Do reviews affect your decision to buy a game?

[DenSweeP]

Yes and no.

I read reviews if i'm not 100% certain what the game is about. Also, pre-hype makes a big difference as to whether I'm interested or not. Then some games are simply sequels and are automatically bought if the previous title was any good.

Overall yes, reviews influence my decisions, but not because the reviewer likes it or not, but because he tells you what it is about and what type of game it is. It doesn't help if you review something and say how you love the it because of your personal tastes, because we more than likely don't share the same tastes.

[Jabberwocky]

All I need as a few screenshots how the mechanics work. Scores don`t mean much to me... especially 70/100.

I must confess though... i`ve bought games in the past based on scores... but only games from kalahari or take2`s bargain bin that i`ve never heard about.

[jasong]

Yes it affects my decision to buy a game. I only have so much time in my life to play or read about games, I tend to sift through whatever has garnered the highest scores. Generally I find that my opinions are aligned with the critics though.

[Crzwaco]

If I have a choice between 3 games coming out on the same time and only have money for 1 game then it does. But 90% of the time not. Gameplay video's make up my mind in the end. Also mostly up to date with games so not a lot that gets released without finding out about it.

[powderbucket]

I generally use Metacritic because one or two reviews is not enough to convince me to get a game. I'll also look at the lowest rating that a game has received and why it received such a score. If a game scores really well, like 95%, but it has a crap storyline, I probably will be very reluctant to buy it. It depends what is in the game and how particular things that I look for in games have been rated.

[Senticall]

For me reviews dont affect the game at all,what matters to me is the great story, awesomegraphics (yes I dont like retro),stable gameplay,not to $*#@$% up multiplayer,if it has that I will check it out,and if I like it buy it

[tehNihilist]

Honestly I follow certian review sites, then combine them with people I trust and don't trust, either IRL or on the forums. Combine the scores for WIN!

Works quite well.

[Grievous]

Yes .... I normally use metacritic to get the "number" ... and I read Gamespots point summary at the begging - the good and the bad... i normally find it spot on .... specially bad...

[Rusty79]

I find reviews to be a necessity when choosing which games to buy. In particular, the findings on the multiplayer element of the game. It could be the difference between money well spent and money wasted.

It also gives you some tidbits to whet your appetite.

[Neo]

I've changed my opinion on game reviews a bit these days. I would pick the games that I'm most interested in, then I would wait for them to be released. I wouldn't buy a game on release day unless I knew for a FACT that the game couldn't fail (like God of War 3 for example - instant buy). For the other games I'd wait a week extra to see what the online reviewers had to say and ALSO show me some actual gameplay footage - based on what I see from the actual gameplay footage, I'd make my decision - the reviewers comments would only serve as an opinion - which is what it should be - NOTHING more.

When it comes to games, the biggest tool that developers and publishers could possibly do to entice me to buy a game would be to make a demo of the game available to me. After all, you don't buy a new car without test-driving the same model and forming your own opinion first. And you sure as hell won't make your decision purely based on someone else's opinion of the car that YOU want to buy.

So for me....reviews are only opinions - give me a demo and I'll make my OWN decision.