Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, after a good 5+ years off, I'm back into PC gaming.

My new PC should be up and running in a week or so, and now I need to know where to go!

For reviews and such.

Ideally, the games would be in categories by genre.

What's the best place on the Web for this?

Thanks!

[edit: delete, misread the OP]

I think GameTrailers is pretty fair in its reviews but it's only organized by latest and most viewed.

http://www.gametrailers.com/pc/reviews

I browse amazon when I just want to see what's available. "Genre" is a pretty ambiguous concept anyway.

http://www.metacritic.com/

Swarm intelligence.

The site basically summarizes and averages the reviews of major review sites and lets users vote as well.

PC games: http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc

Browse by genres on the right.

the TotalHalibut channel on Youtube is great for PC reviews.

He really goes into detail on PC ports and PC indie games. Also he's afaik, a lapsed, Wargamer and huge 40k fan.

I'll check those site out later tonight - thanks everyone!

Any reviews site should be viewed with caution but I use Rock, Paper, Shotgun and the PC gamer website. I also make quite a lot of use out of Youtube gameplay videos.

I also vote Metacritic, as previously posted. Giantbomb is OK, and I trust Yahtzee.

That being said, keep in mind that the average video game site is a pretty cheap date, to be analogous, and you will not really find a lot of honesty in the ratings. Metacritic really should be a one stop-shop for you because it mitigates this affect somewhat. I'd totally avoid IGN and gamespot.
This image remains as accurate in 2013 as it was in 2005; just swap out the logo:

Zero Punctuation is the only review site you will ever need.

Metacritic can be good, but take all critic reviews with a grain of salt. There are some games that can end up being completely amazing after patches and mods (Fallout: New Vegas, for example) that some reviews might make you think aren't a good game at all. I wish most review sites would revisit their reviews from time to time to update them appropriately as a game evolves after its release. I rarely ever read complete reviews anyway; mostly I look at the summarized bullet points that some of them will do (Gamespot does that).

I enjoy Yahtzee and often times what he says is very true, but he's not really in it to review a game but to entertain people by blasting even the tiniest defects. He's a lot of fun but not really a go to reviewer for whether a game is going to be enjoyable.

I've liked numerous games taht Yahtzee said sucked. For example, Space Marine-- a game he said was so bad he refused to review it (because of his own ignorance and bias against 40k).

The important thing to keep in mind with Yahtzee is that he goes way over the top on purpose. Back when he first started he was no where near as harsh on games (though still way harsher than anyone here I think). However he said himself in one of his earliest videos that no one cares when he gives a game a good review so he stopped being positive and that works for him.

Zero Punctuation is entertainment, not a critical review. A better example of Yahtzee's work from a critical stand point is his book Mogworld a parody of MMORPG's and WoW in particular which is both entertaining and at times insightful to the culture of the games it mocks.

 Melissia wrote:
I've liked numerous games taht Yahtzee said sucked. For example, Space Marine-- a game he said was so bad he refused to review it (because of his own ignorance and bias against 40k).

I'm pretty sure it's in his contract to never seriously recomend a game.

I like Gamespot, and also just general youtube reviews. AngryJoe is pretty good, although he also does a lot of console reviews.

Yeah, I can second Angry Joe. As for total halibut, he doesn't make reviews, he only does first looks.

I mainly use Joystiq and Rock paper shotgun if I want full article reviews, really don't trust any other site. Giant bomb is also extremely reliable.

Gamespot, Gametrailers and IGN are pretty well known to be in the pockets of the industry.

Just for good measure: I did paid reviews for IGN and theescapist. Really cannot recommend these sites at all, a lot of reviews are paid by publishers.

Especially the latter is well-known for selling out to EA in order to give Dragon Age 2 a 10/10.

I'm really just after a site that I can sort games by types:

1) FPS
2) RPG
3) Turn Based Strategy
4) Real Time Strategy
5) etc.

I've been out of PC gaming for so long, I need to figure what's out there.

After that, I can probably track down enough reviews to get a good sense of whether or not the game itself is any good...

Steam does that, and lists IIRC metacritic scores in its product lists, though I could be remembering it wrong.

I not seeing that on Metacritic, though I'll easily admit to the fact that I'm probably just missing it...

Here's an example of what I meant:
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?genre=Strategy&category1=998

It doesn't always list metascore though sadly. Click "metascore" to sort by that, some good games have gotten high metascores so...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc

Scroll down a bit. to the right in the grey box.

FPS: http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/genre/date/first-person/pc

RTS: http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/genre/date/real-time/pc

 Sigvatr wrote:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc

Scroll down a bit. to the right in the grey box.

Yup, there it is!

Thank you for the step by step instructions - I needed them!

Be my guest o/

EDGE does the best reviews. Unfortunately you have to pay for the privilege, i've been subscribed for 8 years . Its also a fantastic magazine, written by proper journalists (which makes it the only gaming content that is ). They remain, largely, impartial by not directly crediting any of the copy.

Also check out Classic Game Room on youtube. Not specific to PC games, he reviews everything from the latest PC game to Atari games. Very entertaining channel!

I can recommend a few to avoid:

IGN. The guys are paid to give over-the-top "THIS GAME IS AWESOME!" reviews to certain games, like Call of Duty and anything by EA, and will trash everything else.

Angry Joe. Not a critic, just an entertainer, and a pretentious one at that. The very definition of the "entitled gamer" stereotype. Also, does the same thing as IGN, and will always give good reviews to games like Call of Duty and Skyrim, whilst bashing the games that are either unknown or popular to bash. He also claims to be "THE INDY!" and supposedly a beacon of standing up to "those evil companies".

I agree with the "Metacritic" suggestions. That is usually my goto for reviews from both formal reviewers and gamers.

Metacritic has its flaws. for example, they gave starcraft 2 a score higher than 50.

Christ, we get it Mel, you hate starcraft.

I avoid metacritic like the plague, that site has way to much pull on publishers and has even dicked game developers out of money.

 Soladrin wrote:
Christ, we get it Mel, you hate starcraft.

Pfeh, I enjoyed starcraft just fine-- fifteen or so years ago when it was released.

The difference is that I accept that it is very, very aged, and that the industry has innovated and improved since then-- while Blizzard hasn't.