honestly i like they're reviews.  You often have to take em with a grain of salt... but take a good review and a bad review and look at them together and you get a good view.

That's often why i like Metacritic too... I can read 1 or 2 positive reveiws, 3 or 4 negative reviews. 

Then i know whether or not i'll like the game.

You should look at it a bit.  Their FAQs and game information are very informative and games with active discussion boards can actually yield a lot of great things as well though their general message boards are pretty poop.  Reviews are just a nice added bonus for when I want some impressions on the game from other people who played it.

Gamekult.com

Maxim

Gamespot,Pelaajalehti

Friends that I know irl > VGChartz members > Yahztee from Zero Punctuation > The guys from Penny Arcade >>>>>>>> Famitsu > A magic 8 ball >>>>> Any other reviewer

Gamespot and GameFAQs reader reviews. That's not to say that they're always 100% right even in my own view, but they're the most consistent in my case.

As long as Kevin Vanord (or however you spell his last name) is reviewing the RPG genre, you're bound to get a good review.

IGN IMO