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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Game Reviews and Aggregate Scores. Why Do You Bother?

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My original thread title was going to be, "Game Reviews Have Too Much Influence On The Weak Minded," but I felt it was a little too long winded.

I just have a few simple questions.

For the gamers that make purchasing decisions based on game reviews and scoff at any game that receives a MetaCritic score below 80. 

Do you do the same thing for movie reviews? If so, when was the last time you actually saw an entertaining movie?

How could you deprive yourself of The Goonies and The Dark Knight Rises?

For the gamers that throw a fit when a game in their favorite series scores below an 80 on MetaCritic.

Did you lose your shit when The Avengers scored a 69 on MetaCritic?

Did you go onto forums ranting about the incompetent movie reviewers?

Have you ranted to everyone within earshot about how no comedies get high scores even though you almost passed out from laughter watching them?

 

To the people that won't realize what I'm doing, let me just say that my questions are rhetorical, because there is only one answer for most people. The answer is, "I don't remember the last time I read a movie review before I actually saw the movie."

People rarely put any stock into what movie critics say anymore, which is why some of the worst reviewed movies make the most money at the box office. But why is it that game reviews get so much attention from gamers? Why bother putting so much stock into what another person says? I just don't understand it. I've seen comments on this site as well as other gaming sites stating that the person actually plans to wait on the review of a specific site (Machinima, IGN, GameSpot, Edge, etc.) before they actually make a decision on purchasing a game. Even the game they've proclaimed they were "hyped" for for the last X amount of months.

Just about evey game has a playable demo, previews, gameplay videos, and documentaries leading up to its release nowadays. If none of the things you can experience with your own eyes can persuade you, how does a number and some words from someone you've never met sway you one way or the other when it comes time to buy a game? Why bother?



I am the Playstation Avenger.

   

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Games are expensive, gamers need to know if a game sucks or not, and one of the ways to know that is by game reviews. Comparing games with movies is not really the best comparison because if the movie sucks, you only lose $7 (based on movie tickets on my country), with a game you lose $60 (you can return it if you want, but not everyone has that option).

The problem imo is not the reviews themselves, the problem is that people take too much attention to the score and not the actual content inside it. The score of one game could be 7 out of 10, but if the points that are taken do not bother you (by looking at the actual content of the review) then there's no reason for not to pick it up just because it's a 7 rather than a 9.

Gameplay videos and demos do help making your choice, but unless you watch a whole walkthrough, there will be stuff that you may not like about the game that were not on the demo or the gameplay videos you saw. 

Either being a poster opinion or a reviewer opinion, you need to see what they like and didn't like about the game, and by their opinions you can make you own choice, not by simple looking at a number.



Nintendo and PC gamer

How could you deprive yourself of The Goonies and The Dark Knight Rises?

easily, i dont like watching bad and boring movies



Thing is user reviews for movies (IMDB) are much better than those for games. Therefore Metacritic is the next best thing.



I watch reviews just for the hell of it. I don't base my purchases on them though, I can see gameplay and immediately tell if I'll enjoy the game or not.

What is annoying though, is I have a friend who if you mention a game he's never heard of before, the first thing he does is look it up on Metacritic and if it doesn't get a good score he goes "Lol that game sucks".



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Les Miserables only got what a 63 and I cried so........

I don't really look at Metacritic scores that much. I enjoyed FE9 more than Kakusei and yet it has a lower meta.

Nowadays I only visit metacritic to see if a game is really bad.



http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/profile/92109/nintendopie/ Nintendopie  Was obviously right and I was obviously wrong. I will forever be a lesser being than them. (6/16/13)

UnitSmiley said:
I watch reviews just for the hell of it. I don't base my purchases on them though, I can see gameplay and immediately tell if I'll enjoy the game or not.

What is annoying though, is I have a friend who if you mention a game he's never heard of before, the first thing he does is look it up on Metacritic and if it doesn't get a good score he goes "Lol that game sucks".

Sadly, a lot of people do that. On the flip side whenever a game gets a high Meta Score, the people at my GameStop always try to get me to buy it, and are then shocked if I say I don't like the series/genre. The sheep mentality is rampant in there.



I am the Playstation Avenger.

   

adriane23 said:
UnitSmiley said:
I watch reviews just for the hell of it. I don't base my purchases on them though, I can see gameplay and immediately tell if I'll enjoy the game or not.

What is annoying though, is I have a friend who if you mention a game he's never heard of before, the first thing he does is look it up on Metacritic and if it doesn't get a good score he goes "Lol that game sucks".

Sadly, a lot of people do that. On the flip side whenever a game gets a high Meta Score, the people at my GameStop always try to get me to buy it, and are then shocked if I say I don't like the series/genre. The sheep mentality is rampant in there.


Yup I completely agree. It's really frustrating to be on the receiving end of that particular thought process. Luckily my Gamestop isn't too pushy.



adriane23 said:
UnitSmiley said:
I watch reviews just for the hell of it. I don't base my purchases on them though, I can see gameplay and immediately tell if I'll enjoy the game or not.

What is annoying though, is I have a friend who if you mention a game he's never heard of before, the first thing he does is look it up on Metacritic and if it doesn't get a good score he goes "Lol that game sucks".

Sadly, a lot of people do that. On the flip side whenever a game gets a high Meta Score, the people at my GameStop always try to get me to buy it, and are then shocked if I say I don't like the series/genre. The sheep mentality is rampant in there.

Well, I think a reason why metacritic is used so much is it's easily quantifiable and encompases a lot of opininons. Since forums a lot of times turn into X vs Y game and a lot of silly people put down certain games without even playing it. Metacritic is the easiest/best ammunition for them.

Most of my favorite games this gen scored in the 80's, 2 in the 70's and 2 in the 90's range. However Aggregate scores are still somewhat accurate. If you blindly select 5 90+ games and 5 games below 80. Most likely you're going to end up liking more of the ones in the 90's range correct?

However, if you are able to read and analyze games with interesting elements that score less than an 80, and put them against games in the 90's with elements you despise, you're likely going to end up liking more of the lower scoring games. Which is basically your point. I don't think aggregate scores are useless though, They're just limited in what they represent.



I don't. Sure I'll look at the reviews but after GoW got an 80, Infamous 1 and 2 got 85 and 83 respectively, Resistance 3 got an 83, and ACiT got an 85 I just don't get where they come from. Resistance 3 is my favorite single player FPS of all time and ACiT may have supplanted UYA as my favorite game of all time period. Didn't MGS2 get better reviews than 3? 3 is my second favorite game of all time so I just don't agree with many. Used to have similar tastes to Adam Sessler, but recently he's been off his rocker with that "bros before hoes" "controversy" and while I respect how he could give GoW a 3/5, I feel like he only did it because of that and the trial of Archimedes which seemed fairly easy to me compared to the end sections of other GoW games.




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