(cross-posting from w101c, p101c and the lol message boards).

I've noticed lately that some people are often biased when it comes to certain games and as such tend to either give it a very high rating claiming its the best game ever or a very low rating because they've never played it or it looks childish or something like that. I've done and seen game reviews for games in the past, and I can safely say that these are not fair or informed reviews or ratings on games. Below are some ways to give an informed review (mostly covers the basics).

1. Make sure you've actually played it: This is one of the most crucial facts when reviewing, as you can't give an informed/fair/vaild review on a game if you've never even played it before. I also don't mean try it for about 5-30 minutes and thats it, as thats not long enough to get very far in the game normally. Try it for a few days-a few weeks and see what its about, as most games tend to pick up near the middle-end of its main story arc.

2. Try to get your facts straight: Its important when reviewing to try to make sure your facts and
main points are fair and valid. If your points are all jumbled up and not really accurate, then it hurts your review.

3. Try to talk about the story of the game a bit: Allot of reviewers try to touch on the overall story of the game and talk about what the basic plot is as well. You don't have to go all out with explaining it, but trying to at least cover some of the basics/beginning parts often helps people get a good sense of feel of what its about.

4. Try to touch on the development of the game: This part isn't as important if your just going for a casual review of the game, but if your trying to go for a more in-depth review of a game, then touching a bit on how the game was made lets readers/viewers see how much time and effort went into making a game as well as some other stuff like certain things/aspects that didn't make it into the final version of the game.

5. Give valid reasons why you like/dislike certain parts of the game: I can't stress enough how important it is to give valid reasons why you like or dislike certain parts of the game. Its ok to joke around some, but saying something like "I dislike this because its too hard" isn't really fair. Instead, try to say something like "I felt like this part of the game was pretty difficult because ___."; that will make you look like a more serious reviewer so-to-speak.

6. Give your thoughts on the graphics, music and gameplay: As fellow reviewer kNIGHTWING01 says "graphics are good, but the music is what often makes or breaks a game.", and he's right. I know allot of people often judge a game based on how fancy the graphics look and nothing else. Graphics are important yes, however music and gameplay are often more important than that. Reason being is that a game could have the best graphics in the world, but if the gameplay is bad and/or the music is out of place in a certain part of the game, then it often hurts the overall value/enjoyment factor of the game.

7. Give your overall/final thoughts of the game: This is normally where you wrap up your review. Its here you give your overall thoughts of the game and how you feel it played out as well as let the readers/viewers know if you think there's some enjoyment in it as well as the amount of replay value it has (i.e. the amount of content it has to keep players playing for long periods of time). Once you've done that, just give your rating of the game or if you don't do ratings state whether you think the game is worth owning/playing or not.

You don't have to like every single game you play, and I know I'm not an expert at reviewing games like some people are, but I do hope that this at least helps you get an overall idea of what to do when reviewing a game.

Thank you for your time.