ive noticed this mostly on metacritic since i visit it enough but ive seen it on other sites like gamespot and IGN as well. people will say that a game has 2008 graphics and then give it a rating of 1...........1. seriously, the rest of the game could be just find but because those rejects had an issue with on thing they give it the lowest possible rating. its next to impossible to find a decent review from an actual gamers when its buried in with all the 12 year old momma's boy reviews. at this point its just better to get rid of them altogether. im not big on gamesite reviews cause they are influenced by the companies but at least they arent giving games either a perfect 10 or a 1 all the time.

I watch gameplay videos and get the opinions directly from the gamers, not those stupid review sites.

I don't watch or read any reviews except Zero Punctuation, and even then I don't really base whether or not I purchase on Yahtzee's opinion.

I've actually never seen this but I do agree a game's reputation may be ruined by pointless reviews. Shame really :shakehead:

P.S: IMO one of the option to see if a game's good or not is playing a demo. Of course when these don't exist user and editors's reviews are helfpful along with some gameplay videos :shrug:

And people will give a game a 10 because they thought Niko Bellic's ass was nice. I see it as all evening out. Besides, professional reviews and user reviews are separate. If there is a large difference between the two I do look into why and then base my judgment on that.

They will?



Exactly.

Well, I don't know accurate that statement is, but yeah, user reviews are every bit as fickle and undependable as professional ones. In many ways, I consider them even worse.

Sure there are a lot of what you can call "troll" reviews but if you sift through those you can find a detailed, honest review. I don't trust game review sites, I'm pretty sure they get bribed a lot.

This.

Same Kind of thing happens to Solid Snake.

I don't really read on game review sites because of that reason. I read Game Informer and base a lot of my buying on that, but I have been mystified by some of the high ratings they have been giving out lately <_<

<------------Well...

I still think if you check a couple different sources and the reviews generally say the same thigs you'll get a good idea of a game's qaulity :shrug:

troll reviews......that was the term i was looking for earlier. thanks.

i have been using youtube more and more although sometimes its a few days before someone gets a decent gameplay video up.

That's the thing, though...you gotta' sift through a LOT of them. Alongside those written by reactionaries, fan-boys, "protesters," as well as the zillions upon zillions that are themselves poorly written and don't get any point across.

The best way to tell a game is good is if the reviewer plays those kinds of games. As such, I do have somewhat of a hard time trusting some reviewers, especially when they're reviewing a game outside of their specialty/comfort zone. I do find GameRevolution to be pretty good in this regard. GiantBomb is reliable most of the time...but Brad should really stick to only FPS games. But it's best to go to sites that are willing to give games that are good purchases but you won't miss out complete with a B- to B+ rating, games that are definite buys an A- to A+, and decent games a C to C+.

Eh, you can't really trust either, but the presence of extra user reviews lets you see the game from extra angles and get a good enough idea of what it contains to guess if YOU will like it. One person indifferent to a feature may not notice it, and another who hates it will rant about it, but if you like that feature the rant lets you know it's there.

I watch ZP, but mostly for the giggles. But beyond that, I personally judge a game. I read the box, read articles, read Youtube comments to see, and watch a video myself. I think people who only get what a reviewer recommends really needs to learn a sense of free will.

When I was buying more games I found user reviews to be the most helpful, because you can look at the low reviews and see what the flaws are, high reviews to see what the pluses are and the moderate reviews, all together to gain a good understanding of the game. Who cares if there are some people who just vote 1 because the graphics aren't amazing, I'd rather keep the usefulness of user reviews then get rid of them just so a number that means nothing is higher.

I never base a purchase on professional reviews or the average rating or things like that, I always look for gameplay videos or ask people who I know about it.

Yes and no as I like to hear feedback but I also hate it when I see really devoted fan say they didn't have it like the previous game instead of saying what the flaws of the game are.

The idea that you can take anything and give it a numerical score between 1 and 10 is dubious at best. The idea that getting lots of people to do this for video games, but only use 7-9 (Or for AAA games, 8-10), is idiotic. The idea that you can make this more accurate by taking lots of them and averaging them is a semi-sane idea built on a bed of insanity.

It's always been a terrible idea, that some people are idiotic enough to abuse it doesn't change anything.

Why should I trust random people on the internet? Or anywhere, for that matter? They can post all they want. Free speech and all. But that doesn't mean I should bother with them.

For user reviews I think they should have at least 100 before they post an average score. Honestly if 2008 graphics is appalling to 51 out of 100 people then the people have spoken. They may not be right but they are the majority. The only way to fix it is to vote them down.

You know, I'll say that I think Game Revolution probably has the best reviews out there. It feels to me like they give out the most fair kinds of reviews, because both professional critics and users tend to have horrible biases. Just look at the Dragon Age II and Portal 2 fiascos where countless users gave the games terrible reviews they didn't deserve.

I've never seen a perfect score on GR, but if they can objectively give a game credit where it's due and give Bullsetstorm a B, while simultaneously be willing to give Beyond Good and Evil HD Remake an A, I think they've got the right priorities. ^_^

They are what I use, on the rare occasion that I need to read a review to make a decision. Well them and Yahtzee who has a penchant for making me interested in games I had no care for previously, the sneaky bugger.

Game play videos sir. Subscribe to IGN machinima valve ect.