I wish there some guidelines to reviews. Things that every review should cover. Below are some of mine that I consistantly find lacking in many reviews. I am sure that other people have things to add to this list and hopefully this website's reviews can benefit from them. Naturally there is no need to cover some of this stuff if it doesn't apply. If all of the items below were covered in reviews there are many games I would never have bought and probably quite a few I should have. (Between all my computers and consoles I have bought and played at least 500 games)

1) complete description of the single player capability of a game

2) complete description of the multiple player capability of a game

3) complete description of the on-line play capability of a game

4)are the games controls completely reconfigurable. This includes the mouse buttons and axes in PC games. Is the control frustrating or lacking.

5) does the game have any replay value and is there any variation in a replay

6) is the game linear

7) rate the AI

8) a good detailed description of the gameplay. This would include things like: do enemies respawn when you return to a cleared level, do enemies spawn in front of you (Doom 3), what is the death penalty (on-line games), when can you save, do you have to repeat portions of the game endlessly until you get it right (Tomb Raider anniversary), gameplay modes (Resident Evil 4)

9) how long is the game

10) how big is the game (as in land area like Oblivion)