My good buddy Shane reviews for EGM, actually I think he's a review editor now. So I always check out what he thinks. Not by buying the magazine but by keeping in touch with him through email. He liked Xenosaga 2 Blight and so does my girl.
I personally always go by what my friends who buy the games before I do have to say about a title or I rent it myself, I never go by the reviews. I use to love the old 2D Neo Geo fighters and they rarely got really good reviews. But off the newer fighting games Soul Calibure 2 is the only one I enjoyed recently. Besides You never know when you are going to find a game you really like if you follow the reviews to closely. I still love to ocasionally play the Ledgends of Dragoon for PS1 and I always hear people saying it was such a bad game.