About Kotaku Reviews

Earlier this year, Kotaku began running its reviews under a unified template that was designed with a trio of key components in mind.

First, there would be no alphabetical or numerical review scores. Second, reviews would be focused on delivering the most critical information in the most efficient way possible. Third, they should be fun to read and hopefully foster conversation about a game's positives and negatives.

We decided to exclude a final score to ensure that Kotaku reviews would not contribute to the average rating at sites that collate and aggregate numerical scores, scores that do not follow a universal grading scale. Our hope was that we could avoid discussions that fruitlessly debate whether a "10" was, indeed, perfect and if one exclusive was better than another exclusive simply based on a number. Boiling down pages of analysis to a single grade or score or number of pumpkins doesn't help readers, it hurts them, reducing the process of critiquing what is often a living document into black and white terms, when there is often a world of gray left untouched.

Our hope is that by laying out the analytical process, by exposing what we feel was good and bad about that game without weighting either, we give you the resources to form your own educated opinion.

We hope this explains how and why we designed this system. We encourage you to add your comments, questions and suggestions in the comments after reading through the more detailed explanation on the key aspects of our reviews on the jump.

So, Brian's 70-year-old dad took on GTA IV and took quite a liking to it. Others his age are not as enlightened or — shocker — willing to try new things, and so the series might require further explication.

Helpfully, here is a FAQ (a FAQ? an F-A-Q? how do I do this) from 23/6 to break down the choices and consequences and action and intrigue that make all the young folk shine shoes and save up their penny-candy money to buy it.

So this video game. Is it like pong?
No. It's called a "sandbox" game.

A who?
A sandbox game. That means it's not strictly linear and the player has some freedom of movement within the game.

Is this e-mail you're talking about?
No. E-mail is different.

I think Sen. Ted Stevens was a consultant on this outreach initiative.

Grand Theft Auto IV: FAQ for Old People [236.com]

Everything You Wanted To Know About GTA IV (So Stop Asking!)

Got questions about Grand Theft Auto IV? We've maybe got some of the answers! In an effort to address some of the frequently asked questions about the game, its two console versions and the particular quirks of each, we're compiling a handy reference guide which we hope you find informative. If your question isn't answered, ask in the comments and we'll hunt down an answer for you. We'll update the FAQ as questions come in, so you don't have to dig through the comments for your answer.

We're trying our best to avoid spoilers, so some questions may go unanswered in the interest of letting you discover on your own. On with the questions...

All the way this morning ago Telltale games announced that they'd be publishing an episodic WiiWare title starring Strong Bad of Homestar Runner fame. This video gives you a first glimpse into what I'm sure will be a blast to play on the Wii.

Hit the jump to check out excerpts from a very cool FAQ about the game featuring Mr. Lucha Libre Head.

GTA IV Multiplayer: Just the Facts Please

I posted a rather lengthy (too lengthy) write-up of my impressions of Grand Theft Auto IV's multiplayer gaming earlier today. If you're not up for reading through the whole thing, and getting some samples of what the play was like and whether I liked it, you can just hit the jump and read the fact sheet for the modes I played through. Think of it as a GTA multiplayer crib sheet.

If you are up for long reads check out all of our impressions of GTA IV so far:

Hands on With GTA Multiplayer: City of Chaos
GTA4 Hands-On: The World is Yours
Rockstar Experimenting with Episodic Content
GTA IV: Reinventing a World
Grand Theft Auto IV

Just how awesome will Fallout 3 be? Super awesome, or super mega awesome?

I've heard touching the Fallout 3 box will make the paralyzed walk. Will it also cure my herpes?

When will Fallout 4 be out?

Ask these, and any other questions your heart desires on Bethesda's blog. The developers will be posting their answers soon.

Get Your Questions Ready! [via filefront]

An FAQ for the WoW: Wrath of the Lich King expansion may have leaked onto a German WoW forum earlier today after being up on the European Union WoW website late last night. If its contents are legit, players can expect:

1. Death Knight Hero Class (starting at higher level, damage-dealing tank)
2. Level 80 character cap
3. Siege weapons and destructible buildings in PVP
4. "hundreds of new recipes and thousands of new items"

But I'm not a WoW freak, so hit the jump for the entire FAQ and some bombshells that I may have missed.

Details From The PlayStation Home FAQ

HowTo Get Commenting Access and Not Lose it

Twilight Princess: Official Kotaku FAQ, Answered!

Twilight Princess: Official Kotaku FAQ

1Up Accused of Plagiarism

Need a Revolution FAQ?

Mario Kart DS Walk Through

Msoft Japan Answers 360 Console Concerns