Unlike many reviewers, I am fortunate to have ample time to digest a game before I excrete a review. I don’t have Metacritic, fans, or employers nipping at my butt to produce content. I can amble along the main story at my own pace; I can play multiplayer modes with a variety of play groups; and I can return to a game after leaving it alone for weeks or months. As such, my thoughts can percolate, and when I do produce a review, I am generally confident that I captured my opinion.
Even so, my reviews may become outdated and inaccurate. Maybe I have spent more time with the game. Perhaps a patch or DLC is released that significantly alters the gameplay. It’s possible I’m bribed by a developer to improve a review score. Whatever the case, the original review no longer fits my current opinions. Rather than accepting the past, I feel perfectly comfortable with editing my past articles.
In most cases, I will secretly make changes and pretend my opinion was always spot-on. This goes for when I need to change a crappy sentence, alter the arbitrary statistics, or correct a blatant error. In some situations where the game has been patched or updated, I will likely maintain the original article and add an addendum. It’s an easy way to act like I made new content.
Because I’m lazy and am not neurotic enough to constantly augment my articles, I have arbitrarily determined to produce a “Review Update” after every ten reviews I post. Again, for the majority of reviews, I will secretly insert my edits will little fanfare. The rest of my thoughts will be included int the Review Updates. I know all zero of you re-read my work with religious fervor, and I hope this blurb helps soften the pain when you realize I take back previous comments to better reflect my good side.