Second Reviews

Some games, particularly ones with heavy online functionality, such as Destiny, change substantially after their initial release. One person playing the game at launch and another person playing the game a year later can have very different experiences. Because of this, I’m a fan of second reviews, aka updated reviews, whereby you do another review of a game at some point in the future after it comes out. The second review takes into account all the changes that have happened since launch and evaluates the game again based on its current condition. Thus, people like me who usually aren’t able to play games for some time after their release have a better idea of what a game is like now, rather than just what it used to be. Understandably, second reviews are not common because most games don’t need them, and because they require dedicating the limited time, money, and personnel of games media outlets to older games, when those same assets could be better spent on current games that generate more web traffic and ad revenue. If I worked for one of those publications I would gladly put in the overtime to do the job of second reviews, and my bosses would probably look at me funny for volunteering for such a thankless task of questionable value to the company’s bottom line. The reason I would do it because I believe there’s untapped potential in second reviews. It might not be much, but I know I’m not the only person who is normally late to the party, and I think it would be a valuable service for the small slice of the gaming population who are like me in that regard.