Game Informer Magazine

Game Informer is at basically the ruling king of video game magazines. Or so their presentation would seem. Not only does this magazine have oversized pages but it has the glossy neat and shiny look to it too. It's a real big shot when it comes to the look. I do like the quality of the setup and organized form of Game Informer though.

Starting with the front cover. The first thing that draws a person to a magazine, am I right? Well GI doesn't seem to think so. In my opinion they have a record of choosing some bag cover pictures. Usually only one image is shown covering the entire page. Secondly the games on the front page have to be an unreleased game. Whats wrong with that? The front cover tends to be boring and strange when you have no idea what game your looking or if this picture comes from a game. This would not be a problem if they added other pictures to the cover.

Now for the important stuff. The inside. Game Informer lacks a real personality and originality. It is very easy to ready since the mag is organized so well but a little chaos isn't always bad. Finding a good article tucked away is always nice to find. But the overall quality of the previews is good. The same formula is always present in Game Informer. Also the right path is chosen for placement of articles. Previews first then reviews in the back. After that there may be a special countdown of some game franchise. Usually every issue there will be one very large preview for an up and coming game while the rest take up only about a quarter of a page. The size of this magazine is fairly good. Although they always seem to have a certain point to which the page count is limited. The size of the pages themselves adds alot of room for more content. Making this magazine a little different from the rest.

The reviews are fairly good. The rating system is out of ten with .25 intervals. This score system is one that I myself like alot because its very precise. One thing they don't do is score the individual categories of a game. Instead there is just a sentence or two about the sound, graphics, control, playability, replayability. The replayability is something most gaming mags don't touch on too much but GI will tell you if its high or low with various sayings for the in-betweens. The important reviews are a good full page or half. They aren't even afraid to award the coveted 10 score either, which is a plus. The writing is to the point and understandable. What I don't like is the pages with 8 reviews on them. Mostly with two or three sentences explaining them. Too many times have I found some notable games reviewed like trash and given a horrendous score without a second thought. Were it not for this I may appreciate their opinions more. At least they have a paragraph with a second opinion in reviews. Allthough the second opinion only appears in longer reviews.

As far as the extra things included in this mag there arn't many. They will cover up and coming hardware and gadgets which is nice but any other article containing interesting info is hard to find. All together GI is the flashiest video game mag out there and it does back it up with good content. It's worth subscribing to or just buying at a store. Mostly for a real gamer though. Casual guys may not want to know all the stuff thrown in here.