Game Review websites...
 

Which site do you guys feel is the most neutral when it comes to reviewing games?

Honestly, none of them.

I'm more inclined to check out a couple websites and see what the general word of mouth is rather than going to a review site. All the big ones have their issues, and it really varies writer to writer.

If I do go, I'm more likely to use gamerankings or metacritic and go from there rather than go to one specific site. If you can find a general consensus then you're a little better off. I definitely wouldn't take just one as gospel.

Everybody's going to bring something different to the table.

The trash is going to get seen for what it is virtually everywhere, but where you're going to see differences is in the good-to-great range.

Some reviewers will overlook what they perceive to be smaller issues if they think a game is really great, while others will be that strict math teacher who insisted you show your work to completion and ding a game that others think is great over minor issues, and settle on it being merely "good" or "very good."

Also, and having been on the writing side of the line for a number of years, I cannot stress enough how important it is to read the reviews to completion.

The text will tell you more about variances in play enjoyment than the difference between a 72 and an 81 will.

That's what I do. I go to gamerankings, read a few of the reviews and make the call from there.

I pretty much just buy everything that the Missouri fans on this board tell me to buy.

As an aside to this, I've just the past few days downloaded and listened to a couple of podcasts, the Games for Windows podcast and Gamers with Jobs and I'm extremely impressed actually. I highly recommend both of them. The Games for Windows podcasts was absolutely nothing like what I expected, and it is a good portion of the time only in a roundabout way related to gaming, but it can be pretty funny. I wouldn't go there for hard-hitting reviews, I think they keep those for their magazine but for an entertainment oriented game show it's great. They have some good guests, I just listened to one with Ken Levine, and they talk about all games not just PC games. They do occasionally go pretty in depth into their thoughts of certain games so it can be informative.

I've only listened to one Gamers with Jobs podcast but it seems a bit more serious, but still with a healthy dose of humor.

Worth a listen imo, but maybe everyone already does and I'm just late to the party.

As a math teacher, I'm not sure if I should take offense to that.

I don't know why but that cracked me up.

Dunno.

Depends on what kind of math teacher you are.

I've had some for whom it doesn't matter if you got the right answer - if you didn't do it *their* way, it wasn't any good. That's the kind of math teacher I'm talking about.

SportsDigs.com is the best by far.

I like metacritic more than gamerankings, it shows all the scores in order from best to worst with the review summed up in a few sentences.

I need to check out that sportsdigs.com site, reviews of sports games tend to be worse than other genres.

I really enjoy the PC Gamer Podcast and to a lesser extent the Game Theory Podcast.

Unfortunately, I pander with the usual places. Gamespot and Gamespy.

Not really related to overall quality since I don't read gaming sites, but Mrs. Leafs new site has launched: gamefocus.ca.

It's focused on the Canadian market and they're still ironing out some bugs, but I'm actually kind of surprised at how well they've done in a short time.

I've been going to Gamespot and IGN for a long time no... some reviews I don't agree with but most they're pretty much right on - imo

metacritic

but I won't buy games without demos so I can "review" them myself

Which is fine.

Those would be the kind of reviewers who will overlook minor quirks for the overall picture.

Not all of 'em are like that, though. Some of them will harp on every little imperfection in the game and miss the forest for the trees.

I generally use these 2 and IGN has gotten a lot better with their number scores lately. You actually see a wide range of scores, with some even getting 4s and 5s now.

SackAttack has it right, though, read the review if you're really interested in a game. It will give you a better idea of whether or not you'll like a game than just looking at the numbers.

FOFC