Do review scores affect your enjoyment of games?

[Generic4me]

Hello, Escapist, repeat poster but first time topic...creator here. This may have been asked before, but it's something I've been considering a lot and it has directly caused me to try to avoid reviews.

The question is the title, does a game's review score affect your enjoyment of the game?

Ex. Would you have enjoyed Bioshock: Infinite less if it had gotten a 6 or 7/10?


As for me personally, I'd like to think that they don't affect my enjoyment of a game, and while it's impossible to provide any one example with absolute certainty because every game is different, they definitely do have some impact on whether I personally enjoy a game.


Best example for me: When I was young I LOVED Ultimate Spider Man. Fucking loved the shit out of that game so much. I remember once I stayed up for 2 days straight playing it. I cannot tell you the immense awesomeness that fucking game was.

One day when I happened to be starting to learn about the internet (Probably around 2006), I saw the game's review at Gamespot. I believe it had a 5.5/10 rating, and the review was fairly negative. I also agreed with some of the criticisms the reviewer had of it.

A few days later, I sat down to play it again, and behold, I no longer wanted to play it.
It could have had something to do with the negatives had been brought to light, and I couldn't stand them anymore, or maybe the idea that I was associating with a game I thought was only worth a 55, or what my younger brain would think is a failing grade.

No poll, because I don't really like polls and there might be more stances out there I haven't thought of yet.

 

[scorptatious]

In some ways, yeah, stuff like that kinda does affect my enjoyment of certain games. Not really through review scores though, mostly through other people's opinions. Whenever someone brings up some valid criticisms about certain games that I previously really enjoyed, I can't help but agree with them. Especially when I can't think of a good counter argument for it.

For example, after playing through Bioshock 1 again and reading about how a lot of people didn't really like how the combat has changed a bit in Infinite compared to the first game, I can't help but look at Bioshock Infinite in a different light than I did before.

I still think it's a good game by it's own merits, but now, I don't really like it as much as Bioshock 1.

I don't know, I guess I'm being true to my own feelings about certain games, but at the same time, I kinda hate having to compromise or change them whenever I see something I can't help but agree with. It's a weird feeling.

 

[Fappy]

In some ways, yeah, stuff like that kinda does affect my enjoyment of certain games. Not really through review scores though, mostly through other people's opinions. Whenever someone brings up some valid criticisms about certain games that I previously really enjoyed, I can't help but agree with them. Especially when I can't think of a good counter argument for it.

For example, after playing through Bioshock 1 again and reading about how a lot of people didn't really like how the combat has changed a bit in Infinite compared to the first game, I can't help but look at Bioshock Infinite in a different light than I did before.

I still think it's a good game by it's own merits, but now, I don't really like it as much as Bioshock 1.

I don't know, I guess I'm being true to my own feelings about certain games, but at the same time, I kinda hate having to compromise or change them whenever I see something I can't help but agree with. It's a weird feeling.

It's human nature. The most healthy way to deal with it is to simply consider criticisms and decide whether they are valid or not. If so, nothing's perfect and a collection of faults shouldn't change how you feel about a game overall.

 

[Tom_green_day]

If a game I like gets a 10 or at least very high I want to play it more. I haven't played too many games with low ratings (as I tend to ignore reviews from people who aren't trusted reviewers) and in most reviews I skip until the number anyway.

 

[Hutcher]

A positive or negative review should not dictate whether or not you decide to play a game. I worked for a video store for a time (you know, back when those places were still economically viable) and it was great because when it was slow I coud try out a game I was interested in, but was on the fence about buying. That's really the biggest problem; in most cases, trying a game means buying a game, and games are expensive. Professional reviewers evaluate almost all new game releases, but are employed by companies that are usually dependent to some extent on the publishers relasing the content that they're evaluating, which creates some bias.

Over time, this has resulted in a very strange consumer advice sector for gaming. The traitional 1-10 scale is used by most reviewers, but it's pretty rare to see any title receive a score of less than 5, especially a big AAA title. I don't know. My usual response when considering a new game has several steps:

Step 1: Does the immediate presentation (box art, advertising, my understanding of the game's basic concept) interest me? If not, I'm unlikely to pursue it any further, unless spurred to by reading or hearing about it.

Step 2: Am I familiar with any of the designer / developers previous titles? Everyone has their favourites, and some publishers and developers have much better track records than others.

Step 3: What have the reviews said? I always look beyond the score. If steps 1 and 2 have not convinced me that the game is something I'd like, a good score and description in the review of why the game deserves a good score might sway me.

Step 4: What's the word of mouth? Many of my friends play games, and if one of them has something negative or positive to say about a title, that can influence me one way or another. That said, everyone has thei biases, and I always take that into account when considering someone else's opinion. I try to favour those opinions whose biases are similar to my own, but I also try to be open minded.

 

[krazykidd]

While a review score doesn't ( alpha protocol was awsome despite what anyone says ) and review can ( FFXIII) . Why because in a review , the faults of a game is often ( read : was often reviews suck now ) pointed out, and more often than not i missed those faults ( i'm not very perceptive ). But once they are pointed out , i can't help but see them. It's like a beautiful cashmere blouse . It looks awsome , until you see that little red dot , and then everytime you look at it , you see the dot , thus ruining the shirt for you ( cookie for reference ).

So yeah , while reviews score don't affect my enjoyment of a game , an actual review can.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Not really, no. While I do tend to read/watch a number of reviews for games and that does have an influence on what I buy if I'm at all on the fence, once I have purchased and am playing a game I enjoy it for what it is. Then I'll often go back to more reviews to see if the experiences of the reviewers match mine. This helps me think more critically about the experience I had (which is one aspect I think is lacking in professional day one revoews) as well as solidifying which reviewers I'll trust the opinions of in the future.

 

[Xarathox]

In the past, yeah. But that was before positive reviews were bought with bribes. These days I either ignore reviews altogether, or rely solely on customer feedback from a community (like here).

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Scores? Nope. Rarely I read reviews, and if I do, I see what they say and if I agree with them on something being good or bad. It the end, it is all their opinion, and so is the score. Duke Nukem Forever has a 54 on metacritic, and I love that game, while Dragon Age: Origins got a 91 and that game was horribly bland and boring. I actually have to force myself to finish it.

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

How is that even possible? It would affect my chances of buying the game, but as soon as I own it it stands on its own.

 

[madwarper]

No.

I'm perfectly capable of forming my own opinion on a video game, and whether or not my opinion matches or clashes with someone else's opinion of that game has no bearing on whether I enjoyed the game.

 

[skywolfblue]

Do review scores affect your enjoyment of games?

No, they don't.

People rated Bioshock 2 as "meh" and "average" but I loved the shit out of it, still do.
People rated Deus Ex: Human Revolution as "great" but I hated it, still do.

Or even the uproar over the Mass Effect 3's endings that has "spoiled the game" for so many, hasn't bothered me a bit. I've played it through about 4 times now (I would have played it more but i've been playing the multiplayer instead), enjoyed it every time.

I read reviews to find out the good and bad parts of the game and then come to a decision on my own. I don't just look at a single number and pin everything on that.

 

[Magnakai]

I typically read reviews as advertisements if the genre style and gameplay interests me enough I'll give it a shot. The community forums on steam are full of opinions useful and otherwise. Depending on how much I have to sift through that mire I sometimes use as a deciding factor. I rarely if ever have used a "score" to effect my decision to buy. I think the gaming audience is to broad for scoring to anything other than a extreme over simplification. Different players are looking for vastly different things from games and are willing to ignore or enjoy things someone else may find intolerable.

 

[Johnny Impact]

"Help me decide where to set the bar" definitely. For example, I'll look at a game like Overlord, which got good but not stellar reviews, and figure I'm in for ten hours of solid but unspectacular entertainment. If I see a game I'm interested in sitting at 9.5 or 10, I'm going to be more critical of it, expect more out of it.

"Affect my enjoyment" not so much. I accept that not all entertainment can be knock-your-socks-off good. In fact, one of my hobbies is watching terrible movies. I like them because they're bad, because they require no commitment. Maybe I'm just sick, I dunno. I stay away from bad games, however, as they tend to have terrible controls and suchlike.

"Influence decision to buy" yes. I rarely buy a game that hasn't achieved a good Metacritic score. That's not my sole criterion by any means but it is a factor.

 

[wulf3n]

Not really, I generally accept that everything I like has flaws whether I observe them or not. So having them pointed out doesn't really change the way I see the game.

A review may prevent me from buying a game if I know nothing about it and it has no demo.

 

[aba1]

No the score doesn't affect the experience with the game for me it does however effect how likely people are to buy the game which in turn effects the support and likelihood of a sequel.

 

[sammysoso]

Generally no. I've learned to stop going to reviews for validation.

 

[Mourning_Star]

Yes and no. If I see low scoring reviews across the board for a game I've never heard of before, I'll be more inclined to steer away from it.
If it's a game from a franchise I actually enjoy, I usually disregard them and play away. I'm a huge Dynasty Warriors fan, and as such I pretty much ignore whatever anybody says in reviews.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

No so much the score itself, but what the review itself points out can do that.
A review will usually point out flaws or whatnot that I would usually overlook.
That's why if there's something I really want to enjoy, most recently example being Bioshock Infinite, I won't look at the reviews until I'm done.