Electronic Games and the craft of game criticism

Bill Kunkel is associated with the early language of video game criticism. Reading game magazines as criticism means looking beyond scores: how does a writer describe control, challenge, pacing and the pleasure of learning a system?

Electronic Games provides a useful lens on games as a shared culture. Magazine coverage places arcade and home play beside each other, and the writing often has to explain an unfamiliar genre before it can judge a specific title.

When studying an interview, distinguish direct quotations from commentary and check a claim against its context. Useful questions include what the writer thought a review should accomplish, which audience it served and how playing conditions shaped the judgment.

Read a review closely

Choose one description of a mechanic. Play or observe the mechanic, then ask whether the description helps a new player understand it. This turns magazine reading into a practical exercise in communicating game design.