Weekly Topic: Reviews

stealth toilet

stealth toilet

Moderator
Just as a general question, what source (if any) do you look to for deciding what games to purchase. In the spirit of the GA contest, I'd like to know if you guys actually do check reviews before you buy a game, and if so, which sources you trust the most and why. I can't post my opinion right now due to a lack of time, but I'll see if I can post later.

As well if you've ever written any reviews or anything like that the topic also extends to broader things so post up any ideas on stuff like that too.
 
That's actually a hard question. I do check reviews, but whether or not they actually influence my purchase...I dunno. Especially on GC games, since most reviewers tend to score those lower than I think they deserve.

Trusted sources for GC games:
GMR, Play

Trusted sources for PS2 games:
GMR, Play

Trusted sources for XBOX games:
XBN, GMR, Play

For online sites, IGN is good.

I have some more thoughts but company just came over, so I'll bbl.
 
I hardly ever read reviews in any mainstream gaming magaizines. The reason why? I'm a huge fan of old school 2D games, especially fighters and sidescrollers/shooters. Most gaming mag's give these games terrible scores right off the bat for not conforming to the standards of 3D games that generaly come out these days. For example in a recent issue of EGM I saw they gave SvC a very low score, and commented that it re-used old sprites, had no new styles of play, and looked ancient. They were pretty wrong on all three counts, the game does not use old character sprites, most are redone for SvC, and its really easy to notice this. Also theres several new types of play styles in the mix, with the various cancels, DMs, and Excel moves, that have not appeared in other SNK games. As for the graphics, I suppose thats more a matter of opinion, and to me 2D looks so much cooler than 3D.

So I'm not saying that there reviews are wrong, bad or whatever, just that I do not agree with them, therefore I never let them influence my decision on buying a game. Not everyone likes the same things, so reviews are not really good enough reasons for me to buy/not buy a game, I like to try the game if it seems like something I would like, regardless of whether magazing A or TV show B said it sucks.

So, I don't really read many reviews, but if I do read them I rarely let them influence my decisions on the game until I have played it. The exception is when the review is written by someone who I know for fact that I share a very similar interest in the same style of games, then I may take it a little more seriously, but I still usually will go ahead with trying the game out to find out for myself.
 
Usually, I'll either check GMR, GameFAQs, or just ask people that have played it before going out and purchasing the game. I should rent more, since I already wasted money on a few games that I hated with a passion.
 
Dr_Ackula said:
I hardly ever read reviews in any mainstream gaming magaizines. The reason why? I'm a huge fan of old school 2D games, especially fighters and sidescrollers/shooters. Most gaming mag's give these games terrible scores right off the bat for not conforming to the standards of 3D games that generaly come out these days.
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Yeah, that is something I find annoying about most reviewers, too. I remember the guy who reviews games for the local newspaper reviewed Metal Slug 3 for XBOX and took points off because it was in 2D. I was like, ::) That, along with taking points off for not being online, are my biggest review pet peeves.

I guess that's why I like demos. They give you a better feel than any review.
 
I dunno, reviews are so sensitive to personal opinion that it's hard to faithfully trust any review. For the most part I trust EGM, but even they can be fishy, Grandia 2 9.5? that game blows. It's also starting to seem like only super top notch titles get rave reviews whereas decent, mediocre games get such bad reviews nobody bothers to buy them. Like back in the day, I would buy a game simply by reading the back and looking at the box, and I got alot of good games that were fun but later on I realised they all got bad scores. So, in a nutshell, I would have prolly never got any of those games if I had read the reviews first.....That's just my 2 cents....
 
I just want to add that the last game magazine I actually read, and trusted almost 100% their opinions was DieHard Gamefan. That was the greatest mag ever in my opinion, and I still lament the day it died. These days there aren't really any that I care to read, and as far as TV review shows, such as X-Play...oh god I hate them with a passion!

Anyways just adding my little two cents there, imo EGM sucks badly too :-\
 
I like the actual show of X-play, but I pay no attention to their scores. Reviews on the Run is also a show I watch for game footage, but the scores are abysmal...

For the internet I check IGN every once in awhile to stay up to date, and I check the reader scores, but I never look at the editor's scores. I also check to see if anything's mentioned about the game at Penny Arcade, as they're usually fairly blunt about the pros and cons of a game.

I also greatly miss the days when I would go into a videogame store with no previous knowledge of any of the games and I would simply pick and choose based on the cover art and the back of the case. Nowadays I know practically everything about the game before I buy it, which takes a lot of the surprise and joy out of buying a new game. On the other hand, if I'm gonna be spending $70, I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth, so I usually read a couple reviews (mostly online) and just listen to see what the general buzz about the game is.
 
Most of the time, I check reviews for a game I already have, too see what other people think of them. I've probably stated this a billion times, but AI hate reviews on both ends of the spectrum. High-rate reviews are often biased and don't say anything that could possible be wrong with the game (no game is perfect, at least in my eyes). Low-rate reviews barely touch any posotive points, and are alos often biased. Alot of times they focus on one or two points anyway.
 
I don't read reviews much to be honest. I just go by what the general hype of a game is and ask friends (or you guys  :D) about them. But if there's a game currently out that i'm thinking of buying, i'll check IGN and Gamespot. I also used to subcribe to games (that's right, small g) magazine and sometimes Edge magazine...probably the best and most accurate game magazines i've read.
 
Yeah, magazines from the UK are very nice. I have an issue of games that I bought while I was visiting New York. Man, it's great! It's thick, has lots of articles, is made with high quality paper, and it covers all three consoles along with the PC and portable systems. It's way better than anything made here in the US.
 
Mai Valentine said:
Yeah, magazines from the UK are very nice.
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Not any more imho. The current crop of mags are pants. Like Ackula I'm more into the retro/retro feeling games and still get a tear in the eye when reminiscing about quality titles like C&VG or Mean Machines...these were mags back in the day but that had decent reviews and opinions.

As to what reviews I read..well none really..I more just ask similar minded players on forums for their opinions. I guess I'm more ready to believe a 'gamer's' view of a game then some website/mag that can have ulterior motives or strange prejudices.
 
Oh snap! I just realized I forgot to name who does the next weekly topic.

For next week the topic shall be submitted by...



X2!



Because I'm still bitter about losing the review contest :D
 
:lol @ stealth.

um.... Mai... I thought GMR was worthless... or that was the consensus among many people..

is it actually good?

†B†V† :hat
 
Well GMR is done by Ziff Davis, which is the same company that does EGM. So I could see why people would be skeptical.

But I think GMR is pretty good. EGM is kind of geared towards the mainstream, but GMR is a little more hardcore. Whereas EGM barely gave Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne any attention, GMR had several articles about it, including one issue that had a 3 page spread. GMR also seems less PS2/XBOX biased in their reviews. A few months back they gave GOTM to Paper Mario, which I thought was cool. They really enjoyed it.

That reminds me, I need to renew my subscription to GMR.
 
Remember it's just something simple. (ie. the SNES, the PS2 etc).

I'm confused, is GMR the same as games magazine or are they different?
 
GMR is EB's magazine.

As for games, it's actually called gamesTM. I just didn't know how to make the TM part in small superscript when I made my first post so I left it out.
 
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