We would like to start reviewing skins so as to better guide players in their purchases. However, the reviews have to be useful and for that your opinion is of the utmost importance. Reviewing skins is quite different to reviewing a game because there are less objective factors: the same skin can be great for a person and horrible for another.
Therefore, this article will present a draft for a skin review. We would greatly appreciate if you comment with your thoughts about the proposal and what you’d like to add or remove to make it more useful. First of all, let’s take a look at the general structure of a skin review.
What to Review?
The first part of the review will try to be as objective as possible and concentrate on the quality of the model and additions in comparison to the champion’s classic skin. The second part will be more subjective. It consists of a one to five star rating and a closing opinion.
The rating will be based on the objective and subjective part of the review. This will better represent the whole quality and feel of the skin. We think that it’s more useful for a review to reflect the overall perceived quality of a skin than a simple average of subjective points.
Sample Review
A common review should include an evaluation of the following features:
Name: Skin Name
Category: Regular, Legendary, Legacy, Limited
Price: 520/975/1820
Concept: how good the idea of the skin is? How well is it accomplished?
Model: what was modified from the classic skin?
Particles: are there any new ability effects?
Animations: does it provide new animations?
Sounds: do sounds or quotes differ from the classic version?
Rating: 
, one to five stars depending on the overall quality
Conclusion: is it a recommended purchase? Why? Is there something noteworthy about the skin? Any additional thoughts?
Help us make reviews useful!
Our idea is to write a per champion review evaluating all the skins that champion has available. Alternatives include reviewing skins as they are released, by theme or by public voting. As the availability of reviews can affect your purchases we would be very grateful if you could tell us which option you prefer.
We hope the skin reviews will serve as a good resource to help players with their purchases. We don’t discard modifying the way reviews are made to adjust them to your preferences. If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please leave a comment.
Star clip art image provided by GraphicsHunt.
6 Responses to “League of Legends: Champion Skins Review Proposal”
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I love this idea
Please continue doing this
Ur the only 1 that is doing it and it a great time to capitalize on this
Do irelia 🙂
Glad that you like it. We have already reviewed Annie and Sona and will continue to regularly publish new skin reviews.
As per your request, Irelia has been added to the list.
I’ve been looking for something liek this for a long time! 😀
Why not review Ahri, Akali, Riven and fiddlesticks? 😀
We’ll be glad to review those champions. They’re now added to the list so look for them in the coming weeks.
Congratulations for your work. The skin review is definitely the treasure of this website and your analyses are extremely pleasant to read.
As far as I know you are the only one doing this kind of thing. At least the only one I could find easily. Keep up the good work !
What I like the most is that you manage to avoid the classic mistake of being biased. You have a very professional and objective point of view that makes your work highly valuable and not just a boring list of : “this skin sux !! / that skin roxx !!”. In fact, I even started to think that you may have had some artistic education since your comments are sometimes very accurate and technical.
Even though I am a great fan, I would like to suggests some little additions to your critics. The first one is to make a clear separation between the splash art and the in-game skin. As you surely know, an outstanding splash art does not necessarily come with an equally outstanding in-game skin and vice versa. Freljord Ashe and Sherwood Forest Ashe are quite good examples of a beautiful splash arts that only bring disappointment with their in-game models. Therefore, I think it would make sense to rate the picture and the in-game skin separately, then calculate the average mark. Of course it would imply having half-points (or half-stars) sometimes… which I believe is not a major obstacle.
My second suggestion is to create a selection of the 5 or 10 best splash arts that could include the regular skins (not only those we can buy). You could even submit it to a vote, I would be very excited to participate.
Once again, congratulations for your work. I look forward to seeing my favorite skins submitted to your judgment.
Thanks for the kind words, it’s satisfying to know that our work is useful and appreciated. We have, indeed, researched a bit about 3D modelling and art, among other subjects, to provide relevant information that helps when purchasing skins.
Unfortunately the review proposal is a bit outdated and may give an inexact idea of how we currently approach reviews. We usually see splash arts as the presentation of the skin: it gives a glimpse of what you can purchase but it isn’t something that is used much; except for the loading screen. Therefore, we rate the actual skin: model, particles, animations and sounds in contrast to the price. The splash art usually doesn’t have incidence on the rating.
Still, the presentation of the skin is relevant, especially when it suggests an image of the skin that doesn’t match the in-game look. In the examples you mention both Freljord and Sherwood Forest Ashe have great looking splash arts even though the skins are simple re-textures. However, both pieces are quite faithful to the skins’ in-game look: they just show a nice portrayal of a white or green dressed Ashe.
Regardless, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider rating splash arts on their own. A poll or similar system coupled with lists based on different criteria would be interesting. After all, there are some amazing pieces in League of Legends.
Thanks for the feedback, your suggestions and opinions are essential to continue improving the quality of our reviews and website. If you have any further inquiries or ideas don’t hesitate to drop us a line.