Poll: Game Reviews: Professional or User Reviews?

[Reyold]

When I want to buy a game (which is often), I make sure that I do my research on said game by looking at reviews, as common sense dictates. But there are two different types: those done by professionals (IGN, or this very site), and those done by users (again, such as this site, in the User Reviews forums). So I ask you, fellow Escapists, which do you trust more?

Me? Well, I pay attention to both, but I tend to look at the professional reviews intentionally. User reviews I usually come across by chance.

 

[Vault101]

reveiws are best taken into consideration with your own opinion

user reveiws are to be avoided

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Razentsu]

It's best to take in a variety of opinions before forming an opinion yourself. I also like to look at both types of reviews, and like yourself, I intentionally look for professional reviews, and end up just coming across user reviews.

Of the two types, I give professional reviews more weight in my judgements.

Though, if I could just straight up play a demo, I wouldn't feel like I would need to look up any reviews.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Neither, for me. Professional reviewers and user reviewers have one difference between them: the former get paid. I'll generally look at the overall state of reviews, but I don't pay much heed. User reviewers tend to vote-bomb games just because they don't like the people who made it, or think it was rated too high by the professionals, and professionals rarely give accurate reviews, for fear of pissing off publishers.

 

[AndrewF022]

Never user reviews.. unless it's from a friend who has similar tastes in games.

I take professional reviews more seriously, they're far less likely to be over-exaggerated, like the user reviews for Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3 or Dragon Age 2 for example. Even then, I tend to only follow reviewers who have similar tastes to mine anyway.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Well, I never really read reviews seriously anyway since I can't trust their opinions to match my own. However, when I do read reviews for the sole sake of curiosity or if I'm bored etc, then it'll be a professional one. A lot of user reviews are rife of idiocy.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Professional reviews only. I won't say they are 100% infallible as all reviews are subject to the biases of the author (hence why, when I'm looking for reviews of something I never use only one source). Professional reviews, however, have at least have some level of implied expertise and the authors are easily held accountable which isn't the case with a user review.

 

[Zhukov]

It boggles my mind that anyone would pay attention to user reviews after reading actually reading a few.

 

[ManInRed]

I trust my own judgment more than any review, if I actually want to know what a game will be like. Sure some professional reviewers are entertaining, and have personalities strong enough for me to correct gauge their opinions, but seeing a few seconds of game play will usually tell me more about a game.

If the question is do I trust profession reviews or user reviews, I got to go with user reviews. They are more that often only made by people who have a particular strong opinion of the game, but you'll find no better list of the reasons to buy or not buy a game than that. More honest than the measured descriptions the pros give.

 

[Reyold]

Though, if I could just straight up play a demo, I wouldn't feel like I would need to look up any reviews.

Y'know, Gabe from Penny Arcade talked about that in one of his posts. I'll post the link here

http://penny-arcade.com/2006/09/06

I would agree with you: I'd rather play a demo myself. Case in point: I played the demos for Rhythm Thief and Heroes of Ruin, and really enjoyed them both. So you can imagine I was rather surprised when I saw on Game Rankings that they both got around 70% overall rating. Not bad, but not as good as I thought they were.

Another example: I had a blast playing Costume Quest (a Double Fine game for the PSN), even though some reviewers thought differently.

 

[TheLizardKing]

I hate professional reviews. They give games like cod rehash #1023 "10/10 perfect day one buy" while cradling the developers balls, but user reviews are usually pretty bias as well. So what i do is look up a lets play and watch a few episode, or ask my friend with a similar taste to mine what he thought. Works 9 times out of ten.

 

[Savo]

Professional reviews--summed up by the metacritic score--give a good idea of the general quality of the game. I then delve into reviews from sites I like, such as Dtoid or RPGFan, and learn the specifics if I'm not sold on a game yet.

I do read user reviews occasionally, but the fanboyism on sites like Metacritic make it hard a lot of the time. An excellent place to get opinions is Amazon. People there act far more rational than your average Metacritic user.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

User reviews often end up giving a game a 2 because they didn't like a feature, or give it 10/10 for stupid reasons.

People honestly giving a 3 to portal 2 because it had hats?
Really?

 

[ChupathingyX]

I mainly just use professional reviews to gather information on a game rather than the opinion presented.

As for user reviews I only stick with the ones on this site which from time to time can be quite good and sometimes excellent.

It boggles my mind that anyone would pay attention to user reviews after reading actually reading a few.

I was introduced to one of my favourite games of all time through a user review on this website.

Is your mind still boggled?

 

[chadachada123]

User reviews for me. Especially ones that include gameplay video.

Professional reviewers are not in sync with what the common gamer feels. The professional reviewer doesn't understand the value of a dollar like a user does. A user will tell you if a game is worth its price.