[quote name='Kapwanil']It depends, though. I was pretty upset that, save for interviews by other gamers online, there was little to no mention of the various battle system bugs in Final Fantasy 4 for the GBA that had quite a large effect on the overall gameplay. The bugs weren't crippling or anything but the only mention of it that I saw in a magazine was Hardcore Gamer, which was a bit surprising since most of the other magazines had reviews that either suggested or mentioned that the reviewers have played FF4 in the past.
That's not to say that EGM has poor reviews or anything since I tend to agree with most of them, but it's also important to find which reviews tend to work for you and your gaming habits and then take them with a grain of salt. I've been playing Suikoden 5 as of late and have found it nothing short of remarkable, exactly what the series needed after a slightly disappointing 3 and a seemingly rushed, lacking 4. I'm still surprised that most magazines took off major points overall mostly due to the graphics when the real failing is sickeningly absurd load times (it makes the CT port for the PS1 seem reasonable), but to each their own.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, EGM's reviews could really benefit from the addition of more factual information, too; and with their magazine seemingly getting shorter and shorter, you'd think they would have a lot more time to pour into their "Reviews" section. I can definitely recall several titles that major flaws and/or bugs that I felt should've been alluded to by the writer of a review.
However, it's worth noting that, many times we readers tend to forget the fact that, on a scale of 1 - 10, a score like 6.5 represents an above-average title, which I believe is roughly what EGM rated Suikoden 5. To put words to the number: a 6.5 is saying that, while a good gaming experience, the title doesn't go out of its way to be innovative; in other words, I'm sure that while Suikoden is loads of fun (especially to fans of the series), it doesn't go out of its way to try and capture a larger audience or offer some all-new gameplay mechanic.
Once we as gamers are able to move past the awkward grading system that the US school system has ingrained into our heads (85% = average--WTF???), perhaps the gaming industry's adopted 10-point scale will be much more useful to us.
Either way, here's a few sites I use when I'm looking for a very fact-laden game review: PSXextreme.com, GameDaily.com, and GameTrailers.com. Enjoy!
BTW, if you know of any deals on Suikoden 5, PM me!
