Narrative Approaches in Contemporary Video Game Reviews

As journalism wants to both inform and engage the reader through telling stories, video game reviews from different outlets have distinct approaches in their narrative designs and structures. Whereas some media, mostly long-running dedicated magazines, prefer a more straightforward and holistic approach for their review style, newer game culture publications tend to adopt a more personal and selective way of writing about video games. This text will analyze and compare these approaches to narrative design. It will tackle the following questions: How do game reviews motivate their readers, not only by presenting an engaging text/story but also in terms of the way in which they influence how a video game will be perceived and played? How do the writers position themselves and their personal preferences in relation to the respective game? And how is the personal act of individually playing a video game reflected in a text that tries to cater to a broader audience?1