Personally, I read Electronic Gaming Monthly and get the reviews I'm looking. With 3 people reviewing each game, I get three opinions at once from guys(and gals) that can say more than, "This is AWSOME" or "It F***ing Sucks!!!"
And Lindalove, you make a good point about looking at the pictures and tranlating the buzz words. Stuff I usually ignore, since it's mostly marketing.
Also, I try games that don't fit there genres very well. Ico and Shadow of Colossus are artful. Call of Cthulhu and Metroid Prime are more than just FPS games. Harvest Moon is a change of pace. I'll play anything by Lionhead Studios and Bioware. And I love RTS games, too bad I suck at them
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