Waiting...and reading the reviews - LucianoJJ's Blog

LucianoJJ's Blog

Waiting...and reading the reviews

Posted on July 10, 2010 at 11:14 AM.

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Being cheap will keep me from taking part in the release day frenzy that will follow NCAA Football 11. My own review, if I get around to writing one, will be up on this blog, by the end of the month, if ever. Reviews help. Good people write them. Talented people write them. No disrespect will be shown for the reviewers, and the sites they appear on.

At first, we were fans of sports, then teams. Now we are fans of game series, and game publishers. Rather than reading a review as gospel, consider this. We usually balance our purchase with the advice of the reviewer. Anything under 6 out of 10 is generally garbage. When the review is between 6 and 7, it's the reviewer's way of saying "meh, whatever." The middle point for all games worth buying is at 8 and above.

We are better off considering how long we play these games. How much do we enjoy them? Are they buggy or downright glitchy? Does the AI cheat to the point of killing us, stealing wins? Did the patches fix everything? Did the developer continue to support the game? Did they design it to avoid online exploits?

The average price of a new game is $60. Buy it, play it, then reconsider it in two months. That's a dollar a day, my friends. Was it worth it? When did the new release buzz wear off? How far have you progressed? What have you found, and tried when you dug deeper?

Think about it. By the time the real college season rolls around, you'll know. Apply this to all of your other games, too.

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Jul 10

Nice blog. I have been gaming for 30 years long before reviews were a part of the normal release day frenzy. Reviews are a great way to see what people think of a game but I rarely rely on reviews to determine a purchase.

For me, if there is a game I am interested in I always try the demo as well as reading reviews. I will not be ignorant enough to state that reviews don't have some sort of persuasion but I typically like to read multiple reviews to get a "feel" for what the game may offer, positive and negative.

I have seen games get high scores but I didn't enjoy them because they weren't my cup of tea. And I have also bought games that received lower scores that I enjoyed.

The only issue I have with reviews is hype. Some games garner so much hype up to its release date that the reviewer may be let down and let that impact the score they give. One game that comes to mind is The Force Unleashed. This game had tons of exposure prior to release but was given average scores across the board. I found this game absolutely incredible.

In short, I would suggest that gamers take reviews with a grain of salt. We have so many other options within our grasp such as demos and renting to give us our own opportunity to judge a game's worth.