Zero Punctuation: Mailbag Showdown

[Kaos Incarnate]

You havnt played it.

He has

just because you have the internet doesnt make you an expert on anything.

You based your argument on other peoples arguments that you dont even know

Please use your braincell and think about this for a second.

I hope you are crushed under the weight of your own stupidity.

Still doesn't stop people from using their own judgement on a game, those that follow a reviewer made that choice. So did the ones that got the game, we do not need to ridicule everyone for raising another point in this discussion.

 

[Greatfrito]

To be honest, looking at the controls of Melee if it is similar, with the gamecube controller I don't think you can button mash on Brawl

Button-mashing isn't very effective in Brawl, no - not any more than a typical fighting game, anyways.

To be fair though, the "button mashing" pointed at in the SSBB review was a general problem he had with fighting games. It's not usually a problem with people who know how to play the game (not necessarily to the "That Guy" point, but competent with the system at least), but when everyone is totally new to a fighting game, "button mashing" is certainly a fair complaint.

 

[Greatfrito]

To be honest, looking at the controls of Melee if it is similar, with the gamecube controller I don't think you can button mash on Brawl

You can't, really, not if you want to play it half well... in fact to SSB(M/B)'s credit, the controls are the one thing I really like about those games.
The downside of SSBB is that its better to play it with a Gamecube controller than a Wiimote (spelling?)

Really? I've found that the Nunchuck+Wiimote setup is more or less equivalent to the GC controller (once I play around with customization a bit). I've heard the complaint a lot though - perhaps it's just me, and my preference for being able to rest my hands in a more natural position (thank god there's no screen-pointing in Brawl).

 

[Kaos Incarnate]

To be honest, looking at the controls of Melee if it is similar, with the gamecube controller I don't think you can button mash on Brawl

Button-mashing isn't very effective in Brawl, no - not any more than a typical fighting game, anyways.

To be fair though, the "button mashing" pointed at in the SSBB review was a general problem he had with fighting games. It's not usually a problem with people who know how to play the game (not necessarily to the "That Guy" point, but competent with the system at least), but when everyone is totally new to a fighting game, "button mashing" is certainly a fair complaint.

I did look at the video again all the problems he listed (except the button mashing) where in Melee too, so I don't think I will have a problem with Brawl.

 

[Deadwings]

O.k., this is it, Yahtzee has proved himself to be just as idiotic, by complaining about getting hate mail. When you sell out (as he did when he signed up for worldwide recognition when he joined this site) you are going to be in the public eye, and as such will have your every move scrutinised. When you make a move that seems random and/or biased (the Brawl review, or, say, a print cartoonist making a racist joke) you are going to cop a lot of hate. If you don't like it, resign instantly, as its only going to get worse when you review Guns of the Patriots.

But I don't know why I bother with this, he's never going to read it and realise any of this.

And where the hells my actual review?

1. It was good GTA 4 Review Stall Material.
2. Assuming he is a total sellout, what's so bad about Yahtzee 'selling out'? He insults video games for a living, christ, you aren't supposed to take it as art.

I would list more, but it really seems like that covers the whining. Don't like it? Don't watch. You aren't paying here. No where does the Escapist/Yahtzee hold any obligation to provide you with a review weekly. I mean, come on. "my review?" What the hell? Since when are you entitled to a game review every week, or anything for that matter? So you don't like how he trashed a game you liked, grow the hell up already and move on.

 

[g31st]

I registered to post in this thread. I've been a Yahtzee fan for a while, and I watched the Brawl review fiasco happen.

-snip-
Very early on in the forum, a couple of people said that it was a generally accepted rule not to make fun of your own fans. However, the emails that he quoted here were truly ridiculous. None of them were well reasoned arguments against his review.
-snip-

Of course they were ridiculous. Did you really think Yahtzee was going to respond to any well-reasoned emails he got? If an email said, "You can unlock every level and character without ever touching the single player," or "Since Brawl is a button masher, you will naturally be able to beat any pro-level player, right?" or "Not including Marth would have pissed off the hardcore Melee players to no end," he wouldn't have been able to respond to it, because those emails are well reasoned, and they are right. He had to pick the dumbest emails in his pile because doing otherwise would have made him look stupid. It's kind of disappointing that he didn't even try to have a reasonable discussion about it, but I didn't really expect him to from the get-go.

And, as it has so often been pointed out, a review is a subjective statement of opinion by one person who played the game. It should be noted that most (not all) of the objections in the SSBB forum could be summed up in the emails he reviewed here.

Very true. Reviews are subjective statements, but people (fanboy or not) had every right to be pissed off at his Brawl review for 2 reasons. First, he had his facts wrong. You don't have to play the single player to unlock characters. You can, but it's not required. Snake can be had after 10 minutes of multiplayer, and Yahtzee claims that it takes 10 hours to get Sonic. Done in multiplayer, Sonic can be yours after 3 hours of fighting. The second (and most important) reason people had to get pissed off was that he didn't just say, "Brawl is a shit game." He's entitled to say "Brawl is a shit game." because that's his opinion. He said, "Brawl is a shit game, and the people who like Brawl are shit people." I like Brawl, and last I checked I wasn't a shit person. I don't even like Brawl because it has Mario in it. I was a huge Powerstone fan, and I like Brawl because it's an incredibly deep fighting game. (As a side note, Smash Brothers wasn't even originally supposed to have any Nintendo characters in it. Those characters were added after the fighting system was developed) Others on this forum have commented that there wasn't as much of an uproar from the Halo 3 review he did, but he didn't insult Halo's fan base in that review, either.

I expect to be called a fanboy even though I haven't tried to convince anyone that Brawl is teh best game evar, nor insulted the people who agreed with Yahtzee's review and subsequent email fallout. In real life, I'm actually quite hands-off as far as getting my friends to try new things. It's sad when people don't even seem to understand what "fanboy" means anymore. It's become an all-purpose term that people use to dismiss what others say. If you like a game, you can be considered a fanboy regardless of how you behave online and in real life. A lot like the U.S. political climate in the past few years, corralling people into a black-and-white fanboy or non-fanboy world makes actual discussion impossible to do.

The only well-reasoned reviews of Brawl I've ever heard have come from people who have actually played the game and who approached it with an open-enough mind to see the deep fighting game beneath the party-game facade. Anyone who's actually played the game will tell you that it's a party game if you set it up one way and a strategic fighter if you set it up another way. In other words, it's versatile. In truth, the best reviews I've heard come from avid Melee players who can comment on the differences between the two games, but those won't mean much to someone who's never played Melee.

 

[ThurgistBerzerk]

I wouldn't say it was the BEST "review" ever... as he pretty much stated something along the lines of a critique...
I think this is a very good one, but not yahtzee's best...

When I first saw the title I thought to myself "why isn't he reviewing a game?" and "this probably is going to be something stupid..." but by the end I was definitely thinking that it was one of the top 3 critiques of his. Go yahtzee! Teach those grammer haters a lesson that they already havn't learned in school.

 

[Mirika_the_warrior]

Yahtzee definitely went postal

 

[Sylocat]

Interesting how the Yahtzee fanboys outnumber the Brawl fanboys by a 2:1 ratio at least, and yet Yahtzee's fanboys are still complaining of persecution by the Brawl fanatics.

 

[Greatfrito]

To be honest, looking at the controls of Melee if it is similar, with the gamecube controller I don't think you can button mash on Brawl

Button-mashing isn't very effective in Brawl, no - not any more than a typical fighting game, anyways.

To be fair though, the "button mashing" pointed at in the SSBB review was a general problem he had with fighting games. It's not usually a problem with people who know how to play the game (not necessarily to the "That Guy" point, but competent with the system at least), but when everyone is totally new to a fighting game, "button mashing" is certainly a fair complaint.

I did look at the video again all the problems he listed (except the button mashing) where in Melee too, so I don't think I will have a problem with Brawl.

Yeah, if you liked melee, you'll probably enjoy Brawl. Be forewarned though that Yahtzee's problems with the game were very "first glance" - once you've played the game a bit more (or if you're a fan of the series previously), you'll see a few more problems that he -didn't- point out that are perhaps more annoying.

 

[RaiDK]

Snip

Wow, that's gotta be the most epic fanboy post ever...

 

[Tendercrisp]

Best ZP yet, and you didn't even review a game!

Thank you for finally showing people that they don't need reviews to sway their opinion. I disagree with Yahtzee quite often, but that doesn't mean I still don't find his reviews hilarious, which is what I watch them for.

Can't wait for the GTA IV review you hinted at after the credits.

EDIT: Also, oh-the-irony at him proofreading e-mails but the series being called "Zero Punctuation".

Yeah I know, it's called that because of his speedy talking, but still.

 

[KaptenZom]

This is brilliant, i've always wanted this and you, dear sir have delivered! All hail Yahtzee, king of the internet!

 

[bulletproof12]

i feel bad for yahtzee. does a good review of the piece of shit called SSBB and then has to deal with all the fanboys.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Gahahahahaa, oh Yahtzee you do make me chuckle. Thank you muchly for your grammatical polish. Bad grammar for effect or just on the basis the commentee has the brain power of a stale fart irritates me. You deserve a hareim for your awesome, albeit seing as you have since rejected female companionship I suppose I will pass it onto some undeserving dickhole. Heres a dictionary instead. Enjoy

Still... laughing... ventilation... failing...

 

[Magnetic2]

I have been putting this off for some time, but Yahtzee, I hereby pledge my undying loyalty to you.