Which is the best PC games magazine in the UK?

[Born_2_Kill_83]

I subscribe to PC Gamer, one in 2 magazines are good I find, mainly buy for their pre-views and articles, just about worth it I suppose, look forward to each issue though, even though I use IGN and Gamespot to keep me up to date along with various follows on Twitter, I normally know the latest gaming news before the magazine shows up.

 

[agnes]

I have PC Gamer, they sit in the bog in a pile. Good poo material.

Seriously though, the mag does show me games I would have otherwise missed and I enjoy the writing. I don't want to sit scrolling on a forum full of fanbois arguing over graphics as I'm doing my #2.

 

[Cromulent]

Yeah I think I'll probably subscribe to PC Gamer. I bought the current edition from the news agent and while it isn't anything ground breaking the writing is OK and I learnt about a couple of games that I had slipped under my radar.

 

[Rezident]

I think Metacritic takes a 5/5 score and converts to 100%. They might even do the same for a review which says "buy it" (as opposed to a recommendation not to buy it).

In any case, it's a pretty useless tool, metacritic.

Metacritic can be very useful, it’s a good starting point, like when a friend highly recommended some game called something like Stalin v Martians (it did sound cool) and I bought it and tried to play it but it was so abominably bad that I had to stop. Now I start with Metacritic and if a game has a metascore below 70%-80% then I can pretty much ignore it. Even allowing for normal individual reviewer bias, there cannot be many games scoring less than 80% in general that I have time for.

No way they should be including “reviews” that mark out of 5!

 

[Cromulent]

Metacritic can be very useful, it’s a good starting point, like when a friend highly recommended some game called something like Stalin v Martians (it did sound cool) and I bought it and tried to play it but it was so abominably bad that I had to stop. Now I start with Metacritic and if a game has a metascore below 70%-80% then I can pretty much ignore it. Even allowing for normal individual reviewer bias, there cannot be many games scoring less than 80% in general that I have time for.

No way they should be including “reviews” that mark out of 5!

The thing that annoys me about Metacritic is that some games get awful scores on it because at release they sucked (which is fair enough) but if you wait for a year before buying it they turn into the best game since sliced bread.

I've missed out on games like that in the past because I paid too much attention to day one scores and not enough attention to the game and its potential only to re-discover the game 5 years later all patched up and wondering why I hadn't played that amazing game before. Of course the advantage to that is that you do get the game for cheap but sometimes I like to support developers if they make games that I enjoy to ensure that they keep making games that I enjoy.

Edit: It also includes scores from people who don't know what they are talking about. Some games I play get quite a lot of 0 scores because people are too stupid / impatient to actually learn how to play the game.

 

[RoosterC]

The thing that annoys me about Metacritic is that some games get awful scores on it because at release they sucked (which is fair enough) but if you wait for a year before buying it they turn into the best game since sliced bread.

Exactly. I usually check the latest reviews to get a feel on what people now think.

 

[davisdavid]

Does PC Gamer's website not cover your needs? More than enough journalism on there.

heh, 'journalism'. PC Gamer tries to cover too many things averagely rather than covering games well. Plus it feels like a Dota 2 and LoL PR machine half the time.


No one uses Steam community reviews? haha. I av an 650 and 4k n cn ply at 100fps but da game sux cos it flikrs all da time.


Personally I don't have a 'go-to' review site or anything, I just skim the reviews from IGN to Gamespot etc and read the first paragraph before I decide if I'm reading the rest of the review.
I stay away from 'scores' as they naturally incur writer bias. Take Gamespot top 10 scores at the moment: 10 - MGS:V, 9 - FO4, Kharak, Pro Evo, Witness, AC:S, FIFA, SOMA, Rise of the TR.
Surely they aren't all 9's??

 

[agnes]

heh, 'journalism'. PC Gamer tries to cover too many things averagely rather than covering games well. Plus it feels like a Dota 2 and LoL PR machine half the time.


No one uses Steam community reviews? haha. I av an 650 and 4k n cn ply at 100fps but da game sux cos it flikrs all da time.


Personally I don't have a 'go-to' review site or anything, I just skim the reviews from IGN to Gamespot etc and read the first paragraph before I decide if I'm reading the rest of the review.
I stay away from 'scores' as they naturally incur writer bias. Take Gamespot top 10 scores at the moment: 10 - MGS:V, 9 - FO4, Kharak, Pro Evo, Witness, AC:S, FIFA, SOMA, Rise of the TR.
Surely they aren't all 9's??

I will have to disagree chap, they do have some fun and cheeky writing, they don't take them selfs too seriously which is why I go for PC Gamer.

And as said above, I don't really check into their reviews or previews. I just like to see what's coming up in the near future

 

[neoboy]

Is that because of the internet or state of play with pc market....The reason I say that is that you see a wide selection on the shelf in WH smiths for example of console mags.

Is Game Master mag still going....

Well reviews are more widely available on the internet now and not just from publications, be they online or in print, but also in form of community response on the forums, Steam scores and Metacritic. So reviews really aren't a major draw for me to read the magazines anymore like they used to be in the past. I don't think I've missed a PC Gamer issue between 2000 and 2005 but that was also the day that big DVD came in handy with demo and patches when you had no broadband

In terms of "state of play with PC market" this is actually the most disappointing thing about PC Gamer. With the explosion of indie titles that we have seen since Steam's inception, flourishing mod scene and gaming as a whole moving into more mainstream society and starting to get accepted more and more it's really an opportunity where quality journalism could have shined. They do have the a sometimes mildly interesting articles in the section after the reviews but nowhere near enough to be interesting and warranty a sub. Not sure about now, but technical section was also a simple afterthought and very disappointing in the past.

 

[Bluecube]

GamesTM is an excellent alternative to Edge. I found the Edge writers a bit up themselves - too arty farty. GamesTM has a good range of reviews and articles. It's rarely dull.

 

[mahius]

I was done with Gaming magazines the day Official Nintendo Magazine died (I was with them since day 1). I've not tried the PC Gamer magazine, but I am subscribed to their webfeed via feedly. Nice to have something to read on my phone besides lengthy novels, miles better than playing so s****y phone games, no offence.