NO! Not at all!
I don't trust any of them, especially in the niche genre I love, which is JRPG.
They just don't know how to review them anyway, so I don't lose anything.
I use several other ways, mostly involving what the developer uncover of the game, and now we even have free videos on the Net, and all of that is more than enough.
Sometimes I can test them too. And till now, I follow my flair, which has always been accurate, far more than reviews, to me. And that for every game genre.

Reviews only affect it if im not sure whether or not to buy the game. However when im not sure i normlly do not buy the game. Mostly ppl raving about a game online makes me look it up but i actaully dont like reviews bc they always rate my favorite games as crap.

I do, I was going to buy Assassin's Creed but after reading a number of reviews I rented it instead.

I think reviews are much more important for their negative aspects, most of the problems with any game can be identified by nearly anyone with experience whereas positives are a lot more about taste. I liken it to movie reviewers are alway giving great scores to those unique artsy movies I rarely feel like watching but mediocre ratings to a lot of Hollywood big budget films. However if you sit down and read a couple of the reviews and note the criticisms you can normally determine if mega budget movie X is worth the cost of admission.

So more or less I use reviews as reasons to not buy a game. 

 So do you rent games before buying?

Usually i'll base the game off ign's review. If they say it's a short game with no replay value i'll rent it. If they says it's an awesome game i'll end up buying it. I Usually don't buy anything under a 7.5. Only time i've been screwed over is for SvR08.. 7.5 my ass, the worst wii game i've ever played.

May you enjoy here

If have any good suggestions or advice ,please contact with me in the “Live chat” in the wwww.upgold.net  is the game forum I made

ww.upgold.net or e-mail to me –yangping19871209@hotmail.com

Or yangping19871209@sina.com

Happy New Year

I came to the conclusion that reviews are not to be trusted. Going through several review sites (Gamespot.com, IGN, Gamerankings, Gameinformer and several others_ its really starting to be clear that they are bias to certain games.

I find that if its a game, I'm really interested in and they give it a sucking score its because of one thing or they try to find ways in the game that are good but twist the good into bad. Others are that they never make it clear at the end of the review, whether the game is worth my time or worth the cash. They will either say its worth renting or its worth playing. Well we really have those "worth playing" games now just for the simple fact publishers could be giving money to certain reviewers and they just improve the score or other factors.

Reviews are thing of the past now, I believe that if you really are on the verge of getting a game just buy it. And you should pin-point the wrong and the good just out of your experience with the game.

Also if you do base your decision on game reviews your just listening to others and buying base on what they like. You should just buy what you like and be satisfied with it.

I'm now learning that and its in full effect with me. I buy games now just because of what I like and if I'll play it with consequences and if not well it was my fought buying the game. Thats what a gamer is IMO.....

Yes, I base my buying decisions on reviews. I use Game Rankings and am currently still making my way through the 90+% games for the systems I own.

I got a 360 in August and I did not own an Xbox so I am still playing through the good compatible Xbox games. Most are US$10 or less used, and I buy used, so I haven't been disappointed yet. Every game I have bought has definitely been worth the money. I actually also bought Halo 3 Limited Edition for US$50 new, and that has also been worth the money.

I still have yet to play any game that got 90% or higher on Game Rankings that I did not like.

it depends. If the review states that the game is basically broken and unplayable (scoring under 5 in a 1-10 rating or something similar to that) then i will probably stay away, at least until its in the bargain bin. Anything higher than that then it all depends how interested in it i am.

i read peoples opinions, and watch footage before buying a game