It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussion (archive)How To Use User Reviews(33 posts)(33 posts)
(33 posts)
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Posted March 23, 2014
One thing I've noticed (though not so much for games, but it seems to have merit where music is concerned) is the total number of reviews. Some items people seem to only take the time to review if they really liked it enough to want to tell people about it. If you toss 5$ at something and it's meh, then why even give it the time it takes to tell others it's just OK, or marginal?

Something with 300 reviews is more likely to be good that something with 55, assuming the visibility of the items are equal, like albums from the same artist. If a band has 5 albums, the one with the most reviews is probably the best of the bunch. They will probably all have 4 1/2 stars, but there is probably an album where only the super fans are writing reviews and it has like a quarter the reviews the their major album.

It's a lot easier to gauge with music where there are direct comparisons, but if nobody is reviewing something either people just don't know what they are missing, or it could just not be worth talking about.
Posted March 23, 2014
I tend not to use the reviews on gog in isolation.
too many reviews either 5 star or from a "when I played it back in the day....". lot of 1 star normally means game is usually crap. there's actually few decent reviews for most games on Gog which I'd pass as reviews which give u enough detail to base decision on...in conjunction with reviews off Google or let's play type videos. maybe Gog should do their own in-house reviews of older games and put them permanently on game cards.?? (plenty of games when on promo only have video of the launch or promo trailer instead of gameplay... screenshots sometimes aren't enough)
Posted March 23, 2014
The correct way to use user reviews is not just reading every review out there , its a lot easier if you read up first reviews written by your friends on gog/steam etc that should make it easier to relate or sometimes you will find people who write good user reviews consistently that matches your take on the game, mark down such people and read their reviews.
Posted March 24, 2014
1) Read/watch the most recent reviews possible since an infinite number of changes can be made as time passes.

2) Take into account what people liked and disliked about the game.

3) Know that complaints may no longer be valid since they could have been addressed by time you read/watched the review.

4) Consider completely negative/positive reviews since they can tell you the worst/best a game has to offer.

5) Partially avoid reviewers who may be encouraged to give one-sided reviews, and take a teaspoon of salt with every review they make.

6) Seek reviewers who point out things that most others either miss or ignore.

7) Always read/watch multiple reviews.

8) Pick a reviewer and read/watch a few reviews of a game you feel strongly towards. If he/she is completely at odds with you, keep that fact in mind when reading/watching any of his/her other reviews. I have completely disagreed with my go-to reviewers in the past. Probably because their taste is different than mine.
Post edited March 24, 2014 by yarow12
Posted March 24, 2014
avatar
UniversalWolf: Despite the tongue-twister title of this thread, it actually has a serious topic: what is the best way to use reviews of a game to decide whether or not you should buy it?

I've been doing a survey of the user reviews of some of the games I've purchased here on GoG.com, paying especially close attention to the games I found disappointing and the games I found to be much better than expected. My goal is to figure out what to look for in a user review, and what to ignore, in order to get an accurate picture of a particular game. Here are my preliminary ideas.

1) Throw out all 5-star reviews, and all 1-star reviews.

Now, this is not perfect. There are lots of games out there that deserve 5 stars, and a few that deserve 1 star. However, there are simply far too many 5-star reviews, because it seems to be a natural human tendency to overrate things. Try to discern which 5-star reviews are accurate when 85% of them for any particular game are 5-star. It's impossible. On the other hand, 1-star reviews, although fewer in number, tend to be the most thoughtless reviews of all. If you spend some time reading 1-star reviews, you'll see things like, "I started it up once and it didn't work. One star." That's not helpful at all. Many of them are written by individuals who had technical problems of one kind or another, but unless it's a technical problem that affects everyone across the board, it doesn't say much about the game itself. Finally, based on my short survey, 4-star and 2-star reviews both tend to be more thoughtful and accurate than 5- or 1-star reviews.

2) Try to differentiate between kinds or praise and kinds of criticism.

What I mean is, if a positive review starts with, "I played this game all the time when I was 12!" that's not a very sound basis for an opinion. It doesn't really tell you what the game will be like for an adult. Similarly, you might see a negative review of a game that complains about the graphics, even if the game was made in 1996. That's also not very helpful. On the other hand, if you see a positive review that says, "This game has been on my hard drive for 15 years, and I still play it," that's probably a good sign. On the whole, judging the different kinds of praise and criticism is more subjective than my first suggestion, so I recommend figuring it out for yourself. But you should do it.

Hopefully others have more ideas to contribute. Thanks.
The best thing to do is ignore all gog.com reviews and just watch let's play videos.
Posted March 24, 2014
Also another thing to be wary about gog user reviews is reviews that only complain about price and not talk about the actual game. Take a look at the reviews for Spellforce 2: Drangon Storm for a good example of this.
Posted March 24, 2014
Ignore them
Posted March 24, 2014
Kinda hard to ignore the ones on Shadow Dragon when there is only nine reviews and seven of them either complain about the price or complain only about the other reviews compiling about the price. Which leaves two reviews that are somewhat helpful which is kinda sad because I doubt Shadow Dragon is a bad game. On the bright side most people can figure out that if they liked Shadow Wars or even the first game, chances are they will like Dragon Storm.
Posted March 24, 2014
avatar
ChrisSD: My advice, for both professional and user reviews is: Ignore the score, ignore the hype, read the actual good/bad points they mention and weigh them up for yourself.. It's also worth asking yourself if this reviewer likes similar games to the ones you like. This isn't always easy to tell but I'd take more notice of someone who has similar tastes to me.
That's essentially what I'm recommending, but many games on GoG.com have 100+ reviews, and you probably aren't going to do that with each and every one. That's why I begin with tossing all the 5- and 1-star reviews. It narrows the selection down to a small number, and from what I've seen the, 2-, 3-, and 4-star reviews are also more thoughtful and helpful to begin with.
Posted March 24, 2014
I think its a site by site thing. For GoG I take only my own opinion for older games from my childhood. For newer games that seem interesting I am suspect of anything with under an overall 4 star rating, immediately raises alarms. I then try and read the reviews that contain a few paragraphs as usually these people felt strongly enough to put a few words to digital paper.

This system usually works for me. Best Example - Tropico - I have fun with this game and found that most reviews were dead on for my tastes. Worst - Hostile Waters - Very highly rated but I find this one to be junk. Purely a nostalgia game for folks I believe.
Posted March 24, 2014
I look for lengthy reviews, both good and bad. It's not the length that's important, mind you, but it could indicate that at least some thought has been put into it so it might be worth reading. If the review has well thought out points about why the game is good or bad that involves some depth of examination into gameplay, story, bugs, etc. then I'll give it some consideration. But I also look up professional reviews as well as player reviews from a few other places. Overall, I find this method gives me a fairly decent grasp of whether or not the game will be something I want to play.
Posted March 24, 2014
The only reason I know there are user reviews is because every few months someone makes a thread to complain about them :P
Posted March 24, 2014
I always look for any negative points being made regardless of the number of stars, see if they are repeated across multiple reviews, and then decide if that negative thing would bother me or not. Reviews without any negatives are just fluff, I have no use for them.
Posted March 24, 2014
I always consider this, when checking user ratings and reviews (for games\movies):
1- if the title is new: ratings are always unreliable. You'll have to wait or risk, sorry.
2- if the title has aged a bit: the average rating is useful only if supported by a good number of votes and it's not too much higher than critics'. If it's >6\10 , continue (the title seems worth checking).

3-- skip values too far from the average vote (so, usually <4 and >9)
4-- check the negative reviews and understand if they're useful or bul***it for you.
5-- if you're still interested, read the positive comments afterwards.
6-- check some Youtube videos by users (playthrough beginning or reviews)
7-- all ok? Buy, play and enjoy!
(if you notice that your final rating is often too different.. change site for reviews)

p.s: Keane is the obvious exception :P
Post edited March 24, 2014 by phaolo
Posted March 24, 2014
avatar
tinyE: The only reason I know there are user reviews is because every few months someone makes a thread to complain about them :P
I'm not actually complaining about them. I'm just trying to find the best way to make use of them. They are what they are.

Instead of complaining I made a list of games I've actually bought and played, divided them into disappointments and surprising goodies, and then went back and read many of the reviews for each to see if there were any patterns. There were.

The test will be whether or not I can more accurately predict how much I'll like a game by using the reviews as I've theorized. But first I have to buy some more games. I'm sure it will happen sooner or later.
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)How To Use User Reviews(33 posts)(33 posts)
(33 posts)