Poll: Zero Punctuation - Review or Comedy?

[stone0042]

It's definitely not a review.

He intentionally plays up the horrible aspects of the game for comedy.

Reviews generally look at both positive and negative aspects.

I'd have to disagree, I still see it as a review. Yes, he only plays on the negative points, but he also generally gives an opinion and helps people decide wether or not to buy the game. That's my definition of a review.

 

[Valine]

It's comedy dressed up as a review - always failing the review and sometimes failing the comedy.

 

[CK76]

Comedy, I don't rely on reviews for games.

 

[ahiddenfigure]

As far as his "style" goes, I think Yahtzee said it best himself in his Arkham Asylum [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/926-Batman-Arkham-Asylum] review.

Consider me a praiser by exception, and that everything I don't mention is perfectly fine.

I just think ZP's appeal is that it's not afraid to point out a game's weak points. Have you ever played a ZP-reviewed game and actually said "OMG YES!" out loud when Yahtzee mentions a horrible gameplay mechanic or dumb plot device that you got annoyed at too? I know have.

EDIT: Okay, not literally saying "OMG (ohmger)", but you get the idea.

 

[Nouw]

A critical opinion based video of his. Comedy is mashed into the critical part of it.

 

[lozfoe444]

The way I see it, it's comedy. When he butchered Sonic Unleashed, a game I hold so close to my heart that I may require surgery, I still laughed because it was so damn funny!

 

[Zipline Upshaw]

Most of the time, I'll just watch for the comedic value, but when I need another opinion on a game and there's a ZP review for it I'll usually take his advice as well.

 

[rex922]

a little bit of both
he adds comedy bits to a game review but usually plays up the bad bits of the game

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

It has to be either black or white? I find it amusingly poetic that people see a sitcom-based review and instantly assume it means they can't also take it seriously.

 

[Nova5]

Yahtzee tends to bring up the serious issues with games that would normally piss me off/prevent me from purchasing a title most other reviewers don't bother bringing up.

That, and the visual metaphors are just fucking hilarious.

 

[zutolor]

He rates every thing Bad (Shut up I know that he likes Portal, Thief, etc) so you can't relay on him for reviews (but if he likes a game, go to the store and bye them) so comedy will probably be better for ZP

 

[S-Unleashed]

How about: Stpiud cash cow!!

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

He rates every thing Bad (Shut up I know that he likes Portal, Thief, etc) so you can't relay on him for reviews (but if he likes a game, go to the store and bye them) so comedy will probably be better for ZP

Completely wrong. He rants about the annoying bits of the games because he learned early-on in the series (with Psychonauts to be specific) that people aren't as amused when he spends the whole time talking about why he likes a game. He's given a thumbs-up to quite a number of the games he's reviewed despite having spent 5 minutes ranting about the downsides.

 

[Jekken6]

It's both.

 

[Jandau]

Both. It's comedic, there's no doubt about that. However, the points he raises are usually valid (if a bit nitpicky) and it's up to the viewer to determine if those points would bother him as much. For instance, I liked Overlord 2, but Yahtzee gave it a thorough trashing. The points he brought up were valid, but I didn't mind those things.

Also, as some others have pointed out, people have started mistaking "sucking up" for "objective view" when it comes to game reviewing...

 

[Captain_Caveman]

Brutally Honest reviews which just happen to be funny