What it is it?
Playslike is a game review site. It features PC reviews, video game reviews, and possible board game reviews down the road. These will be "individually" reviewed in that we don't by any means plan to cover every major release, instead we will review games that we have played and enjoyed and actually motivated us to review whether for good or bad reasons.
What kind of reviews will I find here?
Basically there will be two kinds of reviews: impressions and full reviews. Impressions are how the game plays from the get go within the first day or so of play. Some games may only ever get the basic review, especially if they don't click. Reviews are more detailed write ups usually for titles which are enjoyable enough to warrant extended play.
So Why "Plays Like"?
The "hook" you could call it, is that we plan on contrasting game reviews with similar games in the genre or prequels etc. Too often games get reviewed in a vacuum where the reviewer will expound on how they hate RTS or FPS games etc., bringing up everything they hate about the genre. It's kind of silly to review Far Cry and complain that all you do is shoot things (not sure if I've ever read that in a review of Far Cry, just talking theoretically here). However Far Cry fans will probably really want to know that Far Cry: Predator Instincts for the 360 is an awful game and especially awful when compared to Far Cry on the PC. So at the end of the review there will be sections contrasting the game to other similar games.
What is the rating system?
Ratings will be a percentage scale, but I hope to use the full ratings scale. I don't like it when average games get 80% or more because reviewers are afraid that they'll get burned for being overly harsh. So 50% or more means the game is worth playing at some level. 90% and over is going to be games that go well beyond the normal gaming experience providing untold hours of enjoyable gameplay experiences. If you see a lot of 90+ games on the site at first it's because I've reviewed my favorite games first! I'll also hand out 100% if I really can't think of any substantial complaints and the game is just that good. One further point scores may change over time; if a game comes out a buggy mess and they really sort things out than I also don't mind increasing the score. Likewise if I'm raving about a game and suddenly find out that it doesn't work towards the end or something I would also consider lowering the score.
Who are you?
I'm a dad and a longtime gamer. I also have a full time IT job. One could say my gaming time has been going down over the years! But I still find time for gaming, though now it's more likely to be early in the morning, rather than late at night.
Currently I own a fairly high-end PC, an XBOX360 Premium (so far no RROD!), and a Wii. I also have a DS (so does my wife and our oldest son actually!). Come to think of it I have a 3DO and a Dreamcast in the garage or someplace. I've owned most of the systems (or when I was much younger at least one of my siblings did like a Sega Master System or NES) at one point or another. I gamed on C64's, Amigas, NES, SNES, Genesis, 3DO, Neo-Geo, Saturn, Playstation, N64, Playstation 2 and probably some others I am forgetting. And of course I usually have a game ready PC.
I don't have a PS3 yet. I'll probably pick one up in a year or so or whenever some must-have game comes out. So I'm fairly platform agnostic. I love my 360 and Live. The Wii was actually a major disappointment once the honeymoon period ended. My PC is new and up to date (running Vista) so of course right now it's very enjoyable.
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