Game reviews too long?

**WorknMan** · 04-15-2006, 09:36 AM

The way I have always felt about the RGR/DSR show length, the longer the better! However, the game reviews seem a bit overlong to me. Anybody else feel this way, or am I the only one?

**Shane R. Monroe** · 04-15-2006, 09:58 AM

I think the problem you're experiencing is "recap". I noticed in 1x05 (which, btw, was piecemealed together and isn't representative of the way we want to do things) that we cover a lot of Tetris in the beginning, then a long review which covered a lot of the same ground. Unfortunately, when you piecemeal, that happens.

We also don't tend to script the reviews - which means we may trod over familiar ground or do a lot of "oh, and one more thing". This might be solvable with more scripting, but it might also over-ridgid the review and make it stiff and robotic. We're going to have to experiment with it.

Rest assured - we are not trying to FILL TIME ... like with RGR, it just ends up being as long as it is - we ain't trying to MAKE it 3 hours.

Also, consider this - in reviews, we like to talk about strategy a bit too. I know many minutes of the Tetris review was strategy talk. In other reviews, we've discussed typically non-review stuff. That being said, its simply a difference of formatting. MOST people seem to like it.

In any event, community feedback on the topic would be great. We just don't want to cast a mold like every other goddamn journalistic entity does and say "Reviews must fit in this many minutes, can't be longer than this, can't be shorter than this - must have this percentage of Shane talking, this percentage of Chris talking... etc". I really feel cheated on the Retro Gaming magazine GP2x review when I was forced to cut my review IN HALF because of restriction in space, wording, etc. I ain't gonna have that crap happen on my own show

**GrilledMonkeyFat** · 04-15-2006, 11:05 AM

Dunno if you've done this before, Shane, but have you tried making notes on index cards? It won't exactly BE a script, but it helps to have something in front of you to refer to. Little notes saying

"Talk about the games plot or objective"
"discuss in length how the game is played"

and so forth. Experiences with the game help, too, brief, of course. For instance, "Oh, in level 2, I encountered this difficult boss, and you, the player, might find him hard as well, if you're not careful".

Just throwing suggestions your way. We both do totally different shows, I'm aware of that. But maybe the index card idea (if you haven't already tried it) might help ya, dunno. Never hurts to experiment.....sometimes.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 04-15-2006, 11:14 AM

We have a cue sheet ... we just don't index reviews like that.

**GrilledMonkeyFat** · 04-15-2006, 11:27 AM

Gotcha, it's not necessary to talk about aspects of a review in a certain order. I just gave an example of what your notes would or should entail. Just so you don't forget to talk about a certain part of a game that should have been discussed 6 minutes ago. Saves ya a lot of backtracking, and a lot of "Oh, forgot to mention this one part..."

Oh and one more thing....(ha ha), talking a bit about game strategy in a review is fine. I do it, too. No harm done there. I'd say keep the format you got going (which I'm sure you're doin' anyway) and experimenting every now and then is certainly a good thing. Good luck!

**Womp** · 04-15-2006, 11:50 AM

We do these one sheet overviews for DSR to keep us in line but thats about it, we otherwise just speak it how it is and without any type of time frame which, I'll be honest, is cool. Not cool because I am involved in the show but just in general as a listener its not done "Half-Assed" as I've come to expect with a lot of things. We get many more "I didn't want it to end!" type of emails than "You guys need to trim it down a bit" so overall I don't expect it to change anytime soon. I mean I don't know about you but if its a subject I am deeply interested in, I'll take all I can get. I very rarely get to sit and have discussions with people whom are into the DS like this or even retro gaming in general so I think this is an awesome thing.

We are always trying little experiments, such as the whole listener questions deal with the latest show 6 "DSLite Extravaganza", and I've got this Import Spotlight thing I want to do more of but its still early...I'm sure we'll see plenty of new things pop up!

Getting back to the reviews, not to sound full of myself here, but I find our reviews to be pretty good based on the whole casual gamer side of things. We are the same type of game purchasers as anyone else around so you KNOW when we say something is good or something is bad it comes from the heart of a gamer, not some freelance magazine writer who may have been writing for Oprah Magazine a month before. I'd rather have a long in depth overview rather than a quick "Paragraph and number from some random intern" about a game that I may be dropping 30 or more bones on. Sure sometimes if a game really makes an impact with us you will hear more about it because we are just frothingly excited to talk about it (Exhibit A: Puzz Loop) but hey I really care enough about what we are doing here to put the proper time and effort into it.

**WorknMan** · 04-15-2006, 12:42 PM

Sure sometimes if a game really makes an impact with us you will hear more about it because we are just frothingly excited to talk about it (Exhibit A: Puzz Loop) but hey I really care enough about what we are doing here to put the proper time and effort into it.

That's all fine and good, but do you guys think that 45 minutes on a single game review is a bit much ? But hey, if I'm the only one with a descenting opinion here, then never mind me

**Womp** · 04-15-2006, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by WorknMan

That's all fine and good, but do you guys think that 45 minutes on a single game review is a bit much ? But hey, if I'm the only one with a descenting opinion here, then never mind me

I have 2 words for ya: Fast Forward.

**miner2049er** · 04-15-2006, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Shane R. Monroe

We also don't tend to script the reviews - which means we may trod over familiar ground or do a lot of "oh, and one more thing". This might be solvable with more scripting, but it might also over-ridgid the review and make it stiff and robotic. We're going to have to experiment with it.

That's exactly it, the "oh, I just remembered........." line.

I'm sure I'm not alone though when I say no scripting please. If I want that just send it me via e-mail and I'll read the review myself.

It's a fine line between scripting and rambling.

I like you to walk it though.

**nazzar** · 04-15-2006, 05:21 PM

I love the reviews being so long and I cant get enough of it. If anything I feel kinda bummed that it isnt longer but at least the forums are here to keep me sane.