Poll: Do you take Yahtzee's reviews seriously?

[sergnb]

He OBVIOUSLY nitpicks too much on purpose for the sake of humor, I don't really decide my purchases based on his reviews. Even when the review seems to be positive.

Example: Infamous 2, he kind of went soft on that game, but I didn't really like it, so no buy.

The review itself was hillarious tho

 

[Spineyguy]

Contrary to popular belief, Yahtzee's stuff is not just a tirade of genital humour and swear words. I find that he often has a lot of very valid and well-considered points to make about most games, and he clearly knows his stuff.

However, as with any other review, I don't let his word define what games I buy (if I did, I'd never buy anything), many of the games that Yahtzee has hated I have bought and enjoyed, and some of the games he has praised (I wouldn't say 'loved') I have found to be not my cup-of-tea.

In addition, I acknowledge that a good number of the views expressed in Zero Punctuation are true. Borderplands felt unfinished, Super Smursh Brothers is frustrating, Metal Gear Stolid is pretentious and overly cinematic, Gears of Snore is unsubtle and loud-mouth and Fables 2 and 3 are both a touch on the clunky and unwieldy side, and Portal is GOD! I enjoy all of these games, but in no way suggest that any one of them is perfect.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

I like his reviews because they go after the negative more then the positive. I take them with a grain of salt however since Yahtzee's personal preferences for games don't always match my own.

 

[darkdraconus]

I don't take them 100% seriously, but I never take a review 100% seriously. If I did, then I'd have missed out on a few games that I really enjoyed.

 

[Mxrz]

I actually take him more seriously than other "game critics." Even then, you would be completely silly if you let someone else dictate what you like. Although I've bought a couple games due to his reviews that I might have otherwise ignored.

 

[bit_crusherrr]

If I took Yahtzee's reviews seriously the only games I'd own is COD4 and Psyconauts.

 

[Pirate1019]

Anybody that's not a complete twat donkey can use his reviews constructively for game purchases. Yahtzee is nothing if not honest about games. His opinions in the videos just need to be adjusted for comedic hyperbole.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I take the parts where he's obviously not exaggerating for comedic effect seriously and I most certainly take his written articles seriously. He's an intelligent man who has to smother his opinions in humour to make them more digestable.

But I wouldn't let him be the deal breaker for a game, no offence to him.

 

[mitchell271]

If he genuinely likes something, that probably means it's really good and I'll check it out. But I mostly just watch it for teh lolz

 

[MightyRabbit]

None of the above really suit me, as I do take his criticisms on board, but then weigh them up against my own tastes and opinions. If he bashes a game I like, I'm a little disappointed but I don't let it bother me. I treat it like any other review, albeit one with a wildly different style.

 

[Ed Classified]

I've watched them all mostly for entertainment value but I agree with him on most things and I do consider his criticism before buying a game, also I bought prince of persia sands of time on his recommendation and I loved it.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Yes.

It's not like I agree with everything he says, because as he himself has said any review is always going to be a subjective opinion at the end of the day, but when all is said and done I actually take him more seriously than almost any other reviewer for two reasons.

- he has a genuine investment and passion for the industry he is critiquing.
- despite (maybe even slightly because of) reason number one, he does not have any reason to be anything other than completely and brutally honest about his own opinions.

 

[Scrubiii]

Despite the fact that he just highlights the bad points for comedic effect, you can still tell whether he actually likes the game or not.

 

[SuperShadowAce]

I take his review into account.

 

[Halceon]

Everyone on the escapist has watched at least one of his reviews, where he talks fast and points out all the faults in a game. But do his reviews influence the likelihood that you will buy any given game? Personally, I watch them for fun and if I want reviews I look to other sources.

Oh, wait. I should have read this before voting. No. I don't use ZP as purchasing advice, that would be silly. I take ZP seriously in that i don't ignore its claim to (and is think I should stress this more) be criticism instead of reviews. Optimally I'd watch the relevant ZP episode only once I've played the game, but since I choose to not buy most of the games he does, that is not an option.
Of course there's still a huge way to go to make it high quality critique, but that's a collective road. On the one hand it's not strayed too far from the review format, on the other hand, most games that come out don't have the content to warrant a critique that is readable by non-ludologists. So this might be a matter of wanting more deconstructions of ideology from a book critic when half of the books in the column are instruction manuals.

 

[Telekinesis]

It does. He's not likely to convince me against buying, because complaining about everything is sorta his job and what's expected of him at this point, but if he praises something it's usually worthy of that praise and that will get me to try it out.