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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A to Z Challenge: Gamer Girl Tuesday: Paying the price

One of the toughest things about gaming is the price tag that comes with playing games.  With games hitting the market with typically a $50-60 dollar price tag, and some games costing $15 dollars a month to play, if you're on a budget, it can be tough to decide what to buy.  Here's some things to keep in mind when trying to make that decision.

  1. Don't buy a game without reading reviews from several sources.  Believe me, just because a game looks pretty, doesn't mean it's any good.  Reviews can point out make or break issues for a game.
  2. Download a demo or borrow a copy from a friend before buying.  You'll get a feel for the game and see if it's something you'd want.
  3. Decide if you have time for a new game, especially if it's a subscription game.  If you have lots of time to kill, you'll do fine.  But if you're really busy at work or in life, you'll find yourself cringing every time you get the bill for the subscription.
  4. Don't buy an expensive game in a wildly different genre from what you play.  You might decide, too late that FPS isn't for you, or that RPGs leave you cold.  
  5. Be cautious of "Revolutionary" games.  Typically these are interesting games, but usually deeply flawed, enough so that you'll feel cheated after you play them (see Heavy Rain, Mirror's Edge, Final Fantasy X2, or LoTR Online).

2 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I always check the PC Gamer reviews and tend to stick to computer games by companies I know well.

Unknown said...

I personally like to check IGN as well. They've always got game play videos and they've usually got a decent video review that features game play.

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