Game Central Reviews

Johnny Organ's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Good Points: Games Central is an absolutely free, fairly unbiased, updated six days weekly, games magazine on Teletext. The reviewers seem to know what they are talking about most the time and their reviews generally well balanced. They make no attempt to be as "cool" as other publications try in vain to be. They try and have a balance for long time gamers and "casual" gamers and encourage viewer participation, including the chance to write their weekend "In The Middle" feature. The chance to have your say on any topic of the games industry as a whole. They are usually well written and encourage great discussions and talking points for the viewers. In failing that, you could always write to the updated twice-daily Inbox. There are also no adverts for indecent sites on the back pages. And no photos of smug looking editors all over the place.

I have to say, the majority of their reviews are pretty spot on and if anything, a little too critical. I don't think I've ever seen a 10/10 score apart from Advance Wars(and I may be wrong there). If your seriously unsure about the quality of a game your considering buying, checking the Games Central score is a pretty good indication of how good the game it is and how well it has been made. I don't think the same can be said of a lot of other "independent" publications.

Bad Points: Whilst it is by no means unfunny, Games Central can seem a little clinical at times. Some of their running jokes and inbox comments can be extremely repetitive. The constant references to Transformers, ladders and a Shenmue sequel seem older than me. I also feel that they review far too many side scrolling shooters and Advance Wars-esque strategy games and not enough RPGs or racing games. (I myself am not too fussy about the genre of games, but surely they should be catering for all?)

There are also in my opinion too many reviews of games not being released in this country, too much talk about Treasure, and too much reviewing of Xbox's Live Arcade re-releases.

General comments: For Game Central, following the in the footsteps of the legendary Digitizer was always going to be an unfathomable task. Mr Biffo had such a huge cult following (myself included). His quirky humour, controversy and characters were a breath of fresh air for us gamers and people tuned in for the laughs as well as the daily updates on computer game news. Games Central is an entirely different beast.

Where Digitizer was the genius of one man and a huge cult following, Game Central should be lauded for its different approach to its community and viewer interactivity. Where Digitizer has a fantastic sense of humour and belly laughs every day, GC should be commended for its great reviews, unbiased opinion and twice daily updates. It feels up to the minute. It feels like a community that you are part of. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in gaming.

loowis's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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It's a nice way to get all the information you need if you don't have an internet connection. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but when compared to magazines and gaming websites, it DOES come short. Free and easy to access, though.

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Game Central isn't a magazine as such, it's more a daily dosage of quality gaming journalism delivered in bite size chunks via Channel 4 Teletext.

The 4 pages (376,377,378 and 379) are updated daily throughout the week and offer the latest news and also some surprisingly unbiased reviews. Game Central has its own brand of humour and in-jokes that only regular readers will get, but if you need a quick fix of gaming news, it's only a remote control button press away - and it's free. The major ...