Buy on impulse ? or read the reviews

MooseJam

What sort of a buyer are you, would you stroll into a games shop, have a look at whats new and maybe pick up a game going just by the spiel on the back of the box, or is there no way you would part with your money without checking all the reviews ?

magick

given todays prices i check as many reviews as i can before buying,anything else is just crazy witchcraft

Krieg

Bit of both worlds

I often buy the cheap republished games and they would be impulse.
But I check the reviews for the newer/more expensive games

uglyjohn

Krieg wrote: »

Bit of both worlds

I often buy the cheap republished games and they would be impulse.
But I check the reviews for the newer/more expensive games

Snap!

as prices drop..so do standards

Genghiz Cohen

Bought Prince of Persia on impulse, so glad I did.
Many many of my game purchaces are impulse buys, I'll be looking for a new game, but not too sure of what I want.

Burgo

Generally i read as many reviews as possible,see what other people have thought of the game,but on occasion if something shiny catches my eye i might get it on impulse,a prime example of this would be getting KOTOR,easily one of my all time favourite games.

TheWitch06

Sometimes and Sometimes. Depends if you just know the game is gonna be amazing if not, gotta read up on some reviews before purchase.

Stephen

Similar here. Full-price games will be judged by their reviews. Cheapo ones will be impulse buys. Certain big name ones get bought regardless, like PGR4 and GTA4. Saints Row pre owned for 20 euros was an impulse buy and I don't think it was really worth it. Its like a really crappy GTA

silvine

Reviews all the way. There are a lot of **** games out there.

Kinetic^

Never ever impulse purchase anymore. Did it a lot after the 360 launch but have been using the demos available on Xbox Live/PSs3 Network and reviews a lot more. Probably a case of more money then sense tbh.

Edit: Have to agree with Stephen on SR, poor game tbh.

The Queen

Yeah, but with most impulse buys, you still know if the game is good from hearsay, and if you don't like the premise, at least of decent production quality.

One of my only true impulse buys of a game that I knew absolutely nothing about was enough to put me off ever buying a game without reading reviews forever and ever amen. I give you, WW2: Normandy.

I brought it back the next day and the guy was like 'Oh, must be a faulty batch, we've gotten them all back'.

Sephiroth_dude

I tend to do a bit of impulse buying,some of the titles i've brought have been worthwhile purchases other have not been,but I tend to do a bit of both read reviews and impulse buy,trying to cut down on the amount of games I buy though I have way to many,half of them id say I'VE HAD for over a yr and i still have'nt played them :-/.

Retr0gamer

I always tend to look at reviews before purchasing games. Metacritic is great for this. I have also bought quite a few games thanks to recommendations on the internet. Gradius V and Contra Shattered Soldier are two games that received quite average reviews due to being 2D mostly but after reading nothing but praise about them I bought them and discovered two of the best games of the last 5 years with Gradius V taking a top spot in my personal top 10. Global Defence Force I heard nothing about but bought it thanks to people on forums talkig it up and it really is a spectacularly fun game.

I have been burned by good reviews before. Eurogamer had an awful habit of reviewing british games far too highly. I got battle engine aquila on the strength of their review and it was absolute tosh. The Darkness was a game that received great reviews and I absolutely hatedit.

CiDeRmAn

Used to make snap decisions but bought one turkey too many, now only after reading reviews from reputable sources will I spend the cash on a title.
That said, every now and then you get a kick, a guilty pleasure, playing something everyone else hates but you find fun/distracting/charming.

And ultimately a review, at best, is an expression of a reviewers personal taste, they never ever have the last word, where it's your money, you have that privilige.
So, no matter how good the score, no FF games for me, no WOW, no FIFA or PES, at least not new, and even when preowned only to have a more coherent and objective game collection.

kmart6

Unless it was a major title like GTA or MGS something along those lines I'd read reviews! Too expensive now to go out and buy a new release impulsively! Like I was going to buy Haze but then came across a load of reviews that slated it so decided against getting it!

cabrwab

Would try to have a review read first!
Too many sh*te games coming out lately.
But sometimes i will go on impulse or if the price is right, depends on how im feeling!

Maximilian

I always buy games based on either reviews or previews. Only exceptions to that are games with a good pedigree like anything from Valve or the next Total War game for example.

If only everyone did so - its people who don't read reviews who end up putting crappy movie tie-in games at the top of the sales chart. If people were just a little more discerning, the overall quality of games in general might improve and we woud see less of the rubbish.