Topic: Do You Think Reviewers Are Getting Lazy?

[nickclone]

This will sound kind of weird, so I'll do my best to explain. When I first really started reading reviews, my go to site was IGN (I was never into Gamespot, I always thought they were a bit rigid and nit picky with their reviews), I thought they were pretty thorough. I eventually moved on to gametrailers because I felt they gave good, detailed reasons for the scores of their game reviews. However, I've noticed that a lot of review sites often leave out important info about the game.

When I bought Dead Island for someone years ago, I looked at over 20+ reviews and not one of them did a reasonable job of describing what the game was actually like to play. Hell, they could've said Skyrim with zombies and that would've been a better description than what most reviewers gave. I recently bought Lost Odyssey, watched a bunch of reviews and not one talked about how the skill system works. The skill system is a very important mechanic of the game, how could they leave that out? Luckily, I love both of these games, so this didn't blow up in my face.

Anyways, now I just go on youtube and look at as many reviews of a game i can before I buy it. My favorite is Angry Joe, he's funny and goes really in depth with his review. Its also helpful if you watch a play through with commentary for about an hour.

[W7RE]

I find raw gameplay more useful than any review. Also, like you said, random YouTubers and Twitch streamers seem to go into details that reviews skim over. Regardless of whether they're saying they like those details, it gives you a more in-depth understanding of the game's systems. Facts are more valuable in making a purchase decision than opinions, and professional reviews seem to be mostly opinion.

PewDiePie recently put up 16 minutes of almost continuous gameplay for The Evil Within. Despite his commentary, seeing that much gameplay pretty much sold me on the game. Angry Joe is good too. Sometimes he's super cheesy, but he gives good info and goes into depth. His reviews are like 20-30 minutes long, and the ones on IGN or Gamespot are 3-4 minutes long.

[PyroMenace]

Anyways, now I just go on youtube and look at as many reviews of a game i can before I buy it. My favorite is Angry Joe, he's funny and goes really in depth with his review. Its also helpful if you watch a play through with commentary for about an hour.

This is pretty much your answer. Our generation knows what games they like and they know where to go to get their opinions about them. There's no longer the 2 to 3 sites that lay down their official scores and that's it, they tell you to buy or don't. Reviewers aren't lazy, they just don't represent the common gamer anymore which was in their teens and earlier, now all the game reviewers are our age, we just don't need them to educate us on game system or mechanics, we already know them as much or more than they do. 

[MysterD]

When I bought Dead Island for someone years ago, I looked at over 20+ reviews and not one of them did a reasonable job of describing what the game was actually like to play. Hell, they could've said Skyrim with zombies and that would've been a better description than what most reviewers gave. I recently bought Lost Odyssey, watched a bunch of reviews and not one talked about how the skill system works. The skill system is a very important mechanic of the game, how could they leave that out? Luckily, I love both of these games, so this didn't blow up in my face.

I don't think Skyrim has enough unique loot (in the stock game w/ no mods) to even be compared to Dead Island.

Actually, I think Dead Island could be described as Borderlands (ARPG/First-Person Action game) w/ instead a heavy focus on melee combat + killing zombies (at least for a great deal of the game you're killing zombies). I think that would be a better description for Dead Island series (Dead Island + Riptide).

I think that's because DI leans way more towards the non-stop unique loot-getting + loot-upgrading mechanics - which basically is right out of the ARPG (Diablo) playbook. Skyrim doesn't really do that unique-loot + loot-crazy thing as much as DI or Diablo.

[Side Note -> Borderlands is a slick mix of ARPG/FPS. It really is a ARPG underneath, disguised as such w/ its huge emphasis on FPS gameplay + controls, honestly. ]

I think Giant Bomb's QuickLook of DI did a better job of showing off what the game was than anybody else did.

[scottws]

Well part of the problem is that video game journalists are basically like an extension of video game publisher marketing departments rather than true journalists.

[Quemaqua]

I'd agree with all that. I tend to look for reviews when there's one or two pieces of information I want to know specifically, and I won't look for reviews so much as just answers to those questions, which may or may not be in reviews. Mostly I just look at gameplay and get a consensus from the community or whatever. That usually tells me what I need to know. Sometimes there's a discrepancy, like with A Link Between Worlds, which to me looks horrible because I hate the art style, but everyone (except Sy) seems to think it's the shit, so I can probably say that it's a great game just with an art style I don't like. Sometimes it's the other way around, like with X: Rebirth, which looks great but is crap. And with the community, I was able to find out just how much it's been patched since launch (reviews can't tell me because they generally don't update) and what the long-term differences in gameplay would be compared to previous X games or EVE Online or whatever. Mostly I look at reviews now to get video reviews that don't show straight gameplay but a lot of snapshots of gameplay, then I'll look up straight gameplay on a quicklook or YT vid, and by then I've usually made a decision unless I need answers about the amount of content or a specific mechanic.

[Cools!]

Yeah, I stopped reading reviews. If I'm interested in something I go on YouTube or Twitch.TV and watch the gameplay. Also since I tend to be behind on getting games I look at what my friends, like you guys, liked and get that.

[K-man]

I haven't had blind trust in game reviews since Greg Kasavin left Gamespot.

[Xessive]

I tend to read/watch reviews from game journalists but I will also check YouTube "let's plays" as well as forums. Nothing gives more information that forums, which can sometimes be too much information but it' a worth a look at least to get a glimpse at the general reception of a game especially on PC.

[nickclone]

Now that I think about it, Borderlands with zombies would describe Dead Island much better than Skyrim.

My best friend's little brother is 14 years old, I honestly have no idea how and if he researches his games other than what his friends are playing. I couldn't just buy a game outright like that, but it seems the opinions of reviewers don't carry as much weight as they used to. I guess with youtube, you can just look at the game being played and make your own decision now.

[ender]

There was only ever one for me.