Do you listen to game reviews?

[CantThinkOfOne2013]

Title says it all really, do you listen to game reviews and do they make an impact on whether or not you buy a game?

I personally do not let game reviews make an impact on if I buy a game for several reasons, the first being that half of the review is opinion (the other half is payment, but I will get to that later) and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, another reason is payment, I feel that game critics get paid, it doesn't make a lot of sense that everyone has the same opinion, thirdly, I feel that game critics have rules that they have to follow when reviewing games (examples include: 'GTA Clones' can not score above 8/10 and Story = GOTY), lastly, I can't trust game reviews because they only aspect of a game that the care about is storytelling, they don't care about the most important aspect of a game, gameplay, and here is the proof.

Edited March 11, 2014 by CantThinkOfOne2013

[Zancudo]

Honestly, I put those reviews up my ass. That much I care about them.

[Der Süden]

If I want a first impression of a game, I watch the review of it on my favorite review channel on YouTube. I never felt that they got paid for good critics and they don't only care about story telling.

[FranklinDeRoosevelt]

Nope they are as corrupted as the governments. Some of them are also biased.

[poklane]

No. Basically the only 2 things that can make me buy a game are my own impressions, and if I really like seeing someone playing it. I bought SR3 since I saw someone play it, had great fun. Yes, the game was pretty sh*t in terms of gameplay mechanics, but if it's fun I don't give a sh*t.

Also, some of them are biased. A lot of times, First Person Shooter reviews are done by huge FPS freaks etc, or a FIFA review is done by someone who's just a huge FIFA fanboy who wont acknowledge things that suck about the game.

If you do a review, at least have it done by someone who isn't a blind fanboy of the game/genre and can pick out the mistakes that are in the game.

Edited March 11, 2014 by poklane

[universetwisters]

Game reviews don't have much of an effect on me, considering the only games I play are literally either GTA or simulator games.

[ClaudX]

I only watch them because some of them are funny or because I'll never buy the game. Angry Joe is one of my favorites.

[Mr. House]

I don't listen to reviews of anything, whether it be music, film, games literature etc. I do to an extent decide if something is worth delving into based on general feeling of it though. It depends.

[darthYENIK]

I haven't looked at a game review in years. I might take the advice from friends on whether a game is good or bad, but generally I can tell if I'll like a game or not.

[Mista J]

Honestly, I put those reviews up my ass. That much I care about them.

You must like it a lot.

Edited March 12, 2014 by DarthShinobi

[Geralt of Rivia]

I listen to TotalBiscuit's impressions on games.

 

Do I let him make my decision for me? No, but he's trustworthy and honest.

 

Not technically a reviewer, but whatever.

[trip]

Not anymore. Game journalism is officially dead in my mind.

 

No lie (ask my wife), but nearly everyday I re-listen to all of the CGW and [later] Out of The Game podcasts.

Feb 16, 2006 was the first CGW podcast...and they weren't happy that they had to do. Later it became a big ass part of their careers and even future careers.

 

https://archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Agfwpodcast&sort=-publicdate&page=3

Link to the first page of the archives.

Because they (and the podcast) become somewhat famous...and if you don't want to listen to all of their old historic podcasts. Here is a link to part of "The Best of".

 

This may be totally unrelated to this thread in a way, but if you really want to enjoy some history of the industry you may want to check these guys out. They(and some of their guests) all want on to huge things. Like running MS and Sony. One dude who really loved Bioshock 1 later became the lead on Bioshock Infinite. They have crazy ass interviews with Ken Levin when he was just starting out and sh*t like that.

 

These guys and their reviews were so brutally honest and they were so influential that they have actually been banned from various developers and stuff. And I'm talking company campuses, not just being able to talk to developers.

 

 

Edit:

The guy telling this story went on to being a major person in Bioshock Infinite. I implore you to listen all the way through to the "huddle" part.

 

Edited March 12, 2014 by trip

[DarrinPA]

Do you listen to game reviews?

 

No!

 

Reviewers are trying to get more people to visit their site or buy their magazine, while trying to become better connected to game studios for exclusives. Even regular people's opinions on games aren't usually the same as mine, so I just buy what appeals to me personally and never take any opinion into consideration.

[Johan]

I listen to reviews.. but it never affects my purchases. I only listen to them just to get a glimpse of gameplay and watch out for anything interesting.

[El Dildo]

I've said this before in other topics; I don't listen to reviews because I don't listen to critics in general.

 

if something is enjoyable to you then guess what?

it's good. nothing else matters.

[BLOOD]

Simple answer:Yes and No...end of comment.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Blood-Is-in-Diamond

[Crazyeighties]

Yes but listening to reviews does not usually sway my decision

Edited March 12, 2014 by Crazyeighties

[Daz]

Used to, maybe 10 years ago, as at that point you may never get any gameplay videos unless you saw a video review.

 

Now?

 

F*ck no, with a hard 'F'.

 

I can't take someone's opinion on a game that has 'reviewed' it before the game has even launched. Unless it is a 6 hour long game with nothing else. I refuse to believe reviewers fully test the game, and report serious issues and annoying problems within that timeframe. Let alone get a full experience with the multiplayer or any other features that might be out post release.

 

I also differ on what I consider a good game. Things to me that are gamebreaking and terrible for a game, nobody ever seems to notice let alone care about.

 

 

This is why we need more game demos, they seem to be dying off pretty fast. At least with arcade titles on xbl you can get a trial. But as things advance and the Xbox One not labelling games differently, we will only see that decline, and I believe that is at least a much more important thing to have to entice you to buy a game. Unless their game sucks and they just want to flog a dead horse.

 

Really, I just watch gameplay videos and figure it all out for myself at this point, when call of duty still gets above an 8/10 I refuse to take any reviewing website seriously anymore. That time has passed.

[Kiffster]

To be honest, sometimes I do, but I only really read the reviews written in a local gaming magazine which I've been buying since 2003. They usually share more or less the same opinions as me and they actually know what they're talking about.

 

Sometimes I see a game that looks absolutely horrible to me, but then I read a review or two of said game where they praise the game and rate it highly or whatever, so I might then decide to buy the game to try it out for myself based on what I've read. One such game is Batman Arkham Asylum for example. In my opinion the game didn't really look that good just by looking at trailers etc, but after reading the reviews I bought the game and it turned out to be awesome. Same thing happened with the first Splinter Cell (which looked meh at first, but now I'm a massive fan of the series thanks to the very first review I've seen), Tomb Raider Legend (haven't bought a TR game for many years before that), and Star Wars: KOTOR. I stayed away from all Star Wars games until I've read the KOTOR review.

 

These days however, I buy very few games, but those that I do get are usually from an already established, well-known series that I know/like or from publishers/developers that I've come to trust/love over the years like R*, Bethesda, UBI, Bioware, Valve and more recently, Telltale etc, so I definitely don't need reviews for me to decide whether or not I should buy those games. When a new game comes along though that looks good but that I know absolutely nothing about, I will take a look at (at least) a couple of reviews from my trusted sources just to make sure that it's something that I'll be interested in. For the most part however, I can usually tell just by looking at trailers or whatever if a game is gonna be good or not, but I'm not always correct or sure, so I do sometimes rely on reviews for me to make a decision on whether or not I should buy a particular game.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Werebot85

[Th3MaN1]

Angry Joe is all I'm going to say. And Metacritic is fun to read when you're bored.

[Daz]

The Yahtzee reviews are good if you can call them "reviews" however he does bring up some great points in a hilarious manner, however I have disagreed with him on multiple occasions, also he usually disregards multiplayer and rarely gets ultra critical on tiny minute details that I happen to notice. But as a broad swipe it is generally pretty good.

 

But by no means anything to base buying a game off of.

[esmittystud101]

You can look at game reviews. But you might like a game that they score really low. But IGN is the worst. Stay away from there reviews. They have pretty good articles for the most part. But the reviews are so far fetched.

 

Example: GTA gets a score of 10. Yes the SP was good. Nothing wrong with it. But the Online was a dissaster. I would think with having a broken Online that would atleast take that score of 10, down to a 9.5 or 9.0 or maybe even 8.5 or 8.0. But no. They get a solid 10 regardless of how broken it is. Now take Thief for instace. It gets a 6.8 for having Frequent load screens and Hit-or miss level design. Okay, the game was not a 10. Maybe not even a 9. (even though I would score it that). There is nothing broke with this game. No, it doens't have much of a MP or anything. But, it gets a 6.8 and GTA gets a 10. There is nothing wrong with the level design in Thief. The map is huge. Lots of hidden items. Lots of safe's to crack. The map was designed for stealth.

Okay, my ranting is complete. Sorry for that.

Edited March 12, 2014 by esmittystud101

[Nuggets]

If a videogame series that I don't know interests me I watch Angry Joe if he has a review of the game or I look at what scores it's gotten.

[Th3MaN1]

You can look at game reviews. But you might like a game that they score really low. But IGN is the worst. Stay away from there reviews. They have pretty good articles for the most part. But the reviews are so far fetched.

 

Example: GTA gets a score of 10. Yes the SP was good. Nothing wrong with it. But the Online was a dissaster. I would think with having a broken Online that would atleast take that score of 10, down to a 9.5 or 9.0 or maybe even 8.5 or 8.0. But no. They get a solid 10 regardless of how broken it is. Now take Thief for instace. It gets a 6.8 for having Frequent load screens and Hit-or miss level design. Okay, the game was not a 10. Maybe not even a 9. (even though I would score it that). There is nothing broke with this game. No, it doens't have much of a MP or anything. But, it gets a 6.8 and GTA gets a 10. There is nothing wrong with the level design in Thief. The map is huge. Lots of hidden items. Lots of safe's to crack. The map was designed for stealth not a FPS.

 

Okay, my ranting is complete. Sorry for that.

The only review I actually like from them is the Max Payne 3 one. Everything else is bullsh*t from them.

[Doublepulse]

I watch reviews and most the times, it is from Youtubers like Angry Joe and some of it from the official review sites.

 

I take the review in consideration, but I do not let it judge whether I am going to buy it or not. Not every reviewer is going to like a game I enjoy, and I might not like one they liked.

 

I usually make my own decisions and think for myself. Most reviews I listen to or watch are for entertainment.

[CantThinkOfOne2013]

I should have made the topic title 'Do you let game reviews impact your decision' because I myself still watch them to get an idea about what a game is about, but I don't let them impact my choice to buy a game or not, I stopped doing that entirety (I never did it fully) after I saw this.

I like to watch Angry Joe's reviews because sometimes because they are funny, but at the end of the day, he is another mainstream critic sadly (he gave Mass Effect 2 a 9 and then only gave Sleeping Dogs a 6 saying it was average and nothing special for example).

[Daz]

GTA gets a score of 10. Yes the SP was good. Nothing wrong with it. But the Online was a dissaster. I would think with having a broken Online that would atleast take that score of 10, down to a 9.5 or 9.0 or maybe even 8.5 or 8.0. But no. They get a solid 10 regardless of how broken it is.

I am pretty sure this is why they delayed the online portion of the game for V. It may also be down to the fact they were really behind and a lot of it you can tell it was really a last minute thrown together mess. But they specifically delayed it to get their positive reviews, and purposely named it GTAOnline instead of GTAV Multiplayer so they could avoid litigation issues regarding promised but undelivered content for it such as heists.

 

But Gamespot and IGN have been doing this sh*t for years. Call of Duty always gets the same scores despite never changing even after hitting next gen, it is no different. Why build a game from the ground up into the exact damn game again. No purpose for this other than to pretend it is new however just keeping to the same formula to get sales is why it is that way.

 

I would say just find a friend that can give you a summary of a game, someone you know that enjoys games the same way that you do.

[Fu11Force]

I don't watch nor listen to reviews anymore. Some top-rated games by many critics are garbage to me. Same with films. I would only read low-rated reviews on a game I think is crap just to have someone agree with me. Velvet Assassin got pretty low ratings, but I enjoyed the game. Same with Bully Scholarship Edition. I've played the one on PS2, and although not much changed in Scholarship Edition, it would be an opportunity for those who didn't have a PS2 and rather an Xbox 360. Reviewers gave it low ratings. What I do like about reviews is that it would point out things you would miss. Like, they enhance the game by giving more details. Nowadays, I watch a gameplay of a game I would want to buy. However, from time to time, I'll watch TotalBiscuit and Angry Joe. I like news on Gamespot and GamerBomb, but their reviews are not too good.

[Th3MaN1]

I should have made the topic title 'Do you let game reviews impact your decision' because I myself still watch them to get an idea about what a game is about, but I don't let them impact my choice to buy a game or not, I stopped doing that entirety (I never did it fully) after I saw this.

I like to watch Angry Joe's reviews because sometimes because they are funny, but at the end of the day, he is another mainstream critic sadly (he gave Mass Effect 2 a 9 and then only gave Sleeping Dogs a 6 saying it was average and nothing special for example).

I find that with Angry Joe, the score doesn't tell everything. Listen to what he says, as he dissects the game almost entirely. In his recent Ground Zeroes review, he gave the game a 5 out of 10. Why? Poor length. He says what his says, and I find myself mostly agreeing with him. And let's face it, Sleeping Dogs wasn't anything groundbreaking. That game's mechanics and gameplay was average. Nothing bad, nothing good.

[CantThinkOfOne2013]

 

I should have made the topic title 'Do you let game reviews impact your decision' because I myself still watch them to get an idea about what a game is about, but I don't let them impact my choice to buy a game or not, I stopped doing that entirety (I never did it fully) after I saw this.

I like to watch Angry Joe's reviews because sometimes because they are funny, but at the end of the day, he is another mainstream critic sadly (he gave Mass Effect 2 a 9 and then only gave Sleeping Dogs a 6 saying it was average and nothing special for example).

 

I find that with Angry Joe, the score doesn't tell everything. Listen to what he says, as he dissects the game almost entirely. In his recent Ground Zeroes review, he gave the game a 5 out of 10. Why? Poor length. He says what his says, and I find myself mostly agreeing with him. And let's face it, Sleeping Dogs wasn't anything groundbreaking. That game's mechanics and gameplay was average. Nothing bad, nothing good.If I played Ground Zeros (I'm never playing another MGS, Kojima's cash grabbing has gone too far) I would have scored it the same for the same reasons, I thought the very little gameplay in MGS4 was great but I can't give it anything over a 6/10 due a very short length (4 hours) and cash grabbing multiplayer.

And I though Sleeping Dogs had the best combat out of any open world game and the setting was both unique (finally a sandbox game set outside of the USA) and lively, Mass Effect 2 on the other hand was nothing special and I'm sure no one can say it is without mentioning the words (or any similar words for that matter) 'story' or 'characters'.