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I mean, Im fed up with Gamespot. I used to think they are fairly reliable, but unfortunately the impression that some of the most hyped game reviews are...well, biased.

They talk about how great a game is, but neglect their duty to point out bugs and problems. Like their rave on Splinter Cell Double Agent for PC. Or, Need for Speed: Carbon.

Or the hype behind Battlefield 2142, basically an addon pack, which is surprisingly treated on par with cure for AIDS and cancer.

So, is there any gaming website out there that I can safely switch to and not be scared that games that I get are crappy, overhyped or not-working?

Gamerankings.

Rottentomatoes for games.

Gamerankings.com definetly.

Most major sites (such as IGN, Gamespot and Gamespy) are unrealiable in their reviews. Among the list of usual review sites, I really like Gamebrink.com.

Gamerevolution.com is quite good, been using that for about 6 years as a first stop for gaming reviews.

Don't ever rely on actual reviews: the 'compliation' sites everyone has mentioned gives you a much clearer idea.

Frankly, using game reviews ON THE INTERNET as anything other than entertaining komedy strikes me as crazy talk. There are MUCH better ways of finding out what a game is like without relying on some spotty hypelord to tell you. It's exactly the kind of hilariously biased 'reviews' you mention that have rendered the whole exercise unreliable and basically useless. Get the demo, find an iso, talk to your friends: anything direct is better than 'zomg teh gamez is awesome post on my forum thanks guys'.

Fans of KOEI's Warriors games have long had a something against Gamespot; I can see what they're talking about.

Stark wrote:Don't ever rely on actual reviews: the 'compliation' sites everyone has mentioned gives you a much clearer idea.

Frankly, using game reviews ON THE INTERNET as anything other than entertaining komedy strikes me as crazy talk. There are MUCH better ways of finding out what a game is like without relying on some spotty hypelord to tell you. It's exactly the kind of hilariously biased 'reviews' you mention that have rendered the whole exercise unreliable and basically useless. Get the demo, find an iso, talk to your friends: anything direct is better than 'zomg teh gamez is awesome post on my forum thanks guys'.

Internet reviews can be useful if you use more than one source though. I tend to look for negative remarks and possible flaws in the game when I'm reading a review more than anything else. If I see nothing but glowing praise from one source, then it makes me automatically suspicious and wondering what else is wrong with it.

I use Metacritic and Rottentomatoes. Read the highest- and lowest-scoring review, skim through half a dozen of the others and you'll have a much better picture of how good a game is.

I generall try and find a reviewer that has similar tastes to me and look at what they like.

General Zod wrote:Internet reviews can be useful if you use more than one source though. I tend to look for negative remarks and possible flaws in the game when I'm reading a review more than anything else. If I see nothing but glowing praise from one source, then it makes me automatically suspicious and wondering what else is wrong with it.

This is true: if I read a review, I don't give a fuck what the idiot writing it thinks about the game. I just want the skinny, I want to hear about features and implementations and technical problems etc. I skim entire paragraphs of 'zomg teh aw3s0m3', but if they say there's a bug or a broken control system or something similarly objective, I pay attention.

Gamerankings is pretty decent. For me, just rad a lot of reviews and weed out the "This game is the Bomb/Shiznat/awesome/the shit....etc!!!!" and look at what they really say, and if they say nothing, ignore and find someone who does say something.

Games have become too expensive, and extremely shitty at times, even when looking decent, to go out and purchase one because some reviewer is a fanboy fucknugget.

Just as an aside though for the OP, it is funny that Gamespot has at time way too many 9.3-9.6 level games. Either their reviewers are masturbating fanboys, or 5 is not average.