Do you buy games cause of reviews?

I started this after reading other thread talking about corruption in game journalism. I come to GB cause I find alot of the content t be great. I don't need them to tell me which games to buy. As I mentioned above usually the only time I am influenced is on games that I've never heard of before. I loved dragon age, and I will probably be getting inquisition when it comes out. Am I going to wait to see review scores before making up my mind, No. I have already started looking and different videos and details about the game and will use that info to help influence my decision.

Quick Looks and playthrough vids kinda removed my need for reviews.

I will get a game I'm not super interested in (Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry 3) if the reviews are amazing but usually I'll just stick to what I like. I don't need reviews to tell me I'll enjoy Disgaea or Bayonetta.

Ehm, no?

Good reviews will never make me buy a game I'm not interested in. However, bad review scores with valid points will stop me from buying a game I'm interested in.

Sometimes, yeah, but about 90% of the time I can get what I need from stuff like Quick Looks. I can take what I see from the guys playing the game and how they feel about it and know how that'll reflect how I feel about the game. I suppose it helps that I've followed the guys here long enough to know how their feelings about a game will gel with mine, and I'm old enough to know what I like and not need a feeling of vindication about games I get, like I did when I was younger. I can fully understand why people do though, like it to make themselves feel more confident in a wise purchase, or just not knowing what they like.

I wish we could get our hands on some pre-order numbers, cause if millions(I have no idea what the number is) of people are pre-ordering COD, and millions(once again I have no idea what the numbers are) buying day one. I have to wonder how much a review matters. I can see how something that is more annual like COD or AC or madden this wouldn't matter as much as new IP like mordor.

Most of the time I just get stuff anyway, because I'm a crazy hoarder archivist person who likes to play a little of every game? Most recently though, all the positivity surrounding Shadow of Mordor pushed me over the edge as it seemed like a really cynical, Arkham Origins-style stopgap kinda thing. I was pleasantly surprised by its reception, so I picked it up.

If I hear good things about it then yes.

But usually it takes more than just a review to get me interested in a game, unless it's a franchise/developer I'm already familiar with.

Yes, No and Sometimes if I'm on the fence.

Yes. Sometimes I write off a game when it's announced because it's not my thing. For example, the new Wolfenstien game. The reviews have been raving about it saying it is better than it has any right to be. Motorstorm Pacific Rift was another example as I have trouble justifying $60 for a racing game.

No, I know what I like. I'm going to buy GTA and Persona games without reviews. Even if I know GTA peaked years ago I still pick them up out of habit. I've 100% completed them all, so I might as well keep going.

Sometimes if I'm on the fence. While Motorstorm Pacific Rift was fantastic (and the DLC even better), Motorstorm Apocalypse was very bad. So when #DriveClub came along I knew I'd have to wait and see.

I look at reviews to inform my purchases, but i'll buy a game that god somewhat bad reviews if im interested in it anyways. I tend to buy more games then i finish anyways though, waste of money in some cases but i like to tinker with a lot of different games, steam is the bane of my logical reasoning.

never for only a review but I often ingest multiple reviews and articles to see if the features and contents of a game are things that might interest me. With the way this site is very personality driven I can often tell if a certain member with the same views of a genre as me likes it its a good sign.

Half and half. If there is a game I want, and it's reviews are OK, I'll probably buy it.

This year: yes. I bought Wolfenstein and Shadows of Mordor pretty much just because the reviews were so good. But this year I was kind of desperate for some good single player campaigns.

This exactly. I find watching gameplay allows me to make an informed decision far better than reading an opinion on a game.

I never would have picked up Beyond Good and Evil without the positive reviews. I'm really glad I did.

I watch videos. A video can tell me more about what I care about (gameplay) than any review can. If I cared about story at all, reviews would most likely be more useful. But... Spoilers.. 100 hour games will easily have the first 20-30 hours spoiled by just reading a review. The first 20-30 hours of an RPG are pretty slow moving as it is, if you know all the minor twists and turns, that's going to make the early game even more tedious. It's like reading the back of the dvd box.

Reviews are semi useless to me for reasons like that.

Not at all. There are plenty of places to find enough video footage to form your own opinion on the matter.

It seems like a lot you are on the same page as I am, where we are looking for info/gameplay of games before they come out to get clear picture of what the game actually is. It does seem like most of you are buying lots of games. I wonder how much it makes a difference if you buy 2-5 games a year or 10+?

I've been playing a lot of destiny, and I like it, I'm kind of hooked like Brad. If I would have waited and heard all the talk about the game I'm not sure if I would have got it or not. However, I was looking for reason to buy PS4 so I didn't wait.

I use a combination of reviews, streams and video to form an opinion. Even for games I know I'll pick up. For example, Pro Evolution Soccer rolls around every year and the previews for the new one are starting to pour out. I'm using the opportunity to see how certain aspects shape up. I've already formed an opinion on the gameplay as I liked the demo and, in this day and age, demos are becoming rarer to find.

Not often, but sometimes. Latest was Shadow of Mordor. Disappointed in my purchase so far. I should go back to it at some point.

@zevvion: Your one of the first people I've heard speak poorly of the game.

For new games, reviews don't necessarily make a big impact on my decision. If I'm going to buy a game within a few weeks of it being released, I've probably been set in that decision for a while.

Reviews are big for me when buying games that are 2-5 years old that I missed when they were new. I'm much more willing to take a chance on a game that I wasn't interested in at its release when it 1) is discounted and 2) reviewed very well.

Not always but there are a good amount of games in my collection that I bought because of reviews. The one that most comes to mind for me is Batman: AA. I was not going to buy that game but sice all the reviews were positive I bought it and loved it.

There is usually so much information about a game available during the preview cycle that reviews don't matter that much. Pre-release hands-on impressions from things like E3 and Pax are often very helpful too.

Rarely. Two examples this year where I had my suspicions and wanted to wait for reviews.

Destiny - The beta's lack of mission variety made me wait on reviews. I wanted to see if things pick up and if the story isn't crap. After the late review copies and the underwhelming live streams, my 5 hours of apathetic beta time was enough.

Mordor - I like the developer and the game looked really cool, but I've been weary of open-world games. I wanted to see if the systems all came together or if it was a jumbled mess. High scores and the videos at release nudged it into the "buy" category.

Usually it's to confirm a purchase I'm on the fence about, even if I'm leaning towards purchase or not. And, even then, it's not so much reviews as word of mouth and my own experience with that genre or series / publisher.

For example, I have put an inhuman amount of time into Civilization IV. Even though I'm not a fan of Civ V, I know the developer fairly well, and understand what happened behind the scenes to lead to the initial release of Civilization V. I also hear that game has come a long way since then. So I'm likely to pick up Beyond Earth, but will also be looking to see what people I trust say about the game first.

For an example of a game on the other side of the fence: I also loved Dragon Age, I am definitely waiting until I see reviews for Inquisition before I even think about picking it up. But I suspect we had very different reactions to the 2nd game in the series. EA has not been on a winning streak, and most of the best players have left BioWare at this point.

Still, if someone where to tell me that Monolith would make an awesome open-world LotR game, I would have been skeptical, so it's always good to keep yourself open minded.

Listening to the Bombcast and watching the quick looks convinced me to buy Saints Row The Third and Far Cry 3 and then most recently Shadow of Mordor.

Essentially, I know what I like, and no matter how many mediocre reviews or great reviews a game gets, I'll still in the end make my own decision. That being said, I sometimes consider the overall verdict of many different reviews. I mean, if a game consistently got 2's and 3's I probably won't buy it.

Sometimes reviews (written by the guys here and, to some extent, Gamespot) are able to convince me about the quality of a game I might have still had some doubts about. The podcast is potentially even more effective at that, I gotta admit--free talk with lots of opinions colliding.

never a single review.. I read tons of them, watch streams, watch quick looks, browse Neogaf OT thread opinions, reddit opinions, a ton of podcasts. The volume of opinions usually allows me to make a pretty educated decision on whether or not i will like a game.

Yeah, reception on this site seems to be really positive and so does reviewer reception. When you look at it more in depth though, there are actually quite a bit of people who don't like it so much (when you look at the game specific board for instance).

I just think that game looks extremely bland compared to Assassin's Creed or Batman. Those games are filled with atmosphere and have a rich world to explore. Mordor in comparison seems just like a big open area with some rocks. I really think it lacks atmosphere and an impressive environment. I was also slightly disappointed to find out it doesn't do anything better than Batman or Assassin's Creed at all. I watched the Quick Look before I bought it and they said as if it did everything better than AC. Well, my guy makes just as much pathfinding errors during the free running as in AC, which is odd because Mordor has a lot less things to climb.

In the end, the most severe issue with the game is that it is too easy. Not a huge problem at the face of it; most games are. But that Nemesis system sounds so cool, but is completely dependent on you dying in order to bare fruit. I just didn't die that much. Twice so far, of which one was intentional. The fact that the game just repopulates the Captains whenever you get close to killing all of them makes it a real bummer. I really liked the game when I first popped it in and played it, but at some point they just made all the Captains that I killed (decapitated or no) come back to life with the exact same strengths, weaknesses and as far as I could tell greeting. As if to say: 'dude, don't kill them so fast. We're just going to pretend you didn't do that'. So, I basically 'lost' two and a half hours of progress when they did that. And they did it twice.

All that just makes it really unappealing to keep playing. That Nemesis system is wasted on that game by the way it's implemented. The combat doesn't support it to be there. I've heard stories of people how they were killed and faced that guy again later and barely made it out alive and stuff like that. I had none of that. It's just me killing them and them coming back to life because I am supposed to die in between? It's just really off putting as I feel like I'm pushed to just follow the critical path and stop messing around in the world because none of what I do there makes a difference. When that happens in an open world game, it is an issue for me. Especially in this game where I feel the critical path is pretty boring.

You should watch this:

Now, please note that I think this guy is a total jackass in the way he speaks, but my experience has been similar to his. I've actually done the not looking at the screen bit when talking to a roommate.

It's just not my thing I guess. I like somewhat of a challenge. That Nemesis system sounds really cool, but in order for it to work I have to roleplay and 'pretend' I died to some Captain at some point by intentionally getting killed. That's... not what I want out of this game.

I haven't read a review in a long time. I get by with gameplay videos, and recommendations.

I read review to help me out on certain games but another then that I just get games that I know would be fun and good.

No. With the rise of "First impression" videos, reviews became pretty much irrelevant to me when it comes to giving me an idea if a game might be something for me.

I think I used to wait for the review. Now though I'd rather watch the Quick Look AND listen to opinions on the Bombcast. Both of these together tell me way more about if I would like the game or not. For example looking at the Destiny review, 4/5 isn't bad. But hearing about Brad and Jeff talk about it, makes me know it's not the game for me.

Even with that said, when it came to Alien Isolation, I only looked at the review. When it comes to these kind of games I really only trust Patrick, so once I saw his review I basically knew how I would feel about it if I were to buy it. So I guess it depends on the game!

Video of a game + general opinion of a game is usually enough for me. If it's something I'm a bit on the fence for, I will usually go a bit deeper on reviews and learn why a game is good or bad before I make the purchase.

Sometimes, but it is usually a lot of unedited play videos that get me to consider something if I was not already familiar with it or the developer.

For all the people watching gameplay videos, don't you worry about spoilers?

I'm using QL's for most of my decision making, but reviews still matter. That is because I do not buy into the 'Reviews are opinion'. That may be for others and for that matter, by some others who enjoy being personalities first. But I try to listen to the categories covered and how the reviewer felt about them. I'm not above shamelessly regarding numerical scores for some indication. Then I will still read one high plus review and one high negative review. I have passed on some well regarded games that way, because I am of course looking for something I might natively like. Dark Souls and and it's kindred as are much as JRPG as I care to get (meant near facetiously) Wolfenstein was first day and solid. Shadow of Mordor I also bought full price because of review coverage. I should not have bought Stick of Truth at full price for me, and I did have reservations that I did not listen to.

So it goes.

Sometimes, but sometimes I buy games in despite the reviews. I just know what I'll like and what I won't.

Sometimes they help me to form my opinion but they do not GIVE me my opinion. I check reviews and previews fairly regularly.

They influence my decision at the very least.

Pretty sure there was another thread on this just the other day http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/do-review-scores-matter-to-you-1497168/, but to reiterate, I generally trust my own experience over that of reviews.

That said, if there is a game in a genre that I'm not usually fond of, but that is universally reviewed as being great, those reviews might convince me to pick it up.

D) No, but I have seriously bought a damn lot of them simply based on quicklooks.

I would however, like to buy Natural Doctrine. Just because I feel for something brutal to treat me until I get either GTA5PS4 or the videocapture hardware.

I almost always go with what I like more so than what a review tells me. If I keep hearing good things about a game it's certainly possible that would sway me eventually.

I used to..but I've come to rely on the quick looks or youtube more. It's convinced me to give..even some low rated games a try.

Occasionally, but usually only in instances when I wouldn't have otherwise known about that game in the first place.

I'd like to claim that I don't and that I base my purchases on personal taste and careful research, but the large stack of PS3 games on my desk are probably all in the top 20-30% on Metacritic. So, either my tastes mysteriously align with the vast majority of critics, or they are having some kind of influence on which games I buy.