How much stock do you put in reviews/impressions

[ryan36]

I loved Chris's reviews this year...the most in depth a Madden review has seen in awhile.

It seems that all the "legacy" issues that bug the crap out of me in Madden are still there, and I haven't played it yet. I read the demo roundtable... and one of the contributors said that the demo seemed worse than retail.

...and then I read there are certain bugs (while trying to stay out of the bugs and glitches thread)...as well as crazy design decisions, some of which probably won't bother me.

The thing I know I will HATE is the commentary/dead crowd which made Madden 11 pretty boring to me. I know the game will take sliders to be closer to sim.

Yet I STILL WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL... I already traded in NCAA this year, I found it lacking in many ways.

So how much do you weigh other people's opinion when considering a buy?

[KBLover]

Largely, I used the demo, but I did consider some things I read in the impressions thread to decide to give M12 a shot.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I play the demo to make my impressions. Sure I read everybody 2 cents because I love reading, but at the end of the day I make my opnions based on what I see with my own eyes.

Tons of youtube videos exists for every game that is out or about to come out. So therefore it is a lot to gather info from.

[poisedjase]

none at all review and impressions mean nothing to me thats how they feel about the game they dont have the same taste in games i do

[CRMosier_LM]

I always go by my own personal tastes. Demos do nothing for me really unless its a game that is a first run. Reviewers are the last place I pay attention to.

[CigarCityBandit]

Here is how I use Reviews:
I go to gamerankings.com and I several Bad reviews, several great
reviews and the several average reviews of the game.
Sometimes there are upwards of 50+ reviews of the more popular titles.
After using this process I usually know all of the flaws and positives of any
given game. This process has saved me LOTS of cash since Ive started
doing this. So while reviews are valuable-I NEVER use one review
as a guideline for whether or not I will like a game.

[roadman]

I read them because I'm interested in others decision, but I don't allow the reviews to impact my decision.

I'm my own best critic.

I just felt from Chris's review that he tested the game out of the box without slider adjustments and he might have said that in his review, can't remember.

I said this in another thread, there isn't a sports game on the 360 that I haven't personalized sliders to my enjoyment of the game.

[poopoop]

Individual reviews little to no stock at all.

Reviews overall as a group a decent amount. When you read 10 reviews that all say the same thing, easier to believe it's true.