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[TintoConCasera]

Got the idea for this thread after reading some posts on the Elden Rings thread, saying they'll be waiting for reviews when it comes to dedicing if they'll get the game or not.

For me, I don't really care, and usually decide on what game getting next based on user input, be it on forums or wherever, and maybe some gameplay video to get an idea of how the game plays.
I used to care about scores some years ago, but not anymore, specially since some of my favorite games got "poor" review scores, like Metal Gear Rising, Dragon's Dogma, God Hand, and some more.

I also can't comprehend how people still believe in review scores after the Cyberpunk fiasco.

What's your take on professional reviews?

 

[FoundryMusic]

Couldn't give a fuck. Option 3 for me.

 

[Y0ssarian]

I was gonna say not really but it occurred to me if Elden Ring was getting like 4/10 average from critics then i would definitely take notice of that.

 

[Fake]

I like to make fun, but scores never play a role in my game choise.

If a reviewer don't like the game for whatever stupid reason, no matter if the game have a good OST, good gameplay, runs like dream, he will still ignore those points.

 

[arvfab]

Don't care at all what these so called "professionals" say. Especially the ones with silly/whiney takes like "oh no, non-xyz people made a game about xyz, how dare they!".

Usually some (uncommented) gameplay videos are enough to decide if I like a game.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Scores are 100% useless.

 

[Topher]

I am more likely to buy a game at launch if it has good review scores. And when I say "good" I may 7/10 or higher. Otherwise I might try a lower reviewed game when it is on sale.

Reviews are not perfect. Especially individual reviews. That's why metacritic is useful.

Scores are 100% useless.

Perhaps to you. To me, they are useful.

 

[JCK75]

I don't take a single review into account. I look at all reviews and kind of figure out where it lands. But then I also come read forums like this to see what the general consensus is.

 

[Haggard]

Scores are my compass.
I pretty much dismiss any game below an 80mc immediately.
Simply got no time to just try everything that looks interesting at first glance.

 

[kyliethicc]

They define my entire existence.

 

[The_Mike]

You are missing one:

"scores matters if they back me up on my opinion and gives my game 10/10 and 250 awards. Otherwise I don't care about them"

 

[rodrigolfp]

Perhaps to you. To me, they are useful.

"The game is a broken bugged mess. 10/10"

"The game is perfect. 7/10"

"RDR2 is cool but is too slow and has 500ms of input lag. 10/10"

See? Scores are useless!

 

[ReBurn]

Review scores have been irrelevant for years.

 

[Topher]

"The game is a broken bugged mess. 10/10"

"The game is perfect. 7/10"

"RDR2 is cool but is too slow and has 500ms of input lag. 10/10"

See? Scores are useless!

What game reviews are you quoting? If those are real quotes then yeah, there are shit reviewers. I'm not saying there are not, but overall they can be useful.

But really....who said a game is perfect and gave it a 7/10?

 

[ChiefDada]

Option 2 for me and most gamers who are honest with themselves.

Your favorite game developers/publishers know this as well, which is why they go through the trouble of establishing relationships with professional critics in the first place and strategize embargo duration.

 

[Ellery]

I am not obsessed with them, but I don't mind being open minded about other people's opinions on matters game grading. So looking at the average of all reviews is kinda interesting and usually they somewhere align with what I would score games at. Needless to say subjective favoritism towards certain brands/studios/genres/games is without a doubt deeply branded into each and every one of us so there might be games you heavily disagree on with critics/the majority on. Some people hate RDR2 worse than

What would be the alternative? Having bigger and bigger influencer be the voice of game recognition? Maybe them being sponsored by the game they advertise to thousands?

An intersting aspect of having a forum like this is we are kind of another layer of rating games. The amount we talk in a negative or positive way of game could be seen as a non numerical way of benchmarking a videogame.

And having all of this togehter is kinda neat and at the end of the day you play the games you love anyway.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Option two.

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

I'll occasionally use reviews for games that I'm on the fence on, or if a game is getting absolutely unreal reviews I'll look into the game more, but generally if I'm interested in a game, unless it's getting like tons of 4/10 reviews or something, I'll still end up playing it. I trust gameplay videos, and even the reviews themselves, infinitely more than I care about the score

 

[Danjin44]

I dont care about the actual scores but I dont mind hear what reviewers have to say, there might be elements in the game that bothers them but it wont bother me and vice versa.

 

[YukiOnna]

Nope not for a long time now since I only play what interests me and I generally end up liking it. I use to care, but it's something I dropped after I left the GameTrailers forums years ago where nutjobs thought Satterfield was being paid to only put out 9.3's for Sony games or whatever nonsense. Embarrassing stuff like that should be gone after a certain age.

It's hard to put energy in caring about that nowadays. I may only watch to see more footage of the title out of hype.

 

[rodrigolfp]

What game reviews are you quoting? If those are real quotes then yeah, there are shit reviewers. I'm not saying there are not, but overall they can be useful.

But really....who said a game is perfect and gave it a 7/10?

Its just hypothetically, as there is no perfect game. But I read reviews that only talks good of a game and in the end they gave 7 or 8/10.

 

[Topher]

Its just hypothetically, as there is no perfect game. But I read reviews that only talks good of a game and in the end they gave 7 or 8/10.

That's all fine but I think you should not make up quotes to make your point.

 

[Gamerguy84]

Well I use to care. I learned just because something might get 10s doesn't mean I'll like it. And because something might score 5s doesn't mean I won't.

Also I think reviews are shady and can be bought.

 

[Magic Carpet]

It's the thoughts and content of a review that matters to me. What did they say? What did they like and dislike? How did it play? What was notable? A good thoughtful review is what matters most. Not some boiled down to a number score.
I guess the best a score can do is make me take interest in looking more into a game. But the score itself tells me nothing about a game.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

zero, form your own opinions.

 

[Mr Hyde]

To me, professional reviews suck ass and I haven't given any of them the light of day since they took a collective shit on Nier and Dragon's Dogma some ten years ago. Metacritic score is useless as well. The only thing I research is if the game is a buggy, unplayable mess. Other than that, I rely on myself and my three decades worth of video game experience.

 

[kingfey]

People who go by metric, need a baby sitting.
Games are adventure. They are meant for you to experience that adventure. Reviews are just spoiler to that adventure.

 

[Topher]

How many people buy games entirely uninformed by reviews?

 

[Rockman33]

these numbers don’t add up. Because it sure seems like people love talking about open and meta critic scores and make opinions based off them…

 

[Arioco]

I don't give a shit, TBH.

Sometimes I've had a blast playing games that didn't get great reviews. On the other hands I've found critical acclaimed masterpieces boring as hell.

I enjoyed way more playing Days Gone than Sekiro

 

[bender]

The only reviewer I watch is Yahtzee and that more about comedy, but there is always a grain of truth in any good joke. I can usually tell if I'll like a game based on a seeing it in motion.

 

[ChiefDada]

zero, form your own opinions.

Sounds expensive.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Sounds expensive.

it's not.

 

[Alexios]

Not at all, it's fun to discuss them on forums some times, ridicule them for being obviously wrong or occasionally agree even, but ultimately couldn't care less.

 

[NahaNago]

I'm mostly a not at all as well. I don't expect the games I used to play a lot to be 90s and above since they were niche Japanese games.

 

[Husky]

I'm not of the belief that game critics even enjoy video games. Whether they laud a game as a masterpiece or a disaster means nothing at all to me.

 

[Lupin25]

You are missing one:

"scores matters if they back me up on my opinion and gives my game 10/10 and 250 awards. Otherwise I don't care about them"

Now that’s some master bait.

 

[Sosokrates]

I use reviews as more of a resource to inform me about a game. But games im unsure ill watch a few missions and that will tell me if its a yay or a nay.

 

[TGO]

I use to pay attention to them when used to buy the magazines in the 90's/early 2000's.
The reviews were well written and you could see the passion the reviewers had for the games and get a general sense on how they saw and enjoyed the game.
Theses days...nah.

 

[kingfey]

"scores matters if they back me up on my opinion and gives my game 10/10 and 250 awards. Otherwise I don't care about them"

Sadly this is everywhere. From movies, to songs. Its my team mentality. One of the main reason I am not interested in these review scores.

 

[CityHunter1981]

I very much care about scores. I have 2 small children and therefore very limited time to play, so I have to make sure that the game I choose next is worth my time. Of course I don't decide only on 1 single review, but see the average critic and audience score to decide if a game is worth my time or not.

 

[captainpat]

You are missing one:

"scores matters if they back me up on my opinion and gives my game 10/10 and 250 awards. Otherwise I don't care about them"

I feel like that would be the biggest category. People love taking about how they don't care about reviews yet extremely invested when their game gets 10s or awards.


To answer the question, yes I care. It doesn't mean a game getting a high score is an autobuy from me but if it's a genre or franchise I like then a high score is definitely going to make me check it out at least.

 

[AJUMP23]

I form my own opinions.

 

[Kenpachii]

Zero, reviews are all paid these days.

 

[ozz ex machina]

I feel sorry for the 3 retards who autistically are slaves to a metascore created mostly by people who really couldn’t give a fuck about the game they are reviewing.

 

[Bakkus]

Not at all. Weighted user scores on the other hand is something I greatly care about.

 

[D-ray]

"Professional" score is dumb to me, because they usually barely even play the games before either saying it's good or bad.
User score is a double-edged sword too, but at least you can usually sort by the positive and the negative reviews.

 

[Wildebeest]

I guess the amount I care is 8/10, in game reviewer language, or 4/10 in more regular language.

 

[Nico_D]

Reviews more than scores. Sometimes they read like two different things.

 

[Mithos]

"The game is a broken bugged mess. 10/10"

"The game is perfect. 7/10"

"RDR2 is cool but is too slow and has 500ms of input lag. 10/10"

See? Scores are useless!

Yeah the difference between the written review and the score are mind boggling some times.