Here I try to share a little for you who want to learn to write a review, both for hobby and who want to learn to write seriously. Well, because the intronya is long, just start it.

1. Selecting Game

The first thing to do is of course choosing a game that you will review. In choosing a game, you should prioritize a game that is familiar enough you know. Do not review games that are completely alien to you, especially if the game is a sequel to another game you've never played. I've never played Resident Evil in my life, so if I suddenly make Resident Evil 7's review it's desperate.

In addition to considering the question of familiarity, prioritize also review games that you like, at least from the genre. Do you like JRPG? Make a JRPG review. You like football games? Make a review of Pro Evolution Soccer.

2. Know the Game Deeper

After determining the game that you will review, next look for information about the game in more detail. For example, who is the developer? When is the release date? Is it multiplatform or not? Is there a difference between PC version and console? What is the story relation in game with in anime?

These things may sound trivial, but the deeper you get to know the game means more ideas you can write in the review later. You can find this info by reading the game news or Wikipedia.

3. Determine the Assessment Criteria

I use 4 criteria in its assessment of graphic, gameplay, value, and overall rating. I myself would rather share it into story, graphics, gameplay, sound, and overall rating. Whatever criteria you use, decide early on as this will be your reference when assessing the advantages / disadvantages of the game.

4. Play Game Period

The next thing you should do is of course playing the game. Remember, you can not make a review of a game you just play for a while! Later your judgment can be unfair because you have not seen all aspects of the game.

Try to play a game that you will review to graduate, but if the game is too long not to finish is okay as long as you have played long enough. As a rule of thumb, play the game for at least 20 hours. If you review small games (eg mobile games or visual novels) it may not be that long, but make sure you understand the advantages and disadvantages in detail.

5. Save Screenshot As many as possible

A review article must be boring if it is not accompanied by a screenshot. In addition to making your writing more exciting, screenshots are also useful to remind you of the cool parts of the game. Do not stingy save screenshots though not everything will be used. When writing a review of Sword Art Online: My Lost Song took screenshots 418 times, but ended up only 14 pictures.

Fortunately now many consoles / handhelds that feature screenshots and even Photo Mode. For PC games, you can also use apps like Fraps to help. Just imagine the hassle of taking screenshots for game reviews in the past

6. Recording Advantages and Disadvantages

This is very easy, especially if you are not used to making reviews. Remember, the purpose of the review is to show the good and ugly aspects of a game, not just to show what features in the game. Shows that feature is not wrong, but without discussing the advantages and disadvantages, the reader will not know whether the feature makes the game more interesting or not.

Notice the good and bad things that you meet throughout the game, if you need to record everything. Remember always the assessment criteria you have set, and determine whether the game meets the criteria properly or not. It's good you also have a game that you make a standard benchmark to determine the score.

7. Writing Start of Conclusions

If you've been playing long enough and have enough confidence in your understanding of the game you're reviewing, it's time for you to write! Each person can have different writing styles. I usually start from the conclusion first, because developing a review of a conclusion is a very easy thing. This can be likened to a question and answer with yourself.

8. Proofreading

Once your writing is finished, do not publish it immediately! Take time to reread your own writing. Correct when there is a typo. Use punctuation well and correctly. Also use capital letters well and correctly. Neat writing will be more readable than writing a crude, let alone mess.

You can write a review with the style of formal language or gahol, but my advice is get used to write with the appropriate Indonesian EYD. Who knows you will become a professional writer. Legend says, the salaries of professional game journalists can be used for lifestyle bling-bling style Snoop Dogg. True or not, wallahu a'lam.

9. Layouting

It's both fun and exhausting. Fun because by adding decorations, our articles become more pleasing to the eye. Tiring because we have to choose screenshots, look for artwork, cut up pictures, and arrange them. Sometimes we also have to deal with HTML code, make it difficult.