Producing any type of content takes skill and time. Beauty content needs care on the color payoff, style and price points.
Home interior blogs need things like lighting and current trends.
Gaming content, however, is its own beast. Youtube is packed out with gamers who review games with reaction cams or detailed walkthrough so including video in blog posts is just a smart move. Learning how to download Youtube videos would be the first step in ramping up your blog as the place to go.
The second part is crafting a post that not only invites discussion but encourages people to trust your recommendations. Which is great if you are running affiliate links
Great game + great review content = tasty affiliate revenue.
Timing
If you are crafting a post on a new game, your timing will be crucial. It needs to be ahead of release date if you are lucky enough to get a review copy, or it needs to be within a day or two of release for the most traffic. Generally, you are looking for an under 5 day turn around from release to publication, broken down in the following way:
- Playing the game: 2 – 3 days
- Writing the review: 1 day
- Editing: ½ day
- Setting up social media push & posting: ½
Research
You’re going to have to complete the game as much as possible before you write it up. Make notes as you go, if something isn’t performing as you’d like to write down why. If there is a twist in the plotline don’t give too much away but make a note on the effectiveness.
Details
How much is it? Where is it available? Prequel? Sequel? What are the origins of the game? The company that produced it and even the studio. Some people fall in love with the gameplay of certain games. Batman: Arkham has very smooth gameplay, which can be seen again in Spider-Man – fans of that style would enjoy both games
Compare the style, gameplay, storyline with things that are familiar to the reader. Talk about things that are clunky or glitchy, and things you didn’t enjoy too.
Features, options, graphics, design and gameplay should all be included. If you have access to, and permission to then add some stills to break up the text.
Conclusion
The last word on the game, how you feel about it, how long it took to complete and if you recommend it or not should go here. Star ratings, links to purchase and links to other reviews are all a good idea here. It can feel a bit difficult, to sum up, the whole game into perhaps a single paragraph but use your notes to guide you through. A good thing to mention here is the reply value, once someone has spent a chunk of cash on the game, could they play it again or is it heading to the shelf to gather dust?
Read your review through a few hours after you have written it when you come back for the editing process you can clean it up and post it. Be honest and deliver your thoughts too.