do game ratings serve any purpose?

[Nitro_Hedgehog]

Every AAA title always gets excellent ratings on sites like IGN and gamespot. yet better (and less recongnized) titles get mediocre ratings from these same sites

we all know that these sites are often paid to say nothing but good things about certain games...

even so, I cannot remember the last time I was ever actually influenced at ALL by a mere number.

So what purpose do they serve?

 

[comadorcrack]

to tell you if a games bad or not. And AAA games don't always get great scores. And Small games often get very good reviews.

 

[Cherry Cola]

They serve the purpose to simplify reviews extremely, and are only used as a way to compare games quality.

They are poopish and should not be used anymore.

 

[StartRunning]

You figured it out.
Here's a giant wad of cash, if you keep quiet about it.

 

[SantoUno]

Well duh dipshit they tell you you if a game is good or not and they are 100% trustworthy and cannot be argued against.

They give you simple indication of how good oe bad the game MIGHT be, though never go by scores. Just try to rent the game and try it for yourself. Most reviewers are asshats.

 

[Yukinari]

Anyone that trusts scores rather than their own preferences is just not thinking correctly.
But some reviews are right on the money, examples are Big Rigs and Shadow The Hedgehog, the shitty games usaully get what they deserve.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

It's just a way to further brainwash the mass followers of that particular rater one example is Metacritic and people live or die based upon what they say...it's quite sad. In reality go by what your brain and gut say and not everyone else.

 

[Georgeman]

Not really. While they might give you an idea on the quality of the non-hyped games, you cannot trust reviewers on the hyped games.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Well that was a pretty negative opinion of reviews. It's true that big name games often get good scores but that's because they come from companies that continually make good games and because every big name has to meat a minimal standard of good due to the fact that a lot of money was sunk into it and it needs to sell for the company to stay alive. On top of that, opinions are subjective just because you think a game was good and got shafted doesn't mean it was. Perhaps another review gives out scores closer to what you want.
In addition, Where are you getting your bribery facts from and why does it matter how someone else rates a game? shouldn't be your personal opinion that maters?

 

[Vampir1c]

I feel that anyone that gets paid to tell me what I should play or watch should be shot.

 

[squid5580]

You are supposed to read the review. The number is there for lazy people who can't be bothered and fanboys. Then they spam the forums either bitching it was to low or too high. Which leads to flaming. And flaming breeds more flaming which means more hits. More hits means more ad revenue.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Numbers are for quantification and condensing information mostly. On Amazon.com tons of products have hundreds of reviews. Do you want have to read ten or twenty of them to get the gist of how good the product is?

It also is a more trustworthy blurb on the back of the box than the out of context but positive sounding text.