Dooyoo want to be a Games Master! (Games Master)

Name: Cassanova

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Product:	Games Master
Date:	27/03/01 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of great features!

Disadvantages: Could be too broad for some people.

As a gamer, I regularly find myself looking to see what game I should buy next. But what game should I buy? There are so many genres to choose from, and an incredible range of games.

The answer is, read magazines. But of course it isn’t entirely straight forward, because guess what, there are a large variety of magazines to choose from. Firstly, you have the magazines devoted to one platform, say the Playstation. The advantage of buying this type of magazine is that you get an entire magazine devoted to that particular platform, which of course means more information or pictures for you. Imagine that one person has just bought a new console and they would like to know what games they should buy. If they bought a multi-format magazine (i.e. one that covers all the different platforms) then there would be a lot of sections that would not concern the person, as the person only has one of the platforms.
But, if they purchased a magazine that only covered the platform that the person had bought, then there wouldn’t be any sections in the magazine that weren’t relevant.

Games Master is a multi-format magazine, so I believe that the majority of people who buy the magazine, probably own more than one platform. I do think that some people might buy it, because it is a high quality magazine though.

But enough of that, you should understand now the difference in magazines now.


Games Master

Games Master is a multi-format magazine that covers all the different consoles and PCs. The layout of the magazine is very good, as it has a variety of different sections, like news, reviews, and tips. Each section usually has lots of different stories or games, and you can bet that if there is a story, then Games Master has probably got it in the magazine. The magazine obviously has a lot of journalists who work in Japan, as they are quick to find the latest news on new games and new games consoles.


News

As I said before, Games Master is good at finding stories and I find that when ever I buy the magazine, there is usually a story in there that I haven’t already read or heard of.
I think that it is important to have a large section devoted to news, as this is the most exciting part of the games industry. Just remember when Sony first showed the world the Playstation 2. Games Master featured loads of information and pictures from the official unveiling. There were sections that showed pictures from the technical demos and sections that explained the specifications of the hardware itself.
All in all, Games Master did pretty well at covering the story.

Previews

Again, Games Master is usually great at covering previews on games. Unfortunately they don’t always have some games previewed when clearly the game is almost finished, but I would imagine that the magazine couldn’t always have all the games previewed in one edition. As for the previews themselves, they are very well laid out and contain an excellent analysis of the game. The structure goes like this: you have the text that goes through the games development and then explains how the game plays. You then have boxes with pictures and text that explain one particular point about the game. Lastly, there is a bar on the right of the last page that explains the first impressions of the game, with an advantage and disadvantage box at the bottom. This is great as you can read about what it is actually like to play quickly, and you can read what the basic advantage and disadvantage is.

Sometimes though, you find that you want to know a bit more, but this could be that you yearn for the game itself!

Reviews

The reviews section is one of the best sections in the magazine. A typical review of a game (or maybe I should, ‘a good game’) is usually anywhere between three and six pages long. This might so
und like a lot, but when you read the magazine, you will see that actually, this is the perfect length. There is a substantial amount of text, which is really what you want, and a good number of pictures from the game.
Like the previews section, there are special boxes that contain a picture and a paragraph of text that take you through, or explain, one particular part of the game. For example, say the review is of Final Fantasy 9. There would be several of these boxes, with an example of one of them explaining the ‘card game’. It would show a picture or two of the card game itself, and then a paragraph to explain how it works.
This feature is great as there are usually lots of these boxes, and they are a great way of explaining features in the game without losing the reader.

At the end of the review, there is a box that gives the game an overall mark. The mark is a percentage, say 94 %. What Games Master used to do, which was great, was to have a bar on the right hand side of the final page that consisted of different features of the game, like graphics, sound, gameplay, lastability etc…
Under each title there would be a line or two that described what each one was like. This was great as you could really see what was good and what was bad, quickly. But unfortunately they scrapped this for a smaller box.

Overall the reviews section is great, but I think it would have been nice if they had kept the old design.

Tips

The tips section is usually very big, with an entire section devoted to one or two games. This is usually good as there are usually two or more whole pages of tips, generally a guide/walkthrough.
The rest is usually devoted to a letters section where people write in with problems and the Games Master team come up with a solution, and lastly a general section for lots of different games, but covers lots of different cheats.

The tips section is great as there i
s often a walkthrough for a game like Final Fantasy 9 or something like that. Plus there is usually a cheat for a game you have in the cheats section.

Extras

In the back of the magazine there are loads of excellent extras. For instance, there is a small review section on handheld games. What is great, is the magazine doesn’t have too much on this section, so you don’t feel annoyed that the magazine is full of handheld games that really don’t matter that much.

Also, there is usually a review section for peripherals and other extras like DVDs or music.
Another great feature as the Playstation 2 supports DVDs.


Finally at the very back there is a ‘next month in Games Master’ section that lets you know what next month’s edition will feature.


Design and presentation

The magazine looks great, but unfortunately, sometimes the quality of the pictures (of games) in the magazine is terrible. I was looking through one edition and I found a preview of a game on the PS2 called Moto GP. I thought that it would look great, but to my disappointment, it looked awful. Straight away I knew that it had nothing to do with the game. The screen shots looks very fuzzy. What I mean by this, is pixelated, like the game hadn’t been anti aliased (a technique that smoothes edges).
But I had already played this game in the arcade and had downloaded a movie from the Internet of the PS2 version, and it was clearly nothing like the Games Master pictures. The game is as smooth as a babies bum!


Overall

This magazine is clearly very good and has lots of excellent features. I buy this magazine regularly and encourage anyone else who is interested in the games industry to consider buying it too.

Games Master is available once a month for about three pounds, and often includes a free tips book or some other freebee.


Thanks for reading m
y opinion, I appreciate anyone’s comments on the magazine or my opinion.


Cheers!

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