Maiku wrote:I usually only look on Gamespot, as IGN tends to give every game a bad rating that I know of.
~Sonic the Hedgehog~
We Say(Gamespot): 4.4/10
You Say(Players): 7.0/10
They Say(Producers): 4.7/10
I never listen to the site's reviews, mainly only the players. Since we all think alike and trust me, I learned my lesson when I bought Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition. That game lagged SO much. But I didn't listen to players at the time. Heh, now I do.
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
I think game rankings works very well since it averages major media outlet reviewers scores. The reason I don't like Players reviews is quite simple, a lot of players don't play that many games and aren't as capable of comparing one title compared to other similar titles on the market for comparison. I've played lousy games that are still fun to play, but often times they are horribly flawed and they deserve the terrible ratings they get.
The problem with player reviews is it turns into a popularity contest more so than it does with reviews from major media outlets. Well advertised successfull franchises are usually going to rate better than smaller games that very well may be a lot better. Additionally you have bandwagoning. Since Sonic is what we're discussing I will use this as a general example. To this day I am sure there is still a very large number of diehard fans of say a company like Sega, or a Series like Sonic, that irregardless of how horrendous the new Sonic title is will look at the game through rose colored glasses because their fans of the company or series rather than rate the title based on its individual merit. While some major media outlets will occasionally do this too, it's not nearly as common.
The rating system itself is flawed and games rarely get actually low reviews (IE below 5 or 50% average) since major media outlets are concerned with getting reviewables, in some cases advertising and press materials from publishers who may blacklist them if they absolutely rip to shreds a particular title.
As mentioned before, this leaves in the defense of "Oh, I gave your game a 5 but 5 is average" when average is really around 7, In any case the reason I don't like player votes is quite simple, the average voter doesn't have nearly as much experience in playing games to determine what's new, bad or original as does the average reviewer at a major publication.
There are obviously lots of gamers who are very experienced, but they are not the majority.