Critics That You Simply Can't Listen to Anymore

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Movie Bob........

But hear me out before grabbing the ban hammer (as you do when someone says something bad about someone who works for the escapist)
Not for his movie reviews but for his willingness to poke fun at fans for defending something that they love, but expects sympathy when someone badly adapts one of his beloved comic books


Double standards Bro

This. All of this. I agree with all of this. As a fan of something that he has poked fun at, and I defend it, I feel what you are saying. Thank you for saying this.

Aww thanks! At least if I'm banned I've made one person happy!

We'll get banned together! IF ONE GOES DOWN WE ALL GO DOWN!!

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

I've decided to give Movie Bob a rest for a while. First off he made Frozen out to be some genre-redefining classic when it was actually just a pretty good Disney Princess film like any other one.

Then, and much more seriously, he gave Wolf of Wall Street a triple-platinum seal of approval. Having seen the film, I can confirm that yes, it is funny as hell, but when that funny is just an endless, unstructured vomit of comedy with no light and shade in between it gets pretty boring. Especially when its three hours of boring and the film's 'plot' (not that it really has one, but lets pretend for the sake of argument that it does) starts 45 minutes in.

The fact that he just gave it this gold stamp and encouraged people to go spend their money watching what is easily the worst thing Scorsese has ever produced without even one note of warning besides the fact that "yeah it's a wallow" (it's absolutely disgusting, and this is coming from someone who was known as 'Mr Inappropriate' in high school), genuinely angers me. Movie Bob is in a position of trust, and he's abusing the hell out of it by jumping on the W. of W.S. critic's bandwagon.

I guess that was more of a rant about the movie than Bob, but they're both part of the problem. I hope that film bombs straight to hell, there needs to be some sort of directorial equivalent of a FIFA apology for Scorsese to go through. Actually no, just make him watch his shitty film a few times, that ought to do it.

EDIT: Basic spell-checking, sorry I'm a bit tired tonight

Um...
Maybe you and me heard two different reviews, because I don't think he gave enough praise to The Wolf of Wall Street, and I don't remember him telling me Frozen was redefining genre, just really damn good. But yeah, I see your point.

 

[Amaror]

Being German myself I know of which magazine you're talking about, GameStar, and honestly, their attempt to somehow calculate an objective score based on certain predefined metrics is ridiculous. The weighing of the categories is arbitrary, the categories themselves are to some extent arbitrary, and the experience you have with a game is just not equal to the sum of its parts anyway.
There's definitely a place for the more "technical" game reviews, many people obviously care more about mechanics, graphics and such than they do about story, narrative, message and so on, but their attempt at objectivity is just pretentious.

It's certainly not perfect, nothing is, but scoring systems are never really good. I can tell you now that the gamestar scoring system gave me much more advice than any other stupid 5 stars, 10 points (which are basically the same since there are half stars) and /100 points systems used by other magazines. At least you can see and understand how and why the score is what it is, even if you don't agree with it.

But the scoring system wasn't even my point. The clear seperation of objective description of the game and personal opinion of the reviewer was what is in my opinion clearly superiour to any other kind of review i have seen so far.

 

[Amaror]

Yes, yes he can... For example, say I were to review Grand Theft Auto 5. I enjoyed it's dialogue, but the characters are shit. So I mention it, But I don't take points of the score because of it's bad characters, because it didn't affect me or the fun I was having. I would bring it up in the review to warn people however if they couldn't handle it.

Yeah, but you MENTION it. The problem is when the review don't mention or downplay certain features/problems. I don't give a f*** about scores. They are a little addition to the review. The important part is, you know, the review.

 

[Simonism451]

While not directly related to the question the OP asks, I feel this is important anyway http://www.objectivegamereviews.com/

On topic: There are none, perhaps because I'm usually fairly distanced from the reviewer to begin with, don't really rely on one dude to tell me how to feel about videogames and have accepted, that I'll probably disagree with them in some points. Of course there are several outlets such as IGN, Gametrailers and even the review staff on this here site for whose opinion I couldn't care less, but I never "trusted" them in the first place.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

Yes, yes he can... For example, say I were to review Grand Theft Auto 5. I enjoyed it's dialogue, but the characters are shit. So I mention it, But I don't take points of the score because of it's bad characters, because it didn't affect me or the fun I was having. I would bring it up in the review to warn people however if they couldn't handle it.

Yeah, but you MENTION it. The problem is when the review don't mention or downplay certain features/problems. I don't give a f*** about scores. They are a little addition to the review. The important part is, you know, the review.

OH, yeah. That's bad. You and me at understanding!

 

[Cabisco]

I've been getting fairly tired of Yahtzee. I've only really been watching ZP for the last few years out of habit, but the spiteful smugness permeating from his recent videos and articles is starting to get rather sickening.

Thank God, there's still Matthewmatosis to pick up the slack.

I've thought the same about Yahtzee, for me he's the very definition of a hipster. There is a sense if something can be defined as mainstream (multiplayer/on console/big budget) he will hate it, often unfairly. A holier than thou attitude can be funny if you remain grounded and remember its a performance, Yahtzee seems to have forgetten that along the way (or it become more apparent it wasn't an act) and he seems dissmissive and distasteful towards games on sight that don't fit his pre set citeria.

Honestly I don't think there are any reviewers I particulary like anymore, sure I know many who's judgements are usually sound but I don't feel the need to know, or care about their opinion like I used to. Just show me some footage of the game and give me details on the features and I'll decide whether it's worth a punt.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

I've been getting fairly tired of Yahtzee. I've only really been watching ZP for the last few years out of habit, but the spiteful smugness permeating from his recent videos and articles is starting to get rather sickening.

Thank God, there's still Matthewmatosis to pick up the slack.

I've thought the same about Yahtzee, for me he's the very definition of a hipster. There is a sense if something can be defined as mainstream (multiplayer/on console/big budget) he will hate it, often unfairly. A holier than thou attitude can be funny if you remain grounded and remember its a performance, Yahtzee seems to have forgetten that along the way (or it become more apparent it wasn't an act) and he seems dissmissive and distasteful towards games on sight that don't fit his pre set citeria.

Honestly I don't think there are any reviewers I particulary like anymore, sure I know many who's judgements are usually sound but I don't feel the need to know, or care about their opinion like I used to. Just show me some footage of the game and give me details on the features and I'll decide whether it's worth a punt.

These mainstream games:
Bioshock Infinite
Assassins Creed 4
Saint's Row 4
Dead Rising 2
The Elder Scrolls
Red Dead Redemption
and
Dishonored

He despised those games!

 

[Barbas]

Noah Antwiler, AKA Spoony. He did a lot of videos I enjoyed watching and sometimes laughed out loud at after finding them years ago, but the casually dismissive manner in which he sometimes treats people put me off him in the end.

 

[CrashertheSmasher]

Why are so many people talking about TotalBiscuit when OP wasn't talking about him?

OT: Some of MovieBob's reviews seem like he's hating on a movie just to hate on it. Not all of his reviews just some. Particularly "The Amazing Spider-Man" I admit it wasn't a great movie, but I feel it wasn't as bad as he made it out too be.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

MovieBob.

For the aformentioned Nintendo Bias and the complete quality death of the Gaming Overthinker.

Jim Sterling.

Now I like the points that Jim Sterling brings up in his videos, I'm just not a fan of the "character" of Jim Sterling that he decides to filter those opinions through. But what I truly ignore of Sterling's are his gaming reviews. Again, he writes them in character and that really takes away from his reviews. Being purposefully antagonistic really damages the integrity of the review. Especially when you're passing by actual aspects of the game in order to jam more of the character's attitude into the article.


Greg Tito.

It seems Tito either doesn't play that far into games before reviewing them (Dragon Age 2 5/5) or uses the review as a soapbox for an issue in gaming (complaining about playing bad guys in GTA 5 and barely speaking on how the game plays). Either way, it seems every time the escapist forums get angry with a bad review (yes those exist, I don't care how subjective a review is, there can be bad reviews) its a Greg Tito review.



Nerd Cubed (Nerd3)

His let's play video of Beyond: Two Souls was probably one of the saddest attempts at YouTube commentary I've ever seen. People on here have been going after TB for what they consider "whining about small issues". While I disagree with that opinion, anyone who watches the Nerd Cubed Beyond video will really get a sense of "wow this guy is literally just trying to find stuff to complain about."

He plays the first half hour of the game and claims the game has "no choices made". Right, no choices in a game with over 30 endings... He also says that you could not press any buttons and the game plays itself, thus negating any need to play the game. While the game does go on if no buttons are pressed, you also lose access the results of choices you could have made if you play the game.

Another point against Nerd Cubed with this video was him complaining about how NPC animations loop. Silly point to get very angry about (seriously watch the vid) when every video game ever has NPC with looping animations.

All this could have been solved by playing more than 30 minutes of the game. Literally that's all he played, and a good portion of that was him walking around literally looking for things in the game world to rant about. It was quite sad.

 

[Cecilo]

I don't take that much notice of critics. I make my own mind up.
But I do watch and read some.

Yahtzees annoyed me a few times.
I like his reviews, he's the most honest reviwer about.
But sometimes he's got things wrong and I don't like his reviews.

Jim Sterlings annoyed me a few times. But, as his videos are pure opinion pieces, then there's bound to be times you don't agree with him.

I used to like Total Biscuit, but he annoyed me.

Angry Joe is a bit of a sychophant. He can be good. But I lost all respect for him when he wrote a sickeningly sychopahntic review of Skyrim. It went beyond liking it, into bullcrap.
Heyitsablackguy summed his sickening review up perfectly. Heyitsablackguys a very smart man.

I still watch his stuff, but I lost respect for him.

Movie Bobs not always good. And he annoys me sometimes.
He goes too far in the 'white knight', 'white guilt' stuff.
No one should EVER be ashamed of their own race. You should be proud of your race!

And the using 'I'm human', excuse on changing his opinion on a film.
Once you give a opinion on a film, you should stick to it. When you are a film reviewer.
There's few excuses to change your review. And 'I'm human', is not a excuse.
There's saying you changing your opinion, ok, and doing complete and utter reversals.

Sometimes he does'nt dissect a film enough, if he likes it. He goes soft on some films.
It's his job. Just because you like a film, does not mean you ar'nt obliged to rip it up, since your are a film critic and it's your job.
You're meant to do what yahtzee does. Rip it up, even if it goes overboard.

He will do some borefest one weak, maybe get borderline pretentious. Or do a good review.
Then he get's some crap like pacific rim, and gloss' over it's glaringly huge flaws.
Were previously, he picked apart another film, down to the bones.
Your own tastes and opinions should'nt dictate your review that much. You should point out the flaws, it does'nt matter how much you like it.

His constant pushing of his book was obnoxious. It stopped being funny after a week.

His hiding his naturel accent is silly, INMO. We ar'nt talking a broad yorkshire accent with local words, here. Or a broad glaswegian or cockney accent. It's boston. The only people who ar'nt going understand him are people who don't speak english.

I ignore completely any reviews from IGN, etc.

When you pointed out Angry Joe, I was expecting you to hate Angry Joe for dissing some game. But just because he love Skyrim so much that you annoyed by that fact? That's ridiculous. I also don't get with the racism offensiveness that he gave, and I guess people are so sensitive these days.

Anyway, I do get turned off when he barely even care to play Spec Ops The Line, let alone review it, but I still like him nonetheless.

It was a bullcrap review. Skyrims garbage. He started saying things were there that don't exist in the game. Freedom. No. Choice. No. Good graphics, definately not.
Loads of people went along with the skyrim is great spiel. But his review was fake.
I can respect it if he loves a game so much he overlooks things. He's not a professional, and not bound to the same rules as a paid reviewer.
I am ok if I don't agree with his views. I did'nt like his kingdoms of amalur reckoning review, either. But it did'nt offend me.
But there's loving a game. And towing to company line.
And that was towing to company line.

So, you hate angry joe because he is either a corporate shill or uses his opinions in his reviews, and then you go and use your personal opinions as facts. Yea. Uh-huh.

You can dislike Skyrim's aesthetic, but to say that it didn't have good graphics is a blatant lie, when it was released it was damn fine graphically. And although you dont have complete freedom like in a game like Grand Theft Auto, you have more freedom than say Final Fantasy, and certainly more choice than RPGs from Japan.

 

[Brian Tams]

The Escapist's very own Greg Tito.

I want to make this very clear: That is in no way a gripe with Tito. I generally like the guy, but after his Dragon Age II review and Assassin's Creed 3 review (both games that I picked up on his recommendation and then hated), its clear he simply has different tastes in games than I do, and I usually only listen to critics who have similar tastes.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

OP, from your description I completely agree with the guy and I might check him out if I weren't tired of people marketing themselves as "cynical". 60fps should be required in next-gen games and critics shouldn't deflect shitty reviews as their opinion as if their opinion cannot be criticized.

As for critics I don't listen too, I generally consider "mainstream" games journalism with a grain of salt, but even then I don't discount them entirely I just give them the same weight as I would a YouTube video from a random guy about the game. I generally don't trash a guy due to one thing they say, even if I disagree with them on one thing thing I generally agree with them on a few other things. And besides, if I wanted only things I pre-decidedly agree with I wouldn't watch reviews anyways.

 

[McMarbles]

This thread totally reads like "MovieBob likes women and other races, he is awful!"

Since when did the Escapist turn into X Box Live?

More like Movie Bob pushes a leftist viewpoint way too hard. (To which I agree as a leftist myself.)

"Stop being such a dick to people who don't look like you" is a leftist position now?

 

[Redflash]

I've decided to give Movie Bob a rest for a while. First off he made Frozen out to be some genre-redefining classic when it was actually just a pretty good Disney Princess film like any other one.

Then, and much more seriously, he gave Wolf of Wall Street a triple-platinum seal of approval. Having seen the film, I can confirm that yes, it is funny as hell, but when that funny is just an endless, unstructured vomit of comedy with no light and shade in between it gets pretty boring. Especially when its three hours of boring and the film's 'plot' (not that it really has one, but lets pretend for the sake of argument that it does) starts 45 minutes in.

The fact that he just gave it this gold stamp and encouraged people to go spend their money watching what is easily the worst thing Scorsese has ever produced without even one note of warning besides the fact that "yeah it's a wallow" (it's absolutely disgusting, and this is coming from someone who was known as 'Mr Inappropriate' in high school), genuinely angers me. Movie Bob is in a position of trust, and he's abusing the hell out of it by jumping on the W. of W.S. critic's bandwagon.

I guess that was more of a rant about the movie than Bob, but they're both part of the problem. I hope that film bombs straight to hell, there needs to be some sort of directorial equivalent of a FIFA apology for Scorsese to go through. Actually no, just make him watch his shitty film a few times, that ought to do it.

EDIT: Basic spell-checking, sorry I'm a bit tired tonight

Um...
Maybe you and me heard two different reviews, because I don't think he gave enough praise to The Wolf of Wall Street, and I don't remember him telling me Frozen was redefining genre, just really damn good. But yeah, I see your point.

Admittedly he never used those words with regard to Frozen, I just remember expecting something a lot more impressive based on the way he was ranting and raving about it.

Don't get me wrong, The Wolf of Wall Street had some hilarious and brilliant moments in it, I nearly wet myself when Leonardo was trying to get down those steps to his car while off his face. It just seemed that for a film with such a complete lack of structure and so many unnecessary things (for example the fact that there were two five minute long 'let's make loads of money' *thumps chest for ages* scenes in the office that were basically the same scene twice), it really upset me that Movie Bob didn't bestir himself to analyse or even mention any of that film's many problems.

To each their own though haha

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Only reviews that annoy me are those that keep bashing a movie/game again and again. I get it, you hated that movie/game, now move on. Recently with MovieBob and Man of Steel. He has done that with a few other movies, though can not remember what those were. But all the little digs and snide comments are grating but it doesnt stop me watching.