I Second That Opinion
I bought a copy of Game Informer today. It’s been a long while since I’ve read the magazine, and I’d forgotten that they include a “second opinion” with their reviews. It’s a short paragraph or two in a sidebar adjacent to the main review, penned by a different author, and accompanied by a second review score (here’s an example, from the King Kong review on their website)
Featuring another perspective is a nice idea, but in Game Informer’s case the second opinion is usually just another slice of the first opinion. Occasionally it highlights some minor point or offers some insight missing from the main review, but there’s rarely, if ever, any disagreement. And of the eighteen second opinions in this month’s issue, only one offers a score (on a scale of one to ten) that differs from that of the primary review by more than one point. In fact, most of the scores are within .25 of each other. Several are identical.
Ultimately, the whole things seems pretty contrived. If you’re not going to offer an alternative viewpoint, why bother?
