Game Reviews. How Do You Interpret Them?

[BloodyPuppy]

I honestly hate movie critics more than anything else.

But when has someone ever pissed you off enough in a review that would make you want to punch babies

When some moronic critic decided to spoil Memento for me (perhaps one of the movies I'd wanted to see for the twist the most) in a review for the prestige. If there had been babies present I would have punched them. I was pissed.

 

[Kaabi]

I think that the best thing to do is find and read multiple reviews and not only fron one source. For professional reviewers, I'd also recommend finding their older reviews so that you can understand better their thoughts and trends. Waiting one or two months after the game has arrived to check out opinions is also quite good.
When reading a review, I concentrate on the points (especially the negative) that I find most important. A game may have many flaws, but still be entertaining. On the contrary, a single flaw may make a game lose its appeal.
But yeah, I have found myself to disagree with the critics quite often.

 

[neodoodot]

when buying a game, I usually go for series that I already know that I like (for example, Mario, Zelda, Kirby, etc. ) and I go by what I know about the game so far and how good previous games in that series were. when it comes to game reviews, some of them are okay, but I'd never let them influence my decision when buying a game (unless of course it's some game that is totally fresh and has no other titles in the series...I may check out gameplay vids on it, and make my own decision on whether or not to get that game)

game reviews in the form of a video are ridiculous these days...I mean some of the professional game review videos out there are pretty good, but the fan made ones...a lot of them think that it's really cool to complain about every aspect of the game and curse every second. I dunno...it was really funny with the AVGN but some people are getting carried away with it...but that's a whole other thing ^^;

 

[Deception]

I tend to read all the points of a review, but I also like getting a consensus from other people who play the game but aren't paid to review/trash the game.

 

[Kyuubi9t]

dont trust game spot OR ign... especially gamespot though... go to 1up.com i consider their reviews the most unbiased, accurate, and informative

 

[highandmightyjoe]

As far as the movie review thing goes someone actually brought up a very good point about that on the gamefaqs boards, and as is the standard there, was quickly run out of town because of it. What he basically said though was that to become a movie critic or music critic or anything else really you have to be trained in it. They go to school and study film. Game reviewers are just guys like anyone else who decided "Hey, I play games, I bet I could review them". They are not required to have any credentials at all. Just thought that was interesting.

Another thing though, is that these game review sights get paid by the people who they are reviewing. I mean, they get paid by a company to put banners up on their sight advertising a game, then they review that game, who could trust that? I forgot which sight it was, but didn't one of the major game sights actually fire a reviewer for giving a 6 to a game that they where advertising at the time? That sounds like a reliable source to me.

 

[VaneWalker]

I forgot which sight it was, but didn't one of the major game sights actually fire a reviewer for giving a 6 to a game that they where advertising at the time? That sounds like a reliable source to me.

I think that was Gamespot's Kyn and Lynch review.

 

[K64]

I look at reviews from EGM or GI. gamepro I don't trust anymore

 

[urdailywater]

I honestly hate movie critics more than anything else.

But when has someone ever pissed you off enough in a review that would make you want to punch babies

Armegeddon.

'Nuff said.

 

[Commander Blizzard]

I find most reviews to be biased so I rely on them when I want to get any game I really want (Back then I used to rely on IGN's ratings in order to get a game, but nowadays I don't.).
But sometimes I may read a review just for the heck of it (But rarely does it influence me to buy the game.)

 

[Darkslash]

I read the review and then compare the review rating to Press ratings and Reader Ratings. I then see if the Reader's is close to the review to see if the review is trust worthy.

 

[highandmightyjoe]

Just so everyone knows, there is a link to an interesting article about game reviews on Penny Arcade today. Apparently Eidos now openly admits to calling up reviewers and asking them to give them good scores. Funny Stuff.

 

[Red Exodus]

That's kind funny because Eidos games never get high scores. They might get an 8 once in a blue moon but normally their games are under the radar.

 

[Charizard92]

I use Game informer, and I don't think they botch things as much. You can say for sure, but considering that the winner of game of the month are actually good games (Corruption, Galaxy, Brawl, MGS4, GTA4, Halo3, Bioshock, can I stop now?), I think that they might actually be, accurate.

 

[infernovia]

I don't go for reviews. I go for the community. Especially because I play fighters mostly, you cannot rely on the mainstream reviews at all. Who cares what IGN/Gamespot/1up thinks about SF/Arcana heart/GuiltyGear. Seriously.

And lately, things have been more about series. So communities are easy to develop and easier to keep track of. I do keep track of new releases from the main reviewers though.

However, there are some mainstream games that I will take their review for.