Who's reviews should we trust....?

XPLAY. They were the only review place that had the guts to expose THE DARKNESS for its garbage gameplay and give it a 2 out of 5.

JiveT

hear, hear....The Darkness looks good but is a really boring title.

I know how everybody loves to praise reviews when they go their way and bag them when they don't, no matter who is writing them.....

My question is, given the state of gaming right now who's words do you trust on a consistant basis....? and why?

Has Gamespot lost their clout or should we hold them to a different standard? Is it ok that I find more accurate reviews, even if unfavorable, from Official Xbox Magazine than from say, IGN?

...Who do you trust... and don't say something cliche like, "trust yourself man" everyone reads reviews and everyone has an opinion....

colmusterd28

Oh god, are we really splitting hairs now...? ok I'll word it differently, everyone gets others opinions about games before they buy...

colmusterd28

I almost forgot. I pretty much watch video reviews just for the sake of watching. I don't watch a review to see if I should buy a game or not.

I.E: I'm buying Halo 3, UT3, Assassin's Creed, and Turok regardless of whatever review says.

they should just remove the score so you read the review and no more pointless 9>8.5. most people here only care about the score and don't even read the review imprezawrx500

Then fanboys would just compare the features.

"OMG Flopzone 2 doesn't even have 4 player-coop ! So last-gen !"

Fanboys.

Only they know what is right for me.

The best way to read reviews is go gamerankings and see what several sites have to say.

Don't let one site make the choice for you always read a few sites and use that knowledge to help you decide.

Read them all, compare them, don't trust any single review.Sapph0

Agreed

I trust Gamespot and IGN, try to kind of combine them. They seem to avoid rating games perfect just becaue it's a highly hyped game.

There are times where you need two points of reference. Like the Madden scores for PS3/X360. It was nice to hear two points of view. ONe made it a point to score PS3 a point lower because in there mind it was a big deal (30 fps) while Gamespot took the opposite approach and scored them the same while stating they are essentially the same game.

As you say it's cliche to say "trust yourself man" but honestly why not? In a time where you can rent a game there is no reason why you should just rent a game and make your own decision.

Reviews are just to give you an idea...I always check the average of all reviews, it's probably more accurate, but then, sometimes i disagree sometimes... For example, ghost recon 2 on xbox was probably my favorite game and I was hooked on the multiplayer...

The reviews were just ok in the 7 something out of ten... To me, it deserved much more and I was glad I got the game...Always try to have a demo first...it's worth more than someone else opinion...

take a look at user reviews.. pretty much all i trust these days. make sure you look at ones other users agree with though to minimalize and fanboy bias :)

Well; i think we should all take reviews with a grain of salt. No one review should be an absolute.. but system wars has rules. It seems that this place is more of a game in itself that boils down to who can predict gamespots score value for games.

Personally, i have trusted matt from ign for wii reviews. He usually provides a lengthy and explanatory(and wellwritten) review. I've found that we generally agree on the same stuff, and come off with teh same impression towards these games. Otherwise i just like to use gamerankings/metacritic and read a handful of random reviews.

[QUOTE="colmusterd28"]

I know how everybody loves to praise reviews when they go their way and bag them when they don't, no matter who is writing them.....

My question is, given the state of gaming right now who's words do you trust on a consistant basis....? and why?

Has Gamespot lost their clout or should we hold them to a different standard? Is it ok that I find more accurate reviews, even if unfavorable, from Official Xbox Magazine than from say, IGN?

...Who do you trust... and don't say something cliche like, "trust yourself man" everyone reads reviews and everyone has an opinion....

AncientDozer

Yes, lots of people read reviews and everyone has an opinion but you're looking at it the wrong way. "Trust yourself" isn't cliche because it's right.

This isn't some god damn competition and reviews aren't these holy men who hold sway over the masses. Reviews serve one true purpose and that is simply to give a recommendation. To give the least biased opinion possible about the quality of an item so an undecided consumer can make an educated decision whether or not to buy a game.

Reviews aren't for the people who say "Lolz HALO OWNS YOU" and they sure as hell aren't for the people who say "Lair is t3h 5ukz0rz". Reviews are for people who think "gee, I like how Eternal Sonata looks but I don't know if I should buy it" and "This new Metroid game looks good but I'm not sure if it's worth the money". Those are who reviews are aimed at. People that are unable to make the decision on their own and need something reliable.

Which ties in what I said to part of what you're asking. Reliability. Idiots on this and other forums can say whatever they want but in the end it only confirms their own stupidity. Gamespot IS reliable. It IS a trustworthy website.

It no only gives a numerical score and a brief summery of high and low points, but gives an indepth review in both written and video format. And on top of that, it shows you the scores of other websites and player reviews/scores. That, to me, says a lot about the place. It's a good website.

I agree that Gamespot is pretty reliable... I'm not sure what your getting at with "people who can't make up their mind on a game" I look at it more like, "money dosn't grow on trees and I don't want to get stuck spending 60 bucks on a crapfest that looks decent, ahem... Lair"