The Video Game Critic

This is sort of a parallel thread to thinking about the age of a reviewer - this is about the age of the review itself.

Is a review of a game when it is new and cutting edge better in some sense than now? For instance, a review of old television shows now are very different from reviews looking back at them over the decades since television and American culture has changed a lot over the last 20 years and more. Is the same true for games?

For instance, is a 1986 review of Legend of Zelda when it was first released a more honest review than a review in 2016, when the game is both an old 8 bit NES game, and also the foundation game of a massively popular franchise? Conventional wisdom has early polygon games as being visually unpleasant, but at the time, they were cutting edge.

When Dave re-reviews a game like Goldeneye after 10 years, should he archive the older review?

Is a review done when a game was new, a contemporary review, better? Is it more honest, or less tinged with nostalgia or impact? Is it less useful even if more honest, since it might not be addressing when modern gamers want to know about the game.

In Dave's perspective (and it is one I share), a contemporary review should be very similar to a retrospective review because fun is universal. That being said, a lot of reviewers take into account the historical context, impact on later games, and how well graphics or gameplay have "aged." These things obviously don't figure into contemporary reviews.

Dave is about to revisit Goldeneye, that currently has an A, "I would lose my video game reviewer license if I gave it anything other than an A' comment, and other praise. He posted the game has not aged well, so will the new review downgrade Goldeneye? Which review would have more merit, however you define that.

Its a challenge, and does generalize to other media like music and film. For instance, how would anyone review a genre of music, like disco, that is generally disdained now (no offense to disco fans). Its a double challenge to do in Dave's 500 words or less style.