What is the Mini-Review

Well the debut went off (mostly) without a hitch this past week, with the review of Dragon Force for the Sega Saturn. Now you might be asking yourself what is the difference between a Review and a Mini-Reviews. Well if you only look at the names of them that gives away one part of the difference. Yes, the Mini-Review is designed to be shorter (therefore much more focused) than a review. 

Of course that is not the only thing different, nor is it the main reason the Mini-Review is here now. You see I attempted to write a full scale review for Dragon Force, but I ran into a couple problems. First I had my notes from when I was playing the game and really felt like I could have an easy time writing up a review. I mean why wouldn't I? I loved the game from start to finish. Did the actual review care? No it didn't. In fact I finished the game about a month and a half before the Mini-Review came out. Why? Oh, it had a lot to do with the game being so massive and me not taking as thought out of notes needed for me to do a decent job of writing said review of the game.

With Dragon Force being a sixty plus hour game to finish, very time consuming indeed, there was no way I wanted to play through the game for another sixty plus hours to write up a better review. So I took what I already had, which helped me jog my memory of the game, listened to the soundtrack, watched a couple videos and TA DA! I had a jumbled mess of a review!

SO! After talking with my close friend John (from My Brain on Games) he sparked the idea of focusing on the things I liked about the game. So I went back into the review process, pulled out the stuff I really wanted to bring to readers attention and build off that. So here are the fundamental factors of a Mini-Review vs. a full scale Review.

Mini - Review:

One to two paragraphs long

Focuses on at least two to three main interest points to the game (plot, characters, game play, soundtrack, etc.)

Final paragraph closing up any loose ends to the MR (could be the second or maybe a third paragraph, but must tie up most if not all loose ends)

Has a review score

May include pictures

Full Scale Review:

At least five paragraphs long

Covers all major aspects to the game (similar to the Mini-Review, but covers everything important to the game such as environment, organization/nations, etc.)

Semi-walk through of a point in the game. (of an important area of the game like the beginning, major battle point, etc.)

Must include pictures