Editorial: Review scores mean nothing

Drew Bergmark of WouldYouKindly said: The only number that should affect your decision of your gaming purchases is the number in your checking account or in your wallet. To let a review score dominate your purchasing decisions is ignorant as you may go back to read that review after you’ve purchased thus title to learn that the reviewer suggested the game to only a niche audience in which you don’t apply.

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Unfortunately they do matter as they can greatly affect the sales of a game. Reviews matter though as they help you guage a collective opinion. While the idea that going out and buying a game which you think looks good without looking at reviews may appear a good idea to the writer, in practice you would end up buying a lot of games which may not be nearly as good as you'd thought they'd be.

[DBergmark]

Congrats on just reading the title.
Reviews do matter as gamers come to check the reviews usually right before the purchase a title that they are interested in to make sure there are no major flaws that would make them dislike the game. Review scores have become arbitrary due to the fact that most 'casual to hardcore' gamers compare game scores to each other when this shouldn't be the case at all. Remember to read the article, bro.

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Ouch, called out.

[sidar]

To me, the only review that counts is my own review.
Even if a game get's a low score globally. It doesn't mean there isn't something there for me.
If it sucks in the end, I at least tried.

[DBergmark]

That's very true! Many reviewers describe a game as what it is and not for the demographic that should play it. As I've studied people, I believe I have an understanding for what people would find attractive or good enough in a game to be purchasable. Describing why a game would be great for a certain market makes those people more convinced to purchase a title as those outside of that market described with praise would lean away from getting it.

[Narutone66]

It's like asking a game journalist who's a fan of a shooter to review a racing simulator. Sometimes, the reviews are not accurate. Same thing happened to a certain racing simulator getting a low score last year.

[xPhearR3dx]

That's not exactly true. The score is irrelevant but the written part is very important. A review can tell you if a certain game suffers from issues, or things that weren't said about that game that might catch your interest ending up in a purchase.

[sidar]

There were many times when one reviewer was crying over something which in the end never bothered me.

Issues design related? Perhaps.
User experience? Ill be the judge of that.

[xPhearR3dx]

No I'm not saying their experience, I'm saying they might mention details about features within the game that we'rent said before release. Like COD for example, perks or killstreaks or something they might have hated, but sound interesting to you.

I think that came out right, I'm tired as hell so I'm honestly not sure hahaha

[thebudgetgamer]

That's why Classic Game Room is the best review source on the net.

[Hockeydud19]

Not all reviews are bad though. I think what you're trying point out is that the overall score doesn't matter. I enjoy reading/writing reviews because I learn what the games about and if it fits my wants for a game.

[floetry101]

I generally call it Jim Sterling Syndrome. You know, when people go off at the score without actually reading the review?

[honestgamer]

That's probably as good a term as any for it. There are a number of reasons why scores mean very little that this article didn't touch on, too. For instance, the scores at even a single outlet will vary depending on who is reviewing a game. It's not like everyone on the staff plays a game and votes on the score to assign. Too many things change from one day to the next for scores to be an infallible digit that is the answer to everything. A score is valuable as a starting point. I'll check GameRankings when I'm researching a game purchase and I'll click on a few reviews based on the score, then read the text of those reviews. If I shopped based only on the page that lists those numbers and letter grades, I'd have to call myself an idiot every time I looked in the mirror.