okay... this CAN be true, but it isn't always true. Yes, the stealth aspects of the game COULD use some work... and while your cover will PROBABLY be blown at some point during a mission... if you're skilled enough, you can easily take on another disguise and start sneaking around again... so your cover doesn't really STAY blown.

[HEADING=2] 2. The climbing is a bit annoying.[/HEADING]
Hmmm yes and no. Yes it does get a bit tiresome that I have to keep tapping the spacebar if I want to keep climbing. However, the game's intention seems to be trying to make the player think about what they're doing whilst climbing... which is fair enough when you're just exploring the lovingly rendered rooftops of Paris... but it does get pretty aggravating when you have half of the city's Nazis on your tail. But you know what? The animations are fluid and varied enough to make the spectacle of climbing a building both entertaining and believable.

[HEADING=2] 3. Nazis take all of the intrigue out a story.[/HEADING]
Okay... I will admit that Yahtzee may have a point there... but for me, the intrigue wasn't really about who was going to win (though there were a few points in the game that made a good effort to convince players that things have gone "tits-up"); what interesting for me was the copious amounts of character development that kept going on.

[HEADING=2] 4. The accents are wonky.[/HEADING]
All right all right... they are a bit over-the-top... but so what?

[HEADING=2]The Expected:[/HEADING]

Despite all of its flaws, The Saboteur a very enjoyable experience. The shooting and stealth work well together. No matter where you are in France, the atmosphere is readily apparent and either conveys a sense of freedom and hope, or the downtrodden noir of oppression. Both the full-color and black-and-white iterations of France are striking and beautiful in their own way. I won't spoil exactly how for you, since this is a major part of the game. Though if I had to choose which one to play the whole game through... I guess I'd go with the noir feel. It really is an interesting experiment. Though there is one problem with the noir areas... and that is that for some of the darker buildings (the ones that aren't lit as well as others... like the cathedrals) it can be very difficult at times to figure out where you should be going next. Aside from that, the dual-atmosphere effect works really well.

[HEADING=2] The Unexpected:[/HEADING]

And even the few parts of the game that did have all the potential to be completely insufferable manage to be fun and intense. I'm referring of course, to the two mandatory racing segments in the game. As my miserable experience with Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer (PC) taught me... I hate racing games. So, while I did acknowledge that without races in the game it would be pretty difficult to call Sean Devlin a race-car driver with a straight face, I wasn't really looking forward to the racing segments in the story. But the funny thing is... this segments are actually a blast to play through, and are just challenging enough to be rewarding without being ludicrously difficult.

I can't really speak for the optional bits... since I never played them, but I'll just assume that they are more difficult.

[HEADING=2] And now for something, completely different...[/HEADING]
1. The PC version comes with the DLC that everyone else had to pay for... however I just can't seem to find that "knife-throwing minigame" anywhere in France.

2. Because my PC is approaching the lower-end of the hardware spectrum now... I had to reduce the resolution to 800x600 to get a playable frame-rate. The game still looked great... but still...

3. Some of the requirements to unlock the perks are overly difficult... This game expects you to kill 10 Nazis with dynamite (which doesn't have that much of a blast radius, even when upgraded) in 10 seconds... no chance, you unreasonable dicks.

4. The game has a few graphical glitches... like say... windows and other objects hovering several feet above where they are supposed to be.

5. The game occasionally freezes up or crashes (even after the patch)... but not really enough for me to start marking it down.

[HEADING=2]Bottom Line:[/HEADING]

All in all, The Saboteur is a good game, and my advice for you is to put away everything you know about WWII whilst playing it; and to just enjoy the game for what it is.

Spoiler: By the way, here's some gameplay goodness:

See what I mean now or do I have to explain it further?

And besides, if you were really curious about how the game looked, you could have done a quick search on Google for videos and screen-shots of the game.

But why should he? Yep, a Google search would've done wonders but it's more convenient to just see pictures and videos of the game whilst reading the review. It also ads style to the damn thing and style matters a lot of you don't want the reader to just scroll down, ignoring your review in the process, just to see the bottom line or the score.

But like a child, you demanded that I use such formatting without explaining how I could do it.

You've been on this site since April. Are you honestly saying you never once came across someone using huge fonts or embeding videos on this site? Heck, there's even a guide on how to do all of this on the forums or you can just google "How to use spoiler tags on the escapist" and the first thing that comes out is the damn guide.

Or you could have just look at the review section of these forums and read reviews with a lot of positive feedback. You could read that review and see what the author did then try and do the same. Was he funny and used style? Why not you yourself be funny and use style. Did the reviewer encompass everything that there is to the game gameplay wise, graphic wise and so on? Do the same. Did he make a video showing off the game? Why not do the same?

I have come across other people using such features, I simply haven't had much reason to use them before. And trust me, I know from experience that (with the exception of extreme cases) people are more likely to listen to you if you address them in a respectful manner. Now if you're wondering why I haven't shown you much respect, its because you didn't start off showing much to me.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

have come across other people using such features, I simply haven't had much reason to use them before.

The fact that people will actually be reading your review is a good one.

And trust me, I know from experience that (with the exception of extreme cases) people are more likely to listen to you if you address them in a respectful manner.

But you're talking about a game, not people. It won't help at all if you start your review by saying "Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is X and I'm going to be reviewing X game now. I hope you have a good time reading this bla bla bla...". People DON'T CARE. They simply want to have a good read and get an opinion on whether or not it's worth spending their hard earned money on a certain game.

Now if you're wondering why I haven't shown you much respect, its because you didn't start off showing much to me.

Very well then. Take my comment and model it to your idea of a respectful reply.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I can't be bothered reading it. The layout of the review is way to boring for me to even attempt that.

Use pictures and split your review into parts (Graphics, Gameplay, Story, Conclusion). It will give a more professional look to your review.

I don't think I'll be reading this any time soon. The layout is a bit confusing and could use some work. Images might also help space out the review a bit, and dividing your review into sections might be a good idea as well. It will give a more professional look to your review.

There. Your challenge is met, now let me address some of these issues:

1. Yes, dividing up the review better would have been a good idea, but the only way I can do this is by putting in paragraphs (which I usually do anyway, I just didn't here because I was a bit rushed... this was a review written in between long bouts of studying), and by labeling them in ALL CAPS because I honestly do not know what kind of coding I need to do (even after looking at the review guide on this site... it generally only gives you advice on WHAT to do, not HOW to do it).

2. I simply refuse to include images because I don't really care about how nice a game looks. Especially in this day and age, such discussion generally becomes a MASSIVE waste of time. The only reason I described how The Saboteur looked was because it was using a unique art style that warranted a mention.

3. Have you read the reviews that the Escapist staff have written? They're more or less like my "Old News" reviews... just a bunch of paragraphs. With only one or two headings at the VERY end. And the only reason that there is a video on every page of the review is for easy reference to their video supplement. Now since I don't really have any means or knowledge on how to record game footage or even add commentary to an already existing gameplay video, I won't be doing that anytime soon either.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

I don't think I'll be reading this any time soon. The layout is a bit confusing and could use some work. Images might also help space out the review a bit, and dividing your review into sections might be a good idea as well. It will give a more professional look to your review.

"I don't think I'll be reading this anytime soon"

Bother - to take the time or trouble; concern oneself

Cannot be bothered - To not take the time/concern oneself.

Same thing.

" The layout is a bit confusing and could use some work."

It's not confusing, it's just plain boring. It gives me no incentive to continue reading the review.

The rest is just a copy paste of my original comment.

Yes, dividing up the review better would have been a good idea, but the only way I can do this is by putting in paragraphs (which I usually do anyway, I just didn't here because I was a bit rushed... this was a review written in between long bouts of studying)

Then why bother writing a review if you knew it would be rushed? Isn't it obvious by now that rushed things are always bad?

Also, the guide explains how to use the tags and such. Have you even read it? (Here's a link http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/markup_help.php)

. I simply refuse to include images because I don't really care about how nice a game looks. Especially in this day and age, such discussion generally becomes a MASSIVE waste of time. The only reason I described how The Saboteur looked was because it was using a unique art style that warranted a mention.

It's not about what you care, it's about what the reader cares and how you're going to motivate him to read on.

Plus, imagines are not all just to show the looks. A picture can say a thousand words you know... I can say there's a dude racing in a sport car with another dude. People are cheering for him. Suddenly, the engine malfunctions and the car stops which in turn makes him lose the race." If I instead choose to just show a picture of that "scene" then the reader could very easily realize what the heck's going on without having me to describe everything in detail.

Also, are you saying graphics are a completely waste of time? Excuse me? Graphics immerse the player into the world. Without good graphics such an immersion is hard to achieve but then again, that immersion is also hard to achieve if you're spending 20 minutes trying to kill an overpowered monster. The graphics and gameplay need to balance each other. You can't have one without the other in order to have a good game.

You said it had a "unique" art style. Then why not show pictures of that art style so that the reader might see it for himself/herself? If you don't want to do that because you think it's a waste of time then why the heck do you even bother making a review? Describing something in words does not even compare to showing a picture.

I can describe Mona Lisa all day but seeing the actual picture is way better because you can actually see it with your own eye.

Have you read the reviews that the Escapist staff have written? They're more or less like my "Old News" reviews... just a bunch of paragraphs. With only one or two headings at the VERY end. And the only reason that there is a video on every page of the review is for easy reference to their video supplement. Now since I don't really have any means or knowledge on how to record game footage or even add commentary to an already existing gameplay video, I won't be doing that anytime soon either.

But there IS a video showing off the gameplay, the graphics and so on and so forth. If you can't do that then you can just show pictures of the game or do both.

You don't have knowledge on how to record video game footage, how to record your voice and then blend it all together? Use fucking Google. You ask some of the most obvious questions I've ever seen.

By the way, if you can't be bothered: http://tinyurl.com/y978v7q (It's not a keylogger, I'm not a moron)

If you can't be bothered to do the most obvious things reviewers do in their reviews to make them interesting then don't write reviews. Reviews are there to help readers decide whether or not the thing the review is discussing is worth buying. What does that mean? It means you damn well make sure to touch on every possible aspect of that certain thing so that the reader becomes informed. That includes showing pictures or making a video and in certain cases doing both.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I don't think I'll be reading this any time soon. The layout is a bit confusing and could use some work. Images might also help space out the review a bit, and dividing your review into sections might be a good idea as well. It will give a more professional look to your review.

"I don't think I'll be reading this anytime soon"

Bother - to take the time or trouble; concern oneself

Cannot be bothered - To not take the time/concern oneself.

Same thing.

" The layout is a bit confusing and could use some work."

It's not confusing, it's just plain boring. It gives me no incentive to continue reading the review.

The rest is just a copy paste of my original comment.

Yes, dividing up the review better would have been a good idea, but the only way I can do this is by putting in paragraphs (which I usually do anyway, I just didn't here because I was a bit rushed... this was a review written in between long bouts of studying)

Then why bother writing a review if you knew it would be rushed? Isn't it obvious by now that rushed things are always bad?

Also, the guide explains how to use the tags and such. Have you even read it? (Here's a link http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/markup_help.php)

. I simply refuse to include images because I don't really care about how nice a game looks. Especially in this day and age, such discussion generally becomes a MASSIVE waste of time. The only reason I described how The Saboteur looked was because it was using a unique art style that warranted a mention.

It's not about what you care, it's about what the reader cares and how you're going to motivate him to read on.

Plus, imagines are not all just to show the looks. A picture can say a thousand words you know... I can say there's a dude racing in a sport car with another dude. People are cheering for him. Suddenly, the engine malfunctions and the car stops which in turn makes him lose the race." If I instead choose to just show a picture of that "scene" then the reader could very easily realize what the heck's going on without having me to describe everything in detail.

Also, are you saying graphics are a completely waste of time? Excuse me? Graphics immerse the player into the world. Without good graphics such an immersion is hard to achieve but then again, that immersion is also hard to achieve if you're spending 20 minutes trying to kill an overpowered monster. The graphics and gameplay need to balance each other. You can't have one without the other in order to have a good game.

You said it had a "unique" art style. Then why not show pictures of that art style so that the reader might see it for himself/herself? If you don't want to do that because you think it's a waste of time then why the heck do you even bother making a review? Describing something in words does not even compare to showing a picture.

I can describe Mona Lisa all day but seeing the actual picture is way better because you can actually see it with your own eye.

Have you read the reviews that the Escapist staff have written? They're more or less like my "Old News" reviews... just a bunch of paragraphs. With only one or two headings at the VERY end. And the only reason that there is a video on every page of the review is for easy reference to their video supplement. Now since I don't really have any means or knowledge on how to record game footage or even add commentary to an already existing gameplay video, I won't be doing that anytime soon either.

But there IS a video showing off the gameplay, the graphics and so on and so forth. If you can't do that then you can just show pictures of the game or do both.

You don't have knowledge on how to record video game footage, how to record your voice and then blend it all together? Use fucking Google. You ask some of the most obvious questions I've ever seen.

By the way, if you can't be bothered: http://tinyurl.com/y978v7q (It's not a keylogger, I'm not a moron)

If you can't be bothered to do the most obvious things reviewers do in their reviews to make them interesting then don't write reviews. Reviews are there to help readers decide whether or not the thing the review is discussing is worth buying. What does that mean? It means you damn well make sure to touch on every possible aspect of that certain thing so that the reader becomes informed. That includes showing pictures or making a video and in certain cases doing both.

Wrong. I write reviews to share my own opinion with others... if it helps them make decisions, then that's a plus. However, to save time for my next review... I think I'll try formatting it in Word first, and see if I can just copy-paste the review and the formatting onto these forums.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Wrong. I write reviews to share my own opinion with others...

So basically, you're expressing an opinion. Whilst I agree that most reviews are opinions, those opinions tend to deal with everything the thing the reviewer is reviewing has to offer in detail. You're obviously not doing that.

This makes me ask you, why are you not expressing this opinion on a different thread that deals with the same subject instead of creating a whole new thread?

Why are you making threads in the reviewing section of these forums if you only want to share non-detailed opinions?

 

[TheDoctor455]

Wrong. I write reviews to share my own opinion with others...

So basically, you're expressing an opinion. Whilst I agree that most reviews are opinions, those opinions tend to deal with everything the thing the reviewer is reviewing has to offer in detail. You're obviously not doing that.

This makes me ask you, why are you not expressing this opinion on a different thread that deals with the same subject instead of creating a whole new thread?

Why are you making threads in the reviewing section of these forums if you only want to share non-detailed opinions?

All right, I will admit that I have been a little vague from time to time... but that was from fear of spoiling things for others. I can write a very in-depth analysis of a game, novel, play, almost everything except music. But... perhaps I shouldn't, as you said, have tried writing a review when I was rushed... I think my Day of the Tentacle review suffered for this as well... as for my Call of Cthulhu review... that one is vague because I couldn't get very far due to a game-breaking bug that seems to only happen on my laptop... but anyway... yeah, I think I'll save the reviewing for when I have more free time in the future.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

All right, I will admit that I have been a little vague from time to time... but that was from fear of spoiling things for others. I

Telling people they can use X weapon isn't really a spoiler since it was probably mention in at least a dozen developer diaries.

Making an in depth analasys if the gameplay and the graphics won't do jack either.

I can write a very in-depth analysis of a game

Do so, if you want to review things. It's always good to take time with your reviews. The more time you take, the better they become. There's absolutely no need to finish it in one day; not like you're pressed by deadlines or anything. Take your time, prepare everything and when you believe everything looks absolutely awesome submit it to the forums and read the feedback.