I was just asking this question because lately, I've been playing some games (like Jericho, Kane & Lynch, Timeshift and Dark Sector) That I thought were actually pretty good but got either bad or mediocre reviews by the critics, while games like Halo 3 and Gears of War get pronounced as "Flawless masterpieces"(Halo 3 was mediocre, and while Gears was good, it wasn't flawless.) So I'm just curious
: Have you ever played a game or watched a movie you like but got panned (or the other way around) that caused you to lose trust in critics?
And no, I'm not copying those "Games you hated that everyone else seemed to love" posts, I'm just asking if you still trust critics or not.

I trust Jason Ocampo at IGN to write his reviews in such a way that I can tell exactly whether I personally will like the game or not (he gave Spore an 8.8 but the tone of his review clearly explained to me why I wouldn't enjoy the game.)

I trust Yahtzee to point out all of a game's flaws that reviewers tend to ignore.

But I don't trust Gamespot. Ever. Under any circumstances.

I usually form my own opinion around a game first by either looking at gameplay videos or playing it myself and then reading the reviews by reviewers to see the pros and cons of it. It doesn't completely controll if i buy a game or not, but if everyone says that it has frame rate issues then I'll be causous and warry if I go in.

When I see a game get a 60 - 70 I usually presume that it was a mediocre game that will kick ass if you are into either the theme, concept, or genre.

SimuLord:

But I don't trust Gamespot. Ever. Under any circumstances.

I agree.

[Professional] Critic reviews are one thing, however I never trust user reviews any more on certain websites. They all state that the game is 'the best game in the world' in the end regardless if it is or not, and give a moderate review for games that were atrocious.

Other unnamed websites tend to have reviewers scurrying around a certain popular critic or two and base their reviews entirely off of what those critics say. So if the critic does not like a certain game that's absolutely fine in other respects, the reviewers that follow behind will chant and jeer about how terrible the game is in all respects - regardless if they liked the game or not.

I can, however, trust friends to a certain extent as well as certain people frequenting game stores. I can get an honest opinion on game play and how generally fun a game is through this method. It almost never fails me.

I sure trust movie critics alot more then game critics. And I NEVER trust Gamespot either.
However if a game gets a really really bad review, with a score of say, 4 or lower, I'll ignore it unless a friend recommended it. It seems to me game critics are all too eager to throw around high scores on games that don't deserve it, as said before.

Do you mean videogame critics? Videogame critics have an agenda to push, as their sites and magazines are so often sponsored by games publishers. It seems to be "Sell this game in your review, or you're out". So, no, I don't particularly trust games critics.

I trust most places as long as I know their specific biases.

Never trust Gamespot though.

Dechef:
I sure trust movie critics alot more then game critics. And I NEVER trust Gamespot either.
However if a game gets a really really bad review, with a score of say, 4 or lower, I'll ignore it unless a friend recommended it. It seems to me game critics are all too eager to throw around high scores on games that don't deserve it, as said before.

Yeah, Gamespot are the worst of all.

I trust yahtzee, if he likes a game I"m guaranteed to atleast feel good after playing it.

I lost all respect for reviewers/critics when I saw a Dutch gaming magazine recommend games to play during the summer and out of all the recommended games, most nintendo games got near perfect scores while the PC, xbox and PS2 combined got maybe 2 or 3 perfect scores.(it didn't help when I later learned that of the 9 writers, about 5 were nintendo fanboys and one actually worked as a translator for nintendo)

For those that want to read something about why nobody should trust reviews:
Eight Point Eight
Four Point Scale
Reviews Are The Gospel

I don't trust reviews completely, or even word of mouth. I really think that hype (of which many reviews are a part, and nothing more besides) can make or break any game. Sometimes the things reviewers write are so asinine or downright idiotic it makes me wonder why I'm not doing their jobs.

The fact that "graphics" are weighted into the final score makes most reviews completely useless.

Reviews are a fine judge of wheter or not a game is crap. I have for the most part been in agreement with reviews as to if a game is good, how good is a matter of debate.

Example's: Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto IV
I thought those were fun games but not worthy of the near perfect and perfect scores most of my favored reviews gave.

Can't lose what you've never had.

I don't trust online reviews, ever since the Kane and Lynch thing, but I do put my faith in the reviews of Games TM. I'm pretty sure they're always honest.

Humm, you know, I don't think I've ever bought a game based on a review, I read game magazines for the humour and trivia value. PC Gamer and PC Zone (UK versions) are just hilarious at times, and I always head straight for the games that get the worst reviews in the reviews section as these usually have my sides splitting, I suppose much the same way Yahtzee reviews bad games for their humour value.

Otherwise I do trust the serious reviews somewhat. Although I'll usually go for a magazine like EDGE for that kind of thing, they're usually more serious about this kind of stuff. Actually I think EDGE gave Halo 3 a 7 or 8 out of 10, the article itself was well written and showed both the good and bad of it, as they do with all their reviews.

As for online, I don't really read those, maybe Gamespot or IGN occasionally, but only after I've played the game, and mostly to go back to old reviews for nostalgia value on games I may have played in the past.

I only trust IGN and noobtoob, yahtzee really has the skewed view of everything is crap until it's psychonauts, or portal or blah blah blah and everyone else is just lying to you so the're fans don't tear them apart.

fluffylandmine:
I only trust IGN and noobtoob, yahtzee really has the skewed view of everything is crap until it's psychonauts, or portal or blah blah blah and everyone else is just lying to you so the're fans don't tear them apart.

Uhh...do people actually take his 'reviews' seriously? I mean really...I thought it was all a bit of fun? Just a seemingly acidic dig at bad, or games he considers bad. Funny, but not something I'd base my spending habits on...

In the grand scheme of things, it is not the critic's opinion that matters; it's your own.

It's a matter of how much you've seen. I've seen enough of Yahtzee's reviews to know when I do and don't agree. I lost all faith in Gamespot over MGS4.

Learn a reviewer's niche, and trust will come naturally.

Yatzhee is cool funny as frig but I like Game Trailers.com alot of their reviews are good and I find relible but some are very biased.

Not in the computer game industry any more, but I largely use movie reviews from so-called reputable sources to make my mind up about that.

I tend to stay away from most critics and reviewers mostly because I feel that if I buy or avoid something simply because so-called professionals say so, I feel like I'm only buying it to prove them right rather than buying it for my own enjoyment. I do feel that Yahtzee is more reliable than most if not all other game reviewers, simply because he's the only one so far who's been able to acknowledge the fact that we're not all cynics yet we should be.

i'd have to say iv never bought a game over a recomendation from a reviewer, especially after GTA IV(it really wasn't THAT good). I still read/watch reviews to get to know more about the game. Plus it entertaining, like yahtzee. I watch and love his reviews, but i wouldn't hounstly trust his judgement being the less critacal person that I am.