Ever since Skyrim got a plethora of 10s for PS3 and I experienced a game that was no where near being worthy of a perfect score, I relied much less on reviews. However, they do influence my purchase decisions, but usually long after I have already made up my mind, so they're more of a reinforcing agent really. I tend to go to walkthroughs for guidance more than reviews, but as I mentioned before the latter can help with my decision. Plus, reviews are very subjective. Look at MGR and how differently reviewers interpreted it. I for one disliked it, but if I bought it based on certain review bodies that gave it an "A" score, then I would have been really disappointed.
And to hell with metacritic. I did advanced statistics in undergrad, so I know how flawed aggregates are and how much they tend to omit. Going back to games like MGR that tend to illicit a polarizing response, metacritic is a flawed reflection for people on either side of the spectrum for games like that.
Playstation = The Beast from the East
Sony + Nintendo = WIN! PS3 + PSV + PS4 + Wii U + 3DS
