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Flight Replica's J-3 Cub Released

mike_cyul said:
Each their own, indeed. If I may review the reviewer, I was very suprised that no effort was made to determine why I would go to all the time and effort to make a new Cub, or to explore the vast (in my mind) differences between the two models - not to mention the the almost complete ignoring that the package comes with floats and skis, which took a while to get right. A very superficial review, in my opinion.

As a developer, I have come to regard reviews like the old Hollywood adage that "any publicity is good publicity". Good or bad review, my aircraft or another's, I don't pay much attention any more. Some of the subjectivity could drive you crazy, if you took it to heart. I don't use them when buying aircraft or scenery any more (and I do buy!) - screenshots and user comments are usually the best indicators, to me, and give a much bigger and more accurate picture.

Voila. :)

Mike
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Although reviews can be useful, they are after all only the opinion of a single person. If a product gets several favourable or negative reviews then this can be a useful barometer, if you will, of the quality of the product. Nowadays I tend to look at screenshots/video's and read what people have to say about a product on the various forums I frequent, than purchase something based on a few reviews. The most useful thing, I find however, are demo's. As a PC Pilot subscriber, I find the demo'son the cover disc's quite useful. Unfortunately the number of developers who offer such materials is quite limited.
 
Working in journalism I expect a reviewer to offer a balanced appraisal with a few positive and negative aspects of the product highlighted - in much the same way the treads here balance out with pros and cons covered.
 
I review about a product a month for AVSIM. Some things I have noticed:

1. Reviewing a lot of products can make the reviewer jaded, and can lead to superficial, hurried coverage.

2. Reviewing a lot of products gives the reviewer a broader perspective than most consumers can AFFORD to acquire. Cf. T. S. Eliot: comparison is the essential tool of the critic.

3. If there's a bias, I think it tends to be in favor of the product. People who keep writing reviews for more than a year do it because they like Flight Simulator and Flight Simulator add-ons. I have never reviewed a product that had no value to someone; on one occasion, I declined to review a product because it was put together sloppily.

4. My personal goal, as a reviewer, is to be useful to the consumer and fair to the developer.

5. A good review will notice things that do NOT announce themselves in the first couple hours of product ownership.

6. As a consumer, I too want to see videos.
 
IMHO, reviews are primarily useful as a vehicle for candid screenshots and bug-reports... the writer should not be afraid to post on any problems, bugs, or deficencies he/she percieves, however slight - the devil is in the details, and I can easily see that a small issue could be a game-changer for those that know better. Post everything...
Same goes for screenshots - post even the ones that don't look that great. Candid screenshot taking shows what the model will look like from all the funny angles and odd lighting that happens in normal sim-use. A carefully framed and lighted set of screenshots gives a BADLY skewed version of the product!
While most of my FS purchases have been good, and many of them I would buy again if I had to do it again, some I have bought on the strength of some very positive reviews and beautiful pictures have turned out to be dogs once they were brought in from the cold...
 
EMatheson said:
Same goes for screenshots - post even the ones that don't look that great. Candid screenshot taking shows what the model will look like from all the funny angles and odd lighting that happens in normal sim-use. A carefully framed and lighted set of screenshots gives a BADLY skewed version of the product!
Click to expand...

This is one reason I like videos.
 
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