Who do you trust for game reviews?

[Skull Commander]

I just buy what I like the look of. Sometimes the first play thread can be useful, but only a while after the game is out and the hype monkeys have left the thread.

[drmick]

I think you should subscribe to Retro Gamer too, since you're in it. It's just common courtesy.

I do subscribe to Retro Gamer, but it's hardly relevant for this thread.

I also plugged NTSC-UK in their letters page. Do I get kudos for that?

[Number45]

I couldn't tell you the last time a review convinced me to buy something. I'll usually know which games I want to buy long before they come out.

This. For a long time now I've been the only person that has any kind of influence on what I buy.

[Wools]

I would say Edge’s reviews are the closest to a good barometer of a games quality for me.

Their views are almost always in-line with my own although there are instances where they praise or scorn a game and it affected my decision to buy the product.

Mirrors Edge, for example, was reviewed fairly poorly in the magazine and I decided not to buy it but once I witnessed the game being played I decided to give it a try and was impressed. The negative aspects of Mirrors Edge were true and valid but I felt the plus points far outweighed the negatives and as such was happy to pay the money to experience it.

I believer Rez and Killer7 are in the same territory as Mirrors Edge, as their qualities are in abundance but have little and large niggles that can be hugely jarring to the vast majority of players. Does a reviewer ignore but mention the sticking points of a game and sum up that if these don’t matter to you then you’ll enjoy the bigger picture? Or do they deduct that these bad points are enough to flaw the final game?

In essence a reviewers opinion sways from game to game, like me, so no one magazine or review can guide me as to what I should be playing. I read previews of games online when they’re announced and that’s where my interest of a particular game fosters, then reviews filter in and a demo is usually made available that will sway me one way or another.

I enjoy reading Edge & Games TM from time to time and listen to the Giant Bombcast but aside from that media, I use my own judgment and recommendations from friends and family. No one Review source will make me buy a game, my own interest will do that.

[SUMIRE]

I usually read as many reviews as I can online then decide from that if I want to shell out the cash. If I am a big fan of a certain game series and it gets mediocre reviews I usually buy it as I would probably stick at it more than non fans and forgive some of its negative points.

The bottom line is I never usually trust one source. The great thing about the internet is the fact you can read reviews from so called proffessionals as well as user reviews.