Warning: The content of this thread may piss you off, make you upset, infuriate you to an extent that you'll probably flame it to death, or cause general discomfort to your mind, body and soul.  You have been fornwarned.

For me, it first started with IGN's review of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.  I thought it was odd that they gave the game a 5.0.  I personally loved the game but probably gave it more credit since it was a Dreamcast port rather than a true blue Gamecube game.  No big deal right?

Then there was the infamous influx of 10's being stamped on to GTAIV.  In my opinion, this game is a pure representation of what's wrong with "next-gen" mentality.  It tried oh too hard to be serious when the game itself isn't(traditionally) supposed to be.  On top of that, the numerous glitches I've seen and framerate issues do not come to mind when a game is labeled "10 out of 10."

Finally the icing on the cake I call "lack of credibilty".. Wii Music.  This game has embodied everything people seem to hate about casual gaming.  Does that make it a bad game? HELL NO!  Does that mean everyone will hate it? HELL NO! Point is, despite more sensible (Sky Render for example) people being able to see the game what it is, it continues to get lackluster, often unfair reviews.

Case and point, in this day and age, reviews have become a very unreliable way of interpreting the quality of a game.  I used to think IGN was reliable but now I've grown more questionable.  From now, I'm going by gut rather than word of mouth.

Sorry to double post but I'll comment in a few. Class starts in 15..

your feet walk a great path let none lead you astray


and your right about wii music is is going to be a focal point for great things to come and many eyes will be opened from it


look hard and you might find it but as of yet i see only reviews trying to make it the bastard son of GH and the jilted lover of Rock Band

I never really trust reviews from people who play the game for 10 minutes to decide if it's a good game or not.

I read previews of the game to see what it's about and what's going on because generally previews aren't as biased. Then I make my decision on if I want to buy it or not.

why use reviews to tell you what youll like? i look at the and try and find forum posts of showstoping glitches or horrid game play mechanics, outside of that judge on your own. the great rift in gaming right now over types of games people enjoy will cause many threads discusions like this. it comes down to this, yes there will be games effected by hype, and reviewers personal choice. however, this has always been the case, it is now just more in your face with the shift/split in the gaming culture.... on the bright side it wont be a bloody war like the iconoclast wars when parts of western christian orthodox church split up

edit, also why does it matter unless the score is less than 4 in which i have always interpreted as a broken game 

Why is it so hard for some people to believe that Wii Music just may not be a great game?
Reviewers score based on criteria. If graphics, sound, gameplay and lasting appeal are low, then the score isn't gonna be high. They won't give it special treatment just because it's a casual game.

I lost faith in them years ago. Today if dont think they just another form of paid advertisement, your being fooled.

None, 10 should mean perfect in everyway, no flaws what so ever. Of course with IGN their 10 is a 10.0, they score to one decimal place so a game that gets 10 has to be amazing to get it. Surely, but they'll stamp a 10 on it anyway because it looks good but then that's IGN.

Magazines like Edge though have always been credible in my view, I mean they are harsh to an art although in recent years lacking somewhat. For 180 issues they gave out 5 10s. In the last 15 issues since they have given out another 5...have they losts their touch or are games really that much better? those new games being given at 10 are Halo 3, GTA4, Orange Box, Mario Galaxy and LBP. To me all more hyped games that are great then perfect games.

I have yet to play a 10 in my personal opinion, doubt I ever will.

 There's no doubt there's been a problem with reviews for some time, but I dont know if I would go that far.  Furthermore, I think many reviewers are heeding the call to a more reasonable review system.  1up changing from a numerical system to a grade system comes to mind.  Kotaku's "what's good, what's bad" method of reviewing games is also a good indicator of this trend. Kotaku in particular has been doing these types of reviews for under a year, and started complaining about the current system of reviewers in general about a year ago.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/reviews/video-game-reviews-are-broken-please-fix-315469.php

I think the bottom line for me is, numerical scores them selves are mostly overrated.  You have to read the actual content of the (good) reviewers to find whether or not the game is worth purchasing to your gaming tastes. 

Give me a paintbrush, alternating lighting modes when entering/exiting areas such as caves, maybe some water and the ability to do flips just for fun and LBP will on it's way to a personal 10/10 from me.

Agree with OP on the GTA point, this game will most likely walk away with a GOTY award and the reviewers know damn well the game does not deserve it.

On WiiMusic, I will give it a rent before I give my take on it, although from what I have seen so far, I would not be expecting high scores from this game. I would expect the reviews to vary.