Dear Susan,
I've have been reading your reviews for quite some time, and I wanted to build up a little bit of reference material and evidence before I put forward the following statement: As a reviewer, you suck.
I will now go through a list of reasons why you are a particularly bad reviewer, evidence to support this, and then suggest ways to improve your reviewing style. I do not want to invite a flame war, or simply throw baseless accusations around, but I want to improve the way you review the games, so that you can advise gamers more helpfully on what particular games are worth playing.
Point 1: My biggest complaint is that you simply don't do a thorough analysis on the games good and bad points, and lack evidence to back up any criticisms you do make. All you do is simply say what you, in your own opinion, find entertaining and what you find annoying, and then maybe throw in a one-liner joke. Opinionated journalism may bring in a larger audience, but as a consumer, this gives me no actual insight into the games good and bad points, from a technical AND a gameplay standpoint. If you gave your reviews a more objective spin, saying what the game's strengths and weaknesses are according to a wider audience, then it would be much more helpful to people deciding whether to buy the game or not. Every time you write a criticism or comment about a game, think to yourself 'Is this what gamers in general will think, or is this what I think?'.
Evidence for this - In your most recent review (Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena), instead of explaining that there is a mech-driving section, outlining how it is or isn't fun, and how it does or doesn't fit in with the storyline/gameplay, your only comment was "...but in some areas you simply have no option but to shoot your way out, like in the mech sequence. (Apparently, every new game this year needs a mech sequence, whether it makes sense or not.)" Bearing in mind this is just one example, there were a few other moments where I felt your commitment to giving the game a complete and thorough review was somewhat diminished. (I won't list them all, just simply look at the end of some of the paragraphs, you'll spot what I'm talking about)
Point 2: I know it's only a supplement, but in your video reviews you don't say nearly enough about what is happening onscreen, or the game in general. Most of the time, it's an off-handed comment on how 'this sucks' or 'this is fun', without a shred of personal or technical evidence to back it up, despite the huge gaps of silence where you're not talking, which gives you plenty of opportunity to back up these claims. Please, I'm not asking you to do a Yahtzee and talk non-stop at high speeds throughout the review, but as any good video review will tell you, long silences are something to be avoided! All you need to do is describe the value of an asset or style of approach within a game, and then evaluate it's pros and cons. This is reviewing 101, and although it's an oldie, it's a tried and tested method that gets key information across quickly and accessibly, and it even gives you a chance to throw in a joke or two. In summary, no more long pauses after an unsupported comment, please!
I'm sorry if I seem mean or unfair, but I offer you a chance to give your own counter argument to my claims, and I hope you don't ignore my pleas for a better standard of reviewing. It just really gets me when someone doesn't review a game properly, not that they don't give it a fair chance (which is also annoying, but I'm definitely not saying you do it), but that they give no information to the receiver about the good and bad points of a game, and instead resort to calling something 'crap' without evidence, or even admitting it's a gut instinct. Please tell me if I'm wrong, or if you plan to change the style that you (and also John Funk, this is also directed at him) review games, because it's not only unfair to the developers, but deeply unfair to the readers and customers who leave the review as ill-informed as when they went in.
Thank you for your time.