...are wrong. Because I just read the IGN review for Aces of the Galaxy and I am very impressed with the game and will purchase it shortly. Previously to the reding the reveiw, I did not know this game existed.

So game reviews help new IP's and unknown titles...as long as they are good.

Review - http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/878/878506p1.html

Most think that they are just opinions, and you cannot take them as fact. Your view of the game is not always the same as the reviewers, and you too have to make your own judgement

I LOVE game reviews, I'm just not to impressed with scores this generation :P

For anyone that might care, PLAY magazine just stopped giving review scores, they give AMAZING reviews and they're sooo well constructed, reading game reviews has never been so poetic to me ^^

i prefer player reviews generally.(opposed to reviewer reviews)

Few other recent titles where the game review made me decide to purchase the game:

- Condemned
- Bioshock
- COD4
- House of Dead 2/3

While condemned and HOD2/3 did not get great scores I remember reading reviews and features of these games reviewers were describing and saying..."yes, i will enjoy this". And I was right...

The only game I bought and regreted after was Bioshock...I bought in to the review hype. That game just wasn't my type.

 While i'm usually all for the "read the review/disregard the number at the end" philosophy are you actually praising PLAY magazine's reviews?  The same PLAY that when they still used numerical scores gave Lair an absurd 9/10?!?!?!  I haven't read their reviews so I can't speak to their writing style but if any site/magazine is to be taken with a grain of salt PLAY should be taken with boxes of it.

I use reviews to help buy games too. Like when I bought the PSP, I didn't know which games to get, so I went to IGN and filtered their reviews to 8.x and 9.x games for PSP, then just read through the reviews. I would've never picked up a game like LocoRoco if I hadn't done this. So reviewers are just another tool to help make the decision, along with other things I've heard about the game, personal tastes, price, etc...

Just checked out Aces of the Galaxy review, think I'll dl the demo and check it otu.

@King_of_the_castle

Yeah, this is exactly the type of game I've been looking for since I beat Ikaruga. 2 player co-op mode space shooter for the win :)

And I figure unlike GTA4, Twilight Princess or some other it-must-be-huge franchise, there is no reaosn for anyone to inflate a review of a game like this.

I just use reviews as reference to what games I buy since I am on a tight budget but I still form my own opinions on the games I buy.