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How important are review scores to you?

It's known that many "high-profile" journalists can be paid off to say whatever makes a game sound as if it's fantastic or the biggest steaming pile ever conceived. Failing that, a good amount of reviews consist of less fact than personal preference. I write reviews myself, but I don't consult any before making a purchase. How important are "professional" reviewers' scores of a game to you when it comes to deciding what you'll spend money on? Or you feel that review scores are arbitrary? If so, do you go by word of mouth or simply your own instinct? Personally, I research a game by the facts (its website, press releases, general info) before deciding if I want it.

Asked over 3 years ago in Polls & Opinion
masteroftheclaw masteroftheclaw
Level: Bronze

Best Answer

I don't exactly trust game reviews because as I have been paid for a few reviews and that does compel you to perhaps score the game a bit higher than you would normally. I say Perhaps, because I'm sure if you do it a lot you get over that feeling.

Another thing is that there have been a few occasions where scores have completely been the opposite of my own personal rating. For example, I hated the King Kong game but all the review sites were praising it infinitely. I also loved Killer7 though a lot of people were hating on it.

In the end my tastes may not be that of mainstream gamers so review scores aren't all that important to me.

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Answers (17)

  1. I don't take much stock in a review score. If I planned on buying a certain game I do so with out much concern for its rating. Because what I enjoy and what people enjoy as a whole can be two very different things.

    chompskychompsky
    Level: Bronze

  2. While reviews don't determine whether I buy a game I know I'll like or not, they do help when I'm on the fence. At least determining if I want to pay 60 dollars or wait to pay 30 (or less). Gamerankings.com is my friend when I want to see how games are doing... averages every rating it gets.

    LeonharfsLeonharfs
    Level: Bronze

  3. Reviews don't dictate my purchase, but there hopeful in seeing either "on the fence" purchases are viable. if I was kinda thinking about getting, say, Dark Sector.. uh, for a friend. Well, I'd read a couple reviews and come to the conclusion that, if I could get it for 5 bucks or less than I might do that. haha.

    If they stick to the facts while expressing a valid opinion, they can be very helpful. then of course it's awesome to read gag reviews. the kind where they review something they KNOW is hideous and just maul it like a bear. lol

    ReverENDReverEND
    Level: Silver

  4. Journalists do not get paid off in the way that people think. Coerced maybe, but I've never seen or heard of any game journalist getting an envelope full of cash from a game publisher.

    Publishers don't care enough about reviews to try to purchase positive review scores. That money would be better spent on marketing, which is what really drives sales.

    That said, I use GameFly, so review scores don't matter much since I can try a game and if it's crap I can send it right back.

    LimoDriverLimoDriver
    Level: Bronze

  5. After reading Dan Hsu's blog about the kind of stuff that went on in the gaming journalism industry it's difficult to go to big sites like IGN and Gamespot and take their reviews seriously. With that said, I do still go to MetaCritic or GameRankings and look at the overall score for a game when it comes out. For some games it doesn't matter because I will get them anyway, but for games I'm on the edge about, I would be lying if I said it didn't effect me. Lately though I have been reading reviews mainly from Kotaku, simply because they don't assign a score to the game. They describe the pros and cons that they found with the game and let you decide what you will from that. I think more sites should just drop the score from their reviews.

    Wghj551Wghj551
    Level: Bronze

  6. I think the question depends on how you look at a review. I tend to look at the score as a basis for how deeply do I need to look into what and how the reviewer is saying about the game. I then look at the genre of the game, and the reviewer to see if this is the type of game the reviewer normaly plays. I think the "meta" score a game gets (the score from multiple reviews combined) is what ultimately will lead me to investigate a game on my own that I had no previous knowledge about. A good example of a game I recently started playing and have enjoyed quite a bit but had no knowledge of its exsistance before seeing its review score is Valkryia Chronicles. If not for the scores being out there I might have missed out on this gem of a game.

    PonditoPondito
    Level: Bronze

  7. It depends on who is doing the reveiw. I usually trust Adam Sessler, Destructoid, Kotaku, and Gametrailers. But at times I have felt that all of them have got it wrong. I guess Sessler is usually the most consistent source of inpartial gaming reviews that I trust.

    TheJesusNinjaTheJesusNinja
    Level: Bronze

  8. I don't trust any review. I rent borrow or buy and make my own decision. I think it’s pathetic that someone would listen to someone else opinion instead of making they’re own.

    ReturnerReturner
    Level: Bronze

  9. No. Take for example HAZE... When i first read his reviews i stayed with the idea that that was one of the worst games that PS3 ever had. However, when i first played MP and single-player on a friends PS3 i may say that i had never read reviews that were so wrong. It proved to be a great game, with fun MP and with a good and solid single-player. So i say say that from here now i will only base opinions when i actually get to play a game. Also that there is always another type of gamer that see a game, wants to buy that game but it isnt´t sure if he is a good choice (maybe because the game is over-hyped or its not well know) So he waits for a review on a reliable site to him.

    sephiroth11sephiroth11
    Level: Bronze

  10. Review scores? Not important to me except when viewed as part of the overall review landscape for a given title. Metacritic is helpful, in that it gives you an average overall score based on numerous reviews. (Makes it easier to pick out common areas of disagreement as well.)

    There are some individuals whose review's I'll read based on how often their opinions seem to match up with my own, and I'll check out video reviews to see the game in action...

    Actual review scores don't mean a whole heck of a lot though, since they're quite subjective and there's no standard set of review principles for the industry. They should be viewed as a rough guideline, at best.

    JeffMattasJeffMattas
    Level: Bronze

  11. Yea reviews are usually B.S. Esspcially from the big places like IGN and Game Spot. I usually research the game other ways, and use the user scores as a guide sometimes. Gamefly is also helpful. I also have noticed that the smaller sites like Co-optimus are much more accurate and realistic.

    bootdogjj1bootdogjj1
    Level: Bronze

  12. Review scores are just a small portion of the decision process involved in purchasing a game for me. With rising price of games, any information I can get to help me decide whether or not I buy a game can potentially save me from wasting money on a purchases.

    If I want review scores, I try to get a good mix of them from sites like meta critic, just so I don't get one opinion from a site or reviewer that may or may not have received perks for giving a particular game a bump in score.

    That being said, even if the game gets really low scores according to major review sites, if one of my gamer buddies says a game is a must-have, I'd forgo most review scores and buy it.

    BrazeBraze
    Level: Bronze

  13. Somewhat but they are not the end all be all for me. I like them to validate what is what and whether a game is gonna suck or not.

    Genius1Genius1
    Level: Bronze

  14. It depends who gives them. I usually rely on what my friends' have to say...

    most the time.

    outragiacoutragiac
    Level: Bronze

  15. Scores are irrelevant, if journos pick fault I want to know what it is they're picking fault with, if they can't explain it then the review holds no water. If a game is consistently poorly received and it's because of something which I know would be irritating, then I don't bother, but apart from that it's a case of going with what you think.

    CrestfallenCrestfallen
    Level: Bronze

  16. Personally I use reviews as a good starting point. The score(s) will determine if I will even give a new game a chance. Due to time and financial restrains, even though I would love to able to, I can't play every game that comes out. I'll rent one that looks good and get good scores and unless it's a must have (Halos, GTAs, etc.) I'll decide after renting.

    PhoenixPhoenix
    Level: Bronze
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