Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic)

It's not like anyone's making you watch them...

Yeah, I know how that goes... When you get invested in someone's show, you tend to want to keep watching. And before you know, you're spending several hours a day on it.

It happens to other things like blogs too. It happened with Not Always Right, too.

Why would I spend more time watching movie reviews than watching movies?

I have a vested interest in watching game reviews. I play lots of games. Not so with film.

ZP's videos aren't just reviews, they're entertainment in their own right.

I mean, they're more that than they are reviews, really.

They are reviews, that are also entertaining. Yahtzee is giving his genuine opinions about the games he covers, even if those opinions are bitter and snarky much of the time. While I may not always agree with what he says, I love the humor and I value his thoughts quite a bit more than I would some Gamespot reviewer, because he is willing to point out the flaws with the products that publishers often wish we'd ignore.

Yahtzee believes that pointing out a game's flaws can help make people more informed consumers, and I applaud that. I will applaud it until my future children suffer masturbation guilt. (No, I don't know what I'm on about; go away.)

That said, reviews should inform a purchase; they shouldn't be your sole criteria. I've played and enjoyed many of the games that Yahtzee has panned, but I can't honestly disagree with many of the things he calls out about them. He outright ignores and shows disdain for entire genres that I often enjoy, like real time strategy and MMORPGs (well, Starcraft and WoW), but I don't need him to review things that I already play. I'm not going to stop playing them because some guy on YouTube tells me that he's not into them.

The people who complain about how he reviews games often seem to fit in the same area of the Venn diagram as people who mindlessly consume games like good little corporate sheep: exactly the people he rages about in those reviews — note for example the Smash Bros review and subsequent mailbag showdown. The irony is overwhelming.

Edited to clarify: It's entirely fine to disagree with Yahtzee's opinions. It is equally fine not to like his reviewing style, although it raises the question of why you're bothering to post about it instead of, you know, not watching. ^note Not watching things I don't like is my personal strategy for reducing stress. However, getting offended that a professional video game critic is criticizing a game is mind-bogglingly dumb.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 19th 2018 at 10:48:24 AM

He also sometimes misses some important details - for example, in his Sacred 3 review he seems baffled about the difference between older titles and that steaming pile of shit.

That discrepancy makes complete sense because Sacred 3 was not developed by the original studio - that seems like a major detail to just completely miss.

So when I criticise him, it's usually for the same reason I criticise Cinema Sins: Not doing their bloody research.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Dec 19th 2018 at 5:04:48 PM

That much is certainly fair. Maybe he didn't so much overlook the change as not consider it relevant to the review, although he's pointed that sort of thing out in other franchises.

Which would be silly, as "this was not made by the original studio" is the main reason for why that game was such a bloody mess to the point that most Sacred fans won't even acknowledge it exists.

Darksiders 3 review on Youtube

Ah, you beat me to it. Obligatory, "So I guess he liked it then," comment aside, Yahtzee seems to find the practice of shamelessly copying Dark Souls to be a bit tiring, just like every other shameless copying of whatever is trendy. Also, points added for having a female protagonist who develops (allegedly) as a character are immediately deducted for giving her a stereotypical dominatrix weapon and dressing her in stilettos.

Still, it doesn't actually sound that bad as a game.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 19th 2018 at 12:36:06 PM

Well, the average consumer may not even be aware of a series changing studios. They just see a list of games with confusing names. In that regard, the criticism is quite valid.

Yahtzee isn't the average customer, though - he's a game critic, albeit with a comedic angle.

He also skated over the whole Star Control Origins legal situation. I'm not sure if he missed the details or just didn't feel like talking about it, but it seems like a pretty glaring omission.

Today on YouTube: Just Cause 4. Ah, so a game franchise that set itself up around hilarious, irreverent fun has sort of lost the thread and meandered off into irrelevance. I suppose Yahtzee thinks that games with stories should have palpable stakes and some sense of accomplishment to reward the player with. How quaint, am I right?

Also, I know he's exaggerating and that realism is completely not the point, but part of me wonders how some string with suction cups on the end can generate enough force to cause two helicopters to crash into each other. It's even funnier because I've been playing Watch_Dogs 2 lately for larfs and am continually amused by how the indestructible police helicopters in that game will have spectacular glitch-outs when they run into things.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 26th 2018 at 12:43:11 PM

Well, it's not like 3's magic tethers were any more realistic.

And I agree that Just Cause seems to wandered into "the same, but more EXTREME!" territory, similar to what happened to Saints Row.

Wasn't over the top self parody the whole point of Saints Row?

Yes it was, the point is that they got more extreme with each installment while cannibalizing their previous installments, to the point of just resuing entire cities.

So... is there no episode on youtube this week?

There was no new episode on The Escapist last week, so that's why.

Got it. Thanks.

We did get a four hour video with every 2018 review sans bookends. It was enjoyable to watch.

There's also a "best, worst, and blandest" video up on the website.

Ah, that'll be next week's You Tube release then.

2018 Best Worst and Blandest (Zero Punctuation)