Because the internet is a bit obsessive...

I’ve got Fight Night Round 4, Indiana Jones and The Staff of Kings and Overlord II reviews on the way, but they’re all in need of a little more play and polish. In the meantime, I’m curious to know what people think of the standard reviewer’s chestnut ‘Worth a rental’?

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about that as being a cop out from hacks who don’t have to pay for their games and can’t understand the need to help purchasers make a decision about what to do with their money, and also that it displays a lack of gumption, an unwillingness to actually say whether a game is worth having or not.

I don’t get it.

The fact is, for every game I get free from a PR company, I buy two or three more. Getting the occasional review sample doesn’t mean that I buy fewer games than most people, it means I play slightly more.

The fact is, I do rent games and I do look for bargains. I have a three disc LoveFilm account that I queue stacks of games in, and while there are some that I play for an hour and send straight back, and others that I enjoy so much that I buy them, the bulk of my rentals are exactly that, rentals. I rent them, I play them, I send them back and think no more about them and as long as I turn them around in period that covers only one LoveFilm payment then they’ve cost me about £7 to play. So I suppose if you wanted to be really picky you could say that when I claim that something is worth a rental I mean that its worth £7 and up to a month of your time, but not worth £39 retail. That’s not bad is it?