[General Discussion] The Death of the Game Review

Originally Posted by Megalith

These days, with downloadable game demos being so accessible, and in particular, free, is there honestly any point to game reviews anymore, other than to amuse oneself with the ego of a publisher or what advertising money can buy?

Pretty much all of my purchasing decisions have been made by demos I've downloaded off Live or PSN in the past year. Although most of the demos are short, it tells me all I need to know...how great it actually looks, how it controls, etc. And I will always know the feel of the title, something that a review will never be able to portray.

I agree to some degree, what if the demo only shows a good part of the game (as trailers to movies show the interesting parts of the film). Example being Timeshift, while the game was enjoyable the full version felt very tedious and boring; hence why I still look to reviews. Also, I've played demos that left a very bad taste in my mouth, but once I tried the full version I really enjoyed the game (Perfect Dark Zero, as that game grew on me as I played it more)

Jam it back in, in the dark.