Just My Opinion! (How to Write a Good Toys & Games Review)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	How to Write a Good Toys & Games Review
Date:	29/08/06 (143 review reads)
Rating:

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What do I look for as Toys & Games Guide?

That’s a question that only I can answer and below I have listed out some of the things I think need to go into a toy/game review to make it up to the best standard it could be. HOWEVER, as almost everyone who has written one of these types of reviews has said – it is not set in stone and you can actually write your review any way you see fit, with as much information or as little personal information as you like but the ratings will probably reflect that. At the end of the day it is personal experience and very useful information about the product that will earn you the VU from me.

Firstly I look at the title of the product you are reviewing. The first and foremost thing you should do when reviewing something is make sure you have it in the correct section! I have lost track of the amount of reviews that have been put in totally the wrong section earning them NU ratings, when if they had taken a few minutes to look properly it could have been U or above.

Secondly, I look for content. By this I mean I am looking for a review that has included everything I would like to know about the toy/game, without waffling too much. This is obviously a matter of opinion when it comes to how much info is classed as useful and when does it cross the line to waffle? Well for me if you are reviewing a board game like Chess for instance, I would like to read a few basic rules of the objectives of the game but I would not want to read what every piece can do and a blow-by-blow account of all the rules. This would bore me silly and is really not useful when it comes to making a decision about whether I would buy it or not.

Thirdly, I am looking for personal experience of the product. I would not expect a review to be written about a complex toddlers toy just because you saw your neighbour’s baby niece playing with it in the garden for five minutes, six months ago. I would expect you to own the toy or at least have had regular access to it, so that your personal opinion of the product can shine through and really make a difference in the review. I read a review a while back that told me about how this particular toy had helped a premature baby to pull themselves up, into a standing position and how pleased they were that it had helped their child. To me this is invaluable information that could be the difference between a VU review and a U one.

Fourthly, all the other stuff! By this I mean, it helps to know how hard it is to assemble (without giving me the complete run down on the instruction manual) and again if you need to disassemble to put away. If you can clean it how easy it is to do and what are the results like? Does it take batteries – if so how long do they last based on what amount of usage? Is it educational and if so how? What are the recommended ages to use the game or toy? And on top of all that – does your child or intended audience like it or not? Is it annoying to the adults who have to listen to the monotonous music or is quite entertaining for grown ups too?

I am not expecting a load of Toys & Games reviews to come spewing forth following this review nor typed in a way that completely replicates what I have said above. These are just points that I feel should be looked at when writing the review and not all will apply to every toy or game, but a lot will and they are things that I will be looking for to maybe nominate the review for a crown.

Also remember length does not always equal a great review. I have read some particularly lengthy reviews that just didn’t cut it for me as a large proportion of the review was either listing off instructions on how to play it or terrible padding about how they were bored one Saturday morning and decided to go into town with their mum and ended up in a shop…..you get the picture I am sure.

Lastly I will mention the lay out of the review. I am pretty easy when it comes to how you set things out. I find it beneficial to have headings if the review is longer than the average as this helps the reader to split it up into relevant sections to read. Obviously I would be reading everything in the review but other members or indeed non-members would not necessarily need to read everything you have written in order to find the vital bit of information they need and for this reason headings can be very helpful. I also do not mind if you decide not to put them in. As long as the text is separated by paragraphs and not in one big chunk, which is very hard to read.

Give me good spelling and grammar and I will be happy too. It only takes a second to do a spell check and it makes such a difference to the overall readability of the review.

In essence I am looking for a review to be…..

Detailed information on what it is/does (yet not too much).

Lots of personal experience with it and your findings.

A good layout to aide readability with good grammar and correct spelling.

Not too long and padded but long enough to include everything important.

That’s not too much to ask now is it?

Cheers. House & Garden guide to follow. (maybe!)

Summary: Just My Opinion!