Can You Tell If You Will Enjoy A Game Or Not Without Playing It?

[bradbear117]

My question:

Can you review a game without playing it? Can you recommend a game to your friends without playing it?

nope nope nope

[Tom]

I usually stick to what i know, unless something has received like WOW reviews... Like The Last of Us... I wouldnt normally have picked that up, but the reviews were so amazing I had to see what its all about...

Then there's the likes of Final Fantasy... I will buy a Final Fantasy game regardless... Only time iv felt "burnt" by the francise was with XIII Which im nearly finshed with now, and the only reason i didnt like it was because it was so linear compared to other FF titles, its not a bad game, great story, great to look at, but ye... Thats just me...

[matt]

My question:

Can you review a game without playing it? Can you recommend a game to your friends without playing it?

nope nope nope

What you can say to a friend is something like, based on the reviews I've read etc, it looks like it's really good, but I haven't tried it myself so I can't say from personal experience.

[Cicero]

I dunno, I actually hardly look at reviews. I'd rather ask my friends what they thought. There have been a few games where the reviews are so wrong.

[Ser_Bunnylot]

Of course not. The best you can do is make an educated guess.

I'd rather miss a hidden gem here or there than waste the amount of time and money it would take looking for that gem.

[Clive Woofer]

My question:

Can you review a game without playing it? Can you recommend a game to your friends without playing it?

nope nope nope

But you should be able to make a judgement for yourself. Being able to critically analyse information available on a product before you buy it is a vital skill every adult should have, and not only in the gaming industry.

[Crableg]

I can generally tell if I will enjoy a game just by watching a gameplay video, I know what games I dont like.

Not a fan of turn based games, otherwise I'll usually try anything.

[bradbear117]

[QUOTE=Clive Woofer;911651]But you should be able to make a judgement for yourself. Being able to critically analyse information available on a product before you buy it is a vital skill every adult should have, and not only in the gaming industry.[/QUOTE

Your judgement is sometimes wrong. Gaming is about gameplay. You cannot tell how a game plays without playing it(wow I keep saying this but a game reviewer plays the game he reviews right? He doesnt watch a gameplay vid and then writes a review)
Lets take Thief for instance. Im super keen for the game to come out. Im a long time fan of the series but....that gameplay video was terribad, boring as heck. The game looked slow and laborious with zero replayability. Im guessing/hoping Im totally wrong but Im not going to know until I play it.

[Clive Woofer]

So you don't think you can get a reasonably good picture of what the gameplay is like by watching a livestream of someone playing the game?

[Iam3G]

So you don't think you can get a reasonably good picture of what the gameplay is like by watching a livestream of someone playing the game?

Reasonably good picture to make a judgement call yes, BUT you don't get the full experience.

The guy doing the livestream doesn't play the way you would play the game. The guy doing the livestream might not even be liking what he is playing, but you possibly could.