Poll: Can Zero Punctuation write a positive review?

[Grenbyron]

I know, I know. If ZP's heart was not a shrived thing filled with sarcasm we just would not like him as much. But the question is still there. Do you think Yahtzee is capable of writing a positive review?

My answer is No. He was nice to Portal and polite to Bio-Shock. In both cases he still found a fault in the game. That is the nature of a critic, I am curious if anyone thinks he would ever find that magical game where he has nothing bad to say.

 

[sheic99]

That is a job of a critic, to point out faults. He's criticing the work. I found his Psyconauts and Portal reviews to be optimistic.

 

[PirateKing]

Well, Portal. Apparantly he thought it was flawless. He even said he couldn't think of a criticism for it.
He liked Call of Duty 4 and Saints Row 2 also.
Sometimes it's more about being funny than informative.

 

[BiscuitWheels]

'Positive review' doesn't mean 'no faults at all'. He's already given several positive reviews.

 

[Ronwue]

Yes, he can. A positive review is for psychonauts and portal, while portal has "no criticism". So there you have it.

 

[xitel]

Yahtzee has become more of a comedian than a reviewer, and like all comedians he has a specific style. He insults things. Yes, he's a reviewer, and that means he should point out the bad parts, but he does them almost to the exclusion of everything else.

 

[Sewblon]

He gave positive reviews to Psychonaouts, Portal, pain killer and The sands of time, technology is constantly advancing and with it the potential for games, no perfect game exists and no perfect game shall exist until our technology reaches its limits and we comprehend all things.

 

[YouGetWhatsGiven]

Anyone can write reviews, but he makes it funny and you still get the basic review. Only one problem though. Yatzee likes a certain sort of games. Other people might not have the same Opinion. Still funny.

 

[MackB]

I thought bioshock was fairly positive,

Went out and borrowed the game after the review, only time ive done that after one of his reviews.

 

[Azeban]

Uggh, we talk alot about Yahtzee. The man doesn't care two shits about our opinion, he's never even posted here.

His good reviews aren't funny. He's pointed that out himself. Your question is akin to asking if I could shit in public. I could, but why would I?

 

[jojoemon]

well a game critic's job is to point out the strong points and weak points in a game. Unless a game is made that has absolutely no flaws of any kind, it seems unlikely that it would get away without some criticism. That doesn't make it a bad game or a negative review.

 

[Grenbyron]

Uggh, we talk alot about Yahtzee. The man doesn't care two shits about our opinion, he's never even posted here.

His good reviews aren't funny. He's pointed that out himself. Your question is akin to asking if I could shit in public. I could, but why would I?

True, which is why I asked his fans and not him.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Yahtzee has become more of a comedian than a reviewer, and like all comedians he has a specific style. He insults things. Yes, he's a reviewer, and that means he should point out the bad parts, but he does them almost to the exclusion of everything else.

Highlight, Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V.

 

[bad rider]

He can't because otherwise he would not be a critic thus he would have no job. However I'm more than certain he's capable of a good review depending on your definition.

 

[NekoAnastasia]

I don't recall any criticism with Portal. He said "Ok, it's only about 2-3 hours long, but that's a good length" which isn't critical.

So, yes.

 

[Madrak the Red]

There can be no perfect game, as everyone has different tastes in games, genres, gameplay and so and so forth. For example, mine would be sci-fi or modern, whereas my freinds' would be Fantsy or horror. So, as Yahtzee is human (yes, I know it is hard to believe) his idea of a perfect game would differ from ours. And since the gaming industry does not cater to the needs of one angry british ex-pat, he can never have a perfect game, and therefore, never a perfect review.

He can write a positive review. For instance, he descibed portal as 'Sublime' and then went on to say 'and if I say this about any other game ever, I will jam forks in my eyes'. So maybe that was his perfect game. Maybe I think about this too much. Either way, yes, he can.

 

[SwampCandle]

I think the question here is, does Yahtzee want to give a 'positive review'.
Everytime he has, it's usually because he has a bias towards it, like Psychonauts.

The other question here is, does anyone actually buy a game based on his opinion? I personally don't as there have been plenty of games he dislikes that I do like, such as Turok, Burnout Paradise, Tomb Raider Anniversary & Underworld etc etc.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Yahtzee has become more of a comedian than a reviewer, and like all comedians he has a specific style. He insults things. Yes, he's a reviewer, and that means he should point out the bad parts, but he does them almost to the exclusion of everything else.

I disagree, even when he likes things he still uses his usual bag of figurative language. That figurative language is his shtick not necessarily the negativity. I still just think that he's holding games against a higher standard than they currently reside since comparitive to good literature video game narratives are laughably bad. Most games are really just a hodge podge of mediocrity with sometimes good and fun game mechanics.

Very rarely are games consisting of art mediums being expressed at their peak.

 

[Baby Tea]

'Positive review' doesn't mean 'no faults at all'. He's already given several positive reviews.

Exactly! This.

 

[listlurker]

As others have suggested, it's the wrong question, I suspect. Zero Punctuation is about comedy more than actual reviewing. Yahtzee's trying to be funny, first and foremost -- the reviewing is just the format. It's kinda like asking why Jon Stewart isn't a legitimate news anchor, y'know?