No, reviews matter when they're anonymous and in bulk.

It means more to me that 5 random people noticed a problem with a game than when IGN, Gamespot, or a vgChartz reviewer notices a problem.

I don't want a review from someone who's playing it to review it and critically analyzing every single thing. They miss the forest for the trees. They're too busy admiring the shrubbery while the other half of the forest is on fire.

This is why I think gamefaq's user-reviews are quite possibly one of the greatest elements on its website. I can go to almost any game and find 5+ reviews of varying scores. They tell me all sorts of things that real reviewers probably never would and are often far more to the point. I don't have Joe C. Review calculating the score behind the scenes, I have 8 Jane Doe's all telling me whether they loved or hated it and why.

vgChartz reviews are a waste of my time as they are now.

In fairness, WOW, most of us are just reviewing from our collections on a volunteer basis, effectively the same as a GameFAQs review in that respect.

(ignore the scores if you don't like them)

Scores don't matter to me.  I usually ignore them.

I read for content.  I read reviews to get a fresh perspective on a game.  When I read professional gaming website reviews, they all tend to sound the same.  Gamespot will mention the same things IGN does which will mention the same things Edge does...etc.  When I read user reviews on gamefaqs, I can get a dozen different opinions on good and bad from various reviewers.  Views can vary widely.  One person hates something while another loves it.  They both tell me why and I think "You know, I think I'd dislike it too."

So... what's the effective difference, then?

Edit

not all the time, if it's on the front page then yeah

A sense of the person writing it.  A lot of gamefaqs reviews don't feel like "reviews."  Some are coming from the "I love this game, let me tell you why it's great" side, some are coming from the "I hate this game, stay away because..." side, and others are coming from the "I like this but not so much this" side.  You take a little good with a little bad and mixed together I can get a better sense of the game.

Like I said above, the keys are "annonymous" and "bulk."  Lots of opinions tell me more than one opinion.  Lots of random people who aren't pretending to be measuring a game with an imaginary quality ruler are much more interesting than one self-proclaimed authority.

I go to 5 gaming websites, read the reviews of one game, and I'll learn about the same thing 5 times.  I go read 5 gamefaqs reviews on the same game and I can probably learn something new in all of them.

usually, i look at the scores first and read the end. ill go back later and read it

I read them when i see a cliche japanese game, or a wii game gets a higher rating than usual, just to see how biased reviewers are here.

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Well, I can't pretend I entirely understand what you mean (especially with the "sense of the person writing it" when you insist they should be anonymous), but all right.