Can the gaming community agree ignore professional reviews and use user ones

User reviews are usually higher quality anyways lately, even if someone hates the game and gives it an unfairly low score they explain why and if they don't know what they are talking about you realize it soon enough, professional reviewers are a little trickier since they are actually writers so they can talk like they know something even if they don't. Also professional reviewers are far more influenced by hype and advertising then users (also some may or may not be paid off), very few professional reviewers will give a big name game a really bad review, if it's a big name game 6 is the lowest they will go where if it's a normal game 8 is the highest they will go it's riddicules user reviews are just better

EDIT: just thought I'd clerify, I usually get my reviews from gamefaqs and usually look at a few of the star (people who rec it) ones both negative and positive then see if it sounds like a game I'd like, though it seems this sites users reviews are of a lesser quality

User reviews are usually higher quality anyways lately, even if someone hates the game and gives it an unfairly low score they explain why and if they don't know what they are talking about you realize it soon enough, professional reviewers are a little trickier since they are actually writers so they can talk like they know something even if they don't. Also professional reviewers are far more influenced by hype and advertising then users (also some may or may not be paid off), very few professional reviewers will give a big name game a really bad review, if it's a big name game 6 is the lowest they will go where if it's a normal game 8 is the highest they will go it's riddicules user reviews are just better

momentum_god

Professional reviews > user reviews

One need only look at this site to determine that.

I hope some day that gaming community man it up and rely on their own judgments.funsohng

i don't care about review scores at all lol.that's just my personality. if i really love something i don't care if other people don't like it. as long as i personally enjoy it.dipsetboy17

Never will I ever.

I don't really put too much stock into either. Both can be good, both can be bad. All opinions in the end.

I'll watch or read a review to get a good idea of what the game is about, but if I'm interested I like to check out multiple perspectives and not just one.

There are gamers on this message board whose word I'll take over most "professional reviewers" though. I'd rather hear about a game from my fellow gamers who are playing for fun than some guy trying to breeze through a game, write up an opinion and get paid... at the same time I don't trust just any old user reviews either. 9 times out of 10 it is either written by a blind fanboy, or a blind hater.

[QUOTE="NAPK1NS"]

Never will I ever.

TheGuardian03

User reviews are usually higher quality anyways lately, even if someone hates the game and gives it an unfairly low score they explain why and if they don't know what they are talking about you realize it soon enough, professional reviewers are a little trickier since they are actually writers so they can talk like they know something even if they don't. Also professional reviewers are far more influenced by hype and advertising then users (also some may or may not be paid off), very few professional reviewers will give a big name game a really bad review, if it's a big name game 6 is the lowest they will go where if it's a normal game 8 is the highest they will go it's riddicules user reviews are just better

momentum_god

I disagree completely. It seems to me that user reviews are generally unreliable because there's no way for you, as a reader, to know if the person writing the review is biased, hates the game or have some other personal agenda. With a professional review, at least I can identify the writer, I can familiarize myself with the reviewer and his general options.

With a professional reviewer you can at least be fairly sure that he at least did play the game, that he is held responsible for his work by the site or magazine he works for. While I might agree or disagree with a reviewers option or score, I would expect a professional reviewer to give a fair account of why he feels one way or another about a game. In short, a professional review tend to be more trust worthy, you might not share his opinion or taste but at least you know who he works for and he's committed enough to his review to put his own name behind it. All things even I'd trust a random professional review over a random user review any day of the week.

Never will I ever.

NAPK1NS

Well professional reviews can make no sense too

[QUOTE="momentum_god"]

User reviews are usually higher quality anyways lately, even if someone hates the game and gives it an unfairly low score they explain why and if they don't know what they are talking about you realize it soon enough, professional reviewers are a little trickier since they are actually writers so they can talk like they know something even if they don't. Also professional reviewers are far more influenced by hype and advertising then users (also some may or may not be paid off), very few professional reviewers will give a big name game a really bad review, if it's a big name game 6 is the lowest they will go where if it's a normal game 8 is the highest they will go it's riddicules user reviews are just better

Mazoch

I disagree completely. It seems to me that user reviews are generally unreliable because there's no way for you, as a reader, to know if the person writing the review is biased, hates the game or have some other personal agenda. With a professional review, at least I can identify the writer, I can familiarize myself with the reviewer and his general options.

With a professional reviewer you can at least be fairly sure that he at least did play the game, that he is held responsible for his work by the site or magazine he works for. While I might agree or disagree with a reviewers option or score, I would expect a professional reviewer to give a fair account of why he feels one way or another about a game. In short, a professional review tend to be more trust worthy, you might not share his opinion or taste but at least you know who he works for and he's committed enough to his review to put his own name behind it. All things even I'd trust a random professional review over a random user review any day of the week.

When I read somewhere about call of duty being rpg, I lost all faith in "professional reviewers."

[QUOTE="funsohng"]I hope some day that gaming community man it up and rely on their own judgments.momentum_god

Professional reviewers buy into hype just as much, if not more, than user reviewers. Most of my favorite games this gen (Valkyria Chronicles, Ninja Gaiden 2, The Last Remnant, Empire: Total War) scored AA. It's pretty rare for me to find a game that scores below a 7 that I actually like. I ususally just decide whether I will buy a game based upon the news that comes out before the game releases.

[QUOTE="momentum_god"][QUOTE="funsohng"]I hope some day that gaming community man it up and rely on their own judgments.funsohng

[QUOTE="dipsetboy17"]i don't care about review scores at all lol.that's just my personality. if i really love something i don't care if other people don't like it. as long as i personally enjoy it.momentum_god

ok same thing lol. i don't care about those either.

I had no idea my proof against your claims of uncharted 3 stomping gears 3 would promote this.
But I can simply say one thing go to amazon.com or if before they removed the forums and ability for users to review games before release on metacritic you would see loads of bad user reviews one sentence and low scores just to spite the other side this can still be seen on amazon.com

Trusting user reviews would be truely disasterous.

Generally professional reviewers have a lot more experience and exposure to the industry behind the scene's than any of us. They do it for a living, they have more reason to be unbiased.

You don't have to take their word as gospel truth but for heavens sake don't put all your faith into user reviews

Generally professional reviewers have a lot more experience and exposure to the industry behind the scene's than any of us. They do it for a living, they have more reason to be unbiased.

You don't have to take their word as gospel truth but for heavens sake don't put all your faith into user reviews

tomarlyn

[QUOTE="tomarlyn"]

Generally professional reviewers have a lot more experience and exposure to the industry behind the scene's than any of us. They do it for a living, they have more reason to be unbiased.

You don't have to take their word as gospel truth but for heavens sake don't put all your faith into user reviews

momentum_god

[QUOTE="momentum_god"][QUOTE="tomarlyn"]

Generally professional reviewers have a lot more experience and exposure to the industry behind the scene's than any of us. They do it for a living, they have more reason to be unbiased.

You don't have to take their word as gospel truth but for heavens sake don't put all your faith into user reviews

tomarlyn

I take them both with a small grain of salt. Why would I value one persons opinion over another? Because they get payed to say it? Eh.... I generally use the text of a review to form a basis for my own opinion at first and if I'm interested I'll look up gameplay and if that looks promising I will then purchase. Everything afterwards is only in my own opinion. I don't expect anyone to overly value my opinion either, but I am willing to give it regardless as I feel it helps me express how the game effected me on a personal level. The one thing I despise is when someone reviews a game and states: "Well it wasn't for me but I'm sure the mass market would like it." and then continues to give it a high score despite it's failings in his eyes. Thats not a review thats a market analysis.Jynxzor

[QUOTE="Jynxzor"]I take them both with a small grain of salt. Why would I value one persons opinion over another? Because they get payed to say it? Eh.... I generally use the text of a review to form a basis for my own opinion at first and if I'm interested I'll look up gameplay and if that looks promising I will then purchase. Everything afterwards is only in my own opinion. I don't expect anyone to overly value my opinion either, but I am willing to give it regardless as I feel it helps me express how the game effected me on a personal level. The one thing I despise is when someone reviews a game and states: "Well it wasn't for me but I'm sure the mass market would like it." and then continues to give it a high score despite it's failings in his eyes. Thats not a review thats a market analysis.momentum_god

[QUOTE="PannicAtack"][QUOTE="tomarlyn"] MOH and GT5 say hellomomentum_god

As if people actually read reviews these days, professional or user, the majority just looks at the score...:?

[QUOTE="NAPK1NS"]

Never will I ever.

da_illest101

Well professional reviews can make no sense too

[QUOTE="momentum_god"]

[QUOTE="Jynxzor"]I take them both with a small grain of salt. Why would I value one persons opinion over another? Because they get payed to say it? Eh.... I generally use the text of a review to form a basis for my own opinion at first and if I'm interested I'll look up gameplay and if that looks promising I will then purchase. Everything afterwards is only in my own opinion. I don't expect anyone to overly value my opinion either, but I am willing to give it regardless as I feel it helps me express how the game effected me on a personal level. The one thing I despise is when someone reviews a game and states: "Well it wasn't for me but I'm sure the mass market would like it." and then continues to give it a high score despite it's failings in his eyes. Thats not a review thats a market analysis.PurpleMan5000

[QUOTE="momentum_god"][QUOTE="PannicAtack"] Lair, too.tomarlyn

Fire emblem Radiant Dawn?

Well, it was about the game being too hard.

[QUOTE="momentum_god"][QUOTE="PannicAtack"] Lair, too.tomarlyn

[QUOTE="PurpleMan5000"][QUOTE="momentum_god"]them getting paid for it makes me value it less, maybe thats just because I always do a half ass job on stuff I have to do though lol, I disagree with your thing about someone giving a game a good score if they didn't like it, I agree with your example being stupid though, but if it's like a puzzle game and the person doesn't like puzzle games but sees that people who do and would buy it would like it, thats just being unbiased

momentum_god

[QUOTE="NAPK1NS"]

Never will I ever.

da_illest101

Well professional reviews can make no sense too

I died laughing, well played sir :P

[QUOTE="momentum_god"][QUOTE="PurpleMan5000"] How would somebody who doesn't like puzzle games know what fans of puzzle games want?i5750at4Ghz

[QUOTE="i5750at4Ghz"]

[QUOTE="momentum_god"]it's really not that hard to recognize what is a good game even if it's in a genre you don't like momentum_god