How influenced are you by Movie/Game reviews? - Blu-ray Forum

Roland1919 · 03-28-2008, 06:30 PM

I will admit that I love the fact that I have the luxury of combing through web reviews before I drop $20 - $50 on something. Lets face it, during these times you have to be thrifty, well, you should be practical in your spending habits regardless. I enjoy sites like Gamespot http://www.gamespot.com/index.html or Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com they give me an "idea", of how, when or why I would purchase something. Notice I put idea in quotes. Now, while its not gospel, it is a good indicator for me; especially for games. For example; I was anticipating Turning Point for PS3, reviewers on hotspot gave it terririble reviews and explained why, more importantly gamers (you and me), gave it terrible reviews as well. That was enough for me not to get it. Could it be my loss, did I miss a great gaming experience? Maybe. Maybe not. But with todays market and the number of games out there already I don't have time or money for junk. Conversely, Donnie Darko didn't get the greatest reception when it went to SunDance...turns out ot be one of my favorites and a highly anticipated titles for Blu-Ray. My point is that as a consumer we have a lot of trusted, valuable and resourceful websites not to make an informed decision. While I don't say take absolute faith in other peoples opinions, I find it comforting when reviewers (like you and me) give and opinion and support it with relevant argument or information.

Rabidhunter · 03-28-2008, 06:36 PM

I'm not all that influenced by reviews. When I watch or buy a movie, I look for elements different from that of most critics. There are serveral movies that had very bad reviews that I actually enjoyed (Equilibrium and August Rush for example). Yet there are several movies that were highly esteemed by critics that I absolutly hated (for example I lothe Pan's Labyrinth so much so that I want to smash my keyboard in everytime I think about it). So no I do not trust critics reviews much.

However, I do look up reviews of movies before showing them to some people, like members from my youth group. I obviously want to check some things out and let the parent's know what their children are watching.

un4gvn94538 · 03-28-2008, 06:38 PM

when im not sure either way, i can be influenced either way. like 10k bc. i knew from the first psn trailer a long time ago i wanted to see it. any reviews or posts saying it sucked wont matter to me.

UlicBelouve · 03-28-2008, 06:41 PM

I like MetaCritic. It combines multiple scores and gives it a rating. This way, I'm not influenced by fluke reviews.

I do like the reviews. I remember one weekend I was looking for a movie to watch, and I was going to go see "Untraceable". Read the reviews, and decided not to.

However, I read another review for a movie that I had not even heard of. It had great ratings, great reviews. So I went and saw this movie, knowing nothing of the plot.

That movie? No Country for Old Men. Probably one of the best movies I have ever seen.

So for me, individual reviews carry little weight. Culminated reviews (I think Metacritic requires 10 professional reviews, like IGN, Chicago Tribune, etc before it posts a score) carry significant weight for me. And I've agreed with the cumulative scores much more than anything else.

Roland1919 · 03-28-2008, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UlicBelouve

I like MetaCritic. It combines multiple scores and gives it a rating. This way, I'm not influenced by fluke reviews.

I do like the reviews. I remember one weekend I was looking for a movie to watch, and I was going to go see "Untraceable". Read the reviews, and decided not to.

However, I read another review for a movie that I had not even heard of. It had great ratings, great reviews. So I went and saw this movie, knowing nothing of the plot.

That movie? No Country for Old Men. Probably one of the best movies I have ever seen.

So for me, individual reviews carry little weight. Culminated reviews (I think Metacritic requires 10 professional reviews, like IGN, Chicago Tribune, etc) before it posts a score. And I've agreed with the cumulative scores much more than anything else.

Good Point Ulic, in fact i think metaCritic is usually first to post their "cumulative" reviews....

kpkelley · 03-28-2008, 07:09 PM

For me it depends on the way that the reviewer expresses his/her opinion. I really apreciate it when they break it down to similar films or games and how this experience rates in comparision to another. For instance, if a reviewer says that a film is a similar experience to "Date Movie" i know that i can skip that one.

Beta Man · 03-28-2008, 07:19 PM

I don't go by individual reviews.... but if a movie comes out, and it doesn't look like my type of movie, and then I hear OVERWHELMING negative feedback about it..... I'll just stay away....

If a movie really looks good to me, and I hear negative stuff, I may still give it a chance.... It all depends on what I read, and how it's presented I guess.

Like Snakes On A Plane..... INSTANTLY I thought... "wow... POOP" and I heard it was so bad it was funny.... so I stayed away until I caught it on HBO/Sho-time,.... and got a decent laugh out of how bad it was.... but that was it.

actionhank · 03-28-2008, 07:50 PM

With movies not at all.

But with games definitely I check the metacritic score. Then I read a couple of reviews about it, usually by ign.com or gamerevolution.com Thats how I decided to rent Heavenly Sword instead of buying it. And to stay far away from Lair.

Mouse · 03-28-2008, 08:05 PM

I don't care what reviews or critics say about movies. They all seem to watch WAY too many movies and they all tend to blend together so all movies to them seem like crap until an extremely good one comes along.. or an extremely original storyline.

Then again, I'm easily entertained and pretty much enjoy every movie. Anyway, I usually watch the movie at the theatre or rent the movie before I buy it. It's non too wise to just do a blind-buy on just about anything.

dk3dknight · 03-28-2008, 08:20 PM

I also have to admit be it movies or games, I find alot of stuff,
never to trust a reviewer on.

An example if say I read a review on say a gundam game stay with me...

And they open with ,"I Hated the series, and I hate all Anime," so a review
on a game from said anime series would be a instant red flag close do not
read.

Another example is when a reviewer attacks the item's universe, basicly the movie / game is based in a specific universe of rules, and the reviewer attacks the one item for following said rules.

Another example is attacking a fictional movie about a event, for not displaying all the reasons the event ended the way it did, instead of just concentrating on one main reason. A fictional movie is not a documentary and should not be held as such. *reference battle of the bulge*

We could go on but this has really created alot of distrust for reviewers in general, because they lack the sight to do some research or at least trying to understand what there seeing...

Now I would like the pleasure to counter that, I will say the reviewers on this site are a, "BREATH OF FRESH AIR", in fact I took the time to read the Appleseed review and was so happy to see the reviewer doing research on a sequel instead of rating it down because he hadn't seen it that was a review that any reviewer should be forced to read,

So I would like to say, "Thank You Martin Liebman for taking the time to try to understand appleseed instead of writing it off like so many reviewers do, you give me hope."

X-Ninja · 03-28-2008, 08:25 PM

Reviews suck.

No other words beyond that.

SilverFireshot · 03-28-2008, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X-Ninja

Reviews suck.

No other words beyond that.

Agreed.

Some of my favorite games and movie have gotten bad reviews. Recent examples are The Fountain and Assassin's Creed. They both got average to low reviews but I love them. The Fountain I've watched probably 10-15 times and Assassin's Creed I've put almost 40 or 50 hours into (still trying to find all those damned flags).

Horhay · 03-28-2008, 08:54 PM

I dunno if you can trust a person who might not even like the genre of game they are reviewing, there has been several games in the past in which they gave it a horrible review, but I loved the damn thing. So I just don't really care for reviews some tend to be really biased.

supersix4 · 03-28-2008, 08:54 PM

bottom line is its still just opinion, could be the best reviewer in the world but at the end of the day its just opinion ... i'll read them but wouldnt ever go by someone elses tastes

Blu Haze · 03-28-2008, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

when im not sure either way, i can be influenced either way. like 10k bc. i knew from the first psn trailer a long time ago i wanted to see it. any reviews or posts saying it sucked wont matter to me.

Everyone said it sucks! All my friends too.

dk3dknight · 03-28-2008, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blu Haze

Everyone said it sucks! All my friends too.

Ive gotten to the point of not trusting reviews from my friend,
I found the ones raving about how cool madden is and that I
should buy xyz madden game to be full of ****...

um pardon my french, I plan on giving 10kbc a good watch at the
theaters I have free tickets anyway... and ill get a good meal too.

mgonzo2u · 03-28-2008, 09:43 PM

Almost never.

We use our own judgement after watching multiple trailers.

JLaSoul · 03-28-2008, 09:45 PM

0 influence, none what so ever, I choose what I want, and I choose to keep it or get rid of it if I like, that's why I love renting games first and buy what I like later.

owa · 03-28-2008, 09:50 PM

I like reading them and usually do from several sources but it rarely influences my purchase plans in regards to movies but maybe a little more so with games.

It's rare for me to not like a movie so I don't really use the reviews to help me decide on it in that sense (in terms of liking it or not). I may use their PQ/SQ ratings if I'm marginally interested in a movie. That may push me in one direction or the other.

With games, I'll use reviews to see what the game is about but it only occasionally influences my purchase decision. When it does, it's usually b/c they reported a lot of glitches or control issues or that it doesn't look very good (I usually check the screenshots first).

kpkelley · 03-28-2008, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverFireshot

Agreed.

Some of my favorite games and movie have gotten bad reviews. Recent examples are The Fountain and Assassin's Creed. They both got average to low reviews but I love them. The Fountain I've watched probably 10-15 times and Assassin's Creed I've put almost 40 or 50 hours into (still trying to find all those damned flags).

Assassin's Creed didn't get bad reviews. They only negative comments reviewers had for Assassin's Creed is that it can get repetitive, which it can. I didn't see a review that was average or below.

As for The Fountain, I tend to agree with the reviewers.

View Poll Results: How influenced ar eyou by Movie/Game reviews?
Very Influenced/Will not purchase unless I read good reviews.	6	11.54%
Slightly Influenced/I will wait a few days to see what people are saying	19	36.54%
Almost never influenced. I'll take my chances.	13	25.00%
No Influence. I don't care what reviews say.	14	26.92%
Voters: 52. You may not vote on this poll

03-28-2008, 06:30 PM	#1
Roland1919 Power Member Member since:Nov 2007 Location:San Diego Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:2 Blu-ray reviews:17 Trading Score:25	How influenced are you by Movie/Game reviews? I will admit that I love the fact that I have the luxury of combing through web reviews before I drop $20 - $50 on something. Lets face it, during these times you have to be thrifty, well, you should be practical in your spending habits regardless. I enjoy sites like Gamespot http://www.gamespot.com/index.html or Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com they give me an "idea", of how, when or why I would purchase something. Notice I put idea in quotes. Now, while its not gospel, it is a good indicator for me; especially for games. For example; I was anticipating Turning Point for PS3, reviewers on hotspot gave it terririble reviews and explained why, more importantly gamers (you and me), gave it terrible reviews as well. That was enough for me not to get it. Could it be my loss, did I miss a great gaming experience? Maybe. Maybe not. But with todays market and the number of games out there already I don't have time or money for junk. Conversely, Donnie Darko didn't get the greatest reception when it went to SunDance...turns out ot be one of my favorites and a highly anticipated titles for Blu-Ray. My point is that as a consumer we have a lot of trusted, valuable and resourceful websites not to make an informed decision. While I don't say take absolute faith in other peoples opinions, I find it comforting when reviewers (like you and me) give and opinion and support it with relevant argument or information.

03-28-2008, 06:41 PM	#4
UlicBelouve Senior Member Member since:May 2007 Location:Menomonee Falls, WI Blu-ray collection:95 Blu-ray reviews:1	I like MetaCritic. It combines multiple scores and gives it a rating. This way, I'm not influenced by fluke reviews. I do like the reviews. I remember one weekend I was looking for a movie to watch, and I was going to go see "Untraceable". Read the reviews, and decided not to. However, I read another review for a movie that I had not even heard of. It had great ratings, great reviews. So I went and saw this movie, knowing nothing of the plot. That movie? No Country for Old Men. Probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. So for me, individual reviews carry little weight. Culminated reviews (I think Metacritic requires 10 professional reviews, like IGN, Chicago Tribune, etc before it posts a score) carry significant weight for me. And I've agreed with the cumulative scores much more than anything else. Last edited by UlicBelouve; 03-28-2008 at 07:18 PM. Reason: Edited for clarity in last paragraph

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03-28-2008, 06:36 PM	#2
Rabidhunter Senior Member Member since:Feb 2008	I'm not all that influenced by reviews. When I watch or buy a movie, I look for elements different from that of most critics. There are serveral movies that had very bad reviews that I actually enjoyed (Equilibrium and August Rush for example). Yet there are several movies that were highly esteemed by critics that I absolutly hated (for example I lothe Pan's Labyrinth so much so that I want to smash my keyboard in everytime I think about it). So no I do not trust critics reviews much. However, I do look up reviews of movies before showing them to some people, like members from my youth group. I obviously want to check some things out and let the parent's know what their children are watching.

03-28-2008, 06:38 PM	#3
un4gvn94538 Blu-ray Knight Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 Location:Limbo (Bakersfield, Ca.) 4K collection:143 Blu-ray collection:811 DVD collection:54 Digital collection:1494 Trading Score:277	when im not sure either way, i can be influenced either way. like 10k bc. i knew from the first psn trailer a long time ago i wanted to see it. any reviews or posts saying it sucked wont matter to me.

03-28-2008, 07:09 PM	#6
kpkelley Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Aug 2007 Location:Framingham, MA 4K collection:385 Blu-ray collection:2478 Digital collection:113 Blu-ray reviews: 152	For me it depends on the way that the reviewer expresses his/her opinion. I really apreciate it when they break it down to similar films or games and how this experience rates in comparision to another. For instance, if a reviewer says that a film is a similar experience to "Date Movie" i know that i can skip that one.

03-28-2008, 07:19 PM	#7
Beta Man Moderator Top contributor Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Juuuuuuuust A Bit Outside.... Home Theater Gallery:4 Blu-ray collection:268 Blu-ray reviews: 18 Trading Score:25	I don't go by individual reviews.... but if a movie comes out, and it doesn't look like my type of movie, and then I hear OVERWHELMING negative feedback about it..... I'll just stay away.... If a movie really looks good to me, and I hear negative stuff, I may still give it a chance.... It all depends on what I read, and how it's presented I guess. Like Snakes On A Plane..... INSTANTLY I thought... "wow... POOP" and I heard it was so bad it was funny.... so I stayed away until I caught it on HBO/Sho-time,.... and got a decent laugh out of how bad it was.... but that was it.

03-28-2008, 07:50 PM	#8
actionhank Senior Member Member since:Jun 2007 Location:Las Vegas, Nevada	With movies not at all. But with games definitely I check the metacritic score. Then I read a couple of reviews about it, usually by ign.com or gamerevolution.com Thats how I decided to rent Heavenly Sword instead of buying it. And to stay far away from Lair.

03-28-2008, 08:05 PM	#9
Mouse Special Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Texas, USA Blu-ray collection:83 DVD collection:116 Trading Score:1	I don't care what reviews or critics say about movies. They all seem to watch WAY too many movies and they all tend to blend together so all movies to them seem like crap until an extremely good one comes along.. or an extremely original storyline. Then again, I'm easily entertained and pretty much enjoy every movie. Anyway, I usually watch the movie at the theatre or rent the movie before I buy it. It's non too wise to just do a blind-buy on just about anything.

03-28-2008, 08:20 PM	#10
dk3dknight Blu-ray Ninja Member since:May 2007 Location:Arlington, Texas PSNetwork: dk3dknight PostCount: 0001 Blu-ray collection:44 Blu-ray reviews: 2	I also have to admit be it movies or games, I find alot of stuff, never to trust a reviewer on. An example if say I read a review on say a gundam game stay with me... And they open with ,"I Hated the series, and I hate all Anime," so a review on a game from said anime series would be a instant red flag close do not read. Another example is when a reviewer attacks the item's universe, basicly the movie / game is based in a specific universe of rules, and the reviewer attacks the one item for following said rules. Another example is attacking a fictional movie about a event, for not displaying all the reasons the event ended the way it did, instead of just concentrating on one main reason. A fictional movie is not a documentary and should not be held as such. reference battle of the bulge We could go on but this has really created alot of distrust for reviewers in general, because they lack the sight to do some research or at least trying to understand what there seeing... Now I would like the pleasure to counter that, I will say the reviewers on this site are a, "BREATH OF FRESH AIR", in fact I took the time to read the Appleseed review and was so happy to see the reviewer doing research on a sequel instead of rating it down because he hadn't seen it that was a review that any reviewer should be forced to read, So I would like to say, "Thank You Martin Liebman for taking the time to try to understand appleseed instead of writing it off like so many reviewers do, you give me hope."

03-28-2008, 08:25 PM	#11
X-Ninja Special Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:North Bay, Ontario Posts: Over 1100.......... PSNetwork- Axecution Blu-ray collection:1 Blu-ray reviews:6	Reviews suck. No other words beyond that.

03-28-2008, 08:54 PM	#13
Horhay Expert Member Member since:Jun 2007 Location:San Pedro, CA Home Theater Gallery:3 Blu-ray collection:352 Trading Score:2	I dunno if you can trust a person who might not even like the genre of game they are reviewing, there has been several games in the past in which they gave it a horrible review, but I loved the damn thing. So I just don't really care for reviews some tend to be really biased.

03-28-2008, 08:54 PM	#14
supersix4 Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Mar 2007 Blu-ray collection:572 Blu-ray reviews: 53 Trading Score:3	bottom line is its still just opinion, could be the best reviewer in the world but at the end of the day its just opinion ... i'll read them but wouldnt ever go by someone elses tastes

03-28-2008, 09:43 PM	#17
mgonzo2u Expert Member Member since:Jul 2007 Location:O.C. KOOK FOR LIFE Blu-ray collection:112	Almost never. We use our own judgement after watching multiple trailers.

03-28-2008, 09:45 PM	#18
JLaSoul Active Member Member since:Mar 2007 Blu-ray collection:219	0 influence, none what so ever, I choose what I want, and I choose to keep it or get rid of it if I like, that's why I love renting games first and buy what I like later.

03-28-2008, 09:50 PM	#19
owa Blu-ray Knight Member since:Apr 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 96	I like reading them and usually do from several sources but it rarely influences my purchase plans in regards to movies but maybe a little more so with games. It's rare for me to not like a movie so I don't really use the reviews to help me decide on it in that sense (in terms of liking it or not). I may use their PQ/SQ ratings if I'm marginally interested in a movie. That may push me in one direction or the other. With games, I'll use reviews to see what the game is about but it only occasionally influences my purchase decision. When it does, it's usually b/c they reported a lot of glitches or control issues or that it doesn't look very good (I usually check the screenshots first).

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