Do you find video game reviews or video game essays more insightful?

[StaceyPowers]

I like reading both video game reviews and essays, but often find the essays (or essay-like reviews) more insightful, maybe because they tend to focus more on overarching themes and ideas. Which do you usually find the more insightful format?

[Head_Hunter]

Both are insightful. I love reading the reviews and essays. But the review is more popular because the reviewer takes time to explain with steps about the video game for a gamer to understand. 

[killamch89]

Both are pretty useful in their own way. Video game reviews show you a video of what to expect as well - Video essays put that more into a word format so a gamer can choose whichever they prefer.

[m76]

A video game review should be an essay. That's the only review worth reading. Many people say that reviews should be objective and focus only on the subject game, but that is a literal impossibility. The only way a review could be completely objective if it was written by an AI that has no preferences, feelings, and prior experiences.

[Justin11]

22 hours ago, killamch89 said:

Both are pretty useful in their own way. Video game reviews show you a video of what to expect as well - Video essays put that more into a word format so a gamer can choose whichever they prefer.

Both are very useful indeed when it comes to getting satisfactory information concerning how s video game should look like. In order to make your selection or not. 

[Head_Hunter]

That's how I manage to stay off from bad games that would've cost me more pennies which I don't have much. 

[Boblee]

Why not? They are put up to informate anyone who takes the time to read them and understand what they need to know about the games they are interested in. 

[Justin11]

17 hours ago, Boblee said:

Why not? They are put up to informate anyone who takes the time to read them and understand what they need to know about the games they are interested in. 

Both of them are very much pivotal it serves our desire by revealing what we should know about a video game that caught our attention if it's a good game or never. 

[Oblivion Knight]

I like watching video reviews of games. They feel like they give you that bit more information by showing parts of the game that the reviewer may be discussing at any one time, such as combat mechanics. Sometimes that demonstration really helps to validate a point, as well as giving us a glimpse of what the game is actually like.

..that, and I often can't actually be bothered to read a review, let alone an essay! 🤣

[Heatman]

The video reviews are more addressing for me. It's not that I don't appreciate the written easy review, the video is always more complete. 

[Empire]

I think this will often just be an inevitable side effect of the fact that it takes a few seconds to say that one finds a game fun or that some given aspect of the game is just fine, but can take greatly longer to explain the complexity of a game’s flaws and why and how they create problems for the experience. If I were to take one of my favourite games of all time, MSFS2020 I could sum up essentially all of its merits in about 20 seconds. But I could talk your ear off about the problems with the flight physics in some of its versions, and the history of and rationale behind those design/control decisions and their implications.

[Justin11]

4 hours ago, Heatman said:

The video reviews are more addressing for me. It's not that I don't appreciate the written easy review, the video is always more complete. 

Sure, that's why I prefer watching from YouTube. It is more believing when you see with your eyes instead of the written work alone. 

[Boblee]

16 hours ago, Oblivion Knight said:

I like watching video reviews of games. They feel like they give you that bit more information by showing parts of the game that the reviewer may be discussing at any one time, such as combat mechanics. Sometimes that demonstration really helps to validate a point, as well as giving us a glimpse of what the game is actually like.

..that, and I often can't actually be bothered to read a review, let alone an essay! 🤣

Yeah - with the little gameplay review makes it more easier to understand what the full game is all about. It shows exactly what to expect in the game play to play unlike when it's all only written. 

[Head_Hunter]

If I have no one to review me what the video game is all about. My alternative option for life have always been around watching video reviews and essays reviews of the game. 

[Justin11]

That's where it's more interesting, taking those reviews made by website owners or channel owners gives a gamer clue about a particular video game he never played before on how it will run via gameplay.