Your weakness

I'm sure each of us has some kind of weakness when it comes to writing reviews. Something that you just don't look forward to writing but you know you have to address it. Perhaps it's writing about the gameplay or perhaps you struggle to write a decent sized paragraph about the graphics. You obviously can't just say 'the graphics are brilliant' and that's it. No, you have to elaborate.

So what is your weakness at review writing?

For me it's definitely the Story. If you look back at my recent reviews you'll notice that I always try to tip-toe around writing about the story. I rarely go into detail and I usually just cut the paragraph short. For my Enslaved review I pretty much just played the first chapter again and retold what was said during that chapter using my own words. For my Bayonetta review I just remembered the names of the 2 witch clans and roughly remembered what they were arguing about and then just pieced it roughly together in my head.
This is because in games I tend to lose track of the story very easily for some reason. I pay attention to it but somehow I just end up forgetting key plot points, key character's names, important details etc etc. I tend to concentrate too much on the gameplay and so a lot of the story goes over my head.

So yeah I dread writing a paragraph about the story and I try to get it out of the way as quickly as I can so I can move on to the stuff that I do well.

Funny enough, I tend to have some trouble with introductions. For instance, the review I'm doing right now (Earthworm Jim for the Sega Genesis) had a pretty mediocre intro that didn't explain much, if anything about it, so I'm trying to write up a better one.

quote Celes Leonhart

I write reviews in the same way I write essays and I can't really escape it. Long paragraphs

I used to have that issue myself (though you people never saw them because I never posted them - I only post what I consider to be good). If anything, I find that to compensate, some of my paragraphs tend to be a bit on the short side haha

quote Aevers

Funny enough, I tend to have some trouble with introductions. For instance, the review I'm doing right now (Earthworm Jim for the Sega Genesis) had a pretty mediocre intro that didn't explain much, if anything about it, so I'm trying to write up a better one.

Same here. Oftentimes I have to re-write my introductions three or four times before I'm happy to continue with the rest!

A   T   T   I   T   U   D   E
1  +  20  +  20  +  9  +  20  +  21  +  4  +  5

=  1 0 0 %

Audio tends to be my biggest hurdle. Most notably I find myself reusing the same set of descriptive terms because I honestly can't think of another way to go about it. That and it's harder for me to go into the same detail that I would in other areas of the game.

Intros can be hit and miss too. Sometimes it'll be fine but othertimes (especially if it's a game I just played on a whim) then it can be hard to know where to start without the intro just sounding like I'm doing it just for the sake of it.

When it comes to certain games, it's being concise and yet detailed enough to give people enough of an understanding of a game, all the while keeping it entertaining because reviews aren't strictly buyer's guides.