Poll: Do you take Yahtzee's reviews seriously?

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

I take his extra punctuation articles allot more seriously than his reviews, I can tell you that.

He has the mindset that he HAS to bash the games in order to be funny, he said so himself. This proves that he himself is just doing the reviews for the funny.

Also, he reviews games he knows he won't like so you can't take him seriously when he calls them crap because they just weren't his type of games but it might just be yours.

He is also nit-picky about small things. He complains about things so small that it is FUTILE to complain about them. Don't ask me to quote an example because as it turns out, arguing on an internet forum is futile as well, hahahaha.

 

[William Fleming]

Apparently 2 people hate ZP when I done the poll, they had better trolls or accidentally chose the wrong option

Back on topic, I watch ZP every week but I never take them seriously but I do take Yahtzee's written articles seriously though which I'm sure the way it's supposed to be.

 

[Craorach]

I wouldn't say I take him seriously, but I do listen to his opinions and sometimes agree with them.

That said, I'd think he's impossibly picky if I was to believe everything he says as gospel.

 

[assassinslover]

I mostly watch ZP for entertainment, and I do enjoy hearing YZ's opinion on games, but aside from the occasional "Oh, I remember YZ saying something about that, he was right/I agree with him," I form my own opinion on a game. Whether or not I spend the money on it depends on if it's the kind of game I would enjoy playing in the first place.

 

[Choppaduel]

I take XP seriously, ZP is too exaggerated to take as consumer advice, but its fucking funny.

 

[ameemo]

well i don't think you should take anyone's review seriously for that matter, it's just somebody's opinion in the end and as such will not necessarily reflect how you would feel about it if you played it. for eg i love valkyria chronicles but yatzee hates jrpgs but i still watched the review for laughs. On the other hand i take some of his reviews seriously like the dragon age 2 review, he brought up the same reasons i had for not liking the game and i felt like he's the only one not scared to talk shit on the game, almost all reviews i read gave it a high score. So, for me it's like 50:50

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

I think any rational person would say that they enjoy and watch his reviews, but are intelligent enough to form their own opinion regarding the given game.

The same can't be said for MovieBob watchers, sadly, if the comments of his videos are any indication.

 

[DoctorObviously]

Yes, because I agree with him 9 times out of ten.

 

[MarkyJ]

They're funny as hell and sometimes I agree with him but generally I'll buy what appeals to me rather than what Yahtzee says is a good game.

He does make some good points and I share his opinion on some things (like overused franchises) but at the end of the day, some of the points he critisizes in his reviews are either game mechanics I like or porblems which I just don't notice.

Also, he can be hilariously cruel which makes an intesting show but he does tend to point out mainly the negative points.

P.S. 1/3rd of people take him seriously, 2/3rds don't but like him anyway and a neglegible amount (0.5%) of people dislike him. He must be feeling pretty damn pleased with himself.

 

[The Random One]

Most reviews are positively biased. Yahtzee's are negatively biased. So you unless the review is for a very poor game Yahtzee's the only one giving a lowdown on the game's bad parts.

My favourite story about this is how I was almost buying Red Dead Redemption when I watched Yahtzee's review and he mentioned in passing that it had the same stupid movement scheme as GTAIV, in which you have to hold A to run and tap it to sprint. That's stupid in an era in which joysticks exist, and was a dealbreaker for me. No other review mentioned it.

("Oh you are giving a pass to a great game because of some small bullshit!" It's not small bullshit for me, and I'm not giving it a pass, I just decided to buy it far in the future for half the price.)

 

[spartan231490]

Everyone on the escapist has watched at least one of his reviews, where he talks fast and points out all the faults in a game. But do his reviews influence the likelihood that you will buy any given game? Personally, I watch them for fun and if I want reviews I look to other sources.

I take them seriously. He describes the game fairly well in his reviews, and from his reviews I can tell if I will like a game or not. Some flaws I don't mind, some I can deal with, but others I can't stand. If he points out that the game has flaws that I know I won't be able to tolerate I know it will be bad, if all he can find offense at in the game are minor flaws that I don't mind, well then it's a pretty good bet that it isn't a terrible game.

 

[Fbuh]

Honestly, a lot of his criticsisms are ones that I feel are accurate. We don't have the same opinions of JRPGs, but I use his reviews as a reference guide when trying new games.

 

[ultimateownage]

We need less of this exact thread.
I've seen roughly 10 recently, all of them exactly this word for word.

 

[Mutie]

He's honest and I like that. It's better than some sugar coated review paid for by the publishers! I'd rather have Yahtzee highlight everything that is wrong with a game that some pencil pusher tell me about demographics. I believe his opinions are jus as valid as anyone else's and, in the majority of case, agree with him. Some are my favourite games are ones he hates and I hate some of his favourites; but through the years we, as an audience, have formed a clear indication of his hates and biases (more often than not from his own statement thereof) and can thus read through his razors and hear what he is really saying. I've bought games based on his reviews (even harsh one) and avoided others also. He's just another critic, and one who appeals to my generic hatred of everything.

 

[scorptatious]

I don't really consider Yahtzee's reviews all that serious. Sure, he does give his opinion about a game, but that doesn't affect whether or not I'll purchase it. Except maybe Demon's Souls, in which his clear frustration with the game made me buy it. Because you know, I'm a masochist like that. (It is actually a pretty good game.)

 

[Urazel]

I love watching ZP for the entertainment but I also harvest SOME information from his reviews that I reflect upon for any potential purchase but I do that for any review.
I didn't vote because I don't think the poll quite covers me.

Beneath all the fun usually lies a core of truth and overall, for many games (other for example then Horror (which I hate) and RTS (which I adore)) Yahtzee seems to have a similar taste in games as I do.
I have infact already bought games partialy because of his review where he tore it to shreds but the things he didn't like about it where things I liked.

It's just a pile of observations and opinions I sift through, IF I care about the game in the first place, which I 9/10 times don't.

 

[spartan231490]

I hate this arguement!

"Oooh! Yahtzee isn't really a serious reviewer! He's comedy!"

Well if you were to look at a lot of the extra punctuation reviews, off prime-time you'd see that he does actually take his reviews seriously. And not just individual games. He looks at the whole culture and thinks deeply about it. I mean, read for yourself if you don't believe me:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8586-Extra-Punctuation-Molyneuxs-Unfocused-Innovation
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8031-Extra-Punctuation-Dont-Use-the-Word-Gamer
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8156-Extra-Punctuation-On-Silent-Protagonists
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8127-Extra-Punctuation-On-Endings

"But he does it in a humorous manner! Therefore, it's not serious!"

Well, that's kinda why he's noticed. I mean, there are lots of reviews in the user review section on this site that give just as good an opinion as Yahtzee. But they're not noticed because they're just words. Good as they are, they do little to stand out. Often to stand out it the market, you have to either group up with a big company or make yourself noticed with a fresh review style. And to be honest, I'd rather lose a little review to good jokes than the whole review to being brought out and bribed.

"oh....er....but, but, but. It doesn't have a score! Yes, that means it's bad!

You know what? I think scoring by number is bollocks. I.G.N. for instance bases 40% of its score on graphics and sound. You want graphics and sounds? Go to a cinema! It's hard to capture the full experience a game gives you with a number. What if it has niche appeal? I would rate a JRPG lowly, but somone who likes JRPGs and knows more about them would rate it higher. Not to mention that numerical reviews with a large number of people doesn't work either. Take system shock 2, for instance. Some love it, some hate it. Overall, it's going to get a mediocre score, which won't accurately reflect anyone's opinion of it.

And which is better, anyway? Getting a big fat number from a review, or a guy pointing out what's good and bad about a game and describing the kind of experience you might get. Someone who describes it for what it is or who has been told by their boss to give it a 7ish?

That leaves the one real reason for not calling him serious:

"WAAAA!! WAAAA!! HE TRASHED A GAME I LIKE AND MADE A FEW VALID POINTS!!! Maybe if I shout about it, he'll go away"

That is it, isn't it? I mean seriously.

So glad someone said this. I was a little too nice to say it out like this, I just hinted at it. Barely. Well said sir.

He describes what you can expect to get out of playing a game, how can a review be any better than that.

 

[Frost27]

I take them as serious as any other review in any other form of media. Another reviewer on another site would likely present the exact same fault and pick the same nits as Yahtzee does, they would just (most often at any rate) present it straight faced and in a "we report, you decide" manner. Yahtzee presents the faults and picks the nits in a humorous manner and fills it all in with a healthy dose of opinion.

Reviews, and opinions, are the product of an individual or entity's personal perspective and opinion whether it's another Escapist review, gamespot, game revolution, etc. I just don't see why Yahtzee's opinion or overall review validity would be any less viable than any other simply because of the manner of its presentation.

Once you get used to a reviewer's style, likes, dislikes, and preferences you can get a good feel for getting your brand of info from their review and forming an informed opinion whether the review is in a verbally and graphically humorous form or if it is presented like Ben Stein reading off a list of ingredients from the back labels of a stack of supermarket items.

I bought Saints Row 2 based on Yahtzee's review and it's one of my favorite games that I own. I have also found disagreement with him on several issues but I have never felt uninformed. I'd call that valid, in my opinion.

 

[GiantRaven]

I hear this claimed thrown around sometimes and its rubbish. Yahtzee literally called himself a critic in one of his videos. It is true that his style of reviewing is more comical then most but he isn't just making a bunch of jokes that have nothing to do with what is in the game, he calls out real flaws in the games he reviews and then mocks them. ZP may not be the most serious review show in the world, but it is in fact a review show.

Personally, I find some of his criticisms to be overly nitpicky for the sake of humour. So yeah, he's doing it to be funny, therefore he is comedian to me.

 

[bob-2000]

Ha, no. He's pretty funny, but he's not really a serious reviewer.