It's just my opinion you know.

The way I review games is mostly from my personal perspective, but I try as best I can to see a game from every angle. However the vast majority of what I write is going to be based on personal opinion. About how I think games should be designed, what's actually interesting and what's boring. And overall whether a game is worth the price or time investment.

Ultimately the idea is to help give information regarding elements of games that you'll encounter, whether they are annoying and whether the game eventually sours. I try to put the time in to make sure I have seen at least a good chunk of a game, though some games this won't really be possible for. Especially if it's an MMO. To give an example, I may be gated and unable to play in end game if it's not available to someone who's not in a guild.

In addition I also comment on the developers if I can find information on them. Typically this will be neutral without much info. I don't necessarily 'Not Recommend' a game due to a bad dev (EA is an evil company and I've recommended Dead Space for example) but I still like to have a little section so you can know where your money is going in case you care about that sorta thing.

Lastly, I base my final 'Yes/No' on base price. Meaning that even if I buy a game on sale, my review is based on the base pricing. I'll always try to advise what I think the game is worth so that way it's clear why I think the game is/isn't worth purchasing and when I think it should be bought.

For example if I 'not recommend' a game because it's base price is 60$ and I don't think the game is worth that, but I do think it's worth 30$, I'll try to point that out. In addition, if the base price goes down, I'll consider changing my review to reflect that.


In order to help verify some easy information I'm going to have acronyms in my public curation of games. This is mostly to help ID what aspects of the game are most prevalent or the strongest reason I don't recommend a game.

To give an example if I have 'AH', it would be 'Achilles Heel' which would state that there is a single element in the game that ruins the experience. Whether it be ear wrenching sound or horrendously unfun gameplay. In this way you can easily see the biggest reason for recommendations or being warned away.

Also not every review will get an acronym, but I will try to at least put one on every not recommended.

Acronyms


Good

SS: A strong story that carries the game. There is some element to the story, or just the whole thing, that makes it worth playing solely for the story. Though that doesn't mean the game is bad, just that the story was good.

EC: Environment carry. When the game environments/graphics are above and beyond what you'd usually expect. This is the type of game where you can expect to be immersed or at least to find an environment that's worth looking at. Though you should still be sure that screenshots and videos are something you find appealing first.

EG: Exceptional gameplay. For gameplay that's worth experiencing. When the gameplay is this good it can carry the game through bad storytelling, graphics and sound. It's not often a game can do this.

UE: Unique elements. Something about the game either isn't done often or isn't done ever and it's fun for it. Though the game can do old elements, but redo them like they're new. A good example is strikey sisters which might as well be a breakout clone, but has some decently unique elements to it that make it worth taking at least a peek at.

GS: Great sound. For when there's either an amazing soundtrack or the sound design alone is worth playing the game. Invisigun heroes is a good example of this. I find the soundtrack personally to be amazing. Though it's worth noting you can just buy the soundtrack if you prefer. Not that the game is awful, just that the soundtrack stood out to me personally. My musical tastes are odd though so this may not be something you'd care for.

Bad

AH: Achilles heel. There is some really terrible element to the game that just ruins it to the point of not being worth buying.

DG: Dead game. The game is literally no longer able to be played. Mostly for games that depend on a central server and you cannot play them as a result. Online only games are a good example.

DRYT: Doesn't respect your time. When a game forces you to grind or do menial tasks to such an extreme for nothing more than minimal gains or no gains. A lot of procedural generation games are a good example except when they give you progress after dying.

CA: Completely average. A game so average and bland that it's just not worth playing because it's so boring.

PB: Poor balance. A game where some elements to it are either too hard/easy or overpowered/underpowered to an extreme. In addition this can just be if the multiplayer to the game is horrendously imbalanced, has poor matchmaking or has instakill mechanics that aren't skill reliant.

LC: Lacking Content. This is a game that just doesn't have enough to be worth the price or time investment. Free to play games rarely get this, but they can if the game is that sparse but still good.

BUG: Buggy. Has some kind of bug that hurts the game.


Automatically Applied

EAR: Early access game review. All early access games get this no matter what.

PLB: Purchasable loot boxes. The game contains loot boxes that you can pay for. Doesn't necessarily mean the game is P2W though as that has it's own tag.

P2W: Pay to win. A game where you can pay for an advantage or pay to make progress. This includes all deck builder games, games where you can purchase any weapon or item that is not balanced equally to all weapons or games where you can literally just buy power over others. This seems like it should be obvious, but many argue over what is pay to win and what's pay to not grind. I don't do the 'pay to not grind' argument. To me, if you can pay for an advantage or pay to make progress of any kind then it's P2W. Winning is winning even if it's not competetive.

DGW: Dead game walking. A game that depends on a central server. This isn't an automatic not recommend, but it'll go on any game that has it. DG goes on dead games and they're always not recommended.


Trash: Not really an acronym. Only for the games that are asset flips, blatant reuploads, achiement bait or the lowest of the low in terms of effort. This will be the only tag on the game if it falls into this category and it will likely not be a flavorful review and possibly not have a real review at all. You most likely won't ever see me review trash. This is essentially me telling you that if you buy this then you're literally throwing away your money.