"Reviewers" don't have any special knowledge that anyone else doesn't, and their reviews will just as much reflect their own personal opinion on a game. I've seen longer, more objective and more informative reviews posted on random forums than on "official" game news sites.

I worry about spoony he hasnt posted much lately. He was the one everyone thought would do himself in, but no Jewwario who was always cheery did

Reviews are only opinions, I see many 10's and 9's that make me go wtf???

Read a variety of reviews, watch gameplay videos if possible and form your own opinion.

From what I have read of both those games, they seem to get and deserve the praise they are being given. I would have reservations with MGGZ due to its brevity, but it is priced somewhat cheaper (here its €30 in Tesco, normal release is €55-60) to take this into account.

I have no interest in TF but people I know seem to enjoy it immensely.

As regards "professional" reviewers, the worst I have seen recently are for Castlevania LoS2 where the reviewers bitched about the difficulty of a stealth mission cos they were too stupid to use Mist Form to complete the mission.

I still read/watch professional reviews every once in a while, but I choose to be skeptical about it, and take it all with a pinch of salt. To me, it's not as much about the score, which is usually hyped or unfair, as it is about carefully reading the reviewer's opinion in-depth to try and find out what they really think about the game. Review scores have been wrong for decades, now, to the point a 7/10 or 3/5 game is considered 'bad', when I tend to find those scores to still be pretty good.

It all boils down to personal preference and taste, like it was said before, so try to find a reviewer, professional or not, with whom you are more likely to agree, and read or watch their reviews. Or, like tinyE said, just ask for information on a game here on GOG forums, people usually give good advice in here. When in doubt, just watch some random game play clips of the game (preferably with no commentary) to see the game in motion, and make your own judgement on it.

As of late, I've mostly been buying (and being gifted) indie games, and I think I still have the same attitude towards those titles as I did when I bought games in stores, 15 years ago, which is to trust the screenshots and the box art and go with my gut feeling that 'I'll enjoy it'. So far, it hasn't let me down. AAA games are harder for me to go with gut feelings, because they're more often than not just rehashes of old formulas rinsed and repeated ad nausea, just under a shiny graphical coat of paint.

exactly. that's why IGN is not reliable and why reviewers not associated with big brands are more reliable. their income comes from people who trust them, who watch their content regularly. not from big companies who give them money. they need viewership which will leave if they fuck up.

Same here. With the recent news that big distributors have paid for positive spin with the major gaming sites, it's quite clear that the mainstream reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt. Whether they want to admit it or not, their integrity has been compromised. I usually take a percentage of amateur gamer reviews, watch a few online let's plays and use sites like metacritic to base my purchase choices on.

There's plenty of stuff on metacritic, mobygames, youtube, and other sites to almost negate the need for mainstream reviews now. I can see a future where major review sites go the way of the old gaming magazine publications.

he does update his webpage frequently (last video is from 10 days ago) he is a bit weird..like all of us geeks :P but I dont think he would do such a thing like jewwario :( (I hope not)

I think all reviews can be useful, and trust in my own ability to read them in a way that informs me and leads me to a purchase or a pass. I don’t ignore positive or negative ratings but it’s only an indication of popularity. The most important thing is to filter through the review on what interests or annoys you.

For example, if a bunch of reviews are negative about a game being a buggy mess or having issues in modern systems and multi-core processors, then that is a clear indication a game is probably not worth the effort. However, bad voice acting, or complaints that the graphics look dated are more of a personal preference and not clear indicators of how good or bad a game might be for us, individually.

Other complaints like a game being too short, too linear, illogical puzzles, too difficult or it has AI issues with pathfinding or generally dumb ineffectual action and responses by the AI in-game, might be overlooked depending on their overall impact with the game.

Game-play and review videos are also an invaluable reference for making decisions on whether to get a game or not, as well as being entertaining, you’ll be able to see right away if a game fits your play-style and preferences. More often than not, they do lead me to a purchase, rather than a pass...

LOL

Indeed, yet, all reviews are biased, for whatever reason. The payoff is in-the-game... :D

lol

I've personally found that "amateur" reviews can be much more in-depth and address the game much more fully.

I'd rather have the opinion of someone who's played the game and knows what's going on rather than some lackey getting paid to mess around with it for thirty minutes or an hour and then pass judgment on it.