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Game Reviews
deadguydrew
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Who can I trust to tell me what games are good, and which aren't? The last couple updates on PA's front page actually got this question in my head, especially Gabe's talk about Assassin's Creed. Obviously no one reviewer will appeal to everyone, but generally speaking what is a fairly reliable place to look for quality reviews?
I know that the days of the "psychic reviewer shaman" (sorry, I liked the phrase) are past, but I fall into a category of people who really need reviews to buy a game. Why? Money. I am so disgustingly piss poor that it's a miracle I have the gaming systems I do own. I rely on reviews to help me weed out games that I might or might not like so I can get the most bang for my buck.
However as I said, the recent discussions have really got me thinking, and thus I turn to you fair gents (and women if there were any on the internet) to help me find an answer.
I know that the days of the "psychic reviewer shaman" (sorry, I liked the phrase) are past, but I fall into a category of people who really need reviews to buy a game. Why? Money. I am so disgustingly piss poor that it's a miracle I have the gaming systems I do own. I rely on reviews to help me weed out games that I might or might not like so I can get the most bang for my buck.
However as I said, the recent discussions have really got me thinking, and thus I turn to you fair gents (and women if there were any on the internet) to help me find an answer.
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I also go to Eurogamer when I want a deeper review that's usually trustworthy.
* (These should be obvious, though there were two serious threads about two different Hannah Montana games at one point.)
"Everyone who is capable of logical thought should be able to see why you shouldn't sell lifetime subscriptions to an MMO. Cell phone companies and drug dealers don't offer lifetime subscriptions either, guess why?" - Mugaaz
Rad the review and have an idea of what you like in video games, what genres your into, and what flavor of the genre is best for you.
I know if its an RTS, I won't like it regardless.
If its a FPS and they mention 'fast-paced' I probably won't like it.
I'm very tolerant to micro-managing in games, especially if there isn't a clock ticking on it.
If they mention any kind of a positive relationship to x-com or half-life, I'll enjoy it.
I also have a very dry sense of humor, so slap-dash is bad, British is good.
Story > Gameplay > length > graphics > audio
Read the review, and as their describing it, ask yourself 'Would I enjoy this?'. When they mention the downsides as if that would bother you. When they talk about bugs, would that destroy the game for you. See if there is a demo for it, see if you like it. Go buy what you'll like.
You're just jealous that my favourite game is rated .1 points higher than yours. This means you have poor tatse and play shitty games. Number scores are universal laws. Like gravity.
Oh hell yes. And that brings up another point: learn developers. Some developers almost always put out an excellent game, and even their lackluster efforst shine brighter than 90% of the crap on the shelf. After Okami, I bought God Hand because of both the chatter here on the forum, and the fact that they were both developed by Clover.
My thoughts exactly. If you trust us enough to tell you who to turn to about games, why not just turn to us? I've always found that the best way to learn about a game, above all else, is to listen to message boards. You get a lot more information that way than any other (with the exception of actually playing the game, of course).
As an aside: I have to say it was a bit odd, the week after Gabe started this whole mess defending Asssassin's creed, saying they wouldn't advertise a game if it weren't good - to then be advertising Soul Calibur Legends. Really shoots holes in the argument.
Especially the gamefaqs boards.
Hey, as long as you know how to read them, the Gamefaqs boards are informative.
It's just kind of like being in a Mr. Saturn village. You need to figure out what to listen to first.
I find that most reviews are bullshit for the most part anyhow.
No offence, but that joke wasn't funny the first time.
I agree with checking sites like Metacritic. No single source is ever reliable. And Metacritic is easier than checking all those sites/mags yourself.
Well maybe they liked it, or because the site also has Soul Calibur 4 on it
For the most part, ignore review scores, as every reviewing outfit has their own method and standards, and a number doesn't tell you anything about the game. The scores are all but worthless, but magazines and websites can't drop them because readers cry out like a million souls snuffed out at once and marketing people cry rivers about it. (CGW, now GFW, dropped scores for a while. I liked that. But they came back.)
As others have noted, on the occassions when I do read reviews -- usually when I'm dead on the fence regarding buying a game -- I read from several sources, not just one. I'll check out three reviews, browse some quick user comments, and assess from there. Going to just one source isn't good enough, in my opinion.
Ignore scores, read a few decently written reviews and you should know if that particular game will be good for you.
Of course, finding a decently written review is rather difficult...
Additionally, it depends on who's writing the review; Not all sites are monolithic entities. Here's a good test: Go crawling to find reviews of games that you love. Read through the text and find the writers that you agree with and the writers that you don't. From there you can get a better sense of which reviews and sites you mesh with and which ones you don't. For example, I usually don't pay too much attention to IGN but I find I agree with their Wii reviews.
The same also holds true for forumers here. I treasure PA's specific user reviews more than any Metacritic or Gamerankings in the universe. Poke around in the game-specific threads and find what people like about the games and what they don't.
This post just made me realize that I don't know any reviewers by name.
/end thread
This really must be taken with a grain of salt, as I've seen a lot of people on this very form give glowing, universal, totally unconditional reviews of totally shit games.
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I generally don't follow reviews, but lately I've been trying to track reviewers that I tend to agree with and others that I don't. It's really more about specific personalities and tastes, like what Apo is alluding to above: When I say I put stock in PA reviews, I mean in the sense of "reviews from specific forumers that I know I have similar tastes to."
In general, I prefer to read all of the reviews. This is where something link gamerankings and metacritic come in handy- the numbers might be close to useless (although when many reviews are combined together, they tend to form a more complete picture), I find it to be a good place to find all of the reviews. And multiple reviews generally will point out the noticeably good and the bad elements. If something bad gets mentioned by a lot of people, there's a good chance I'll probably notice it too.
That being said, reviews only form one part of the picture. Reviewers all have different tastes when it comes to games, and they don't always agree with what I like. Thus, I usually look at gameplay videos to see if its something that I'd like, as well as asking people I know who have it if they'd recommend it. Boards like this one are good because people will be honest- if someone thinks a game sucks, they'll totally rip it up, and vice versa. Of course you have to keep in mind that since there are thousands upon thousands of active posters, any game you pick will have at least a few people who will vouch for it, but as long as you pay attention to what people like about it, you'll probably be alright.
Usually that means reading three or four reviews since 'God damn back tracking takes up half the freaking game and just bores the crap out of me and draws out the whole thing unbearably' can also be 'I was so immersed in moving about the world, rediscovering previous areas in new ways'. Since I usually go with the first in just about every game ever made that involves mandatory backtracking, this is info I know I need to find if something like the second phrase in mentioned in one review.
Still, it bugs me that games 'criticism' is basically on the level of a fourth grade mash note:
Does this game suck [please check yes or no]
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
There's really no look at how interesting or innovative the gameplay structure or game design is, just a 'is this piece of software enough not-shitty to be worth buying' expose.
They have proved to be consistently wrong on everything ever. And no, this isnt me propagating some meme or jumping on a bandwagon. They are genuinely amateurs (if you can even call a game journalist a professional, I prefer the term hardcore enthusiast)
I'm going to have to agree with this. I think people here, generally speaking, do have very good taste, but if it was the only place I went to for opinions on games I would be very confused. On one hand, I never would have heard of Ouendan without you guys. On the other, general opinion here of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Assassin's Creed is good, and I don't like either of those games. I think the best thing to do is get as wide a range of opinions as possible (read lots of reviews and forums), and try a game out for yourself if you can.
I was about to post somethig to this effect. Don't trust this forum either. They've got their biases, and will wank like crazy over some truly awful crap.
I mean, there was a whole thread recommending Space Giraffe for the love of God. That should tell you something about unreliability here.
I will admit that if a game averages a about a 6/10 but is in a genre I love (like turn based strategy) I'll tend to read that as a 7 or 8 as I know I'll give it more slack. Likewise, it's a genre I'm not nuts over I subtract a few (like FPS) since the faults will be more annoying to me.
There are always exceptions to the rule so if I can, I'll try to rent a game or pick it up used at EB so I can return it if I don't like it.
Shit, there's been multiple threads recommending Half-life 2. THAT should tell you something about unreliability.
Recommending HL2 is easily justified. recommending space giraffe is not.
also, trusting just one forum is bad form. especially PA or gaf.
The biggest problem with video game reviews these days is a lack of professionalism. You rarely know the bias that the reviewer had going in, or how much of the game they actually played. Plus, you have reviews who pander to publishers and developers, in order to recieve/maintain preferential treatment.
I've been working on a review blog of my own, with the purpose of making explicit exactly what the reviewers' biases are, so as to give the reader a clearer picture, and a "scoring" system that actually explains what it means (it's been done in the past, but the trend has shifted to a meaningless ten point scale of late, and that serves NO ONE any good.)
Most of that thread was full of people saying that they didn't care for Space Giraffe.
very true, but I think its a lot easier to tell when it's just a bunch of people on a forum jumping on the bandwagon/drinking the Kool-Aid/etc and adjust accordingly vs one guy writing a shitty review.
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