How to Choose a Good Video Game Gift

Want to buy a video game for a close one but unsure how to choose from the vast collection available? Parents and partners often make poor decisions when deciding what games to buy for the target of their affections. This guide to choosing a video game gift will reveal the methods of deciding between a potentially good video game and a bad one.

How To Choose A Good Video Game Gift: Make Sure They Do Not Own It

If you are planning on buying a video game for someone else then the first step is to secretly make sure that they do not already own it. This also includes making sure no one else has already bought it for them, which seems obvious but happens often. Most people who play video games, even if they are messy, tend to keep their video games in surprisingly clear order so checking to see if they own a game you are thinking of buying for them is as easy taking a quick glance over their collection.

How To Choose A Good Video Game Gift: Check Reviews

Checking reviews is not so much a matter of checking to see which game got the highest score as checking to see what games got terrible scores and learning more about the topic of the game you are intending to buy. Basically, if the score is out of ten then do not spend any large amounts of money on a game that scored below six unless you know very specifically that the person who will receive it wants it badly. There are a plethora of magazines and sites which will have reviews, though make sure they have a somewhat official stance as some sites will have amateur reviews which can unfairly pan and criticize a game. IGN reviews are often a good source for fair reviews, though can often be a little too positive.

How To Choose A Good Video Game Gift: Make Sure It Will Run

Making sure a game will run is often really hard to predict, particularly for PC gaming. One easy solution is to use the site System Requirement Labs on the computer that you intend to run it from. This site checks the systems specifications after you select which game you intend to run, and gives a detailed listing of where it sits compared to the minimum specifications. Bear in mind that minimum specifications will often run a game relatively poorly, so optimally you will want to be a little bit over them. For console games, provided the console is right the game will run well.

How To Choose A Good Video Game Gift: Check To See If It Is Fee Based

There are a number of massively multiplayer online games which charge a monthly fee to players who wish to continue playing the game online, make sure that a given game is not one of these unless you know the person will wish to pay the fee. There are no contracts involved, so if you buy one of these and they do not wish to pay the fee nothing further happens then them being unable to access the multiplayer game.

How To Choose A Good Video Game Gift: Judging A Game By Its Cover

Although perhaps a questionable way of judging a video game, often judging a game by its case works really well. The best way to judge by a case is to look for a degree of class. For instance, a case that is packed with images of characters holding weapons is probably more inclined to be a bad game. Look instead for games that have a more artistic style to their packaging, for instance the Half-Life 2 case or a case for one of the Final Fantasy game. A good game does not need to go out of its way to sell itself; it only needs to have an original appearance. Reviews and word of mouth should do the rest.