Deciding whether to buy or skip a game

[zehydra]

Generally, I'll make sure it has good enough reviews, since my budget is spread thin, and I can't afford to spend money on "duds", so to speak. I'm a PC gamer, so thankfully my games are a bit cheaper than everybody else's, perhaps at the expense of not being able to buy used games in the usual sense (from retailers).

I don't buy games very often nowadays, maybe 1 to 3 games a year max. I have other hobbies, like music writing/performance and game programming that also consume quite a bit of money (and often much more than a video game). Usually if I'm saving up money, its for one of those things, mainly because they result in productivity, rather than consumption for the sake of entertainment.

- "Why is this guy on a gaming forum website then??"

- Because I like to make games, and this website usually has a lot of insight as to what people consider to be important qualities in games. I also watch Extra Credits and Yahtzee pretty consistently.

 

[John Pepperell]

Is it part of a good series
Is it from a good company who I have liked other games they have made
Is it somewhat cheap
Does it have good graphics for its age
Do the good point outweigh the bad things
Is it from a series I like or have wanted to try
Have the company not screwed me over recently(capcom and legends 3)
If the above is more yes then no and I have the cash for it yeah I will try the game bless the 30 day return policy for pre-owned games

 

[Something Amyss]

Aggregate scores, some specific reviews, and actual gameplay footage. Demos if available, but game companies have learned that if you demo a bad product, people don't buy it. I don't care how shiny the cutscenes are, or how fanboyish the fanboys are.

 

[LiliumSnow]

I watch gameplay footage on YouTube and/or -assuming the game has one- read about it on it's own little Wiki site.

Unfortunately even if I was interested in playing a game I saw on YouTube, I won't be able to because I'm piss-poor and my laptop has a crappy Intel video card (which will only accept "Dragon Age: Origins", "Dragon Age 2", "Minecraft" and "Silent Hill 3"). So looking up games that I have a passing interest in is pointless for me because all I can do then is twiddle my fingers and say "Boy I wish I could be playing that game right now. :| "

 

[MadeinHell]

In terms of games I've noticed that more often than not I judge the game on the basis of what it looks like. And I don't mean GRAPHICS because those don't really matter to me (hell I'm a diehard ASCII Dwarf Fortress player ), what I mean is, does the game look fun or does it seem to have some kind of original "twist" to the old formula.
If an FPS is a boring old fps with AWESOMEOTRON graphics than truth be told I'll probably pass it.

This seems to work relatively well for me because I somehow can judge if the game is any good just by looking at a bit of gameplay video, for example after seeing a minute of the gameplay from Hunted: The demon's forge I knew it will suck. And it did!

Sometimes though I can be wrong with my judgement. I played KOTOR a year after it was released because I judged it that way and it seemed slow, messy and not particularly fun. Biggest mistake ever.
So I'll usually give games a chance and if I pass on something people say is really good or interesting I'll eventually give it a play .

 

[StrixMaxima]

1) Price - This is a dealbreaker. No matter what, expensive games are much less likely to be purchased by me.

2) Genre - I simply dislike some genres, such as racing or sports. I may pay more attention to a title if it belongs to a genre I like, such as WRPG or RTS.

3) Puclished/Developer - I simply do not buy games from certain companies, even if that means that I'll miss out on an otherwise good game. I do not condone what certain companies do to the gaming market at large, and the only way I can speak is with my gaming money.

4) Depth/Replayability - I like to spend a good while with games I purchase. If I exhaust the game within 10 hours, that's a bad game in my book. There are exceptions, but I like my games as engrossing as possible.

5) Performance - If the game performs poorly or if it takes ages to set up in a decent, playable manner, I'll probably won't buy it. I dislike games that require extensive patching after launch.

I have a few sites that I trust where I get the information I need about new releases. I usually shy away from bug gaming sites/reviewers, because the likelihood of being played by a paid review in them is much higher. I also greatly value the opinion of friends, and will eventually buy games based solely on their advice, following the guidelines above.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

First i look at the box, the screenshots and the rating. I'm looking for adult content and graphic action. If the screenshots look like movies then i'm not interested. Infact the better the graphics look the more likely the game will fall short of the challenge i'm looking for. Genre is the obvious deal breaker for me. I know if i buy an rpg it's gonna take me a while to finish, if i buy a racer it's the same. If i buy an fps though it's likely going back the day after so i avoid these except where reviewers complain about the game being too hard, then it's got buy me written all over it.

Normally i ignore demos because they aren't always finished and i ignore reviews because the people who write them aren't impartial. I only take note of broken sections of gameplay and technical issues. If a game doesn't work properly then there is no point me paying for it.

Often though it's pure impulse. I goto a shop with enough cash to buy something and search for something that looks appealing. It doesn't always pay off but mostly it does and i end up playing games that nobody likes, nobody mentions and that are actually quite good.

Me and the bleating masses share very little in common.

 

[James Milamber]

To be honest, I place very little faith in reviews (many games that reviewers have slammed, I've loved to bits). If I'm a bit 'meh' about a game, I'll usually wait until someone I know has bought it and get their opinion. There are some developers or publishers that will automatically make me sit up and take note of a new game (Bioware, Obsidian, Bethesda, etc), usually because I've played their games before and liked them. Usually I can get a good feel of whether I'll like a game or not from the promo stuff.

By the same token, if it's an IP that I've known and loved before, I'm wary of new ways of exploring it. WH40k: Space Marine comes to mind. I loved the Dawn of War series, and I've been an on/off tabletop player for years, and I was really worried that they'd mess it up by converting to a new format. Barring the fact that they STILL haven't got the Bolter right (the Codex clearly states it's a three shot burst, not full auto! *shakes fist at THQ and Relic*), it's actually a really good recreation of the universe. In that case, I watched lots of gameplay videos before buying.

I also seem to be one of the few here willing to pay full price for new games. Battlefield 3, Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3, all preordered special editions where applicable.

Might explain why I've never got any money.

Often though it's pure impulse. I goto a shop with enough cash to buy something and search for something that looks appealing. It doesn't always pay off but mostly it does and i end up playing games that nobody likes, nobody mentions and that are actually quite good.

Agreed - I found Vampire: The Masquerade that way. Best impulse buy EVER.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I rent now. That really is the best way to avoid buying crap.
Some critics are cool but occasionally they (even Yhatzee) will rave about a game that was complete crap.
No, the best way is to try it yourself. It?s a bit more difficult on the PC as it?s not really a rental platform but sometimes I?ll rent something on the ps3 and end up buying it on the PC. Right now, that?s probably one of the few benefits of having a console ? rentals.