If you're coming fresh to a game with little or no knowledge of it, but just have a slight inkilng that you might like it, and then you open up any publication and see they've given it a very low score, then you won't be very inclined to purchase it.
The game magazine that I personally put the most stock in is Play Magazine, because I've been reading them since the mid nineties when they were publishing Diehard Gamefan. Although it is often true, that if a publication has a set philosophy and a game doesn't quite gel with that philsophy then the publication with the particular philosophy or expectations can also be a little rougher on games that don't meet them or differs from them and a little more generous with games that go better with those philosophies even if they have more flaws.
An example would be Play giving Mass Effect an 8.7 largely because they don't like the character designs and would prefer characters that look more like Nomura, anime characters, or like the ones in Kameo, Assassin's Creed, Heavenly Sword, Folklore, or Brutal Legend (all games whose artwork they seem to like) while most sites gave it well over 9. And then the flipside of that would be IGN givingHeavenly Sword
a 7 yet Play maintaining it was a 10 out 10 and one of the Ten Best of this gen due to its very high artistic merits (but probably in some instances repetitive gameplay).
Of course if you're in tune with the philosophy the publication uses you will often find yourself in tune to their ideas about various games.
