Game People have novel reviews – literally

9 Mar, 2011

If you’re at all familiar with Game People, you’ll know they’ve been doing things differently for years now – for example, they use song and standup comedy to rate videogames. They’ve recently begun taking this even further – Chris Jarvis now heads a new column which will feature short stories for each videogame he reviews. These will then be recorded by voice actors and published every other Monday on the site.

“I write stories to say what I think about games, for me it’s the best way to express my reaction. Do you ever have a response to something that’s hard to put into words? For a long time stories have helped people to understand intangible ideas. I find that a piece of fiction can give an insight into a game that a regular review can’t do in the same way,” Jarvis explains.

“Often when we criticise games, films or stories we focus on technical areas: control, visuals, atmosphere, pacing and characters. I find that my personal responses aren’t always defined by the sum of a games parts and I don’t believe yours are, either.”

Whilst the approach isn’t my cup of tea – I like my reviews to be short and to the point – it will certainly be interesting to see further results of this approach.