Veteran Gamer Reviews

In the near future, you'll begin seeing some game reviews posted by yours truly. I felt I should explain my scoring methodology, since I'm probably coming from a different angle than the more mainstream sites.

Veteran Gamer as a site tailors its content based on the principle that if you're reading the site, you're at least in your late twenties, likely married, and maybe you've got a kid or two in the mix as well. Because of these facts, it's extremely unlikely that you can buy every new game that hits the market. Because of these facts, it's a certainty that this site cannot review every game on the market. Right now, I'm a staff of one writing because I love video games. So when you do see a review, you know I own the game. If I'm ever so fortunate to have a publisher send me a game for free, it will be noted in the review. In light of these facts, my review scale based on a five-star scale as follows:

1 Star - Not worth your time - Seriously. I'm scarred having played it, and would really like the time and money I just wasted back.

2 Stars - Worth your time, but not your money - This is one of those games that someone who likes it will fully admit that it's a guilty pleasure. There's plenty wrong with it, but for some reason, you have a good time with it. Find some other sucker who's bought it and play it on their dime.

3 Stars - Worth Renting - This game is a good game, though not worth owning. Good for a few nights of fun, never to be touched again, it's the perfect game to get from the local video store, GameFly, or Goozex so you get to play the game, but didn't have to plunk down $60 to do it.

4 Stars - Worth owning - This game is a great game. It will have good replay value, or a quality campaign that takes long enough that rental isn't really a valid option.  As the subtext says, it's worth your money.

5 Stars - Must own - If you own the platform this is released on, and you like the genre of the game, you're doing yourself a disservice as a gamer by not owning this game the minute it's released. Five stars for me, is not an award given out easily. A game must be worth every penny and then some of it's new release price to receive this designation. Think of this as the "Editors Choice" award of the site. The accolades don't get any better on this site.

I hold the philosophy that games should be fun as well as worth your hard earned coin. You might find the most awesome game in the world that can be completed in four hours. But are those four hours of game play worth $60? Highly unlikely.

Herein lies my purpose. To let you, dear reader, know if it's really worth it for you to plunk down your hard earned coin from an everyman's point of view.