I’ve played a thousand games in my lifetime. I’m planning on
playing a thousands more. Just like any consumer, the more time you invest in
it, the more natural analysis starts to happen. Impressions, criticisms,
opinions. I grew up reading multiple video game publications, and even though
their review breakdowns were different (some were by stars, some number scales,
some had criteria for replayability, etc.) they were fundamentally the same.
There are ingredients that go into making a good game. I used to agonize over
what those were, exactly. “What criteria does every great game need to nail
dead-on in order to transcend to perfection, right?” What a waste of time.
