Random Gaming Thoughts

[kidfresh]

Same. Some people argue that it's too "fanboy-ish" to blindly buy a game based on developer or series, but that's usually my number one deciding factor. The first question I ask myself - "Who's actually making this game?" I could give a shit what some hipster who works at IGN thinks.

[BoringSupreez]

It only takes a minute, or less, to get a decent game review, so why shop blindly?

I almost prefer to shop blindly as I think most game reviewers are full of shit.

I find that simple information about a game (developer, publisher, platform, release date, price, availability, genre, region) sways my purchasing decisions more so than any reviews.

Same. Some people argue that it's too "fanboy-ish" to blindly buy a game based on developer or series, but that's usually my number one deciding factor. The first question I ask myself - "Who's actually making this game?" I could give a shit what some hipster who works at IGN thinks.

If you guys were only talking about "professional" reviews, I'd agree with you, but reader reviews are a great resource for choosing games. They're written by people that are as fallible as anyone else, but they don't have anywhere near as much motivation to please sponsors, create clickbait, or forward their political views. Plus you can get kind of a general consensus on the quality of a game from reader reviews... I mean, if there's 50 reviews and 40 of them say the game has terrible controls or something, odds are you'll agree with them.

[Luke]

^ Yup. I find the general reviews from gamers on gamestop to be pretty helpful.

[TSTR]

^ Yup. I find the general reviews from gamers on gamestop to be pretty helpful.

Do you mean GameStop or GameSpot?

[Luke]

Gamestop.

[TSTR]

Ummm, okay. To me all the reviews on GameStop look like they were written by 9 year olds.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I like professional reviews.

The thing is, you need to find people you like and stick with them. Concern yourself less with a site and more with a writer. I'll follow Jeff Gerstmann around wherever he ends up. I don't always agree with him but I find his reviews insightful, and by knowing what I agree and disagree with him on in the past, I can usually make a good buying decision based on any of his opinions.

Reviews are tools. There is no such thing as unbiased reviews (unless you're strictly talking about framerate, features, sound quality, etc.). Just find some people that are useful to you and stick with them.

[Luke]

Ummm, okay. To me all the reviews on GameStop look like they were written by 9 year olds.

How I hate "Ummmmm"'s.

I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual and skip the "This is badass" and the "This game suxx!" reviews. Some other smart duders leave some pretty insightful comments once in a while on gamestop. They aren't always reliable reviews, but if a game is getting a 2 out of 10 across the board, I tend to avoid it.

[TSTR]

Ummm, okay. To me all the reviews on GameStop look like they were written by 9 year olds.

How I hate "Ummmmm"'s.

I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual and skip the "This is badass" and the "This game suxx!" reviews. Some other smart duders leave some pretty insightful comments once in a while on gamestop. They aren't always reliable reviews, but if a game is getting a 2 out of 10 across the board, I tend to avoid it.

Umm, that makes sense, umm, I guess, umm, if you're, umm, looking at it, umm, that way.

UMMKAY?

[BoringSupreez]

I like professional reviews.

The thing is, you need to find people you like and stick with them. Concern yourself less with a site and more with a writer. I'll follow Jeff Gerstmann around wherever he ends up. I don't always agree with him but I find his reviews insightful, and by knowing what I agree and disagree with him on in the past, I can usually make a good buying decision based on any of his opinions.

Reviews are tools. There is no such thing as unbiased reviews (unless you're strictly talking about framerate, features, sound quality, etc.). Just find some people that are useful to you and stick with them.

Jeff Gerstmann is definitely an exception, along with a few others at Giantbomb, but as a whole I don't find professional reviews to be all that useful. They're just too concerned with additional things beyond "is the game fun, yes or no?"