To Review Or Not to Review??? That Is The Question.

[innerdecadence]

We(of course) are all gamers here and i have a question to ask. Now We have all seen many Video Games advertisements whether it be a commercial or a poster. But my question to you is do you let magizine reviews, or tv show reviews(G4tv) affect your view on a certain games? Or do you just wing it and go and rent, or buy the game???

 

[Drong]

And there I was hoping this was going to be a review of Shakespeare, well I'm going to subject you to my favourite speech anyway now, cookies to whoever can tell me where it's from without googling it.

If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

 

[haruvister]

I think it's a combination of factors. As a fairly well-informed gamer I'm able to keep an eye on developers with a proven track history. It seems to me that, thanks to lengthy production schedules, hype seems to play a bigger part in attracting audiences in the world of videogames than any other artform. Hype was totally my inspiration for buying BioShock and GTA4, and it paid off. However, that doesn't account for the fact that I've no interest in MGS4, and yet I snapped up Viking: Battle For Asgard on day one. This comes down to personal interest, I guess - if the setting, characters, and gameplay style are there, and the demo (if any) is good, then as long as the initial reviews don't annihilate it... I'm there.

P.S. Henry V!

 

[Drong]

P.S. Henry V!

yup that speech always gives me goosebumps. The cookies are winging their way to you just as soon as i work out how to fit them down my dsl cable.

 

[shatnershaman]

We(of course) are all gamers here and i have a question to ask. Now We have all seen many Video Games advertisements whether it be a commercial or a poster. But my question to you is do you let magizine reviews, or tv show reviews(G4tv) affect your view on a certain games? Or do you just wing it and go and rent, or buy the game???

I let the reviewers on TV "curb stomp on my head" because I listened to a mag and online and hated the games DiRT (OXM) and Orange Box (yahtzee)

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I can generally tell if I am going to enjoy a game by watching someone else play it, so I don't often listen to reviews.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I can generally tell if I am going to enjoy a game by watching someone else play it, so I don't often listen to reviews.

 

[Fangface74]

I think a standard should be introduced (whatever the medium, games, movies, music..whatever), whereby the reviewer should list his/her (Top 3/5/7/whatever) most liked AND most hated of the genre. 'Reviewing' is such a ridiculously subjective/objective arena that (for me) the only trust I can place in it is if comparisons are made. If a friend told me Halo 3 was the most amazing game they had ever played, I'd think about checking it out, if my friend then added that it's not as good as Shaq Fu, I'd buy it immediately.

To sum up, Don't tell me something is good, unless I know what your definition of 'good'....is.

 

[laikenf]

I can't deny that I usually read reviews before buying a certain game. But the truth is that I tend to read the consumer reviews more often, those actually give you a wider scope of the quality of the game (sometimes even those could be misleading, because they just turn into fanboy wars). But anyway, gamers usually know what they whant to play and it's inevitable that some games will dissapoint you even if god himself tells you to play or buy it. For example: Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for the PSP (I allways mention this game); the media didn't recieve that game to warmly, and the general population gave it mixed reviews, I bought the game anyway (the game looked interesting to me no matter how I looked at it) and to this very day it has been the game I have put the most hours on (300+). The point is: some games just STICK to you and there is nothing you can do about it (well, play it I guess).

 

[shatnershaman]

The point is: some games just STICK to you and there is nothing you can do about it (well, play it I guess).

So true I see orange box and GTA 4 getting "uber awesome" reviews and I can't stand them while good ole MVP baseball 2005 for psp is my favorite game.

 

[BillBarilko]

I'm all about "Try before you buy" - thank god for torrents.

 

[MichaelH]

Without reviews, I wouldn't have much of an idea what's being released.

I tend not to read previews for games because, in 20 years of gaming, I've come to learn that game previews are all made of gay, either overhyped, oversexed PR pap or speculative nonsense. I don't remember the last time I saw a game commercial (or any commercial, for that matter) thanks to the miracle of DVR, and this forum is the only causal gaming reading I allow myself time for during the day. Cap it off with a conscious decision to keep a computer out of my apartment, and I'm left with little to no information coming in about games.

I tried watching G4 once but...eh. I'm an uber game nerd but, gah, I'd rather watch Lost.

So I tend to rely on professional reviews and then reader comments to form a picture about what's out there and what would be worth my time.

 

[Hey Joe]

I read reviews, but I read eight of them. I'm not going to make up my mind according to the opinion of one person. Thtat's just madness upon folly. I like to get a lot of reviews and try to find a concensus between them. Then,I take into account whether or not I like the premise and games like it, and also the price.

Then, and only then do I buy a game.

 

[Jumplion]

I used to just read one or two reviews and get the game. Unfortunately that resulted in me buying Mario Party 8.

Now i do my homework, looking at the average score for the game and watch Xplay's review of the game (though i don't trust them too much because their reviews are usually backwards with the other reviews on the web)

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I like alot of strange Japanese games that usually don't make it to the rental places so reviews are occasionally all I have to go on. But I, not to my credit, easily buy into "the hype" for games I'm not sure about. I bought GTA 4 for it and am going to sell it to pay for MGS4 (which I know I will like, because I LOVED all the other ones, yes even MGS2)

 

[Credge]

I will not buy a game unless I know enough about it to warrant a buy. This usually means that I rent it. If it's a AAA title, generally speaking, I go out and buy it. Games like MGS4, Brawl, and a hand full of others all get bought right away while other games do not.

In fact, I don't really buy games unless they are AAA because, most often then not, they are going to disappoint me greatly.

Edit: HOWEVER, I generally don't buy the first game of a series unless, again, I know enough about it. For example, I knew I would love the premise of Assassins Creed regardless of how buggy or unfinished it was. I don't, however, like the premise for Ninja Gaiden and won't buy it.

 

[Asif]

It depends on who the reviewer is.

 

[Cousin_IT]

If its a console game; I look at reviews then rent it. If its a PC game I look at at reviews; then wait for the retailers to slash the games price because im not paying £35-£50 for a game that I havent been able to play no matter whose singing its praises.

 

[Hellion25]

I tend to buy whatever games take my fancy, usually with at least one read review or recommendation from somebody to back up the decision. Sometimes I buy blind, but I generally keep on top of things and use reviews to just tell me if the gameplay mechanics of a title I'm interested in aren't broken. If I hear the gameplay holds up then I buy.

 

[defcon 1]

I trust Metacritics. If I enjoyed a game, then negative reviews afterwards don't get to me. I try to read further into Nintendo games. It seems they are given good reviews no matter what they come out with.

I also don't trust reviews with survival horror games. What scares most people doesn't scare me for some reason. Condemed was the only one that struk fear into me.