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I do not trust any game magazine or website!

K2D

Banned
If you use Metacritic user scores to judge a game you might just be more retarded than game journalists
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Checks out. The more reviews, the more the user score reflects how I feel about these games.
 
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K2D

Banned
I must say it's quite a fun game looking at user "reviews" for popular/unpopular games

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"0/10 - mediocre"
To be fair, there should only be thumbs up or thumbs down on user reviews unless they go through a screening prosess. This is mostly how users score games.

0-1 Don't recommend

7 Avarage

10 Recommend

Opencritic is a better alternative if you want a review aggregator.

Agreed for critics score. Sadly old habits die hard!
 
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Just do your own info gathering from as many sources as you need to decide whether it's for you.

BTW I agree that many reviews are in a sense "paid for". This industry uses early or special access in ways that biases outlets and increasingly, Youtubers (especially the successful youtube channels). Even if they are not even aware of their own bias, as soon as you have any kind of relationship with a developer or publisher, they have a conflict of interest.
 

Quantum253

Member
At this point, I'm more concerned about the performance/bugs when it comes to reviews. Personal opinions should be just that. So many times I hear people schilling for their free early copy of the newest game. To the point it's like watching developers demo their games like at E3. However, that's not to say all are like this and I'm sure there are still honest reviews/opinions out there.

This isn't also only just in the game space. It's increasingly getting harder to buy anything with having to wade through a thousand articles/videos/opinions on "what is the best" for whatever it is your looking for. For example, I just tried to find a 45w super fast charger and got caught up in all the opnions. All that lead to was decision fatigue. I questioned myself on why all the stress and just bought one. And that was for a stupid $30 charging brick.

Spending $70 on an experience/game probably makes it worse for some. I'm curious how many people miss out on games because of the decision fatigue? You know what you like and you don't like and whether something is worth the risk of investing. That is why I think physical games are important because you can sell it and recoup some of the cost if you choose. Digital is okay too, either way , you have to be okay with investing your time/money into the product. If it doesn't work out, move on and let that help you make an informed decision next time.

Trying to live by the opnions and reviews of thousands of people is just going to make every purchase, including games, a grind and take everything enjoyable from it.
 

Nocturno999

Member
Reviews are bought and sold these days in main stream media. Most game journalist know little about gaming and should be writing for political magazines.

My criteria for good games to purchase are:

1. Myself, my own eyes.
2. Metacritic where there are thousands or millions of opinions.

Agree, disagree?
I mostly use Steam reviews. Minus review bombing, they are the most accurate and honest overall.
I even recommend it to console players ignoring performance issues obviously.
 
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BbMajor7th

Member
There sadly aren't a lot of journalists in gaming coverage. It's mostly freelance video game enthusiasts doubling as 'insiders' (they're not - trust me) and social media personalities. Most sites are run on an advertising model so the the main driver of content is clicks/impressions not overall quality or impartiality.
 

Shut0wen

Member
Amazing how many skitzos believe in paid reviews, theres no such thing, they dont need to pay them when they can take them to a 5 star hotel with all you can eat while you preview a video game as a form of guilt tripping, this happens in every media, its even worst for movies, believe me a majority of people dont give a fuck about reviews so it aint worth paying for, though i will say alot of dodgey shit does happen like cyberpunk for example, every reviewer was made to review it on top of the line pcs because it was far less buggy, you should probably stick to sites that review games but dont mark them for anything just purely an opinion piece
 
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Shut0wen

Member
The key is to go to a few outlets, watch a few yt or streams and then decide, for me unless I know its something I will play, for example Destiny, Zelda or a Mario release:

  • Check IGN's review
  • ACG if he's done one
  • If Digital Foundry have a video on it before or around release
  • then maybe some check out a few mins of streams of known streamers that are or come across as unbiased or more typically not being sponsored (Cohhcarnage, Elajjaz and some smaller streamers tend to be good for this)
I only use mainstream outlets for previews or gameplay footage these days, they're far too political or not focused on the right things these days
True but tbf ign is getting way less political, havnt played hogwarts but they did a decent job reviewing it, think they only mentioned jk once lmao
 

Raonak

Banned
"I don't trust IGN reviews, but I trust {random youtuber #235564}" - yeah no. They're the same shit.

Every game/website/influencer has their own opinions and things they value in games.
They sometimes align with mine, they sometimes don't. That's OK.

Reviews are only useful for informing you about the general quality of a game. It has little to do with whether I'll like the game.

Aggregate User reviews are pretty bad as well, especially prone to fail for games that piss off the masses.
 

bitbydeath

Member
The whole process is flawed from the beginning where reviewers receive free copies, if they paid for them the number they give could be quite different as they’d then be basing the score on a cost/enjoyment ratio and not just, here’s another game on the pile.
 
Gaming journos are worthless. Find people who's integrity you trust, and who's taste in gaming aligns with yours. Those are the people you need to follow for making purchasing decisions.
 

K2D

Banned
Cyberpunk has a 86 Metacritic on PC and a 57 Metacritic on PS4.

How much do you think CDPR bribed journalists for those scores?
They didn't. They manipulated them and greased them. Withholding PS4 review codes and pushing embargo back.

That's more on CD project.

I must say it's quite a fun game looking at user "reviews" for popular/unpopular games

ytE2cDC.png


"0/10 - mediocre"
I see indie games, particularly hard games and old school 2d platformers get a lot of flak. I tend to look at user score as how much/many people like certain games, and not how good the games are.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Reviews are bought and sold these days in main stream media. Most game journalist know little about gaming and should be writing for political magazines.

My criteria for good games to purchase are:

1. Myself, my own eyes.
2. Metacritic where there are thousands or millions of opinions.

Agree, disagree?

So you don’t trust journalist reviews because they’re bought and paid for - but you’re cool with the website that averages all of those bought and paid for reviews into one number.

Makes no damn sense.
 

20cent

Banned
I don't read reviews, don't watch gaming youtubers and don't care about the hype. And I play games weeks or months after their release (except few GamePass accessible ones)

There are almost no "bad" games released since the last 10+ years. So if I like the style/art/theme or video I come across of the said game, I'll get it and play it.

For the indies, same thing, I'll pick the ones that sound interesting from word of mouth.
 

Lasha

Member
To be fair, there should only be thumbs up or thumbs down on user reviews unless they go through a screening prosess. This is mostly how users score games.

0-1 Don't recommend

7 Avarage

10 Recommend

The same applies to critic scores. Numerical scores are meaningless since sites use different scales and weights. The key metric should be the percentage of reviewers who recommend the game vs trying to empirically analyze something inherently subjective.
 
The same applies to critic scores. Numerical scores are meaningless since sites use different scales and weights. The key metric should be the percentage of reviewers who recommend the game vs trying to empirically analyze something inherently subjective.
I agree, that's one of the reasons Steam reviews are really the only ones I look at. That and you're required to actually play the game before you can leave a review.
 

Aenima

Member
Checks out. The more reviews, the more the user score reflects how I feel about these games.
The moment anyone can write a review on metacritic without owning the game, its the moment it became useless. The user score is just to review bomb and console war. Reason 90% os the reviews are 0/10 or 10/10
Steam user reviews are the only ones worth taking in consideration as you can even see how much time the user spent with the game.

In my case the critics metacritic average match more with my own opinion. There are always cases where i find games overrated or underrated, but thats why i read a few resumes from various websites to make a better opinion, and dont take the numerical rating too serious.

I dont read a full game review since the PS3 gen. Been using Metacritic just to have an idea how the game has been received by the critics, then if it looks interesting to me i watch some gameplay footage and make my purchase decision based on that.
 
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Reactions: K2D

Susurrus

Member
Generally my process for playing games in order:

- Did I like the previous game in the series? If it doesn't have a previous game (new IP):
- Did I like the demo? If it doesn't have a demo:
- Did I get it free from PSPlus (Essential), Games With Gold, Epic, Prime, etc? If not:
- Wait till it is on sale ridiculously cheap and maybe pick it up if it looks like something I'd like and maybe suggested, by then the hype is over and I have minimal risk.

I've bought many games off of demos, but unfortunately there's not many. There's also plenty of situations where I got a game free from a service, liked it, and then bought the next one (Plague Tale, Horizon, Bloodstained are a few).
 

Shubh_C63

Member
Watching 15 min Gameplay on Youtube/Twitch
3 Youtube Reviews
Opencritic Score for general consensus
Actually reading one review in its entirety

Its fun doing these things and I would be really really surprised if you still wasn't able to gauge the game is for you or not.
 

MacReady13

Member
I mean, weren’t the genuine people in gamergate saying this exact same thing years ago?

Either way, I completely agree. Don’t trust them and don’t read them anymore. Generally read what you guys and gals on here say for some valid opinions plus a few trusted YouTubers.
 

mrmustard

Banned
If
Reviews are bought and sold these days in main stream media. Most game journalist know little about gaming and should be writing for political magazines.

My criteria for good games to purchase are:

1. Myself, my own eyes.
2. Metacritic where there are thousands or millions of opinions.

Agree, disagree?

If reviews are bought and sold, how can you trust Metacritic? The whole Mectacritic system is ridiculous, there are games with dozens of perfect 100 score.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I'm finding new ways to trust the Internet and game reviews...


1. Don't trust any review for a game near launch.


2. Wait for some time after launch to purchase.

-this helps with patches etc.


3. Listen to trusted podcasts and actually vibe out the feedback, also people you trust on the Internet or in daily life who can offer feedback.

These reviewers are so caught up in hype and receiving huge marketing press bundles etc that they Darenth rock the boat on these big releases. Especially when we know companies literally black list them for negative reviews. How can any of them be trusted?
 

BabyYoda

Banned
Reviews are bought and sold these days in main stream media. Most game journalist know little about gaming and should be writing for political magazines.

My criteria for good games to purchase are:

1. Myself, my own eyes.
2. Metacritic where there are thousands or millions of opinions.

Agree, disagree?
Agreed.
Also:
3. Certain Youtubers that've earned my trust.
 

Robb

Gold Member
It has been years since I watched reviews from a single outlet for most things. I only check Metacritic/Opencritic for games and IMDb for movies these days.

If a company manages to purchase every single review that gets included in those aggregates I’d be surprised.
 

Portugeezer

Gold Member
Most of the time watching a gameplay video tells me enough about a game.

Reviews are good when it comes to bugs, but stuff like Cyberpunk can happen which both obfuscates the reality for reviewers and gamers (the controlled gameplay vídeos)
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Based.


Cringe.
Why? You can look at previews to see if it is something you think you will like, and check aggregate reviews to make sure it doesn't have major issues. Obviously you need to verify it is not being review bombed, but overall the method is a reasonable way to filter out stinkers.
 

Mokus

Member
These days I usually follow small reviewers with under 10 minutes reviews (ideally around 5 minutes).
 

K2D

Banned
Obviously there are user score totals that I agree to a lesser degree with but I don't fault that on individual reviews, because I view the total as a probability for me enjoying said game. Regardless of what the sites intent was with user score.

The moment anyone can write a review on metacritic without owning the game, its the moment it became useless. The user score is just to review bomb and console war. Reason 90% os the reviews are 0/10 or 10/10
Steam user reviews are the only ones worth taking in consideration as you can even see how much time the user spent with the game.
Disagree
In my case the critics metacritic average match more with my own opinion. There are always cases where i find games overrated or underrated, but thats why i read a few resumes from various websites to make a better opinion, and dont take the numerical rating too serious.
Agree
I dont read a full game review since the PS3 gen. Been using Metacritic just to have an idea how the game has been received by the critics, then if it looks interesting to me i watch some gameplay footage and make my purchase decision based on that.
Opencritic might be more accurate.
 

phant0m

Member
What’s a magazine?

Websites have fallen far imo. I pretty much just watch ACG, Skill Up and DF along with reading OTs.

Big shout out to Karak Karak for “my brand is me, my sponsor is me” — generally speaking there’s too much conflict of interest with sponsors and advertisers in gaming sites.
 
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