My vote goes to Appgirlreviews. While the lady running the site is nice, she is also EXTREMELY naive, to the point where its probably unhealthy. I don't know her personally, but all the site is praise, praise, praise, praise, OH and did i mention PRAISE! The site is sucking the devs' balls in every review. The games are graded on a 10 Star scale and EVERY game by EVERY large-scale company (think gameloft, EA, Chillingo, IUGOME) receives a 10/10 star review. All and i mean ALL other games/apps also receive no less than 6-7 stars for each game/app. I am convinced she does this in order to receive promo codes to the game for free and writes these BS reviews in order to continue receiving free games. I have asked her why there was no criticism in any app review, she responded by saying she would try to add more, but there was never any to begin with! She keeps the site ongoing with a unloyal fanbase, that stays (and is decepted) by paltry and uninteresting apps that she gives promo codes from. I am also afraid that she is accepting money in exchange for these reviews. Overall, she can fix this by simply being HONEST and TRUTHFUL. That and change the crap girly site layout. What about you guys? Whats IYHO is the worst review site? How would you fix it?
Well, I haven't been to her site but I do think it's naive to think she's dolling out such praise for a mere promo code of a game. I would think her site is ad supported and thus she doesn't want to lose out on a potential advertiser/revenue. But really who knows???? Ultimately though, if what you're saying is true, then she wont get a lot of people coming back to her site and counting on her recommendations once they get burned on a purchase or two.
Hi, She sounds a bit like me. I try not to trash developers efforts. If I do not like something, I just try not to get into a discussion about the app or game. Now, if I like it, I will talk it up and praise the effort of the developer. I happen to think the amount of trashing of games and the effort of developers is just totally ridiculous within the Iphone/Ipod touch community. People are ruthless when it is totally uncalled for. Think a game or app is totally lousy, go make a better one yourself. Maybe a little OT there at the end but it goes with the post. David
I've never visited her site. Maybe she only writes reviews for games she enjoys playing and doesn't post reviews of the ones she dislikes?
can i sign this too? i can see that there is no point to a review-site if all reviews just consist of praise or good marks but i wholeheartedly support what Harpgliss posted here. people (in particular on the appstore) need to think about what they are posting. many devs, especially the little indies, often put a sh*tload of work into apps just to be insulted by people that have no clue how much work developing can be or how hard it is to please people in general nowerdays. that is not to say that people shouldn't be discerning or not take a critical look behind something, but many should work on how to respond with constructive criticism as opposed to pure insults or [excuse the expression] mindf*rts.
Which basically negates the need for a review. If everything you review is wonderful, whether it is or not, what's the point? If a dev makes a crappy game people should know. This whole idea of, "If you don't like it, make a better one," is such crap. I don't have to be a top chef to know bad cooking when I taste it. If a dev can't handle criticism, then they should do something else that isn't so hard on their fragile egos.
Hi, Speaking for myself here, I don't do reviews. I have always tried to mention the positive aspects when speaking of work someone has devoted a lot of effort into. You can talk of improvements something needs without coming off as you do in this post I quote above. As for the last paragraph there, I think you just gave my post above a little more validity. David
I don't know the girl but feel badly that people are bashing her and her efforts. If you don't like the site simply don't visit it. Is it necessary to put her down? sigh
I somewhat do what haprgliss does. If I like the game or if I find it not getting deserved attention I talk it up and praise the dev. if the game is bad I dont go and bash it with a onestar review and insult the dev. I say that it is a decent game with tons of room for improvement. Then I suggest a butt load of things to make it better. I find that devs who get constructive criticism respond well and try to improve their game, rather than games who only get praised. I mean whats the point of talking about a games good points and completely ignoring the bad parts? Its completely useless and a waste of everyone's time. I also try to stay proactive and not take promo codes to games I dont think will be good. Then I have to avoid these uncomfortable situations, its uncomfortable because the dev is most likely active on TA because they are giving out codes.
Hi, I know what I posted but I really did not mean to ignore the weaknesses of an app or game. I just feel the approach you take when posting these and offering options to strengthen said app or game is critical. To just go in and trash the app and developer is pointless and counter productive to getting a developer to listen and look at improving their app or game. Too many people take the internet as a way to talk and conduct themselves in ways they certainly do not do when not on the net. I am stepping off the soapbox now having probably set myself up to being flamed. David
The genericness of your post is excruciatingly painful to read. Especially the "I'm setting up myself to be flamed" speech. My goodness, I've heard that so many times, it's absolutely ridiculous. Those "Woe-ez mee! I'm just a small town girl who has posted a daring opinion and will probably be flamed! BUT, I know I won't be flamed because I've actively opened up myslef up to the flaming! Therefore, everyone will side with me due to me acting like I'm the minority that will get gruesomely attacked!" ... I'm pretty sick of "Oh, I know I'm probably going to get flamed, but..." posts. Anyways, I do agree with some of what you say, but generalizing the whole developer population is awfully shallow. I'm sure that many developers aren't little children that will cry to their mothers at the site of their app being trashed. When an application is awful in many aspects, it is best to sternly "trash" the app so that the developer knows that he needs to seriously improve. I don't review to make developers "feel good" about themselves, I write reviews expressing my opinion, they aren't to congratulate devs for a job for trying. In this competitive world we live in, stern and harsh criticisms will sometimes have more effect than ones that try to be as nice as possible. I'd rather be a jerk than undermine the faults of a game. If something about a game is horrendous, I wouldn't say something like "You need a little improvement here", I'd tell them it is terrible and that they seriously need to improve. What I'm saying is, its fine to think that people should be nicer, but really, your generalizations about "people" and developers are irrational. There will always be trashing, and if a developer cannot handle it, then they really aren't fit for a competitive market.
Hi, To each their own. I feel pretty good about my posts and their content. Fortunately, being a jerk is not my style. David
