It's tricky, because you can't trust user reviews either.

Yes, gaming magazines/sites and game publishers are in bed together. The magazines/sites depend on them for advertising revenue and inside information for upcoming titles and such. So you have to take that into account.

You can't trust user reviews any more than the "critics", though. A lot of them are playing some game to try and nudge the average score one direction or the other instead of providing an informative review, and not much else.

Some are insecure and childish that feel that everyone should like their beloved game because they do, and they don't have any confidence in their own tastes.

Then you have others that give a low rating because they're upset about the DRM being used, or day one DLC, or the price, etc., because they didn't bother to do their homework and check these things out before they bought it.

The list goes on.

You have to approach it kind of like you do with hardware reviews at online retailers. You have to look for patterns. You see a lot of negative reviews stating the same thing about a faulty component, then you should probably avoid it.

I found that in some alot of cases that Amateur reviews are better than the professional ones because the Professionals some times give games an unjust review. One Example of is Zelda Skyward Sword where the reviewer I think it was from GameSpot and the Reviewer did not use the controller properly and gave the game an unjust review because he did not use the controller correctly and blamed the game for poor controls. How could you review a game a an comment on the controls where you can even get the controls right. Amateurs have reviewed games highly such as Vampire Rain and the Alone in the Dark for Xbox360 where professionals reviewed those games negatively. Also there are times where Amateur reviews agree with the professionals if a game is terrible such as Final Fight Streetwise. At least with the Amateur reviewers they will at least admit their mistake and correct it if they made one.

Sorry but its not true you get reviews by sending them games and merchandise or inviting them to some events. Thats more than enough "to have them in your pocket"

I dont read or saw "professional reviews" anymore.
I only watch angry joe and projared, but to be fair if I want a game i go to youtube watch a gameplay and that's how i know if I like or not the game

You can't trust YouTubers either, epically those sellouts from Polaris. Just wait until Disney starts to flex its muscles. Then you will just have to wait on random playthroughs and come to your own decision.

What other decent ones are there aside from those two and TB atm? (must admit AngryJoe came off a little funny but his impressions/reviews are pretty straight forward...which i like)...

The problem is that most "reviews" nowadays aren't really reviews in the literal sense, their more like quick impressions + some rambling. I'd love to see more in-depth reviews where the reviewers goes through all the features of the game, analyses them, and also goes through the game's content in a no-nonsense fashion without is being a bunch of opinionated whining or fanboyism from some guy who probably played the game for no longer than an hour.

Gameplay video is an excellent resource. You have to try and keep from spoiling it that way. That's assuming that spoiling it concerns you. And that depends on the genre too. You may not be concerned with spoiling a strategy game like you may if it was an RPG.

Better to just watch gameplay? or gameplay with voice over commentary (as it is with most lets play videos it seems?) ?

I like Spoony too (Spoony experiment) but he doesnt play many games sadly, he does review a lot of things like table games and movies.

To me just the gameplay is better. Personally I don't really like to watch the ones with commentary. I don't care to watch the ones where the uploader mixed in their own music either. That's just me though.

yeah watching a game with someone talking constantly its really annoying, except when you watch a video for only that purpose because it's funny like two best friends play or gamegrump for example

Oh god the ones mixed with music are dreadful :/

easy, just play the demo. no demo? there's always the TPB demo.