Review: Zero Punctuation

[Sewblon]

You are right about most of that but, how can a critic be to critical? that is the equivalent of calling a rock to rocky.

 

[TheFace]

I share the opinion of most of the posters so far. I agree Yahtzee's reviews are funny, and in some cases, very observant summaries of the game. To be honest, I do agree with a lot he says, (Halo being overrated, Portal being awesome) but I disagree with a lot also. For example, I really enjoy JRPGs, and I don't understand how anyone can think Saint's Row 2 is anything more than a steaming pile of turd.

 

[J.B]

You pretty much nailed my opinions spot-on.
Though I must say I was turned off by the, what I consider, "wall-of-text", I found the actual text both intelligent and well written.

Good show.

 

[ultimatechance]

You are right about most of that but, how can a critic be to critical? that is the equivalent of calling a rock to rocky.

a mataphor to match your metaphor would be like water being too wet, theres only one level.

A critic thats not critical enough would be like a fan of Carlos Mencia, who is easily amused by shitty jokes, stereotyping, and yelling. Then a person too critical would be like "BATMAN'S COSTUME LOOKS WEIRD, THATS WHY THE DARK KNIGHT SUCKED!!". If you cant point out the flaws, you are a shitty reviewer. But if you complain about everything, you need to draw the line. Yahtzee is intentionally overly critical to be funny, but even then he knows where draw the line.

 

[Rock Avich]

Zero Punctuation is a great COMEDY show. Emphasis on COMEDY. I don't go in there thinking "What does Yahtzee like about this game?" I go in there asking "How will Yahtzee rip this game a new one?" Though, when I went to his older videos and saw The Orange Box, I knew he wouldn't have complaints about Portal.

You CAN'T hate Portal. it's just that good.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

very nice job OP, and as your first post nonetheless. Keep up the good work

 

[sneak_copter]

Brilliant Review.

As much as I love ZP, I have to agree he is very biased.
Especially towards FPS's, Open World Games and MMORPG's.

 

[Calax]

ZP has hit every game on the tip in my experiences. when he reviews it, and if i have/or play it, almost everything is true about his review. of cource i dont always agree with it, but i do respect it as a serious review

I think the biggest problem is that when people say this they don't add the qualifier that he doesn't talk about the good bits that much, or if he does he does it to point out an even bigger flaw within the game itself.

While everything he criticizes is usually spot on, there's alot more game there than he was talking about.

 

[s0ap sudz]

First off great post! I would like to play devil's advocate to it, however.

I think that most of us, including myself, have a very narrow idea of what a "review" is. I have been a subscriber to Game Informer magazine since before the xbox and gamecube debuted, and before that was a GamePro subscriber for many years. My point is I am very accustomed to the tradition idea of an essay style game review (and I love them and think that sometimes I enjoy reading about games more than playing them).

Yahtzee has a very pessimistic style of "reviewing" games; he loves to mix humor and criticism and sometimes he may go off on a tangent but you can always get an idea for how he feels about the game play and general concept of the game. There is a lot of content, but instead of being purely about the games merits and or faults he makes it about his thoughts and experiences playing the game. I would argue his reviews are simply more subjective rather than a report.

He has a different style. Aside from that great post!

I agree.

 

[ultimatechance]

ZP has hit every game on the tip in my experiences. when he reviews it, and if i have/or play it, almost everything is true about his review. of cource i dont always agree with it, but i do respect it as a serious review

I think the biggest problem is that when people say this they don't add the qualifier that he doesn't talk about the good bits that much, or if he does he does it to point out an even bigger flaw within the game itself.

While everything he criticizes is usually spot on, there's alot more game there than he was talking about.

wow, someone actually hit it dead on.

 

[preachersaul]

Good review, got it spot on in my opinion.

 

[Nikajo]

Excellent review by the OP!

While I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Yahtzee says I also find myself disagreeing with him whole heartedly on some games. The Witcher and Oblivion are two that spring to mind, but that doesn't make his reviews any less funny which is the main reason to watch them (the main reason I watch them anyway). I never pay attention to reviews anyway, I want to make my own mind up about games. He could do with more positive points in some cases but then I find that in some of his reviews (say Gears of War 2) he does make some very good supporting comments. Shame I only really discovered ZP around christmas time!

 

[sanzo]

Very good review. It's refreshing to see a topic about Yahtzee that isn't written by a fanboy, or along the lines of "plz review "x" game next, kthxbai"

 

[Locastus]

I do like Yahtzee's reviews, but I prefer the ones about games that I already own. He has a talent for picking up on a games quirks pretty quickly and if you haven't played the game that he's reviewing, then it's less funny IMO.

On the other hand, it really annoys me when people say "I'm interested in this game but Yahtzee says its rubbish."

ZP is not the Word of God, people!

 

[Haddi]

I can honestly say this is the first time I've seen a reviewer be reviewed.

GOOD DAY TO YOU SIRRAH.

 

[Sylocat]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Yahtzee doesn't actually hate much of the stuff he claims to loathe, he's just realized that trolling fans (by excessively bashing decent games and calling everyone who disagrees with him a fanboy) and other forms of drama whoring bring him more page views.

 

[justnotcricket]

Nicely thought out review =)

As with most things in life, especially people's methods of getting their message across, you have to be a little flexible. Bottom line - even if you don't agree with Yahtzee's opinion of a particular game, his reviews still make for great comedy.

 

[WhatHityou]

personaly I like the tell it as you see it way he dose things

 

[Kyo Mizuki]

personally i just always considered them reviews with a sense of humor

 

[matrix3509]

Besides the fact that Yahtzee criticizes games for humor, he is obviously a videogame nitpicker. Even the games in his "BEST GAMES EVAR" list have flaws (i.e. Sands of Time) that he readily points out.

Yahtzee has talked about this at length for some time. The uncanny valley effect applies to video games as well as the human form. The closer a game gets to perfection, the more glaring and inexcusable the flaws become. Only one game has so far gotten to the other side of the uncanny valley (Portal). He is first and formost a video game nitpicker. I believe Yahtzee expects the game to be good simply out of principle (he believes that other gamers should expect this as well), that way he can inform players about the flaws. When the game isn't even remotely good is when he gets really pissed off (Sonic Unleashed). When this happens you can tell because he foregoes all attempts at humor and verbally assassinates the game.