Since I’m still working on a big Secret Project™ that’s been taking up the vast majority of my writing time, I’ve had to think of a better way to review games (which I still enjoy doing in my downtime).
Here, then, is the first in a regular series of review round-up videos, in which I’ll give you small reviews of a bunch of newly released games.
Most professional video reviews on YouTube are scripted, to ensure the reviewer gets across the points they want to make. Since I hate doing that fake radio-style YouTuber voice (trust me, I’ve tried it), these videos will be completely unscripted and I’ll be talking about them normally.
Think of them as a podcast that focuses on game reviews, complete with footage. Here’s episode 1: there’s more information underneath the video.
While this episode focuses mainly on Switch games, that won’t always be the case in future videos. All formats, even mobile, are to be included soon.
What’s more, while the videos will mainly focus on smaller titles – since I prefer covering those – in the future there’ll be some triple-A games tossed in there too to keep things interesting.
In this first episode I review:
• Farming Simulator: Switch Edition (Switch)
• Pic-A-Pix Deluxe (Switch)
• Maria The Witch (Switch)
• Xenoraid (Switch)
• Ben 10 (Switch)
• Pinball FX 3 (Switch)
• Octodad: Dadliest Catch (Switch)
• Heroes Of The Monkey Tavern (Switch)
• Koi DX (Switch)
• Mantis Burn Racing (Switch)
Haven’t heard of some of those? Don’t know much about some of them? Good, that’s the point. Consider this your regular – hopefully weekly – video show designed to give you half an hour of games you may not have seen much of on other sites.
Please do give me your feedback on this, and I’d really appreciate if you shared it on your social media, forum or website tips feed of choice. The more attention these get the more I’ll be able to do.
Good video as always, but I just want to throw some opinions at you.
Another good reason for scripted videos is that a script can convey the same points in a much more concise way. If there’s no hesitation, repetition or deviation in the script, there’s no room for viewer with a low attention span (these days we can probably assume this is most people) to think of clicking away. This isn’t a problem for your First Play series because that’s a Twitch-style live commentary (if the viewer hates Twitch, they likely won’t stick around for First Play), but with your reviews it feels a bit odd that your written ones are as polished as your IGNs and Kotakus yet your videos are casual. Granted your podcast is casual too, but IMO that’s like a one-sided chat more than it is going on the record with your opinion, if that makes sense.
Also, I’m sure you can become a great improvisational speaker as well as a great presenter, but if you just want to be a great presenter then not using your impressive writing skills to get there feels like a waste. Up-and-coming YouTubers need two of those three skills to succeed, and you’ve already aced one of them so why not use it? Though I understand you do have a lot of constraints on your time, so there’s that.
As for the ‘YouTuber voice’, I know what you mean. From what you’ve said in the past, in journalism writing how you talk is discouraged, but I think for YouTube it’s better focusing on getting your writing and speaking to match, rather than just doing the voice.
But yeah I’m just an idiot with an internet connection who used to have ambitions on YouTube, so take that with a few buckets of salt. Anyway until you start murdering puppies live on Twitch I’ll continue to consume your #content.