I'm twelve hours into Final Fantasy 13, and I'm enjoying it so far. Others can't  say the same: they either hate Square- Enix's latest installment to the series or love it. 1up.com's professional review is accompanied with reviews by gamers, many of them attacking each other for their opinion on the game, especially those who didn't play Final Fantasy 13 but reviewed it anyway. Recently, I've decided to try not to let  reviews guide me to what game I should buy, professional or amateur. I have nothing against them; everyone has an opinion, of course. But in my own gaming life reviews play a small role. I form an opinion long before the game and its reviews are released.

 I received my first magazine subscription when I was eleven. Once a month Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine  filled my mailbox. I loved the magazine for its perfect balance between text and photos, its entertaining news articles and op-ed pieces. But I loved it best for the reviews, especially of anticipated games. I used their reviews as a compass, a lighthouse through the fog to point me in the right direction--what game to ask my parents for on my birthday or for Christmas (the only time when I could get games). They also provided entertainment and information. The magazine went out of print in 2006 and Ziff Davis Media sent me Electronic Gaming Monthly. I thought the reviews were too short, leaving me wanting more, but grateful, nevertheless, to have a replacement.

I've realized that we form opinions of games before they arrive on store shelves. Designers and publishers submit bits and pieces of information to journalists over the months leading up to the inevitable release. Trailers and videos showcasing game mechanics and graphics shower the Internet. Tongues wag over this story and that character. By the time the release date comes around, gamers have already been enticed to buy the game or flee from it. In a way, the preview is actually the review.

The  preview is to tell us the main features of a game: the story, how the game plays, the characters, multiplayer, and graphics. Journalists give us their initial thoughts on these features, but withhold their final score for the official review. While we get an objective observance of games, gamers subjectively judge the work before them, the preview instantly becomes the review. We evaluate the game based on the nuggets of information received. No one has played these games; we just read about them, and somehow without even touching a controller, we decide that a game is crap or great, no matter how well the articles and trailers make them seem. 

I planned to buy BioShock 2 last month, but as more information about the game came to my ears, the less anticipation I had . Playing a Big Daddy and fighting Big Sisters to protect Little Sisters were compelling, but the story didn't impress me. Sure, you return to Rapture and learn a few more secrets about the underwater dystopia, but do I really need to go back to that place? Is it necessary to have a sequel to BioShock? No, I thought. 1up.com's review confirmed my thoughts.

Reviews come from playing the full version of a game, and there the better judgement may be found. That is the point gamers made when they criticized others for reviewing Final Fantasy 13 without playing it. I had the same issue when I asked my brother if his opinion of BioShock 2 came from playing the game. He said that it didn't matter; he watched a friend play it and that was enough. What's the best way to judge a game? Does watching someone play a game make your judgement superficial? Untrustworthy? A friend said he played the Final Fantasy 13 demo and recommended that I don't buy it. He was right about the departure from traditional RPGs: Yes, it's linear; true, you play one character. He hated the changes. My friend played a few minutes of the game and evaluated it, yet his opinion wasn't weak; it was well-grounded, though I didn't find similar problems with the game. 

Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, told Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine in 2006 (this is the interview in which Kojima said games are not art) that he liked to visit music stores and buy a CD without having read a review on it. He  preferred to judge for himself if the music was great and do so without the influence of someone else's opinion. Think for yourself was the point he made, and as many weird remarks Kojima makes, this one made sense. Gamers trash Final Fantasy 13, others love it, and the two camps enter the arena with convincing arguments for why they should shut up and join their side.

But these are expressions of different experiences. As a teenager, I decided to buy a game based on what a critic said about it, but the critic in his review is conveying his personal thoughts on the game. With his or her view is a mountain of gaming history, prejudices, and life experiences not described in the article--a veteran of the Final Fantasy series may have a different approach to Final Fantasy 13 than a young gamer just now getting into the franchise. What the journalist says about a game is useful;  it's a direction, a "keep this in mind when you buy this game" mentality, a recommendation, but I've come to the position that I can't let their experience become a substitute, as if I've played as many games as they have and felt the same way about them; I should check my own gaming history and life experiences, drag them into the light, and then decide what I'll buy.

In the end, the opinion that matters most is your own, and somehow with so many respectable journalists supplying reviews, we can sometimes forget that.