Now YOU can write reviews like IGN!

Today concludes the first week-long blog feature I've done in quite a while! It was lots of fun discussing with you guys about some the games I love. Maybe I'll do something like this again some day!

Anyways, for those who missed my "The Summer Sucks! Showcase," here are the games I posted reviews for this week, along with quick summaries in case you want a snippet of what I wrote. Be sure to check out the full reviews when you have time!

From my Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon review:

Overall, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is a fantastic experience and a must-have for every 3DS owner. The game's charm and personality absolutely won me over and the amount of content in the game is quite astonishing. Some gameplay and technical hiccups may hold the game back from being amazing, but it shouldn't hold you back from purchasing it. Trust me, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is well worth your money.

From my New Super Mario Bros. 2 review:

New Super Mario Bros. 2 offers nothing new and ends up being a huge step backward for the NSMB franchise. Fortunately, the game largely plays the same as its predecessors, and despite my many problems with it, the game is still undeniably fun. Players looking for something new may be disappointed by the game's lack of originality, but those looking for a quick platforming fix on the go will find much enjoyment in this title.

From my New Super Mario Bros. U review:

Sure, it's the best NSMB game to date; you'll still have massive amounts of fun, and there's no doubt that this game will be a blast to play even years down the road. But I feel like it could have also been so much more. It's a great game and a must-have for every Wii U owner, but at the end of the day I can't help but feel just a tiny bit disappointed.

From my Paper Mario: Sticker Star review:

I wouldn't really have a problem recommending this game. It's a wonderful new direction for Paper Mario, just executed a bit awkwardly. Sticker Star had the potential to be as amazing as The Thousand-Year Door. It had the potential to blow my mind. And what's there is great. It's just disappointing that it didn't turn out to be as amazing as I'd hoped.

From my The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword review:

Overall, I think Zelda fan or not, you're going to enjoy this game. It's fresh in a sense that it does things no games have done before, and accessible in that the new mechanics are easy to understand, though it may take some time for the controls to feel natural. Some inaccuracies in gameplay are easily dismissible when you look at the game's design as a whole, making Skyward Sword an incredible, even if unconventional, experience.

From my Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask review:

I do not hesitate one bit to recommend Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask to anyone looking for a great game on the 3DS. Those who check it out will find its story and puzzles to be a pure joy to play. Those who don't will be missing out on a great addition the 3DS' ever-growing library.

From my Mass Effect 3: Special Edition review:

Much of what you've already heard of Mass Effect 3 holds true on Wii U. The extended cut DLC is included as well, giving players a better explanation as to the game's controversial – and admittedly underwhelming – ending. The GamePad functionality is adquate, though it honestly could have been used a lot better. But other than that, it's the same Mass Effect 3 you both love and hate – story, characters, bugs, Shepard, and all.

That last one also features my very first (and likely only) video review! And boy did that take forever to make. Don't plan on doing another one any time soon (or ever, for that matter)...

Anyways, you may be wondering why I decided to do this feature in the first place. To be honest with you, I was holding these reviews out ever since Casey Lynch promised to bring back IGN's reader review system over a year and a half ago. Obviously, that never happened, and now that Mr. Lynch has left IGN, I doubt it ever will. So I just grew tired of waiting. I needed to get these review published. So I did this.

A lot of you guys have also been asking me how I do those review graphics at the end of all my reviews like IGN does theirs. So for funsies, here's my step-by-step guide for making an awesome review graphic...

How to add IGN's review graphic to your blog in 6 easy steps:

Step 1: Rip IGN's review page source code. The first step is to find a way to get IGN's formatting code. This can be done by going to any one of IGN's reviews and taking its page source code. In Firefox, this is done by right clicking and choosing "View Page Source" from the drop-down menu. Copy the code.

Step 2: Paste the code in an HTML editor. The next step is to find an HTML editor that will let you alter the code. Though you might have your own HTML editor that you'd like to use, I prefer just using http://htmledit.squarefree.com/ since it allows me to edit the code and see the result in real time. But whatever the case, just paste the code you just copied and paste it in the editor. (Edit: paleselan has informed me that Chrome has a built-in HTML editor, so you can use that if you want).

Step 3: Find the code for the breakdown box. You now have a huge wall of text, but you only need the graphic at the end of the review, yes? Scroll down until you find the code for the review's breakdown box. Scroll down until you see a line of code that reads {<div class="breakdown-box">}, which signified the beginning of the breakdown box code. If you're having trouble finding it, you can simply just ctrl+f it.

Step 4: Alter the code. Now for the fun part! You have the code, now it's time to make it your own. Here's a list of things you might want to edit:

• The name of the game and the console it is on, found under {<div><span class="object-title">}. (Note: Don't bother changing the hyperlink after {<a href="http://} , since you can't access them through your blog).
• The review score, found under {<span class="score">}.
• The review summary, found before {<span class="tweet-button">}.  (Note: You may also want to delete {<span class="tweet-button">} to get rid of the Twitter logo after the summary.)
• The name of the reviewer, found behind {<div class="byline">}.
• The date of the review, found behind {<span class="publish-date">}.

You can also alter the list of pros and cons if you want, though I prefer just cutting it out of the graphic since it's hard to fit all of that in a blog. But in case you want to keep it in, here's what you need to know:

• You can find the code for the pros and cons list under {<ul class="pros-cons-list>}.
• The format for writing a pro is as follows: {<li><span class="list-item">+</span>PRO</li>}, with "PRO" being your pro.
• The format for writing a con is as follows: {<li><span class="list-item">&# 8211;</span> CON</li>}, with "CON" being your con. (Note: There should not be a space between &# and 8211 in the real code.)

If all of that was too much for you to understand, here's the gist of it. Look at the review box and find the text you want to change. Find that same text in the code. Change the text in the code to change the text in the review box.

Step 5: Take a screenshot of your graphic. You're done! Now all you have to do is save a screenshot of your review graphic onto your computer! Most Windows PC's have a "prt sc" key for you to take a screenshot. For Apple computers, use command+shift+3 (or however something like that; I don't own a Mac).

Step 6: Upload the graphic to your blog! If you want, you can add all sorts of weird effects to your graphic using Photoshop or whatnot. But when your done, all you have to do is upload the graphic to your blog and you're done! Personally, I like to set the border to "0" and link URL to "none" just to make it look more official.

Well I hope that was clear enough for you guys! It's probably the best you can do to copy IGN's review format until reader reviews make their official return. I know a guy who's doing IGN's code-foo program and he's promised me to look into bringing the feature back, but there's only so much one can do, eh?

I hope you enjoyed my little week-long feature here on my blog. I'll be back to my once-a-week blog schedule again from here on out. Thanks for reading, and keep on keeping it cool, guys!

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