[BlackSheep]

Originally Posted by Simple Man

And I don't think, as a reviewer, you should make those kind of decisions.

Why not?

Reviews are subjective, because reviewers are people with opinions. They don't have to be factual analyses, and I really don't think they should try to be.

Now, opinion without context is pretty useless. If I say 'Plan Nine From Outer Space is a better movie than King Kong', that doesn't tell you much. If I say 'I enjoyed Plan Nine more than King Kong', that's still not much help, but is a little better because it's flagged as personal opinion rather than fact.

But if I say 'I enjoyed Plan Nine for its unintentional humour, its over-the-top melodrama, and its laughable dialogue; conversely, I found Kong to be too po-faced and altogether too long' then I'm not only telling you which one I prefer, but why. I'm giving you information about my tastes, and from that you can determine whether or not you agree with them.

If I want information about a board or card game, I'll go to its publisher's homepage. If I want to know whether I should buy it, I'll read Shannon's review because I know from experience that he has similar tastes to me.

Now, in this particular instance, sure, the reviewer did phrase it slightly poorly. But let's take the important sentence:

Now, because I am a Hero fan, because M&M 2nd still doesn’t have enough “crunch” details for me, and because I think the D20 bell curve has too much curve to it, I am NOT going to tell you that Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition is a better game than HERO System 5th Edition Revised.

Ignoring the weird bit about the bell curve, this (to me) is fine. It tells me which one the reviewer prefers, and it tells me why - the reviewer prefers crunchier games, and has had a more positive personal experience of Hero. I prefer lighter games, and have had a better experience with M&M1E than with Hero4; ergo, this sentence actually tells me that M&M2E is better for me than Hero5.