A few weeks ago Mike Walbridge put out a call looking for review writers for a new project. This venture was the expansion and revamping of a gaming website called Snackbar Games where he is the head editor. I expressed an interest, and Mike kindly offered me a job. I’ll now be writing occasional reviews, news posts and commentary over at Snackbar.
My first review of the indie puzzle game World of Goo was posted earlier today, you’ll have to click through to Snackbar to check it out:
Snackbar Games – World of Goo Review
For game reviews to move away from buyer’s guides and toward true criticism, I believe price must no longer be a factor in scoring. Portal is a great game at $20 or $60, even if it’s likely a bad investment in the latter case. However, since I avoided saying it there I’ll say it here: World of Goo is a steal. Spending $20 for one of the best games of the year is a no-brainer. Spending $20 to support indie developers is a no-brainer. Spending $20 for a game released on OSX and Linux is a no-brainer. Please purchase and play this wonderfully creative game, you absolutely will not regret it.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Congratulations on your placement dude. Look forward to reading your reviews in the future :D
November 6th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Also, I’ve been there over a year = P
The review turned out well–I’m glad you’re on board. Hopefully by the end of the year everything will be set up and smooth.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:08 am
hey matthew, thanks for the great review! a quick note… 2D BOY is the developer, and both 2D BOY and brighter minds are the publishers (brighter minds are the PC retail publishers, 2D BOY is the wiiware and online publisher)
November 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Hey Ron, sorry about the mixup, that was my fault.
Our backend doesn’t yet have the ability to list two publishers; since most of our readers are online they’ll probably purchase it digitally, so I left 2D BOY as publisher for the PC.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
@Daniel: Thank you!
@Mike: Sorry for the error, I probably should have fact checked this with you before posting it. I’ve amended the post accordingly.
@Ron: Thanks for dropping by, I’m glad you enjoyed the review.
November 7th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Hey there, can’t wait to check out the Goo Review. Had a quick thought, though, about pricing in reviews. I see the point when all games are similarly priced, like AAA titles and console games, but when I do reviews for XBLA or iPhone games, I think it’s a salient critical point. Especially in the iPhone arena, where games have many pricing options, and we’re transitioning from the cellphone game era to the handheld game era on the device. Anyway, just my $.02. :)
November 8th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
@Rob: There’s nothing inherently wrong about a review being a buyer’s guide, that type of information certainly has its place. However, the world of video games is currently saturated by this type of review and is sorely lacking in true criticism.
The goal is to move away from “is this game worth buying?” and toward “is this game good? What themes does it explore? How does it teach the player? How immersive is it? Is it art? Where does it fit within the context of other media?”
I realize I’m being a tad hand-wavey here, but much smarter people than myself have written thousands of words on the subject. I think the New Games Journalism manifesto is a good place to start, though.