Reviews

[Fierce_LiNk]

What is your approach these days with reading reviews for films, games, tv, etc?

I'm increasingly finding that I just don't bother reading reviews for things anymore, for lots of reasons. One of these reasons is that once you've read a specific thing in a review, you're almost looking for or thinking about that specific factor even more so than you may have done beforehand. E.g. if a review was to say that the story of a game has a really terrible ending, you're already going into the game with that in your head, so it's influencing your judgement before playing. There's also a lot of bandwagoning that goes on, where people will start quoting particular reviews and passing those views across as their own opinion, even if they haven't watched or played something. I found that happened a lot with The Last of Us Part II. 

Another one regards the recent Tenet reviews, specifically from The Guardian. Two separate reviews, but with two different scores. 2/5 and 5/5. So...you have one place giving two wildly different viewpoints, which I think is the crux of it. A review is just somebody else's opinion, that one person's opinion, on that specific day when they were writing the review or watching the film or playing that game. I find that it's sometimes better to get a general consensus on forums or through friends, when you know them a bit better and can sort of judge what their tastes are like, or what they do or don't look for in their media.

I find reviews strange because it's like we're seeking reassurance off somebody about something we're already interested in, rather than judging it for ourselves. I find impressions or first looks to be more revealing, because then you can get more of a feel for what the film or game is like without having too much spoiled for you, plus you're not having your judgements already clouded beforehand.

These days, if I'm going to read a review of something, it's going to be after I've seen it, watched it or played it. I think that's interesting where you can compare your thoughts after finishing something, plus there's no way of things getting spoiled (which happens too much these days) and you can see if the same bits that stuck out for you also stuck out for other people.

I'm finding it quite liberating to watch films or play games without knowing too much beforehand. I watched zero trailers (bar the stuff that was shown at E3 aaaages ago) or read zero reviews before The Last of Us Part II. It was truly exciting to have no idea what was going to happen next. For Tenet, I've only ever seen the one full trailer, which is very old now, not even from this year, and I've read zero reviews, which I plan to keep on doing. 

[Julius]

2 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

What is your approach these days with reading reviews for films, games, tv, etc?

I'm increasingly finding that I just don't bother reading reviews for things anymore, for lots of reasons. One of these reasons is that once you've read a specific thing in a review, you're almost looking for or thinking about that specific factor even more so than you may have done beforehand. E.g. if a review was to say that the story of a game has a really terrible ending, you're already going into the game with that in your head, so it's influencing your judgement before playing. There's also a lot of bandwagoning that goes on, where people will start quoting particular reviews and passing those views across as their own opinion, even if they haven't watched or played something. I found that happened a lot with The Last of Us Part II. 

Another one regards the recent Tenet reviews, specifically from The Guardian. Two separate reviews, but with two different scores. 2/5 and 5/5. So...you have one place giving two wildly different viewpoints, which I think is the crux of it. A review is just somebody else's opinion, that one person's opinion, on that specific day when they were writing the review or watching the film or playing that game. I find that it's sometimes better to get a general consensus on forums or through friends, when you know them a bit better and can sort of judge what their tastes are like, or what they do or don't look for in their media.

I find reviews strange because it's like we're seeking reassurance off somebody about something we're already interested in, rather than judging it for ourselves. I find impressions or first looks to be more revealing, because then you can get more of a feel for what the film or game is like without having too much spoiled for you, plus you're not having your judgements already clouded beforehand.

These days, if I'm going to read a review of something, it's going to be after I've seen it, watched it or played it. I think that's interesting where you can compare your thoughts after finishing something, plus there's no way of things getting spoiled (which happens too much these days) and you can see if the same bits that stuck out for you also stuck out for other people.

I'm finding it quite liberating to watch films or play games without knowing too much beforehand. I watched zero trailers (bar the stuff that was shown at E3 aaaages ago) or read zero reviews before The Last of Us Part II. It was truly exciting to have no idea what was going to happen next. For Tenet, I've only ever seen the one full trailer, which is very old now, not even from this year, and I've read zero reviews, which I plan to keep on doing. 

Great topic for discussion.

As someone who fell into movies hard towards the end of high school, and then games really hard after leaving, I feel like reviews are a really good starting point to reference when making your first foray into any new type of entertainment: games, books, films, heck even specific genres (anime comes to mind specifically when I say this). I just think it's a great way to quickly cement yourself in that medium, by gaining a better understanding of the technical language, what is and isn't popular (and most importantly, in good reviews, why that is), and most importantly giving you things to want to check out and to start building confidence in what you're talking about (either in person or online). When I first dive into a new type of entertainment, I check out reviews (and in a lot of cases, specifically review scores to help avoid potentially having things spoiled) and recommendations, then make a list of what my gut instinct tells me I'd like, and then just start trying things out. I

don't think I'm too selective with my gaming choices (one or two genres I definitely want to play more of, but I'm up for playing almost anything from any time, so long as I'm in the mood for it), or even with movies, but I'm incredibly selective with longer investments, such as anime, so my list is mainly built up of well received series. 

This all being said, as someone who watched film reviews almost religiously and listen to a movie podcast every week day towards the end of high school, I specifically soured on film reviews around the release of The Last Jedi. Normally I would go into a film watching reviews, watch it myself, watch more reviews, return to the film, and form my own opinion; with The Last Jedi, I'm not sure if it was the exhaustion of the stark contrast (and negativity) surrounding the film's critical and audience reception, or it being quite a middling experience for myself after that first viewing, but I tried to watch a review or two after seeing it a few times and I noticed for the first time that I just didn't care what the reviewers I normally watched had to say. That's not to say that they didn't have good points, and there's a lot of criticism I think which can and should be aimed at that film, but the way the Star Wars community specifically became the most toxic it had been since perhaps The Phantom Menace, and how it generally didn't want to criticise things in a constructive or, more importantly, respectful way...honestly, kind of soured me on the series as a whole. It was an exhausting process, and even among friends I found it difficult to have a conversation like we normally would about what we did and didn't like about the film. 

To swing this back around to the topic at hand though, I think I'm where you're at @Fierce_LiNk. Maybe it's something to do with the state of the world, or how people seem to generally think a louder opinion is a more relevant or justified one, but I've generally become sick of reviews. I genuinely can't remember the last time I watched a film review. I think it's also just because I know my own tastes and preferences well enough at this point that I generally have a better idea of if I'll enjoy something going into it, so don't need to depend on reviews as much. 

With games, if I know I'm getting a game and nothing will change that (this year: FF7R, TLOU2, Ghost of Tsushima) then maybe I'll watch the Easy Allies review for it, because those are some excellently written reviews but do a good job I feel of being balanced and fair, all while doing it's best to avoid spoiling anything. But for those games, I'm buying them, and nothing anyone says will change that. Anecdotally I really enjoyed those three games I listed, but heck, a 6/10 score for any of them wouldn't dissuade me. I like going in not knowing what critics thought, but at the same time because of where I land with reviews right now, I like to have something of a general idea as to what the criticisms might be, if not too specific (i.e. performance issues, story pacing issues, good voice-acting, etc.). 

On the other hand, games I have little to no interest in playing? I might watch a review or read around just to know what's going on, and be aware of that conversation surrounding that game, but not so I can moan about it or even partake in the conversation, but just to be aware of it. An example of this would be Flight Simulator: reviewed really well, but I quite frankly don't have the time or PC to warrant me playing that game, but I was really curious about the conversation going on surrounding it, and love that it's been well received. 

When I'm not sure what I want to play next is normally when I seek out reviews (and in some cases trailers, too), whether it be picking what's next from the games on my shelf or if something is coming up. I hadn't played a game since the start of the month and just starting to write my own "review"/reflection on when I played Yakuza 3 earlier this summer got me really excited and was enough to make me dive into Yakuza 4! 

A bit of a jumbled scattershot of thoughts, but in short, while I think reviews have their time and place in helping us make informed decisions on how we spend our time, or learning more about an interest, I think the sheer number of reviews and the toxicity which can oftentimes be attached to them has made it a minefield I don't enjoy navigating as much as I once did. 

[Will]

I’d say I have a fairly similar outlook to @Julius though I’m not super into a lot of things to make reviews something I think about too much. Thinking about it there is one area I do look at reviews, which I’ll come on to.

Films
I don’t read any reviews prior to seeing a movie. If I’m interested in something new I’m going to go (or in current times, download) and see it regardless of what anyone says, and don’t want somebody else’s thoughts clouding my own. If I’m super interested in something (Star Wars for example) I will actively try to avoid everything related to it in the run up to a new film. For things I’m not too interested in I’ll still avoid reviews just in case I see it in the future.

Films that really grab me I will look up reviews afterwards and try to get other opinions on to learn more about what happened or that things mean. I don’t tend to follow movies too closely so generally I just go with the flow.

Games
As with films, I’ll avoid reviews of anything I intend to play. Where I differ a bit is I’ll try to read up on stuff I’m not too interested in as I want to know what’s going on and keep up to date with everything else in the industry.

I generally won’t read up on game specific things after playing, except for sometimes doing a bit of trophy hunting with guides. I read a lot about the business side of things and company perspective articles though.

Experiences
If I’m going on holiday somewhere, or going to a theme park, or some other activity, I will read everything I can about it before I go. Where are the best places? Where should I eat? What order should I do things in? I’ll try and get as much info as I can and put together a planed schedule so I make the most of the things I do. If I go somewhere a second time, I’ll tend to go with the flow and just casually enjoy my time somewhere.

Other things I don’t really have enough interest in to bother with reviews.

[Cube]

I generally don't really look at reviews, which seems strange as writing reviews is sort of a hobby of mine now. I'm not particularly good at creative stuff, so writing my opinion down is the main "creative" outlet I've decided to try.

I used to pay attention to them a lot, especially in magazines. For the first Last of Us I decided to just trust Naughty Dog and looked at nothing for the game, and I got a great experience because I did it like that. Since then I've also become even less interested in reviews because I stopped caring about getting stuff straight away. I can wait to watch films at home, I can get games years after release (which sometimes seems like you get a better experience too, but that's a different subject).

When stuff is cheaper or part of a subscription, then you can take more risks and can just blindly jump into something. 

[Jonnas]

Huh, almost missed this thread.

I personally have never bothered to read film or book reviews. Tastes are subjective, reviewers dance around the actual plot (as they should, considering spoilers), and there's always the impression that their view is coloured by the fact that they're an overly-focused expert on the subject (meaning they might be overly fascinated by things like minor subversions to a genre, or subtle cinematography). I generally value word of mouth more than professional reviews. Let's face it, films are easy to watch, especially if they're social events, I don't need to read a review to know which one to check. Books are heftier time investments, but I still value word of mouth more than reviews.

But videogames are different. Videogames vary a lot more in nature, gameplay, aesthetics, duration, etc. So a review can really help you in understanding how a game is, rather than the overly-focused question of how good it is. Two entirely different writers might even highlight different aspects that they each thought was relevant (I'm reminded of a great review I read when the original God of War came out, highlighting how it does nothing new, and borrows gameplay elements wholesale from other games, but it joins everything in a cohesive package that's better than the sum of its parts. Other reviewers might just focus on the overly violent aesthetics, and how they affected their enjoyment of the game). In that sense, videogame reviews are more interesting to read (and write *wink *wink* *nudge* *nudge*)

I suppose the way I view reviews has changed, too. Back in the day, scores would go a long way to inform me on how to spend my very limited gaming budget. These days, it's mostly to know if the execution is as good as the trailers made it look. Hence why it helps to know what a reviewer values.

And let's not forget bad reviews! Golden Sun review that gets basic plot points wrong? Docking points on a Wii game for not having waggle? The line "there's not much to do in Football Manager other than managing football teams" being written unironically? Pure comedy, and fascinating to look at.

Finally, though the thread isn't about them, here's a shout-out to in-depth reviews: those that dissect a specific work to know what makes each individual part tick. These tend to be worthwhile, regardless of what they're about, even if they're meant only for people who already watched/read/played whatever work they're on about.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Jonnas

[Ashley]

I tend to read reviews (from certain sources) afterwards to get different perspectives and insights. I don't really watch much new TV anymore but used to check AV Club after watching an episode of certain shows as they do good reviews/analysis and will pick out things I hadn't thought of. 

[Glen-i]

Just chiming in to say that you lot better read my reviews or I'll shank you.

(Will give a proper response when I'm not about to have some online gaming sessions)

[Raining_again]

i almost always read reviews afterwards, not that i'm bothered too much about spoilers, but I don't want to go in feeling a certain way about it and lean into that.  Sometimes I feel like watching a review afterwards is not unlike chatting with your mates after a film etc. 

[Ashley]

On 12/09/2020 at 7:05 PM, Glen-i said:

Just chiming in to say that you lot better read my reviews or I'll shank you.

(Will give a proper response when I'm not about to have some online gaming sessions)

Being shanked would be the preferable option.

[Rummy]

Tbh back in the day I'd probably just read N-E news and reviews(particularly because of the community you kinda know the gamer behind the reviewer) but otherwise I wouldn't bother too much unless it was big hype so I'd do maybe first exclusive(think BotW).

Nowadays? I'll usually google check the wiki for a few scores look at aggregators have a scan of a few sites maybe take an extreme from each side(the n-e pros and cons) maybe also check HLTB to judge what playtime I'll get out of it and maybe then check some Youtube gameplays or reviews or something. I feel like getting a shallower look of a range of views(basically what conversation on a forum was back in the day) and then deciding to explore/delve deeper is just a more efficient approach for actually finding stuff I'll make a good decision to buy.

 

As for other mediums - nothing really unless it crosses my path. I even stopped bothering to watch trailers and hypes for films(tho i used to use cineworld card so didnt have to choose between cost of film) - but really it just ended up making me overager and impatient for stuff! It's been more fun where possible to find pleasant surprises in stuff - and also to judge stuff with less expectation potentially clouding things. I've had a few weird experiences with films people I have seen and I sometimes think people went hype and made minds up beforehand(but this also makes masterpieces even better).