Now I get it

I've been reading all the reviews I ever wrote (I used to work for a video game website) these past few days and I've realized what's wrong with them. They were spectacularly bland and bleedingly neutral. Go figure, I was there getting paid to sound like I enjoyed playing certain shoddy video games. Some the games were okay and a few were a blast, but I grimace every time I look back at the other gut wrenching shovelware tossed my way. I mean, I could've used the time I spent playing and writing reviews of bad games on something else. Like watching paint dry, which would have been three thousand times more fun.

The rule was to sound neutral but not boring. The reviews must be fun to read but never sarcastic (I never got that down pat. What I learned was to master the use of sarcasm disguised as something else. More often than not, it's enthusiasm.). I'm a routine person by nature so even after the Reigning Lords of the Hellhole changed the rules a bit, I stuck to the writing style I've been trained to use. As you can see, I'm still struggling to shake off the said writing style.

Now, I spent countless of hours at the UST Library's Filipiniana section (even though I absolutely loathed the librarian there) poring over copies of Jessica Zafra's Twisted books and recently, I've been laughing my ass off while reading Ellie Gibson's Wii reviews (in Eurogamer). I compared their articles with mine and the realization hit me like a runaway 18-wheeler: They say exactly what they want to say about stuff.

Hmm...