Which Game Reviews Can You Trust?

To understand whether you can trust any review it’s best to start with the question ‘why does it exist in the first place’. Reviews are created for a number of reasons, and knowing the intent will let you judge effectively whether you can trust it.

• The author is part of a community and wants to share their view or experience. Most user reviews fall into this category.

• The review is published on a site dedicated to all aspects of gaming. That’s their sole aim.

• It’s published on an industry, technology, or general news media site, they write about all forms of technology and gaming is one of those aspects.

• The review is on shopping orientated site – one that sells games of course – and the reviews are left by buyers.

There’s a further category you’ll come across less often, and that’s those from authors who are trying to build a reputation as a writer. That may be because they want a long term career or just plain love being a reviewer.

Podcasting reviewers are probably building a membership for their own financial purposes, but of all types of reviews they can often be the most entertaining as well as trustworthy. 

Each of these can have value, be well presented, and in general you can trust that they are the honest views of the authors.

Some points to note though:

1. Aside from user reviews they’re not always impartial. Many websites exist to make money, and one of the ways they do this is by advertising. In a small number of cases this is achieved by manufacturers or stores paying directly to be listed on the site, but in a lot of cases it’s achieved by the site owners earning money when you click on ads on the page. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, and you can find many sites which strike a good balance between the information they provide and the intention to run a business through the site.

2. Even a review written, streamed, or talked about by a user might have a masked intent. In other words intent other than the desire to share information for the good of all. You can normally take a view on this by the way it’s compiled.

All this said, actually there is no big reason to distrust anything you come across.

The main reason for that can be seen in various examples, but let’s take an example of a shopping site. Aside from product descriptions, they’ll be using reviews – often by previous buyers – to encourage new buyers.

So therein lies a risk of fake posted reviews. You can often spot them by watching from some fairly obvious clues. The sellers may well be involved somehow, and may see financial benefits from less than honest information.

When we’re talking about games though, I don’t think this is really a problem to worry about. The authors – whether professional or end users – are not normally going to gain financially and they’re not selling games (unless you’re on a shopping related site).

So as a summary, if a review is presented in a sensible way and clearly covers what you’d normally be wanting to know, you can probably trust it. I’d suggest though that you don’t rely on just one view, and if possible seek the views of real players before buying, renting, or subscribing to play any specific title.

Where to Go For Game Reviews

Before we go into details about the different locations for getting reviews,  it’ll be a great idea to appreciate how websites that provide them work.

You’ll find many resources that approach reviewing from different angles. Some will attempt it from a perspective of a game comparison exercise, trading off the game-play and features of one game against another. Many will list individual games and provide views of each separately. Others will use real user viewpoints to form the content.

One thing’s for sure, if you know where to look you can easily find info on pretty much any game and you’ll have no problem finding it on one that you’re interested in. 

So let’s take a look now at a list of varying types of resources where you’re going to find the most valuable game information. 

User Generated Reviews

Here we’ll cover what probably is the best value review you’ll find, and that’s a well formed one by a ‘normal’ user. Certainly I’d suggest you at least combine user viewpoints with those from professional industry insiders before spending any money, whether that’s on a game, console, or really any other product.

Before we start, remember that one buyers view of the best (or worst) points of a game might be based on gameplay quality, another on price, and another on availability on the mechanics of a game in general. The truth is that seeking the best of any you find is often a balancing exercise.

Electronics Shopping Sites

This is a huge category, and the sites within it fall under the category of direct product marketing. They exist to sell products to the buying public. There are literally dozens of well known, big brand electronic store shopping sites which sell games and use buyer comments on them to help shoppers choose between titles.

The reviews sections of these sites give good added value to visitors and encourage them either to stay on the sites for more shopping, or to bookmark and return for any future buying decisions they might need to make.

Listing sites here does get complicated because many of these online electronics stores are country specific, although some do have a presence in multiple regions. One big example of this is Amazon…….

Amazon Game Reviews

Amazon are a hugely successful online retailer who need no introduction. It wouldn’t be far fetched to say that they are quite simply one of the greatest online stores for buying pretty much anything related to the entertainment world. That includes books, DVDs, music CDs, and a vast range of technology products. Oh, and games of course. On Amazon you can find pretty much anything you want, they’ll remember you and present items they think you’d like each time you return to the site.

So it’s no surprise that Amazon has great info on video games. Their crowning glory is that they carry many thousands of real buyer reviews which you can trust. Each product they list has internal links to a reviews section where buyers post their feedback on purchasing experiences and the performance they’ve noted. Individual game reviews are given a star rating, with 5 out of 5 denoting the best.

Amazon is a without a doubt a great site to start for reading user based feedback. We’ll see some more in a minute. Aside from the buyer reviews, each game on Amazon has detailed game details written up on the product pages. 

Forum/Gaming Communities Review Posts

Another good way to get real buyer views on games is by searching through various online forums or signing up with major gaming community sites. There are some big benefits to a gamer in belonging to a community where many share the same interests, though you don’t normally have to be a member to read though posts – only if you want to comment.

The value in forums and other communities is of course that they’re intended for debate and the sharing of info in a supportive and friendly environment, and many do carry specific sections which encourage members to post their own reviews of games to expand on a forum post or to kick off new discussion.

Possibly the best way to list these is to select the highest-trafficked among them……

• AVForums is a long running technology focused forum with a dedicated reviews section.

• Reddit I don’t need to describe, you surely know it. The video game reviews Reddit channels are here.

• Steam is massively popular with gamer’s. You can get to the Steam communities here.

Reviews on Technology and Gadget News Websites

There are a number of highly useful, well-respected, and long running sites which are designed to concentrate on or provide information on gadgets and technology in general.

On any of these types of sites that carries reports of games, consoles,  and other gaming related equipment, you will find one or more sections that cover specific game reviews and comparisons. This might be on detailed pages dedicated to individual title, or on news or blog type pages that are published covering different products.

These types of website fall firmly under the category of those that earn advertising revenue from the content that they publish, either from search engine advertising or from affiliate sales. But as I said before don’t let that put you off. You just need to keep it in mind that some of what you read might have an ulterior motive to encourage you to make a buying decision. They may have an interest in pushing specific game titles. You need to take that into account when reading through information.

Equally some will aim to get you the best resources they can pull together which will give you good reason to return again and again. They provide their information to attract visitors (you), and if that information is good quality and honest you’ll stay on the site for more (and return regularly), and while you’re on the site you will hopefully make a purchase or click on an ad that gives the site owners some financial return via advertising revenue.

You can guarantee that any reading material published on a technology focused website – especially the well known ones – will be well written and in the vast majority of cases highly accurate. These types of sites have their content written by highly knowledgeable professional gaming writers, many with vast experience in their subject.

They have high budgets, and spend appropriately to make sure they do provide accurate info. Plus they’re well situated to get new releases sent through to the resident experts as they’re released on to the market. In some cases those experts get to prepare their reviews before the games are actually commercially available.

• CNET is a perfect example of a highly regarded technology site, and contains a useful section with reviews of different games and other industry information.

• Mashable is another of note that covers reviews regularly.

• Techradar is a well known site that let’s you ”Search, browse and compare the latest technology reviews and products covering computing, home entertainment systems, gadgets and more”. Game reviews are included, of course.

• IGN is an entertainment site promising ”Sharp opinions and ground-breaking content for games and entertainment for more than 238 million fans across 27 platforms and 112 countries”. So it’s big in the general entertainment industry and it’s pages of video game reviews are searched for by many game fans.

Reviews On Standalone Websites & Blogs

This category describes the thousands of smaller, often one man websites or blogs that proliferate across the internet. It’s so easy nowadays to start off a blog through many different and often free to build platforms.

It won’t be a surprise therefore to find that quality varies considerably. A blog can be created carrying one game review and never be touched again. As long as the domain name owner renews their domain registration each year it’ll keep on working.

That said, you can find many valuable smaller websites on varying subjects. In fact it’s possible to find smaller, low budget sites that are highly valuable and written by experts or at least by authors who are passionate about their subject.

It’s probably worth differentiating here between what’s know as authoritative sites and the smaller blog type sites. Often blog owners tend to jump around subjects. You might see a post about a review of a specific game one day, and the next post could be about apps, content, or any other technology related subject. If you’re the owner or know of a well written, informative smaller website or blog on gaming please feel free to drop me a line and maybe we’ll get a link published here.

The authoritative sites tend to be well structured and contain much more valuable info with a strong focus on trying to cover the subjects in depth. I’d like to think that SubscriptionGames.com falls into this bracket, or at least that’s my intention. Authoritative sites on gaming will normally carry individual title reviews, though they might also try to focus on generally covering other gaming related subjects. 

Video Based Reviews

Plenty of the locations we’ve already mentioned will also carry video-based reviews alongside written material. Clearly though it’s going to be Youtube for the widest range.

Podcast Reviews 

Podcasts have grown up alongside gaming over the last few years, so it’s not surprising that they’re used extensively now as a medium for talking about games. There are some great podcasts that deliver reviews of games, alongside other gaming related subjects. Here we’ll check out a few of the best….. 

The Triple Click Podcast by Maximum Fun 

Running since April 2020, Triple Click features talks by acclaimed game journalists who are skilled in delivering material that’s useful and informative, while also bringing some fun to the table. 

 Gamertag Radio

With the first podcast delivered in 2005, Gamertag Radio is now one of the longest running gaming podcasts, it carries a mixture of gaming related news, reviews, interviews, and of course reviews. 

Giant Bombcast 

Another general gaming related podcast, this time a highly popular and well known one – Giant Bombcast. These guys have a reputation for being fast and funny, but equally well clued up on games and gaming.

Best Game Reviews 

We’re not talking now about reviews of the best games, but what makes a good review. What makes it valuable?

We can all have different expectations here, but clearly there are some elements every review has to include either to make it useful or as complete as possible.

Plus remember that quality also depends on the skill of the author. On the industry sites you’re pretty much guaranteed to encounter writers of above average quality, while especially with user reviews the ability of the author can sometimes be questionable. Note though that this doesn’t necessarily make the review less worthy. It depends what you want to gain from it.   

So let’s start on working out on what should make a good review.

There are a number of key elements:

Basic info such as title, developer/publisher/age ratings/date released.

Some good video footage – always good to have some first hand visual views

Presentation/Gameplay – often more important than the story. It’s not true that you can’t have a great game without a great story. Well, not for all genres anyway.

Story – The story can create association with the characters, which leads to interaction and an immersive experience.

Interactivity, immersive qualities – You want to feel lost in the game, right?

Art design & graphics – Clearly add to the overall feel and sense of realism

Supporting music – Creates atmosphere 

Challenge level – You’ll want to know if the difficulty level is right for your abilities. Have you achieved anything on completion, either of a level or the game itself. Do you need good strategy, or lots of luck? 

Longevity – Will you be playing more after the first few sessions 

Uniqueness – is it just the same as other already released titles, is it better in some way, or totally different

 Other Reviews – what are they saying? Good or bad experiences

Conclusion

Different players enjoy different games, and a good game review needs to be able to cover all the aspects that any one gamer might like to know about. There are ways to structure a review page so that it’s easy for a reader to jump to elements they most want to know. If anything, gameplay and story are normally two key items. The rest have value too but can be built around these.     

Summary

Reviews – if well written or presented as completely as required – are nearly always a valuable way of determining whether you should get hold of the reviewed product or not. Games are no different in this respect.

Remember that they’re not always impartial. The key to identifying the most valuable review pages is to find those that get the best balance between the info they provide and their own business intentions. In fact, it’s the same as all advertising. Don’t believe everything you read, and do your research thoroughly to minimize the risk of making a mistake.

For now this concludes our look at detail behind game reviews. The next step is to look at some of the best games you can play on subscription.