Reviewers and objectivity

[MaHe]

What the hell? If review is not subjective, it's not a review, it's a 'feature' list then. If a game is fun given the gameplay elements, it only depends on the gamer. My sister loves WarioWare (and I do too, perhaps), but somebody just doesn't.

 

[lastdual]

How many people actually rely on a single review source?

Everyone is biased to some degree, but if you look at the overall trend of how a game is reviewed, it usually gives you a good idea of what to expect, unless you're some social outcast who reviles all standards of the human race...

We also bring our own biases and mold our own standards, such as how some people see a score of 7 and think "that's not bad" while others see the same score and burn with seething outrage in the depths of their souls.

Taken as a whole, reviews are generally helpful, as most human beings share a lot in common when all is said and done.

 

[Arm73]

I read as many review as possible before to purchase something.
Heck, even before downloading something for free !
The thing is you have to know how to read the review. You don't have to trust the final score, but you have to examine the various element of the game.
From any review I can find out the things I want to know, for example how big the game is, is it easy to play or does it have a difficult learnig curve, how much tought went into the design and over all if it has a good production value for the hardware it plays on.
The final score might be irrelevant at this point, or things like " it looks slight worse then the Xbox " or "it's not innovative" are personal opinions and don't make any difference to me.
But this kind of informations help me big time before actually buying something.
If a game is clearly short, has issues with bad controls and suffers for bad and long loading times then I try to stay away, but thanks to the review I should know what to expect at least, and after playing the game myself I could honestly rate it.
For example for my taste Red Steel it's worth 8.5 out of 10, because I like to play it and it has all the elements that I am looking for in a game.
I agree it could be better, but as it is I am enjoying it, and I consider it well spent cash.
If I was to follow strickly any review , then I would have missed it.
Reviews are helpful, if you know how to read betwen the lines that is

.