Topic: Which gaming publication has the most accurate reviews?

in terms of those of us who may only own one current-gen console, though, and who have no plans or financial ability to purchase another, I know I don't want to hear how much better a game is on (insert other console here), because I don't give a rat's behind. it's not necessary for me to know how it stacks up to every other game for every current-gen console on the face of the planet. i just need to know how it stacks up to the current library of games for the console I own.

^Word _LOLWUT?

This is pretty much my point only worded better. Of the big three I only own a Wii so when half the review talks about the other two it's kinda of a waste.

I don't like when reviews say there is a better game in the genre. For a fake example. "Overall Megaton Smash is a decent game, but you are better off getting Slug-A-Thon". I want to know how the current game is, not based on previous or related titles. I've read a good amount of reviews where 80% of the review is, "would have been better if time attack was implemented, like in Time Attack Frenzy."
Again fake examples.

And for my part I like to know how good a game is as a game. I don't want "good for a Wii game," I don't care if it's "Good becasue the PlayStation 3 is more powerful than the Wii." I want a good game, with good aesthetics, good AI, and good controls.

The Wii can do all that, and the PlayStation 3 can fail at all three, so I personally prefer a review that is within the broader context of the games industry, than an individual console.

This. It's silly to limit oneself to one only review site or publication--the more opinions on something the better, In my opinion. And when they're all laid out like that, it's pretty easy to pinpoint the ones that are overly fanboyish or overly negative.

I don't think that's a particularly bad thing in and of itself. When you're reviewing a game, you have to measure it up against every game in its respective genre. If there are better options, that's something the player should know. For example, "While Nascar Kart Racing is a competent kart racer, it simply can't compare to its much better counterpart, Mario Kart Wii"
Ignoring the fact that there are much better games within a respective genre on a given platform is just kind of silly.
This is simply my opinion, though.

And this is why there can be no consensus on this topic. All sites are catering to slightly different audiences. I have a Wii and a DS, and I'm not in the market for another system. NLife is great because it compares games within the context of other Nintendo games, so I can best choose what to play. I don't care how they stack up next to PS360 games. On the other hand, if I had a PS3 or Xbox too, I wouldn't care how good a game was compared only to other Nintendo games. I would be interested in what the best games amongst all three consoles were, so I could spend my gaming budget wisely. In that case, I'd probably spend a lot more time at IGN or Gamespot which use similar metrics to review games by all 3 systems. Different strokes for different folks.

A review may be someone's opinion, but does that complicate the idea of a "most accurate" review? Isn't "most accurate" itself an opinion? OR DID I JUST BLOW ALL OF YOUR MINDS?!

Still a matter of opinion I say. Like reviewing a Pokemon game, saying you're better of getting Final Fantasy II. In some ways FFII could be considered better than Pokemon but why. I wanna play as some Pokemanz. If your going to list every game in it's genre you're going to have a lot to argue about why in your opinion F-Zero, Mario Kart, is better than Excitebots. F-Zero is the better deal, there are no wheels!

Speaking of reviews, one thing I hate are that some people just read one review and that's their final look at it. "I knew this would get a 5 the moment I saw the trailer, damn Shovel-ware.

Also people saying a game is overpriced. The value of what is worth to you differs from people.
Ok done, lol.

Ha. There has been games that NintendoLife has scored 7/10 or over and completely disliked them. Whereas there have been games scoring 6/10 or lower that i absolutely loved. Some genres are just not for me regardless of how good the game is of its genre. Also, there are some games where I am quite willing to overlook its flaws and not let them bother me that NintendoLife found to be a huge flaw.

When it comes to Wii games, I'm not looking for games using the Wii remote capabilities every time or uses the full extent of it's graphical capabilities. If its still fun and enjoyable then those don't matter. I've spent more money on VC games than I have retail and WiiWare games for that very reason.

this. if i cared about other systems, i might give more weight to what IGN or GameSpot has to say about Wii/DS games, but many times they put the games I'm interested up against Xbox/PS3 games, which i'm just not interested in. one person's 'most accurate' is another person's 'wtf are you talking about', lol. there can be no one set way to review things "accurately", because too many people are looking for too many different things out of a review.

But you can't go by the Review, all the time.

The Best Review you can really count on is yourself

Games shouldn't be judged on how they compare to other games, they should be reviewed as standalone games, if you get what I'm saying.
Btw, aren't we all reviewing reviewers here?

In that case...

theblackdragon- 3/10

@Kingbuilder: any last words before I ban you? >:3

Don't get me wrong, I loved LKS, it's just the glaring omission of IR control that really hampered on my experience ot the game. Considering that's one of the main things that seperates the Wii from the other consoles, you'd think they would have developed the game with that in mind, especially since you have to be more presice in LKS then Pikmin.

Gamespot and Destructoid are pretty reliable as well for the content in their reviews.
If someone says G4 is a reliable site for reviews regardless of console they need to look at all other major gaming media outlets.

@Kingbuilder: You're being way to harsh on TBD. I'd give her about an 3.1

Yes, lets all Buy Every game to decide if We like them, and then if we don't give it a Bad personal review.

I think we can all agree that regardless of which source you trust, game reviews do serve a valueable purpose. I can't think of many games I have bought without consulting multiple reviews first - not counting cheapo download games, those are low risk.

Hey, I would prefer to spend 500 points on a game I would like than a game I have misgivings about even though I never played it before.

Would you download Sexy Poker just to see if you would like it or not? What about Enjoy Your Massage? They are both cheapo 500 point download after all. You could forget about downloading those two and go for And Yet It Moves instead.

If you only had 1000 points to spend on games, which would you go for?

Sexy Poker, yes, Enjoy Your Massage, no.
Unless it was Enjoy Your Sexy Poker Massage.