I don’t believe all critics are unqualified or unhelpful, just that the barrier for entry is so low that any “critic review” shouldn’t facially be held as more valid than an average consumer’s view.
IMO the worst reviews tend to be from large gaming journalism companies. There’s a lot of systemic problems with them like crunch, people writing reviews on genres they don’t have experience with, nepotism, and them inflating the scores of AAA titles so publishers continue to give them early access allowing them to release reviews in time. These aren’t all necessarily the fault of the writer of each of their reviews, but do degrade the credibility of the review.
Sticking with games there’s good journalism that comes from independent reviewers, like Dunkey, but they’ll typically have a specialty in a particular genre. My general go to is usually reading Steam user reviews, but only taking to heart those voted most helpful that actually give critiques and praises. Independent critics or user reviews in my eye have the great benefits of not being beholden like large studios.
Someone did a great breakdown comparing user and critic game reviews and outlining the gaming industry’s issues in this video: https://youtu.be/YGfEf8-SNPQ?si=
Off of digital media entirely Project Farm is probably one of the best out there if you’re looking for tools.
I don’t believe all critics are unqualified or unhelpful, just that the barrier for entry is so low that any “critic review” shouldn’t facially be held as more valid than an average consumer’s view.
IMO the worst reviews tend to be from large gaming journalism companies. There’s a lot of systemic problems with them like crunch, people writing reviews on genres they don’t have experience with, nepotism, and them inflating the scores of AAA titles so publishers continue to give them early access allowing them to release reviews in time. These aren’t all necessarily the fault of the writer of each of their reviews, but do degrade the credibility of the review.
Sticking with games there’s good journalism that comes from independent reviewers, like Dunkey, but they’ll typically have a specialty in a particular genre. My general go to is usually reading Steam user reviews, but only taking to heart those voted most helpful that actually give critiques and praises. Independent critics or user reviews in my eye have the great benefits of not being beholden like large studios.
Someone did a great breakdown comparing user and critic game reviews and outlining the gaming industry’s issues in this video: https://youtu.be/YGfEf8-SNPQ?si=
Off of digital media entirely Project Farm is probably one of the best out there if you’re looking for tools.