How do you look at reviews?

[Deleted member 5410619]

I am curious how others look at reviews.

I automatic glance over 5 star reviews as people give 5 stars way to easly.
5 stars is suppose to mean it stands out yet it is given to the avarage games at best(And outright horrible games at worse)
I believe there is an objective standerd of reviews that goes beyond:
Made me cum.

Unfortantly i seem to be the execption.

4 stars reviews i take with a grain of salt.
They tent to be more honest but very rare.
And also a bit too eager to forgive bad game design.

3 or lower stars is what i look for when looking at reviews.
I find these to be the most informative.
Giving the good and bad parts of a game without much bias.

How about you.
What is your method when looking at reviews?

 

[Synx]

I often look up for some of the longer reviews of some high ones and some low ones, looking for ones with some likes if possible as well. This often gives a good overview of what the game has to offer, it's strengths and shortcomings.

That said I most often find 2 and 3 star reviews much more useful in seeing if a game would be interesting for me. They often highlight the clear issues with the game, while 5 star reviews don't. People seems to have a very low standard what makes a game interesting. Especially on the story side; I can't even count how many games with a ton of 5 star reviews praising the story, while in reality they all boil down to a guy coming home to a lonely mom, 2 sisters, dead or gone dad, and he solves all their problems with little to no effort getting rewarded with sex for his 'troubles'.

 

[moskyx]

At first glance, I usually look at the extension of the review rather than the rating given. Basically I want some kind of analysis: if well explained, even 5 stars ratings are OK to know the game's positive aspects, as long as the review has some weight to it and is something more than a bunch of different ways to express 'OMG best game ever'.

I may add that I don't use reviews as a way to ponder whether I should try a new game or not, but as a 'confirmation check' of my impressions after playing it. I usually browse the 'New Thread Ratings' tab twice a day or so looking for reviews of the games I've already played; after a while, you can recognize some other games that get consistently good ratings and this can make me try them if I got a good feeling from those reviews regarding fetishes and overall execution, but I basically rely on a couple of 'game recommendation' threads focused on my tastes to actually know about new interesting games. Fortunately for me, those guys have more time than me to try out the more recent games and I trust their views, so it's like having a group of experts making the hard work for me.

 

[SoulsSurvivor]

Yeah I only look at 3 or lower reviews as I've been burned by both the weighted and higher score reviews with both making an average or horrible game look fantastic and in the case of weighted score can make a game I find enjoyable look awful. I take the negatives mentioned in low score reviews and consider how much that would ruin my experience. For instance a negative review saying "too much grind" won't turn me away unless more detail is given as most users seem to consider any work beyond clicking next as "too much grind"

 

[Catapo]

Assuming the game interests me from the screenshots and description my take on the reviews is as follows:
- If the game has an average of 4 or higher from plenty of reviews I might not even look over them
- When reading reviews I tend to ignore 5 star reviews.
- I go over 4 star reviews to get an understanding of good points
- I ignore 3 stars or lower reviews if they seem to be copy pasted from others (way to similar phrasing)
- I read 3 star or lower reviews if they seem unique to get a grasp of low points of the game.
- I might still get the game to judge it for myself if I think the low points might not bother me or the reviews might be unfair.

 

[Deleted member 5584840]

At the top of a topic's page, under the title and the tags, there's a button "REVIEWS(number of reviews)". Here you are.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Yeah, 2-4 star reviews are on average a little better because at least they show that the reviewer is capable of nuance. 1-star reviews are nearly always trash. If you're interested in a game in the first place, chances are it's not total garbage like that rating suggests because competent devs are more likely to make their game look appealing at first glance. If you do play a game and find it worthless, you're likely to turn it off and delete it instead of wasting any more time on it or playing it long enough to see most of the content. In short, very few trash-tier games get the 1-star review they deserve (or much of any attention, really), and 1-star reviews are nearly always given to games that deserve a better rating.

 

[grohotor]

I find the 1 star usually the most informative to be honest.

 

[Gwedelino]

I never look at review because the only valuable reviews are mine.

And since I don't review...

 

[Müptezel Emo]

with my eyes

 

[Donjoe81]

I first look at the worst rated reviews because 5* are given way too easily and often times don´t reflect the whole truth.

 

[Eagle1900]

In my opinion, the reviews must be done after a long time. it is useless to give 5 stars to a still embryonic game and then over time the developer lets himself go and both the updates decrease in frequency and the bugs increase in appearance, this must affect a global evaluation.
usually if the games are still being updated, I ask how often they have and if they are full-bodied, or short and frequent, but the risk of bugs is greater in those cases. the plot of the game is important and must be taken care of like the choice of the scenes or the various fetishes ... then once I see this, I play it, see if it's worth it (by my standards) and only at the end or beyond half (let's even say 70-80% of the game) when I have a real idea of how it goes with everything said before, I leave my evaluation
reading the opinions of others is important, I read the negative ones first and see if they are negative by bias, or have a kernel of truth. then I read the positive ones to understand if the others also grasp the nuances that I have glimpsed ...
however, it is said that the 5 and 4 stars are not "given" and therefore untruthful and only the negative reviews are good... at least don't start biased, give everyone the opportunity to express themselves and "make mistakes" professional critics, and in the end it's still a game)

 

[whizwart]

5 stars to me is like S tier level to me. Something like City of Broken Dreamers or Pale Carnations. 4 is usually well made with minor flaws or one moderate one. 3 is competent, but with things you have to seriuoisly ignore to enjoy. 2 is some good elements, but mostly trash. 1 has something so glaring I stopped playing the game (not due to kinks) because I can't take it.

 

[baneini]

ARound 70% of reviews come from some 0-10 post accounts that exist solely to give positive reviews to games. So they're entirely redundant.

 

[Lewd Asshole]

Real simple: I don't.

Games are free and only take a few minutes to download, if it interests me I'll check it out myself.

 

[Donjoe81]

ARound 70% of reviews come from some 0-10 post accounts that exist solely to give positive reviews to games. So they're entirely redundant.

True. I´ve seen so many games that were straight up trash and accounts that never posted anything gave them a 5* rating.
But there are also many people who rate a game 5* just because of one thing they like and ignore all the shitty parts the game has. That´s why I don´t look at 5* ratings, because they are overrated as fuck.

 

[Deleted member 3917737]

How do you look at reviews





If they seem sus

 

[おい！]

 

[Nutluck]

How about you.
What is your method when looking at reviews?

Typically I use my eyes, sometimes though i will lick my monitor instead


on a more serious note. I just completely ignore stars. because there is not a guideline that everyone follows on what that should mean they are pointless. I mean to some people 3 stars means average, to others it means bad game with potional to be a good game. So honestly to me star ratings are completely pointless

Instead I just pay attention to what they write. If they write stuff like they are being honest aka nothing is all good or all bad. then I tend to find those useful to a degree. But the main thing is I read many reviews because the truth is typically in the middle.

Any review that says something like
This game is like the bestest of the bestest game like ever
or
this game is complete garage worse thing every written
etc

reviews that say something like those I just completely ignore.

 

[nulnil]

If I'm looking at reviews, you've failed to hook me from the description and images. The only time a review really mattered was one that convinced me to play a game, even if it was a VN. I did regret the decision though, so there's that for you.