[General Discussion] The Death of the Game Review

The only time professional reviews have been useful is when they stick to facts (such as game features or stuff that was gutted at the last minute) or they show me a game that slipped under the radar I might have interest in. Once they get into the realm of opinion, they become useless (unless it's something that just begs for an attempt at humorous writing, like a laughably bad licensed game or something like Unlimited Saga). I can just use message boards for that or other people who have the game, which I always do, since I believe most "professional" reviewers have shown favorites for a long time (or at least have been highly encouraged to). Or I can just find a way to sample the game for myself if I'm interested enough.

Normally though, my own instinct and the pretty pictures online are more than enough to tell whether or not I'll like something and if I'm wrong...I lose a few bucks or break even dumping the POS on ebay to someone who wants it and move on.

I think the problem lies more with the people who don't really know what they want and base a lot of their purchases using professional reviews as a main guideline (read: hype).

Jam it back in, in the dark.