![the medium review embargo the medium review embargo](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-p0328h94yt/images/stencil/1280w/products/6243/15557/ELG25-0__26204.1520962744.jpg)
So again, what is the requirement in this matter? Do you need to play tutorials? Do you need to go online? Should I spend weeks replaying the same matches over and over again just to fill some requirements to review the game? A fighting game is more about the actual gameplay than a story.
THE MEDIUM REVIEW EMBARGO FULL
How about fighting games? Since Mortal Kombat (2011) changed things by adding a full story mode, most fighting games do not have a story mode either. With games like these, what constitutes playing enough of the game to review? Do we measure such things in hours? Days? Weeks? Do we need to play Madden Ultimate Teams for a specific amount of time before we can review it? While there are some exceptions like NBA Live 18, and some Madden or NBA 2K titles where there is a career story mode, most sports titles do not have a story mode. What about games where there is no story? Not every game that comes out has a story mode.
![the medium review embargo the medium review embargo](https://generalcigar.s3.amazonaws.com/public/cigarworld/prod/ShareImages/Alec_Bradley_PostEmbargo.jpg)
As reviewers, where do we make the distinction? Most would side with the logical version: A game is considered finished when the main story has wrapped up and the credits roll.īut again, things are more complex than that. While this is the most logical version to go with, other people would consider a game finished when there is nothing left to do in the game, also known as “100% completion”. The tweet you see above is a part of a thread on Twitter that has brought this whole debate back into public view, with people both inside and outside of the industry giving their two cents about if reviewers should finish a game before review or not.Ī lot of people think that finishing a game means that you play the main story till its conclusion. If a reviewer didn’t actually finish SIFU, or reach the later levels, they shouldn’t be scoring it IMO And as always, I caution people to be discerning with the reviews they read. This had led to a few people inside, and mostly outside, the gaming journalism area to ask if reviewers should be required to finish a game completely before writing their review, or is it ok for reviewers to play a part of the game and then review it. If you read some of the Sifu reviews, you will notice a common thread of reviewers stating that due to Sifu’s high difficulty setting and learning curve, many were not able to complete the game before the embargo date that was set by PR companies that sent out review codes of Sifu. However, the game has also brought around the age-old debate over if reviewers should finish a game completely before sitting down at their computers and typing out a review for a game. Recently, the game Sifu has hit store shelves (and the PlayStation Network once they sort out the delivery issue) with a lot of fanfare. Without these reviews, all we would be doing is posting news that companies send out in email blasts and post on their own websites anyway, making us pretty much pointless. As many people who come to The Outerhaven, or any other gaming website, know that video game reviews are the lifeblood of these websites.