let me tell you something, a review can be spot on and save you a lot of grief over a game, but if you're going to rely on reviews, do a little reaserch first.

I was looking up duke nukem forever, and lo and behold, the metacritic score is 55! so i look into it, and DNF got some of the most wildly opposing reviews on the planet, the reviewers for the most part didn't like it so much, but some of them gave it 80, while others gave it 16! how can two people play the same game, and objectively and profesionally give it a score thats 60 points differnt from the other guy?

so i said, what do the players think? well 250 out of 400 gave it 75 or better, and 120 out of 400 gave it 50 or worse. so again, wildly differnt spectrams.

bottom line, for the 20 dollar price, if it looks like something you'd like, you might actually like it! don't be scared off by a bad review! arcania was like that too, 60 out of 100 and its one of my favorite games of all time!

The "8.8 Syndrome" does apply when AAA games are a brand new $60 though

sure but who buys brand new 60 dollar games any ways? ;)

I guess it's subjective. Some people can see a lot of flaws but still enjoy a game for what it is, or what it intends to be. Others can see the same flaws and judge the game on a different level.

It's nice to be able to see what various people think, though.

Rational people don't, but obsessive fans of certain franchises still do

I think the only game I bought for full price was Crusader Kings 2. Worth it.

So, basically Skyrim is the only thing worth buying for the full $60?

I think it depends on how much you want it and how interesting it appears for you. Before I buy a game for that much money it better be one I really, really want.

For example with GW2 I bought it for $60.00 and I felt it was money well spent, but for other people they may prefer to wait until it hits the bargain bin or that it wasn't worth the money spent. And to be fair, $60 is a lot of money and I wouldn't have spent it if I didn't enjoy the first game. It may have turned out to be overrated, but I still found it to be enjoyable.

Reviews and value are subjective. Everyone has their favorite or preference when it comes to genre. Keep in mind that the reviewer might have a slight bias against the genre when you are reading reviews. For example, I don't care much for FPS but other people enjoy it. I would not buy any FPS for $60.00 (maybe if it hits the bargain bin) but for other people it might be worth spending the money if it is something that might appeal to them.

In my opinion, and I know I keep saying this but it's true. The key thing is to read the review not just rely on numbers. Even someone who doesn't care for the genre, can still bring up some legitimate complaints. Read the reviews and judge for yourself.

Game reviews, as much as they like to think otherwise, are amazingly subjective. The only objective things you can actually say about games, IMHO, is bugs and how it handles.
For me, I disregard reviews & look at how it plays.
An example is Black Ops. Everyone said it was shit. I went online, looked at some gameplay of it, then bought it. Wasn't disappointed.
But that's just how I am.

I think good reviews tell you the WHY they think this or that (citing examples), not just WHAT they think, so it´s easier to make your mind about it, because you either choose to let that fact pass or not in order to get the game, but at least you are not beting on a subjective conjecture from a person that may not have the same interests as you, or the same tolerance as you towards different aspects of a game as story, gameplay, graphics, etc.
For example, some reviews I read said "....but the graphics are old/ not on par with competition/ showing its age......" and since I don´t care about graphics I could choose to let that slip and if the other aspects sounded interesting, get it anyways.

I think the best thing to do before buying a game is not reading a review but watching a let's play video of the game.

Duke Nukem Forever never happened.

>:(

Read the words, ignore the score. When you actually read reviews it's pretty easy to tell if you agree with them or not, and thus if you would also hate/like the game.

Got the collector edition with the bust, cards, chips etc for 6 quid. Shop around is the best advice I can give to people.