Do you take yahtzee's reviews with a grain of salt?

[GonzoGamer]

I take every reviewers review with a grain of salt.
That's one of the reasons I rent. Some of these reviewers (even Yhatzee) say somethings great but I think that might be because they spent the $60 they would've had to spend on the game on a bag of really good stuff that would make any game look good. If they had to actually buy the game with their own money we would see a lot more reviews like ZP.
I never look at a review hoping to find out if it's good or not, I just want some details. I'm not wagering $60 on the taste of some pothead I've never met. This is probably the closest thing to a real job any of these guys have ever had.

To give him credit ZP reviews are the only ones I pay attention to from beginning to end, not because I take his opinion seriously (he recommended people buy No More Heroes) but because he makes me laugh.

 

[pcload1etter]

I think he was dead on about EVE online. I like to watch his reviews and have avoided a couple games he has deemed as utter shit. But obviously I don't take his reviews word for word. I doubt anyone does. He's just funny.

 

[ssgt splatter]

The games he has reviewed that I have played are pretty close to the things I've noticed. For example in his CoD 4 review he was nit-picking about how some guns take so long to reload that it'd be faster to just mail-order a new one but I can live with it. Also with ACII in which you can drop you "alert" status to zero just by turning your collar up (switching to a different cape). Some of the things he picks out are true and some are over-exaggerated for comedic use so I'm more or less 50-50 ontaking him seriously.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Tons o' salt. The same amount as I take for a review that's "5/5 10/10 100% OMG BUY BUY BUY!" Which is only a bit more than I use for any other review, really.

There's been a few times he's voiced an unpopular opinion that I've agreed with. For instance, when he complained about System Shock 2 in his Bioshock review. His complaints (difficulty and mission objectives that start insultingly simple and wind up getting sidetracked all to hell by predictable "surprises", IIRC) were two things I had issues with in that game. But a good slice of the dead-tree gaming press had treated SS2 like it had descended from the Empyrean with a host of seraphim and made me feel like I was some sort of deviant for not liking it. Sometimes, when the gaming press is being overwhelmingly positive it's nice to hear some negativity.

 

[LordShadowCaster]

I think that while a person should stay away from games that aren't exactly his (or her, but his in this case) field of expertise, such as JRPGs, I still find Yahtzee's rants about gameplay mechanics to be quite close to the truth in most cases.

Also, I'll gladly listen to about any MMORPG and/or Wii bashing he can come up with.

 

[Niska]

He's meant to be more of a comedian. Not at all do I take his reviews seriously. Though i do share his opinions on Fighting games and JRPGS.

 

[jymkata]

His job is to rip the piss out of games, so really you shouldn't see them as 'reviews' as such.
Seriously, easily half of this community take everything he says as verbatim, even though he doesn't get paid to talk about how much he loves games. (With exceptions.)
He says something about it in the Arkham Asylum review about this.

 

[Space Spoons]

I don't really look at Yahtzee's videos as reviews. They're just entertainment to me. If I want a review of a game I can actually trust, I'll look elsewhere, but when I don't care as much about a fair review as I do seeing the game in question get torn a new one for its mistakes, I go to Zero Punctuation.

 

[Seneschal]

I don't take yahtzee's recommendation with a grain of salt. I don't take it at all. Most of the games he reviews are the multiple-A titles that skip right off my list because I can't afford them. And he has an affection for FPS that I can't understand the same way he can't understand why I like waiting my turn to use an over-designed under-powered spell it took my 15 hours to learn.

Eek, you took the words right out of my... keyboard. But people, remember that Yahtzee's reviewing policy isn't all that different from the Escapist's normal reviews, as in they don't concentrate on performance and statistics, but on how fulfilling the gaming experience is. Yahtzee is just more subjective and opinionated for comedic purposes.

Another point that not many people can refute is that what he considers "good" games really are good games. I've yet to meet a person who thinks Portal is crap.

 

[Vendayn]

I trust his reviews way more than I trust IGN/Gamespot and other major gaming site reviews. And even then, Yahtzee is more comedy than anything

I only use it as a basis...I prefer reading reviews from people, like on Amazon or gaming forums or other forums...get a general census of what people think of it. Even then, I prefer trying it for myself. A lot of people here from what I notice don't like Fallout 3 or Oblivion (there are those that do though), but those two are my favorite games pretty much...mostly because I can mod them so much on the PC. In Oblivion, you can even download a new land mod that adds a whole desert region but now I'm getting a little off topic

same goes for Avatar, a lot of people here didn't like it...I thought it was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Tied with Lord of the Rings movies for me. That and the new Star Trek movie.

But like I said, I only use reviews as a basis for if I want to get it or not...generally I read about features and stuff, see if the game is right for me or not. Then if it sounds good, I read up on it

 

[LWS666]

i rarley trust any reviewer now, i'm never sure if they're reviewing for comedy or fanboyism so i just wait for the price to drop, play the demo etc... then decide.

 

[axleblaze]

I've said it before and I'll probably end up saying it again, Yahtzee's reviews are amusing but if you use them to actually help you decide whether you should buy a game, you are a friggin idiot. He gets paid to hate on games. He gets complaints when he doesn't hate a game enough. His standards are also unreasonably high and he doesn't really seem to enjoy playing video games that much. Any reviewer that basically says "yeah it's fun but so what?" is not one who's opinions you should be basing your gaming purchases around.

 

[Nannernade]

I don't buy games on his reviews, I base it on how well I liked the last game if it's a sequel, reviews if it's new, so no I don't buy them on his reviews I watch them mainly for the comedy. =P

 

[Grayjack]

I tend to take his 'reviews' with all the salt in the universe.

 

[Alex The Rat]

I take a review of any kind with a grain of salt. At the end of the day it's just an opinion.

 

[Tazeyo]

I usually add some sugar coating for it.
All reviewers aren't to be taken seriously as people will NEVER be unbiased to their own point of view.
On Yahtzee, he usually makes a point on downfall of some games, but still anyone can enjoy a game. Even IF Yahtzee's word was the sole truth in the world, there'd still be a pack of rats raiding the smelly cheese.

 

[Ravenstien]

I've long since stopped considering them 'reviews', I just consider them to be commentaries now, with more emphasis on being funny than actually accurate. Sure he's accurate most of the time, but the BioShock 2 review confirmed the above.
True, the story isn't going to be as original as the first, and they didn't really need to do a 2nd one, but the game is still sublime and I thoroughly enjoyed it, right until the end where it bugged on me (I think).

 

[viking97]

perhaps half a grain of salt.my standards are considerably lower than yahtzee's so something he thinks is average or run of the mill i will probably love, but if he loves a game i know that i need to get my ass to the nearest game crazy. but past all that, he's just one guy and things he likes can be things i hate so you half to take every review with a grain of salt, its all subjective.

 

[Generic_Dave]

He said it himself after he reviewed Psychonauts, his viewership don't like when he heaps praise on a game, its hard to be a fair and balanced reviewer and to entertain as well.

What I usually take his reviews as are "here is the worst parts of this game, no matter how small they are".

I wouldn't not buy a game based on a ZP review, but I probably would buy one he praises...

 

[Volafortis]

I always do, that being said, I find that if he is really nitpicking on one thing, that generally means it's his only complaint, and probably actually likes the game quite a bit, because he can't find anything truly negative about it. (see Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Batman: AA, etc..)