Would you still play a game if you knew it had a low review score?
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Yeah since review scores really mean nothing to me.
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That's what I did with every Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game (that I have played) and Sonic and the Black Knight, yet I still enjoyed them regardless.
I also want to play both versions of Unleashed.
I also want to play both versions of Unleashed.
Yeah, definitely, principally when it's a genre of game I like. Like trying some obscure point & click game that no one likes. I may not like it either, but I will definitely give it a chance.
My tastes can be odd so a low score isn't a deal breaker. But if the score is because of bugs and the general state of playability I will usually back off. Ninjabread Man was a game that I just had to try. The character concept is cool. The game is really really bad. It's a shame.
I've seen a ton of great games get bad scores. If it's niche or lower-budget, media publications shit on it because they don't get paid to shill it and can't be bothered. Regular gamers can be impatient and fussy about little flaws that don't matter to me, either. So if it looks fun to me I'll probably try to play it regardless of what people say. The way I look at reviews is I try to see why people say it's bad and try to figure out if it's something that would bother me. If it's non-specific or just dumb gamer hate, it means nothing. If several people say it's bad for doing something I know I hate - say, a high encounter rate with long battles in a RPG, or something - then I'll take it into account.
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I mean I finished the story modes twice for Mass Effect Andromeda (Once at launch for Xbox One, yes i was THAT hyped for it) And on PC as well. I still like it considering it's flaws and still sad that it will never get a true dlc expansion. But with how good the gameplay is and how it's vastly improved over the years, I'd say yes, I'll play it again for the heck of it.
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Ys: The Oath in Felghana. One of my favorite PSP games for a handheld swarmed with fantastic games. If I had read this review before buying the game...I would be utterly confused. Just so you don't have to click the link, I'll share their imbecilic review:
Now, what's the big to-do about this review?
Oh, and if you think PC Gamer's idiocy is just a one-time thing...
You really don't hate the games media nearly enough. Which is why I stopped giving a flying fuck about them.
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For me, I treat game scores and reviews like how one treats a recommendation from a friend while at a restaurant or something. Sure, something may be the famous "dish" and some others not so much or even infamous, but if I really want to experience something I'll just accept it's my own decision and do what I want. The list of critically acclaimed games I don't like and less than stellar ones I adore is certainly one of considerable length. At any rate, being well informed is crucial but the decision after that is entirely a person's own. Best not let it be blind faith.
I can understand someone just not getting this type of game, though his criticism about the ruby is bad faith (yes, you're supposed to explore the dungeon - maybe if you didn't dismiss them as "filler" you would have found the ruby by yourself). But what's really wild to me is comparing Ys unfavorably to Recettear.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana. One of my favorite PSP games for a handheld swarmed with fantastic games. If I had read this review before buying the game...I would be utterly confused. Just so you don't have to click the link, I'll share their imbecilic review:
View attachment 74875
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View attachment 74877
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View attachment 74879
Now, what's the big to-do about this review?
View attachment 74881
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Oh, and if you think PC Gamer's idiocy is just a one-time thing...
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You really don't hate the games media nearly enough. Which is why I stopped giving a flying fuck about them.
Giving a game a lower score than most media doesn't mean your review is stupid or invalid though. People can be wrong together and someone can be right alone. If you're going to pay any attention to the review, then you need to read it and not just look at the score.
If the game is between 55-70 range then I will play it (considering I find it interesting) cause games in this range are always divisive and it's better to form my own opinion than to believe in what the general consensus is. Anything below that is bad and not worth my time.
I have enjoyed a lot of games with bad reviews, one of my favourite GBA games has around 5/10 score, but I also tend to shy away from such games if I've watched a review of how bad that game is.
Here is the deal im bloody 40 years old I have my own life that I live I take my own responsibilities and make my own decisions. You think some other muppets opinion on something will sway me.
I play what ever looks interesting and fun to me. I dislike game that are not fun, badly written or not my type of games. I don´t care if it´s the most loved game in the world. Take GTA series I think it´s the most boring lame as game ever so even if GTA 6 would get 100/100 on meta critic I don´t give a damn.
Scores mean jack shit if you don´t have the same taste.
Maybe the better question is do you have any free will or are you a zombie and play what every one else tell you to?
I play what ever looks interesting and fun to me. I dislike game that are not fun, badly written or not my type of games. I don´t care if it´s the most loved game in the world. Take GTA series I think it´s the most boring lame as game ever so even if GTA 6 would get 100/100 on meta critic I don´t give a damn.
Scores mean jack shit if you don´t have the same taste.
Maybe the better question is do you have any free will or are you a zombie and play what every one else tell you to?
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The way I grew up, way pre-internet age, when the greteast technology was a brand new color TV, I had no idea if video game magazines existed or not. Not many kids in the school cared to play a video game so we had to test the waters like me standing under the stairs of the school in a dark corner and asking random kids "pssst, do you know what is a video game" and they were usually like "video game? What's 'video'?" lol. Mind you, these kids are the same kids who didn't believe Saturn existed when I told them, I mean the planet in our solar system, because the education system didn't care about the solar system but I learned just because I was living in a public library lolol.
So imagine such a society, we had to explore the city to find some shops selling video games. Americans and Japanese people may cannot understand it because video games were huge obvious parts in their life, but not in my society. So we had to search for video game shops via recommendations just because some kids in the schools randomly found them or they were living very close to such shops. What was weird is video game consoles were sold in seperate places that rather you wouldn't expect them to sell it but they were just selling it by trying to convince parents when they were buying carpet or something lol. With a console they were also selling the most popular video game it can be and that's it. Lots of these kids who had a video game console had no idea there are actually new video games being sold. They thought they released a video game console and like 3 games with and then they called it a day lol.
In video game shops, the guy would just throw a box on us and say "pick the game you want in it, kid". Then all we could do was checking its box. Until SEGA Genesis the games were sold just by cartridges (in my society). What was good about SEGA Genesis games were they had screenshoots from the game at the back of its box. The only "review" system we had was no different than public library and picking a decent book. You would say "dude I wanna play a game like Contra" and the guy would give you some. Good thing was in some places you could test the game in the shop before buying it. Yes, in the video game culture we grew up in there was "Play first, buy later" mentality as a fundamental fact we all grew up with. But sometimes we were interested in a game enough to buy it without testing it. We became expert on how the video game is by just checking its cartridges or box. Perhaps lots of kids became fan of certain video game company and used their knowledge as a "quality control". For example back then Konami and Electronic Arts (EA) games meant "the game is likely good". But Konami games offered fun games, EA was mostly about "good graphics" that sometimes can be boring.
Since we lacked a way to get to know about different or new video games, all we could do is going to the house of the kid and check which games he has. We would trade our games and all. This was the most useful review system we had.
Video game magazines are very new in my life and then when I read them I was like "how pointless it's". I remember reading about Metal Gear Solid 3 review. The guy clearly had no idea what kind of series it is, had no care for the stealth genre, he just said "dude the game is so boring, you have to wait in bushes for hours, my review score is 65/100, no sane person would buy it". This was not what I used to because usually kids would play the few games they had and appreciate the fun it has, we wouldn't bash video games on the floor unfairly. In a way after so many bad video games we had to experience but still managed to have fun, we were very aware of what makes a game "bad" is just because player has no idea how to have fun with it. Then it gaves us a review logic of "if the game allows good fun then the game is necessarily okay". Perhaps it's video game magazine culture that ruined video gaming. I can imagine some random guy played Top Gear 2 and instead of appreciating how you can modify your car he was like "it has no story" and his review score was 40/100 because of that then it would only generate a mindless customer type who believe what the majority believes cancel out personal opinions. Then they would only play a game just because there is a sense of "popularity", not because they personally like it.
Then it would cause people to hate some games like "Technocop" because "it's not popular" then they would like Sonic just because it's popular. IMO Sonic was popular, no one would deny it, but I never cared about a Sonic game other than the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 just because it has a fun gameplay unlike the previous games. Playing as an animal is not my cup of tea anyway. In comparison I even like Technocop way more than Sonic games lol. And then I was very crazy about "Outlander" despite there were kids who didn't like it much lol.
So all I can imagine is growing up with video game magazines or internet only caused a gamer type who was brainwashed to believe they have to either like X game or Y game. For me there was lots of instances when a kid would a hate a game so much he would talk about it in the school but then it would make me learn about this wonderful game that I still enjoy playing (Streets of Rage 1) lolol. "Dude the game is bad because the stab you a lot." Yeah dude, go play Mario then lol.
So imagine such a society, we had to explore the city to find some shops selling video games. Americans and Japanese people may cannot understand it because video games were huge obvious parts in their life, but not in my society. So we had to search for video game shops via recommendations just because some kids in the schools randomly found them or they were living very close to such shops. What was weird is video game consoles were sold in seperate places that rather you wouldn't expect them to sell it but they were just selling it by trying to convince parents when they were buying carpet or something lol. With a console they were also selling the most popular video game it can be and that's it. Lots of these kids who had a video game console had no idea there are actually new video games being sold. They thought they released a video game console and like 3 games with and then they called it a day lol.
In video game shops, the guy would just throw a box on us and say "pick the game you want in it, kid". Then all we could do was checking its box. Until SEGA Genesis the games were sold just by cartridges (in my society). What was good about SEGA Genesis games were they had screenshoots from the game at the back of its box. The only "review" system we had was no different than public library and picking a decent book. You would say "dude I wanna play a game like Contra" and the guy would give you some. Good thing was in some places you could test the game in the shop before buying it. Yes, in the video game culture we grew up in there was "Play first, buy later" mentality as a fundamental fact we all grew up with. But sometimes we were interested in a game enough to buy it without testing it. We became expert on how the video game is by just checking its cartridges or box. Perhaps lots of kids became fan of certain video game company and used their knowledge as a "quality control". For example back then Konami and Electronic Arts (EA) games meant "the game is likely good". But Konami games offered fun games, EA was mostly about "good graphics" that sometimes can be boring.
Since we lacked a way to get to know about different or new video games, all we could do is going to the house of the kid and check which games he has. We would trade our games and all. This was the most useful review system we had.
Video game magazines are very new in my life and then when I read them I was like "how pointless it's". I remember reading about Metal Gear Solid 3 review. The guy clearly had no idea what kind of series it is, had no care for the stealth genre, he just said "dude the game is so boring, you have to wait in bushes for hours, my review score is 65/100, no sane person would buy it". This was not what I used to because usually kids would play the few games they had and appreciate the fun it has, we wouldn't bash video games on the floor unfairly. In a way after so many bad video games we had to experience but still managed to have fun, we were very aware of what makes a game "bad" is just because player has no idea how to have fun with it. Then it gaves us a review logic of "if the game allows good fun then the game is necessarily okay". Perhaps it's video game magazine culture that ruined video gaming. I can imagine some random guy played Top Gear 2 and instead of appreciating how you can modify your car he was like "it has no story" and his review score was 40/100 because of that then it would only generate a mindless customer type who believe what the majority believes cancel out personal opinions. Then they would only play a game just because there is a sense of "popularity", not because they personally like it.
Then it would cause people to hate some games like "Technocop" because "it's not popular" then they would like Sonic just because it's popular. IMO Sonic was popular, no one would deny it, but I never cared about a Sonic game other than the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 just because it has a fun gameplay unlike the previous games. Playing as an animal is not my cup of tea anyway. In comparison I even like Technocop way more than Sonic games lol. And then I was very crazy about "Outlander" despite there were kids who didn't like it much lol.
So all I can imagine is growing up with video game magazines or internet only caused a gamer type who was brainwashed to believe they have to either like X game or Y game. For me there was lots of instances when a kid would a hate a game so much he would talk about it in the school but then it would make me learn about this wonderful game that I still enjoy playing (Streets of Rage 1) lolol. "Dude the game is bad because the stab you a lot." Yeah dude, go play Mario then lol.
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Yes, you never know when a poorly reviewed game proves you wrong and turns out to be great. 
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Maybe? It depends on the game. If I care about it then yeah, but if it's something I know I won't like and it has bad reviews as is then that'll just boost my uninterest.
But typically I do play them honestly, I don't like the kind of sheep mentality a lot of people have with review scores. I've seen it on this forum too, a lot of people like to talk about games they've never played which leads to frustrating arguments cause they have absolutely no idea what the hell they're talking about.
But typically I do play them honestly, I don't like the kind of sheep mentality a lot of people have with review scores. I've seen it on this forum too, a lot of people like to talk about games they've never played which leads to frustrating arguments cause they have absolutely no idea what the hell they're talking about.
Yes. Depends on the game. Reviews only bring my attention to possible flaws or misleading developer descriptions. But if the game looks like something I would want I try it. Many games I like may have gotten bad reviews but I loved it.
Happens a lot, for example, especially with new hardware demanding games get bad reviews because people don'ts have the system to run it with decent FPS and the bomb the game but I run it just fine and love it!
Happens a lot, for example, especially with new hardware demanding games get bad reviews because people don'ts have the system to run it with decent FPS and the bomb the game but I run it just fine and love it!
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For me, aggregate review scores are a waste of time. Just because a game is popular, doesn't mean that I will personally enjoy it.
Most of the time, I'll find a specific writer or content creator who seems to enjoy the same games as me and then use that to inform a purchase if I'm unsure.
Most of the time, I go based on what I've heard from friends and the way the game is being produced/marketed and base it on that. Then again, I'm the sort who'll wait for ages to get a game i want to play so I can get it cheaper, so maybe its different if you're constantly buying new games.
Most of the time, I'll find a specific writer or content creator who seems to enjoy the same games as me and then use that to inform a purchase if I'm unsure.
Most of the time, I go based on what I've heard from friends and the way the game is being produced/marketed and base it on that. Then again, I'm the sort who'll wait for ages to get a game i want to play so I can get it cheaper, so maybe its different if you're constantly buying new games.
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Yes, if it's Mega Man.
I don't usually pay too much attention to review scores as an overall since they represent the taste of the reviewers more than quality of the game most of the time. I follow some reviewers that mostly match my taste, but I still mostly look into a game in a more "raw" form such as watching bits of a walkthrough and reading into its synopsis/development to see if it interests me.
I don't even bother looking at the review scores when getting a game, because from my experience, games that I find incredibly boring usually get high review scores, and games that I find fun usually get low review scores. (Not always of course.)
It doesn't help that the review scores are extremely lopsided.
I even made a handy chart to better understand them:
0.0 to 4.9 = 0 stars/Terrible game
5.0 to 6.9 = 1 star/Bad game
7.0 to 8.9 = 2 stars/Average game
9.0 to 10.0 = 3 stars/Good game
I find it better to just look for a Youtuber who has a similar taste in games to me, see what they think to the game, and then make my own decision as to whether or not it'd be the type of game I'd enjoy. I've literally watched reviews which were nothing but negative the whole way through, but all of these negative points they were bringing up, were things that I actively look for in a game.
Which is why I find such reviewers so helpful, since they actually showcase those elements, allowing me to form my own opinions. :D
It doesn't help that the review scores are extremely lopsided.
I even made a handy chart to better understand them:
0.0 to 4.9 = 0 stars/Terrible game
5.0 to 6.9 = 1 star/Bad game
7.0 to 8.9 = 2 stars/Average game
9.0 to 10.0 = 3 stars/Good game
I find it better to just look for a Youtuber who has a similar taste in games to me, see what they think to the game, and then make my own decision as to whether or not it'd be the type of game I'd enjoy. I've literally watched reviews which were nothing but negative the whole way through, but all of these negative points they were bringing up, were things that I actively look for in a game.
Which is why I find such reviewers so helpful, since they actually showcase those elements, allowing me to form my own opinions. :D
I think it's interesting to talk about how Steam recommendations works but I don't think they hold any value on their own. It can be a marketing tool, it can be a community indicator, can be abused or trolled. Sometimes it can be even genuinely reflecting the quality of a game. But the vast majority of the time it just simply does not work. Anything there that has an overwhelmingly positive review has a strong probability of being a pretty good game for most. And anything overwhelmingly negative would be pretty bad.
It's a broken clock only able to give the correct time twice a day. And it's broken by design, because the platform's goal is only to sell games. Not rate games. Not give you a good game you may enjoy according to your personal tastes. Steam is only the biggest casino in the world. Not only with the CSGO skins and the money they launder with, but the whole structure of their business. A giant Skinner box.
As long as RetroAchievement's business is community-driven, niche and high effort, and made for people to give them an incentive to play (and only play) their games, I guess it will be a reliable way for me to discover the good stuff.
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Review scores have never been a factor in playing a game for me. Video Games at their very core are about entrainment and that is such a subjective thing that basing my entire opinion off of what someone else thinks often means missing out on games. Don't get me wrong i love gaming journalism and its important to the industry but it should only be a way to absorb more information about a game not build your entire opinion on it. Like with everything else (music,tv,movies,art,etc.) video games should reflect who you are and saying "I dont play that game because XX gave it a bad review" just feels like closing off your own personal experiences for someone elses... but i ramble my apologies.
Reviews are a good thing, just don't let them be the only deciding factor in whether or not a game is for you.
Reviews are a good thing, just don't let them be the only deciding factor in whether or not a game is for you.
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Yes, I'd play it regardless.
In the past I kept an eye on scores and reviews but, with time, I started seeing them as (obviously) a quite subjective way of reviewing a game. Plus, nowadays it's easier to have info about the games, regardless of reviews.
So I literally stopped reading most of them, just keeping an eye on the recommendation of some site or reviewer that were akin to my tastes but still checking demos or other ways to appreciate the game beforehand.
I often fall in love with some aspects of the story, gameplay or both that make me overlook even glaring problems. If the game "feels good" that's enough for me.
If it doesn't, I'll skip even the highest rated of games.
In the past I kept an eye on scores and reviews but, with time, I started seeing them as (obviously) a quite subjective way of reviewing a game. Plus, nowadays it's easier to have info about the games, regardless of reviews.
So I literally stopped reading most of them, just keeping an eye on the recommendation of some site or reviewer that were akin to my tastes but still checking demos or other ways to appreciate the game beforehand.
I often fall in love with some aspects of the story, gameplay or both that make me overlook even glaring problems. If the game "feels good" that's enough for me.
If it doesn't, I'll skip even the highest rated of games.
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