Do reviews influence your gaming purchases?


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How many of us wait for others to try the game first or even a few other guinea pigs to try things out here on the forum first? I know I do, unless it's something like Zelda. :whistle:

Anyway, these researchers checked out how people's rating schema and purchase decisions are influenced by positive or negative reviews.

They used Plants vs. Zombies to test with. What do you guys think? how much influence do those reviews have on us? How many times have you bought a highly rated game to be disappointed?

Source: http://www.destructoid.com/study-influence-of-review-scores-on-game-purchases-178317.phtml

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80% of the time I will base my purchase on a review - the other times I'd have some other reason to buy the game (for example, I was interested in it for a while, or the series if it's a sequel :p)

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there are some games like zelda, ratchet and clank etc where i dont care what they say, because you know its gonna be good.

However games like Fairytale fights, Naughty Bear etc a review will play a big role, as you dont know how well those games have turned out.

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Fortunately I get most games before reviews are out so I'm able to go in blind and often without seeing any of the hype. Would a review sway me? Nope. Unless Giant Bomb or the hive mind at GAF defined it as a failure. I'd give most games a play through.

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Yeah most of the time I buy my games based on a good review.While i'm in the shop i may pick another one up out of impulse though.

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not so much actually ... for example ME got a high score and only recently (ie 4 months before ME2 came out I got into ME1) so yeah ...

similarly other games like Splinter Cell are cool but not my type, I would watch my bro play it but I cannot play it ...

and then there are games that I would get despite the bad reviews and turned up that I actually like em .... either way, don't knock it till you try it

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Most of the time before I purchase I'll read a few reviews not just to see what the reviewer thinks, just to see what they say about the game mechanics how you literally play the game, what the story is about, what your objectives are and usually a reviewer will compare the game to something they have played previously which may give me a good idea of how it'll feel to play the game myself.

I very rarely base my purchase decisions on the 'final score' that a reviewer will give a game.

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Well it helps me give a better idea on what the game is about gamplay,features,graphics etc. but i am always the final decision maker when it comes to purchasing games but reviews do help me decide.

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I might read some reviews to get a insight about the gameplay but I would never buy based on the review score as I own many games that received bad scores and I really enjoyed them.

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Not reviews per se, but good word of mouth influences my purchases. I also buy some games with bad reviews because of the technology they use. Example being Dark Void, which I bought just to justify buying a dedicated nvidia card for PhysX. I also bought FUEL because it has Games for windows Live and I like adding to my gamerscore.

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Reviews from both average users and professional testers always make my choice for me usually on whether a game deserves my hard-earned money.

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I'll rely on my boyfriend on whether or not a game is worthy of my attention. I'm rather picky and he knows my preference.. He ends up playing every game that is released for his work so he'll know whether or not to make me play it.

He recently played Ghost Warrior: Sniper. Had a quiet release but out of nowhere it recently picked up some popularity so he had to do some guides for it for work. I happened to be over when he was playing/capturing and man this game looked so damn awful (in terms of gameplay.) Just based on his own reactions and having to see all the bull**** AI.. PASS! ;)

I rarely let large sites like IGN, 1UP influence me based on their reviews alone.

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To a point. If the game gets good reviews however I don't like some major element then I will pass, but if it gets good reviews and it is something I am looking for then sure I will get it. Also, if it just seems like it could be fun in some way, I may pick it up for the right price.

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Used to.

But after buying a couple of supposed AAA titles that were nothing more than average sequels i decided to try before buying. No demo = no buy.

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This really isn't related to the OP, but I have to get something off my chest.

I have a huge problem with the current standards in video game review scores. Currently, they are rated on a grading system (50=F, 60=D, 70=C, 80=B, 90=A) but those scores don't really reflect the overall quality of the game. What's the point of starting the review scale at 50? Why not rate a game on a star system similar to movies and restaurants, like 0-5 stars?

This is why I almost always read reviews rather than look at numbers or Metacritic.

There really should be a "Rotten Tomatoes" of games based on binary summaries of whether reviewers either did or didn't like a game. That seems to make more sense than a grading scale.

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I saw a little discussion about this research article on Attack of the Show and they mentioned how crappy reviews don't seem to affect movies.

That's kind of true when you look at movies like Twilight and Transformers 2 (but I liked Transformers 2 :blush:)

I'm not sure the same works for games unless it is an established IP.

Reviews from both average users and professional testers always make my choice for me usually on whether a game deserves my hard-earned money.

Yeah same here since the average user can often reflect my choices better than a professional in some instances. A good mix of both with a little common sense seems like the way to go.

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80% of the time I will base my purchase on a review - the other times I'd have some other reason to buy the game (for example, I was interested in it for a while, or the series if it's a sequel :p)

Same here when it comes to things like Uncharted, AC, GTA series etc. I started looking at metacritic too, but that's not quite as good as it may seem.

I rarely let large sites like IGN, 1UP influence me based on their reviews alone.

What about people's reactions here and other forums? I almost always read what people here say.

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I only look at reviews if I need a final buy push.

Other then that I avoid reviews because I have my own way of enjoyment for games so I don't need the opinions of others :p

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This really isn't related to the OP, but I have to get something off my chest.

I have a huge problem with the current standards in video game review scores. Currently, they are rated on a grading system (50=F, 60=D, 70=C, 80=B, 90=A) but those scores don't really reflect the overall quality of the game. What's the point of starting the review scale at 50? Why not rate a game on a star system similar to movies and restaurants, like 0-5 stars?

This is why I almost always read reviews rather than look at numbers or Metacritic.

There really should be a "Rotten Tomatoes" of games based on binary summaries of whether reviewers either did or didn't like a game. That seems to make more sense than a grading scale.

Agreed 100%. The biggest problem that I have with sites like Metacritic or Gamerankings is that the average score that a game receives doesn't always properly convey the sentiment that was behind those reviews. Sites like IGN seem to give out an automatic five points just for shipping the game. From there, flawed games get a 6, average games get a 7, good games get an 8, great games get 9.0-9.4, and GOTY contenders get 9.5-10. Meanwhile, sites that grade on a five point scale (Giant Bomb, for instance) give flawed games 2 stars and average games 3 stars. The sentiments are similar, but the scores are totally different. Tycho over at Penny Arcade made this argument a while ago, and for the most part I'm just echoing what he said and what I feel are valid points. At the end of the day, the average score that a game receives is useful in a relative sense, but from an absolute perspective, it's a completely worthless number.

I too would like a Rotten Tomatoes-style site for games.

As for the topic, I must admit that I do allow myself to be swayed by review scores when looking at games that I don't know a great deal about. For instance, I only had a passing interest in Alpha Protocol, and when I saw it getting destroyed by reviews, I decided that it was worth skipping. Meanwhile, I was very excited for Final Fantasy XIII, and so the lukewarm reception didn't stop me from buying it. In a perfect world, I would try every game for myself, but when you have to pick and choose, it's nice to have a collection of experts that you can trust (for me it's the fine folks at Giant Bomb above all others).

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It depends on the game. If it's a popular game that I know of, I'd usually read a review or two and buy it regardless. If it's a game that I barely know anything about, I'd head over to the usual review sites (IGN, GameSpot, Metacritic, etc.) before making my decision.

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Certain reviews that go over details that I find important influence my opinion. The score isn't all that important to me and I often don't care to hear about everything in the game that is awesome. I want to know about annoyances and bad mechanics more than just praise. Anybody can praise something they like.

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