The best reviewers are ones where you can know if you’ll like a game based on their review, even if they didn’t like it.
Yeah, I agree. I’m not at all interested in what score they gave the game; I’m more interested in what they liked/didn’t like and, more importantly, why they felt that way. Then I can get a sense if the game will match my tastes/interests.
I’m pretty sure people have, in this age of “let’s play” videos. You can see the gameplay play out in real time instead of listening to a brief, curated summary.
I would assume that most people are just just listening to their favorite game reviewers as if they were listening to a friend talking about games. It’s a parasocial relationship and it’s more important what a certain person seems to be thinking about a title than how well-founded this opinion is.
This is exactly what I do, and I think it’s honestly a very healthy way to engage with that kind of content. If you find someone you like, and/or who has a lot of overlap on preferences, then that’s a great way to get an idea for how much you’d like a game.
Hell, even if you don’t tend to prefer the same things, if the person reviewing is sufficiently passionate or entertaining, you can still develop an appreciation for why someone else likes what they do. I’ve absolutely struggled trying to get into Fallout: New Vegas for a variety of reasons, but I still respect it a lot because Hbomberguy had a very compelling video on what he liked about it.