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Old 10-01-2012, 04:20 PM   #1
miraisoup
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Default Video Game Reviews.

I was looking over the gamefaqs message boards and they are basically trashing Resident Evil 6. The game is all over the spectrum with reviews, from a 3 upto a 9. Don't know that I've seen them that mixed before. But to get to my actual point. It seems to me that a lot of people on Gamefaqs just stick to the reviews if the reviews say it sucks they won't buy it and vice versa. I personally just miss the days of looking at the back of the box and going "yeah!, I wanna play this". What does everyone think about reviews? Do you treat them as a buying guide? Or do you form your own opinion?

I like to form my own opinion, what's bad for one might be great for another. I'm wondering if it's more of an age thing, people like myself who remember the days of just looking at the back of the box are more inclined to try a game.
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Old 10-01-2012, 04:26 PM   #2
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I do use reviews nowadays, when I could rent I put less of an impact on them but now that is no longer really an option, outside of a solid demo I will listen to the review. Especially with the terrible resale value of games that tank review wise...

Also, if its a game i still really want to try, I will find myself waiting a few weeks till the inevitable price drop.
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Old 10-01-2012, 04:30 PM   #3
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Metacritic is an excellent review site, which compiles reviews from across the board. There is also an option for user reviews - I would use this to see what the average is, then see what the users are saying.

Keep in mind, sometimes the reviewers are just plain bad or possibly compromised (Mass Effect 3), so it is good to see and read as many opinions as you can.
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Old 10-01-2012, 04:35 PM   #4
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I miss the days when any product from certain companies were an absolute must buy. Like Origin Systems & Sierra Entertainment back in the day.

On second thought, I guess I still have some companies that are must buy even now.
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Old 10-01-2012, 04:37 PM   #5
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Ah dude, Sierra Entertainment was fantastic. I can't count how many Sierra games I had back in the day. Used to love the little things that said "Sierra" later on in their lifespan.
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Old 10-01-2012, 06:11 PM   #6
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Too many games out nowadays, and too little money for me to purchase them on a whim. I don't want to get stuck playing something bad when I could be playing another absolutely fantastic game that was released at the same time. Plus, for $50-60 each, there's no way I'm willing to give that money out for a crappy product (especially as a PC gamer, if I want to avoid a bug-filled mess, reviews are a must), when I could just as easily give it to a developer that deserves it.
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Old 10-01-2012, 06:34 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miraisoup View Post
Ah dude, Sierra Entertainment was fantastic. I can't count how many Sierra games I had back in the day. Used to love the little things that said "Sierra" later on in their lifespan.
You can buying working versions here if you still want them. No DRM and they have sales often too.

http://www.gog.com/

I learned how to type (and quickly) from the "Quest" games.
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Old 10-01-2012, 10:02 PM   #8
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Carmageddon max pack? What? Ahh I'm confused is this all of the carmageddons and windows xp friendly? With multiplayer? Sign me up
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Old 10-01-2012, 11:02 PM   #9
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I usually know what games I'll buy depending on the game style, developer, and game play trailers. If after all that I am still on the fence, then the IGN video review usually gives a better idea if it's up my alley or not.
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Old 10-02-2012, 12:21 PM   #10
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I trust IGN reviews mainly because the 2 main guys who review the PS3 games have very similar tastes to my own.
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Old 10-02-2012, 12:40 PM   #11
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I trust IGN reviews mainly because the 2 main guys who review the PS3 games have very similar tastes to my own.
I've been an IGN guy since it was ign64.com, and I still value the reviews, but lately websites like destructoid.com and kotaku.com have had much better insight into games.

Weird question, is Colin Moriarty (ps3 reviewer and editor) the same Moriarity from GamePro?
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Old 10-02-2012, 01:04 PM   #12
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I don't really put much stock into reviews. I'll read them to get a general feel for a game and pair that up with the user reviews on metacritic. Mostly I just take a leap of faith and judge a game for myself which has become increasingly easier thanks to Steam sales.
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Old 10-02-2012, 01:23 PM   #13
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Best reviewer in the business right now:

http://teamcoco.com/video/clueless-g...craft-07/24/12
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Old 10-02-2012, 02:09 PM   #14
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I really dislike Metacritic for the effect it has had on the industry
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Old 10-02-2012, 03:33 PM   #15
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I really dislike Metacritic for the effect it has had on the industry
Explain. Is this related to Mass Effect 3 and the skewed user reviews? Or are you talking about how devs will specifically add certain things to get their Metacritic score higher?

Edit. This?
http://www.1up.com/news/metacritic-p...blems-industry

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Old 10-03-2012, 01:17 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by J-bo09 View Post
I've been an IGN guy since it was ign64.com, and I still value the reviews, but lately websites like destructoid.com and kotaku.com have had much better insight into games.

Weird question, is Colin Moriarty (ps3 reviewer and editor) the same Moriarity from GamePro?
I don't believe so. Colin started doing walkthroughs as a kid for general web consumption and ended up interning at IGN on the guides team. He has now been brought on as an editor. Not always somebody I agree with, but I think he does a good job.
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Old 10-03-2012, 02:01 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by cDnStealth View Post
Explain. Is this related to Mass Effect 3 and the skewed user reviews? Or are you talking about how devs will specifically add certain things to get their Metacritic score higher?

Edit. This?
http://www.1up.com/news/metacritic-p...blems-industry
That article explains most of the common objections very well. I agree with all of them. If this is a new discussion for someone, I recommend this piece.

Luckily there's so much media available of every new release that it's not always difficult to find out whether you might like some game or not. YouTube channels are great for this. You can't trust a random reviewer's personal view but you can interpret the opinions of someone whose views you're in general familiar with, and if you can also watch that person play that game for half an hour, you can get a pretty good idea. Forcing hundreds of subjective takes into a single number doesn't tell anyone whether or not they'd like a game.
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Old 10-03-2012, 02:23 PM   #18
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I bought D3 on a whim because I enjoyed D1 so much... I was let down.

I thought I must not be the same gamer I used to be, but then I picked up FF tactics not having played it since its original 90's release and just plugged in 40 hours of awesomeness.

It definitely seems like the video game world is all about quantity over quality these days.
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Old 10-03-2012, 02:32 PM   #19
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I bought D3 on a whim because I enjoyed D1 so much... I was let down.

I thought I must not be the same gamer I used to be, but then I picked up FF tactics not having played it since its original 90's release and just plugged in 40 hours of awesomeness.

It definitely seems like the video game world is all about quantity over quality these days.
Diablo 3 seems to be an example of game that receives good reviews initially but later it dawns on many that it's actually kind of mediocre. A big developer took such a long time to produce such an unambitious game. The issues it had were obvious but for some reason weren't reflected in many of the scores it got. Whereas in the case of a game like Fallout New Vegas the technical issues dragged down the score. Kind of a mystery how that happens. Some developers just have more good will on their side than others.
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Old 10-04-2012, 11:09 AM   #20
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Quote:
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Diablo 3 seems to be an example of game that receives good reviews initially but later it dawns on many that it's actually kind of mediocre. A big developer took such a long time to produce such an unambitious game. The issues it had were obvious but for some reason weren't reflected in many of the scores it got. Whereas in the case of a game like Fallout New Vegas the technical issues dragged down the score. Kind of a mystery how that happens. Some developers just have more good will on their side than others.
well Fallout NV was made by Bethesda, who are notorious for releasing broken games with countless bugs. i didn't buy Skyrim specifically because of this (i torrented it, confirmed that it was full of glitches, and uninstalled it). reviewers should be critical of the technical issues in their games because they keep happening
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