Octopus Overlords

I read reviews at Gamespot, Gamespy and Avault. I occasionally check the Games Domain, even though they've gone downhill massively since they were bought out. Gamespy is fairly weak too but I still go there out of habit. Avault reviews are the most comprehensive but also the slowest to appear.

I usually hit Gamespy, Gamespot and Avault, and occasionally check other reviews or reader ratings via Gamerankings. Forums probably play a bigger part in my sense of which games are good/bad than website reviews, though.

I still tend to trust Gamespot by and large... they seem rather "grumpy" and reluctant to dole out raves which makes them seem more trustworthy. Admittedly there are exceptions to this, however.

Plus I'm a Greg Kasavin fanboy.

Plus I'm a Greg Kasavin fanboy.

Why you biased, unfair di...just kidding!

I go to gamerankings.com and gametab.com.

gamespot.com and impressions at octopusoverlords.com.

I usually go for the meta review/macro approach, a la neoseeker, rotten tomatoes or metacritic.com...then if it gets decent reviews, I will start to read the usual suspects (which for me is primarily avault).

I must admit to liking Greg Kasavin and to some extent, Andrew Park, so GameSpot scores fairly well for me. I visit dozens of sites overall, however.

-gamer.no
- gamershell
-gamespot*
-gamespy*
-ign*

* = not regulary

I usually hit the big three (gamespot, gamespy, IGN). Then I see if CGW or PC Gamer have anything to say. Esspecially for a game that I don't really know that much about. If I'm REALLY interested I go a little deeper. Maybe RpgDot (not trying to kiss ass) for RPG's. I absolutely love the Wargamer for strategy (and you can quote that once I become famous).

For the most part though, I check various forums for a general feel, then gamerankings to see what the rags say.

Oh and anything Tom Chick and Bruce Geryk write I take VERY seriously, if not as bible. I must admit, I first discovered Bruce in his Gamespotting columns, where I took an instant dislike to him. Now I'm riding his jock any chance I get. Christ.

The Wargamer.

I usually only read the reviews that people link to here.

Where's Desslock when you need him?

I rely primarily on feedback in these forums. If I need a more coherent opinion, I'll check Gamespot and Gamespy reviews.

None. Not worth my time. Web sites are too slow to post decent reviews.

I've cancelled all my print subscriptions. Ads are the primary reason to subscribe and most of the games I've enjoyed over the last five years have not had a single ad.

Here, q23, console gold, tell me everything I need to know about a game.
Heck I still browse Usenet now and then.

Jeff V wrote:The Wargamer.

Corporate shill.

I read feedback on gaming forums, Wargamer and magazines. I think sites are in too big if a rush to have the first review.

Ironrod wrote:I rely primarily on feedback in these forums. If I need a more coherent opinion, I'll check Gamespot and Gamespy reviews.

I agree. I put great weight on the feedback provided here. I round it out with print magazines and some websites, but I trust the masses here more.

I mainly just keep an eye on the Games by Title forum here to see what is going on and then read my CGM when it comes. I just don't find reading reviews that interesting and usually have to force myself to read the ones in the magazine. I just prefer to hear what people say when they talk about games in a forum and take what I know of that person's taste and apply it to my own.

Jeff V wrote:The Wargamer.

Great site, like 'em a lot. It helps that I've written for the occasionally.

Can't say I read as many reviews as I used to.

The one that's always been my favorite is Game Revolution. I've always been able to trust their reviews. And they can be quite funny at times as well. Though the newer reviewers aren't quite so good as the old ones (I believe Johnny Liu went to CGW? Or some other magazine?). They also recently (as in, maybe a week ago) were bought by Bolt.com. Thankfully, that fact didn't change things a bit. Everything is still the same. Ben Silverman is still the Editor, etc. I was worried they'd turn out like Games Domain. Anyways, yeah. GR is good, but don't bother trying to make sense of the people on their forums.

I also concur on Avault.

I guess that's about it as far as review sites go. Sometimes I read IGN, Gamespot, or Gamespy if GR hasn't released their review yet (or if I'm just reading every review I can find for a certain game, like I did when Morrowind came out). Those major sites are way too biased though. That's why I don't read them much.

I used to REALLY love a user review site called PCGameReview. It had a sister site, VideoGameReview which was the same but for consoles. Each of the two sites had a weekly contest for best review of the week. If you won, you'd get a free game of your choice. This encouraged people to write some really good reviews. Later they cut back to once a month, but it was still cool. Well, about a year or so ago, the owners of both sites decided to combine them and redesign the whole thing. The new design is atrocious, and I've only set foot there once, to bitch about the design. Simply finding and reading reviews is a chore now. I used to read PCGR every day. I used to be a regular on their forums as well. Now it's crap.

I also sometimes read user reviews at GameFAQs, but not often.

As for forums, I always trusted the oppinions of the people at PCGR. Also, I'm a regular at the Home of the Underdogs forums (which seem to be down at the moment). The people there usually have very good taste in games and I trust their oppinions as well. I've recently been coming here, at the recommendation of HOTU member Flash. You guys are great too. Wish I would've known that GoneGold had such good forums when it was still around.

I also read Penny Arcade every day (or rather, whenever it is updated). It's my homepage. I don't really read it for the comics. I read it for Tycho's game-related ramblings and Gabe's whenever he posts some as well. They don't exactly give reviews of games, but they sure do give their oppinions of them, and tell you why they like or dislike them.

Ditto, Tycho's blog is the main appeal of Penny Arcade for me. Although it seems to be fairly console-intensive these days and I only occasionally find him talking about games I actually play.