AllMusic editor
Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the "slick production adds luster to the singles 'Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)' and '
As Long as You Love Me', making them as irresistible as teen pop can be."
Larry Flick from
Billboard magazine noted that the song "cruises at a sweet
jeep/funk pace, leaving plenty of room for a romantic lead vocal and layers of smooth harmonies." Can't Stop the Pop commented, "This is very much the archetypal
Backstreet Boys mid-tempo, which laid the groundwork for many of their subsequent hits. [...] It expertly weaves together a distinctive guitar melody with shimmering '90s pop production (and a pseudo-
R&B beat) to create a song that glistens with a halcyon sunniness from start to finish.
Cheiron would refine and evolve the formula in the years that followed, but here we have it in its purest form. And it is terrific."
Greg Kot from
Chicago Tribune said that on 'Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)' and 'As Long As You Love Me', "the boys embodied teen-dream vulnerability." A reviewer from
Music Week gave the song three out of five, viewing it as "a warm, mid-tempo, but somewhat unexceptional, R&B number. A fourth big UK hit beckons." Gerald Martinez from
New Sunday Times described it as "bittersweet".
People Magazine named it a "peppy" ballad, noting that "despite a tinge of melancholy in the group's harmonies, one can't help smiling." Bob Waliszewski of
Plugged In said that on the song, "the singer longs to return to days before insensitivity and manipulation threatened to destroy the friendship." ==Music video==