Zero Punctuation: Awards for 2008

[Anton P. Nym]

I really disagree with Yahtzee on Mirrors Edge. Of course it has some quite major flaws in the level design, and controls but I don't think it was of poor quality. It was a refreshing title that managed FPS platforming amazingly well and had some great set pieces.

Same here. I have strong objections to some of the level design[sup]*[/sup], and the story was on the trite side, but Mirror's Edge was a lot of fun even in the frustrating bits and it captured the same feeling of motion that Crackdown did. Heck, the game even encourages speed runs making it that little bit more replayable...

I respect Yahtzee as an entertainer, but he's looking at games in a completely different manner than I do and if I went by his reviews I'd have missed a LOT of games that I enjoyed greatly.

-- Steve

[sup]*[/sup]Much the same objections as I had with Psychonaut's "Meat Circus" level, come to think of it, and I enjoyed both. Whereas Ben only liked one...

 

[Optimus24]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

If you take a look on online forums you`ll see that alot of people think the scores of GTA4 are bought. Me personally couldnt agree more, I think alot of sites didnt play it thouruly enought to rate it. GTA4 is a beautifull game, but when you consider how they guttet the GTA franchise compared to the GTA3 series in gameplay elements no one can seriously give it a close to perfect score, this is a sequel. Even Yahtzee admits it in this review, he kinda liked the game when it was released. Its a beautiful and cinematic game, but they took away most of the fun parts about it. I would understand if they cut down a little to give room for the improved graphics and more lively city streets, but they compleatly guttet it. Saints Row 2 became what GTA4 was supposed to be for me, short and simple:_FUN_! Not as big as GTA:SA but just as fun! What Im missing, but Im forgiving Saints Row 2 for at the moment is bigger and more varied landscape like in GTA:SA. Everything Saints Row 2 gets beaten down for are just the same things the entire GTA3 series got beaten down for: Bad graphics, sloppy camera, bad driving physics and so on. As with the GTA3 series, if this was forgiven you got an amazingly entertaining sandbox game!

I disagree with some of Yahtzee`s reviews, but it all boils down to personal preference. I understand his (and tons of other peoples) dislike of MGS4, even though I personally hold it as one of my own last years GOTY candidates.

 

[fallen1]

EA will probably make itself a trophy!

Hey heyyyy we shouldn't desire the demise of one of the most prominent game publishers that has published plenty of great games. With out EA the gaming industry would just be Activision/Blizzard and a bunch of garage made unpolished game studios.

Some great EA games I can think of (that yahtzee should review): Crysis: Warhead, Mass Effect, Red Alert 3, Fifa 09.

Yahtzee has already reviewed one of the games you said, but he did review Crysis

Crysis
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/21-Crysis

Mass Effect
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/18-Mass-Effect

As for Fifa 09, Yathzee has not reviewed a single sports game yet and I don't think he will anytime soon. Reviewing sports games for him would probably be boring and I really don't think you will get many laughs from it. There just is not enough variety from any of the sports games to be able to get a good review from them. Take ball and score points, that's all. I know you could argue that some games are the same that he does, but every year a new Fifa, Madden, or NCAA gets released w/like one new thing and nothing much has changed. He sticks mainly to RPG's, FPS's, and big name titles that come out. I can say that at first I thought maybe Yahtzee just didn't like EA and that's why he rags on them, but I have played Mirror's Edge and Mass Effect by them and I now see why he doesn't like most of their games.

 

[fallen1]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

If you take a look on online forums you`ll see that alot of people think the scores of GTA4 are bought. Me personally couldnt agree more, I think alot of sites didnt play it thouruly enought to rate it. GTA4 is a beautifull game, but when you consider how they guttet the GTA franchise compared to the GTA3 series in gameplay elements no one can seriously give it a close to perfect score, this is a sequel. Even Yahtzee admits it in this review, he kinda liked the game when it was released. Its a beautiful and cinematic game, but they took away most of the fun parts about it. I would understand if they cut down a little to give room for the improved graphics and more lively city streets, but they compleatly guttet it. Saints Row 2 became what GTA4 was supposed to be for me, short and simple:_FUN_! Not as big as GTA:SA but just as fun! What Im missing, but Im forgiving Saints Row 2 for at the moment is bigger and more varied landscape like in GTA:SA. Everything Saints Row 2 gets beaten down for are just the same things the entire GTA3 series got beaten down for: Bad graphics, sloppy camera, bad driving physics and so on. As with the GTA3 series, if this was forgiven you got an amazingly entertaining sandbox game!

I disagree with some of Yahtzee`s reviews, but it all boils down to personal preference. I understand his (and tons of other peoples) dislike of MGS4, even though I personally hold it as one of my own last years GOTY candidates.

I will have to say that earlier in this thread that this is what I said for the most part and Ihave to agree 100%. I think that people have to realize that these videos are Yathzee's personal preference and that he is just one person. The fact that he is able to produce a new video every week is awesome when there are other companys with more people and they release something new every week or maybe twice in one week. Breaking up the usual with something different is kinda cool and if you like the reviews more, then this will make you enjoy them more.

 

[antipunt]

for example, I never really understood how anyone could ever FINISH (not play), but FINISH a GTA game. I remember playing GTA San Andreas, being really impressed, but being horrendously wtf about how to have the patience to stomach down the entire game (recall driving across an entire countryside to do ONE mission) <--repeat this cycle ever so often

GTA IV seemed much of the same. I mean, my brother (who loves both GTA games) has never finished either. I mean, does anyone EVER finish GTA games. I think that alone is a major flaw in entertainment value (not to mention the checkpoints make you drive forever to RESTART a failed mission, which are sometimes incredibly difficult; NO ONE wants to drive 1000 years in this manner. Cut the realism, and make instant checkpoints!)

 

[Vlane]

for example, I never really understood how anyone could ever FINISH (not play), but FINISH a GTA game. I remember playing GTA San Andreas, being really impressed, but being horrendously wtf about how to have the patience to stomach down the entire game (recall driving across an entire countryside to do ONE mission) <--repeat this cycle ever so often

GTA IV seemed much of the same. I mean, my brother (who loves both GTA games) has never finished either. I mean, does anyone EVER finish GTA games. I think that alone is a major flaw in entertainment value (not to mention the checkpoints make you drive forever to RESTART a failed mission, which are sometimes incredibly difficult; NO ONE wants to drive 1000 years in this manner. Cut the realism, and make instant checkpoints!)

I only finish GTA games once (except IV which I don't want to play) and then I just fly around and jump out of helicopters and stuff. You know the fun stuff. Maybe I start another savefile but I never finish the main missions.

 

[JoeNut]

MGS4 was amazing.

 

[solidstatemind]

It's worth noting something: Yahtzee is entitled to his opinion. The entire point of ZP is that he expresses that opinion in a very humorous way, not that it necessarily has more validity than any other review out there. If you disagree, fine. Personally, one of the things that I find very enlightening about his reviews is that he often focuses on aspects of games that the other reviewers/sites ignore in their mad rush to assess graphics, level design, etc. Little things like 'story', in which I put a lot of stock. But at the same time, I am certainly not going to base my purchasing decision solely on Yahtzee's opinion, and neither should anybody else, imho. After all, we wouldn't be buying many new games at all if we did...

So, if you like GTA4, or MGS4, or whatever, knock yourself out. Personally, I disagree with him strongly about Dead Space-- in fact, some of the things he listed as negatives in the review I felt were actually assets (the strong link to System Shock, for example: DS is more of a 'spiritual successor' to System Shock 2 than Bioshock was, in my mind). Enjoy the review... er, awards this week I guess, take into consideration anything that you might find relevant, and elsewise just be entertained.

 

[y8c616]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

MGS4

IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.3

GTA4
IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.8

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

I agree wholeheartedly. it seems that Yahtzee slams every game for the sake of slamming it. Case in point:in his mgs4 review he straight-up lied about issues he had with the controls, saying that you have to hold L1,R1 and triangle to shoot. Anyone who's played the game will tell you that this is bullshit. Also if he thinks that Hideo Kojima wrote such a shit story, then why aren't Yahtzee's games winning countless awards the world over, and not Kojima's

 

[MonkeyPunch]

Wow, I'm surprised that there aren't more people crying about what Yahtzee said about MSG4.
MSG 4 players tend to cry the loudest be the most vocal when someone says the least bit derogatory about "their game".
Good we have un-subtle Yahtzee to take that job off our hands xD

Good show as always.

 

[fveew]

Ok, DICE is owned by EA i´ll gice you that.
But did EA develop the game?
NOOO!
Do you get it or do i have to come over and slap you until you understand?

 

[Dr. Crowbar]

He makes a good point... GTA IV is a good suicide engine, but not FUN .. that's what game developers are missing nowadays.. it's supposed to be fucking fun.

 

[Cogzwell]

the funnest game i played this year was World of Goo. I also hope he reviews Legendary and Rise of the Argonauts cause i heard they were massive shits

 

[thejoblot]

Well that was boring. Jesus Christ, it wasn't that funny. Stop jerking off to the man, you guys are the type of people that he keeps making fun of.

 

[whyarecarrots]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

MGS4

IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.3

GTA4
IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.8

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

I agree wholeheartedly. it seems that Yahtzee slams every game for the sake of slamming it. Case in point:in his mgs4 review he straight-up lied about issues he had with the controls, saying that you have to hold L1,R1 and triangle to shoot. Anyone who's played the game will tell you that this is bullshit. Also if he thinks that Hideo Kojima wrote such a shit story, then why aren't Yahtzee's games winning countless awards the world over, and not Kojima's

Firstly: IGN and gamespot (coughkaneandlynchcough) are widely regarded as being very corrupt (can;t comment on gametrailers).

Secondly: Just because Yahtzee can;t do anything better doesn;t mean he isn;t allowed to criticise. It's an argument so commonly brought up and it's utter nonsense; I don't need to be able to sing better than Bob Dylan to criticise his singing ability for example.

 

[LordShmoo]

I trust Yahtzee's opinion more than IGN and Gamespot. All a game needs to do to get a 10 on those sites is have pretty graphics. I'm so tired of buying a game that gets a 9 or 10 only to play the same tired gameplay, stupid storylines, etc.

 

[y8c616]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

MGS4

IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.3

GTA4
IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.8

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

I agree wholeheartedly. it seems that Yahtzee slams every game for the sake of slamming it. Case in point:in his mgs4 review he straight-up lied about issues he had with the controls, saying that you have to hold L1,R1 and triangle to shoot. Anyone who's played the game will tell you that this is bullshit. Also if he thinks that Hideo Kojima wrote such a shit story, then why aren't Yahtzee's games winning countless awards the world over, and not Kojima's

Firstly: IGN and gamespot (coughkaneandlynchcough) are widely regarded as being very corrupt (can;t comment on gametrailers).

Secondly: Just because Yahtzee can;t do anything better doesn;t mean he isn;t allowed to criticise. It's an argument so commonly brought up and it's utter nonsense; I don't need to be able to sing better than Bob Dylan to criticise his singing ability for example.

Well yeah, obviously he can criticise, its by no means a perfect game; the cutscenes are a little OTT and you kind of need to be a fan to get the story, but in all fairness, he sounds like a 13 year old xbox fanboy ripping into MGS4.

 

[KatsuExe]

lol so true i haven't played a good horror game in a long time the new survival horror games are just shooters which this year had waaay to many.

 

[minoko]

Just watched the video and noticed that once again Yahtzee has praised Saints Row 2 to the detrament of GTA IV, something I agree with, yet has been done before, a while back, by this guy...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VwDVF0SVYAs

 

[SuperUberBob]

I've never really understood how everyone can go along with this. Ok, Yahtzee is just as funny as ever, but both GTA4 and MGS4 are great games.

MGS4

IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.3

GTA4
IGN 10
GameSpot 10
GameTrailers 9.8

His videos are great but how can you take his opinion seriously. He disagrees with absolutely everyone. His nomination for worst game of the year got almost strait 10's down the line. Ridiculous.

Reviewing integrity is an acceptable sacrifice for humor because being funny increases your traffic stats and popularity.