So how do we tell which reviewers who give it a low score are doing so because they honestly feel it deserves that score and which ones are only doing so because they apparently have agendas or are too prideful to admit they were apparently wrong? And why would they be wrong? Did the game go through a massive design change?

We tell by playing the game itself. Those who don't play it will continue to talk crap about it, but only those who play it can really state how accurate the reviews are.

See what you;re saying is pretty spot on to what I'm seeing on a daily basis here, the last 3 Order threads have mostly been created for the sole purpose of defending against those that simply don't like it but voice their opinion, apparently people are wrong ti dislike the game and even then the created threads show proper hypocrisy when those same people bash other games not on their console of choice, hell a few people just did that a few pages back with bringing up Quantum Break, basically a low blow to bring an Xbox game into a PS thread to make a PS game look good and an Xbox one bad.

I wish the brand loyalty crap would stop but I don't believe it will, this generation seems to have further cemented brand loyalty to a new level, the best you can do is ride the currents and do what you want, I'm glad I got out of sticking to a single console a few years back, going for as many platforms as you can go for/want is probably the most liberating free experience to have, you're free to choose what you want without having to choose a single side and stay blind to it.

I love Single Player well told stories, so I'm certainly looking forward to it. I'll read the reviews to see if they talk about frequent interruptions as that is the only thing I'm really afraid of. Otherwise, it looks right up my alley.

Scores will probably be lower than they would otherwise because single player only seems to be frowned upon these days. Other than that, I'm guessing most reviewers will be fair. Maybe a few will be off because of bias/lazy journalism, but that can be said for any game.

I would think that the best way to determine if a review is being sincere or not would be to compare it to both other reviews, critic or otherwise, and to also compare it to your own experience with the game.

Now, I'm not saying that if you enjoy a game and you read a negative review of that game then the reviewer is being disengenuous. But there certainly could be instances where you read a criticism that in your experience doesn't acuratley represent the reality of the game. 

I'd also be weary of any vague criticism. Like, I think calling a game generic, or saying it lacks inovation can be a sound complaint. But not on their own, if sombody is going to complain that a game lack innovation they had better explain A. what that means in context. and B. why lacking it makes the game worse. Otherwise it does little more to help someone decide if the game is worth playing than just saying it's bad.

This will be my first Microsoft console. My brother and I were planning to get PS4's so we could game together on our days off.... and he went out and got an X Box One and he loves it! So now that might end up being my first purchase.. but I hope to get all 3 hopefully within a few months of each other. I can't wait to play all the Halo's for the first time. Also is there any way I can play Alan Wake on the One? That game seriously has me watching YouTube gameplay videos, it is seriously right up my alley. Also as I saw on my brothers XOne, I love all the apps. The Go Pro app is amazing and gives me ideas for my own videos. 

Now I'm just hoping the PS4 lives up to my expectations lol Because I had it very high up. But the X One really caught me off guard. It's far better than most make it out to be. 

All this from someone who has been a Sony/Nintendo/PC guy most his life. I mean look no further than my post hitory to see I used to be a slight Sony troll and apologist =/ lol Freeing myself from those brand loyalty chains has been amazing. 

That doesn't work. A reviewer has obviously played the game, and yet others who played the game will still disagree.

See: Driveclub. According to many here it is a fabulous racer, amazing even. Yet it has a 71% score, and that is with most of the lowest reviews not even taking into account the shitty launch.

What it boils down to is while some gamers are complaining about or making reference to this idea that reviewers already have their minds made up on the game and will score accordingly, those same gamers themselves already have their minds made up that the game is going to be incredible and low scores must be low for some other reason than the game itself. Which they have not even played and the reviewers have. It makes no sense.

The anti-review sentiment in this thread stems from the ridiculous number of "you might want to cancel that preorder" articles for just this one game. I don't know why it's being singled out when stuff like Destiny & Watch_Dogs got by without such harsh pre-release scrutiny by the media. I'd say it's in response to 2014 in general, but the 'linear & derivitive' narrative seemed to start mid-2014.

I think the game looks decent, not deserving the whipping boy status. If it ends up being a turd, whip away, but the media setting a negative tone for this one game makes me twitchy and defiant, same as how the preorder begging made me stop preordering anything.

Anyone know when reviews will start coming out for this? It's obviously been done for awhile.

When people make up their mind about something that's it.

I think a lot of reviewers have too much pride, and even if the game is great would find ways to downplay it to match all the negativity their company generated prior to release.

I think it's 2 days before release. I might be wrong.