I don't see anything particularly outrageous about forming a judgment after playing 20 hours into a game, even if it's not finished. I mean, I have a job, I have my studies, I have other hobbies ... any review that starts with, "Well, the first 20 hours suck, but ..." already tells me what I want to know.

And no, I don't think that expecting a critic to watch a movie all the way through is at all the same thing. There's something like an 18 hour difference, for starters.

Having said that, I'll add, in the spirit of the thread, that reviewers are so reluctant to criticize AAA games and major franchises that trying to form on opinion on those games based on reviews is a pretty hopeless task.

edit: I meant to add that although I didn't play PC games growing up, and can't comment about that, Nintendo Power reviews were pretty dire; I don't think bad reviews is a modern problem

Features.
It's as simple as that. If I read a review I want to know how the game PLAYS. What's in it and if those features work. Why the hell is that so hard to find in reviews nowadays?! And how do they even manage to write reviews without it?

This is probably one of the most common threads, it's up there aside such classic threads as 'This belongs on GOG but I'm too lazy to search for the official thread', 'I hate/love DRM' and 'This particular game I played in the 90s was the greatest experience in the history of mankind.'

Yeah, most mainstream reviewers are next to worthless and its tough for a game reviewer to break out of the mould.

Example:
Five years ago there was a reviewer working for Gamespot named Jeff Gerstmann. He was assigned to review Kyne and Lynch and, like a normal human being, he thought it was shit and gave it a shit rating. Unfortunately for him Eidos poured a ton of cash into advertising on Gamespot and they didn't take kindly to an unbiased and truthful review of their steaming turd dressed up as a game. He was fired, Gamespot had a PR nightmare and no one bought Kyne and Lynch.

There are much larger forces at work here as to whether a game is good and this example is just one of those forces which has led to the apathy towards reviewers that you are feeling. Go with smaller critic sites or individual reviews. There are many funny and entertaining reviewers that will give you an unbiased take on a game. Look around, spread the word on sites like GOG and put crooked sites like Gamespot out of business. I'm going to recommend Lazy Game Reviews.

Here is a link to the story from Gamespot and you can see just how dishonest they were about the situation.
http://uk.gamespot.com/news/spot-on-gamespot-on-gerstmann-6183666

With games reviews I do tend to skim them for game issues such as bugs, short play length etc & compare a few sites to see if they all have this. I also look at scores and see how they average out.... these things give a reasonable indicator of the game usually. If it's a new game just out and I'm wondering about putting down the full price then I tend to look on giantbomb.com and see if they have a quick look up too, those things are great for getting a look at the game.

I'd never rely on just one review though.

This is a great idea. I would love to support a gogger's game review youtube channel or blog.

+1 That's why I ignore reviews. Those getting paid to review stuff should learn how that damn stuff works and actually use terms and words appropriate to the engineering nature of software.

The problem with user reviews is that they tend to be very binary. Either they love it, or they hate it. And if they love it, they tend to not mention any of the games flaws. There are of course exceptions, but it is far more common when it comes to user reviews than "professional" reviews. And unless you are willing to do quite a bit of research, it can be hard to find the users who write good reviews.

there is a Belgian game magazine i read and i usually agree with their opinions

most of their reviewers review those games which fit their genre so the genre fans can get the complete view (and they usually state when the game is for genre fans only)

they alsso finidh the games they review, except in the cases where they mention they never finished it because a) they got so fed up with it that it had become impossible to play it anymore or b) it's so difficult the reviewer just can't get to the ending.

but i agree not all (online) reviews are to be trusted

Oh, magazines.. Another pain in the ass. Mostly because they ignore my favourite franchise existence (mostly paradox games). For example, biggest (and lately ONLY) PC magazine here, CD-Action never reviewed Sengoku, Victoria 2, and it's addon. They made Crusader Kings 2 review on.... one page.

They also very rarely review DLCs, and I wouldn't know which ones to buy, if that was my only source of information.

Well I do review games on my website - Those reviews are a bit spare though, since I juggle between movies, books, games and tv reviews. Check it out if you want:

http://www.tizzysart.com

Oh, there's also one bigger problem with magazines here. They are so "professional". Back in the day, you could feel, reading the reviews, that they were written by people who love playing games.

Now it's just business.

I still have some older issues scanned, and AOE1 review for example - the reviewer melts about every single detail in the game and describes it. Maybe those reviews were less professional, less informative, but they were enjoyable to read.

wow... lol.. that Monster Hunter Tri looks soo good, and original, well at least it looks way above other recent games after checking some videos and reviews about it.. too bad its not for pc...

there is a monster hunter for pc called moster hunter fronteir sadly it's only avaliable in japan, china, and south korea :( but I highly recommend you buy monster hunter tri for the wii if you already have one or if you have a psp buy moster hunter freedom unite

The only site that I've found that is very consistent and informative with their game reviews is GamesRadar. They really seem to enjoy playing games, and even usually focus on story and atmosphere over just the technical aspects.

Here's a great review they did of To the Moon: http://www.gamesradar.com/to-the-moon-review/


And here's their Witcher 2 review: http://www.gamesradar.com/the-witcher-2-assassins-of-kings-review/

They really loved that game.

When it comes to printed magazines, there was one excellent published in Germany called PC Player. That was truly the best gaming magazine ever published. They hardly gave in to (unjustified) hype and praised a lot of games that weren't commercially succesfull but are now high up on the wishlist.

Truly top notch magazine. Sadly it went out of business in 2002...