Are review scores stupid?

[CChaos]

Reviews aren't flawed, they're just useless, really. They always have been.

First, a number score means nothing for the exact reasons said here: everyone has a different idea of what each number means. Arguing the merits of what 5 and 7 mean is more or less pointless when opinions always vary.

Second, it's a a not well kept secret that a lot of review places will have their future review copies pulled if they dare to give low scores to specific groups. It's come out more than once and even became a thing on Twitter during the debacle with Duke Nukem Forever and a company associated with/hired by 2K outright saying that those giving low reviews are risking their future prospects for more reviewer releases. ( Have a link for it: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/06/duke-nukems-pr-threatens-to-punish-sites-that-run-negative-reviews/ ) And this doesn't even count the fact that they have to tiptoe around the groups that happen to be sponsoring their site at the time.

Reviews haven't been useful in ages, assuming they ever have been. They're the opinions of people who are thrown a game and told to see what they think, no more or less. There will always be bias based off of genre, personal preferences, monetary influences, ensuring future review copies and even console that the product happens to be on.