I usually read the review after i have played or beaten the game, and usually i try to avoid the mainstream review sites.

But who do i got for game reviews?

Sites
EuroGamer -http://www.eurogamer.net/
RockPaper - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/
GiantBomb - http://www.giantbomb.com/
BlisteredTumbs - http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/

People
Angry Joe Show - http://angryjoeshow.com/
ProJared - http://www.youtube.com/dmjared
LazyGameReviews - http://www.youtube.com/user/phreakindee
Guru Larry - http://www.youtube.com/user/larrybundyjr
TotalBiscuit - http://www.youtube.com/user/TotalHalibut
James Rolfe & Mike Matei - http://cinemassacre.com/
Jontron - http://www.youtube.com/user/JonTronShow

I gave up, I either rely on friends, promo materials/demos, or user reviews on Amazon/Metacritic if they seem genuine and not like astroturfing.

The Penny Arcade guys are usually pretty good at distilling down the essence of a game in just a few sentences, it's not a proper review, but it tells me the kind of engagement I might have with the game, which sometimes is better than a detailed review.

If you will forgive me a bit of self promotion; I have been following a site called True PC Gaming which has a lot of reviews for indie games as well as interviews with their developers. They have a set standard for reviews that includes listing the specs of the machine it was played on as well as disclosing if the game was a free review copy or not. They don't use a number scale, instead each review is concluded with "Is it worth the money?" There is something refreshing about reading a review that basically says "I got this game for free from the developer and it was still a ripoff."

Out of full disclosure I'll say that I joined the writing staff a few months ago, but I was following the site well before then.

This thing.

What? You wanted answers. Bon appetit.

I google and peruse.

Everyone has an opinion but these are the ones i generally follow


Totalbiscuit (he is very good for first impressions - very knowledgeable and i find i do tend to agree with him - especially after buying a game i thought he would be wrong about...)
RPS (probably the pick of the bunch for me..TB aside)
Eurogamer (used to be a lot better..some of their reviews i do question)

Many of the rest like IGN/Gamespot/PCGamer (big ones)i gave up on long time ago as they struck me as not really impartial/independant anymore in their reviews.