Forget EGM and Buy This!
Pros:
Covers EVERY system, very good covers, great reviews, previews, and interviews, in-depth and helpful walthroughs, great WWF knowledge, Classic GI, very, very funny.
Cons:
A tad expensive, short magazine, stupid title, hard to find, covers little on arcade.
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Author's Review
This is the best video game magazine ever! Forget Electronic Gaming Monthly, forget Gamepro, get this instead. This is Game Informer, but the title doesn't fit. It should be "Godly Gaming Magazine", or "The Ultimate Gaming Magazine", because those are more suitable titles. I know I sound crazy, but it really is that good. So why haven't you heard of it?
Game Informer wasn't really a great magazine when it started. It wasn't nearly as good as it is now, and since it had such a bad start, many gamers have forgotten about it. When it was released, the only place to get it was Funcoland. They had an exclusive deal with them, and you couldn't get it until recently, which now it's at a few newsstands too.
Their first issues weren't that great, they barely had any codes or good reviews. In addition to this, Game Informer was very thin. It was only 70-80 pages at most. Even though they had a very bad start, they had something that NO magazines have, and still don't. They have a classic GI section, where they told you about old games (on Nintendo, Atari, etc). This major advantage has helped them alot. Many gamers own a Playstation or/and Nintendo 64, but how many of you can say without lying that you hadn't had fun with your old systems like Nintendo and Genesis? None, that's what I thought. Now every gamer is missing their old systems, occasionally finding themselves playing them again, and subscribed to Game Informer. Sales rose little by little, and then Game Informer had expanded. Now they even had codes and reviews in the Classic GI section! They also improved their other sections greatly too. Their magazine is now much more reliable, and their magazine is so funny! The reviews have gotten more specific and in-depth. They have three people rating the same game, and more likely than not, you would only agree with a certain rater because he has the same interests as you. Their previews make you wet your pants 'cause you can't wait for the game to come out and all you could do is wait. Their walkthroughs are in-depth, specific, and very helpful, usually all in one issue! They also have mini-walkthroughs where they don't explain the game much, but something very important, like a moves list. Their letters section is outstanding, including their envelope art, where they put funny captions.
Had enough? Wait, there's more. You can go to Funcoland and subscribe too. Those that do that have an advantage for many reasons. They can check all Funcoland's cheap, cheap prices, they can pay by cash or store credit, and most importantly, *drum roll* you become a Funcoland member! What does that mean? You get 10% off all Funcoland's previously played games, including those hard-to-find, EXPENSIVE RPGS! And of course, if you're still not sure you want to subscribe, you can always try half a year at only $9.98. I know what you're saying, $20 is expensive for a very thin magazine, but remember, it's quality not quantity! You can get EGM (or any other magazine) for the same exact price, and it has 20 more pages, and a free poster, but Game Informer is so much better! I'm just like you, a consumer, and it WOULD be sweet if Game Informer was a bazillion pages, but you have to remember- Game Informer is not as popular, and it's harder to find, and it's much harder for them to make a successful magazine when they don't have as many subscribers or editors, so how would they make it? But, in my opinion, Game Informer is better than all of them! (Unless you have bad taste of course)
Now here's a very important part. They cover EVERY game system!! Yes, EVERY!! Your Atari 2600, Jaguar, Nintendo, Genesis, even PC! That doesn't mean they don't cover the modern systems either, 'cause they do. But the problem is they only have ONE page of classic gaming, so go complain to 'em! Yes, this all sweet, but to add a cherry on top, they also have two pages of products they review, so you don't blow all your money on that cheap controller! And they're also hardcore WWF fans, so they have a WWF issue once per year with sweet WWF previews and interviews! So ask 'em a question like "Who was Mick Foley before Mankind?", and the answer of course would be Cactus Jack.
So stop reading, get up, get to Funcoland, subscribe, and buy Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 3, 'cause they rule!!