Poll: What do you think of MovieBob/The Game Overthinker?

[JanatUrlich]

I cannot stand him! Mostly because we I hardly ever agree with his opinion.

And I dunno, something about the way he comes across in his movie video things pisses me off. He seems so smarmy and goddamn self righteous.

He just annoys me.

 

[Sethzard]

Personally I think he's great. What is is doing on the game overthinker is quite funny at the moment.

 

[Tohru_Readman]

I think Bob as a game commemorator can let his bias for Nintendo, cloud some of his reviews and Game Overthinker episodes. I'm also fed up of him putting everyone in to certain stereotypes, like if you own a 360 you're a Fratboy who likes nothing more than madden, C.O.D and Halo. As one of the images he uses all the time in his Game Overthinker episodes would suggest.

He can sometimes make good points but now it just feels like he is troll baiting. the perfect example of this being the Big Picture Halo Reach episode.

 

[Thaius]

I really like his ideas for the most part, at least as MovieBob. I haven't seen enough of him as the Game Overthinker to tell about that one. My only real complaint against him at this point is his horribly misunderstanding of Halo. He really has a problem with it, but the more he talks about it the clearer it becomes that he has severely misunderstood the series. Out of spite, ignorance, or a misinterpretation fed by worldview, I don't know, but it irks me when he rails against it with such misunderstanding.

Outside of that, though, I generally agree with him when it comes to movies, thus I like MovieBob. His thoughts on The Big Picture have mostly been pretty interesting too (outside of the Halo episode, for aforementioned reasons; that one took it to new heights though).

 

[D_987]

I thoroughly dislike him, both as a game and movie critic, and believe The Escapist to be slightly hypocritical in their approach to the forum rules in allowing some of his content on their site, whilst simultaneously informing users they aren't allowed to say similar comments.

His Game Overthinker gig started off well, sure he was fanboyish, made a number of stupid comments and just generally seemed to beleive all video-games and anything to do with them was a Japanese concept [which is just untrue - see Ralph Baer]. But it was still interesting to watch, even if at times, as Yahtzee so eloquently put it, it was to watch the monkey throw shit. Then he got his Movie reviews on the site; at first, coming off the back of his Game Overthinker Youtube videos I though it'd be mildly entertaining, but after the first 6 or 7 episodes I began watching less frequently. The issue with Bob, and someone claimed this earlier, and I don't see it - is that he's not a critic. 'Escape to the movies' is much more of a review styled video series than a critical one, Bob doesn't go into anywhere near the amount of detail required to critically analyze works such as these, and it just seems some posters are trying to defend his overly cynical and pretentious viewpoint by slapping the word "critic" onto his videos to render such criticisms invalid.

I haven't seen his Metroid : Other M Game Overthinker on GT - frankly, I don't want to, because from what I've heard his argument is so stupid and out of touch with reality it makes his previous Nintendo fanboysim [a fanboyism he tries to justify, and fails] pale in comparison. If it's anything like his Expendables review however it just shows both what a poor reviewer / analyst he is of media, but also that he doesn't understand how to communicate his opinions to people through the internet, which in text is understandable, through voice it's a whole other matter, as the reader isn't imagining the tone used.

I'm not sure what he wants to be as an analyst to be honest, on one hand his reviews are often so moronic I have to wonder if he's just a giant troll, purposely saying incredibly idiotic things, yet gaining traffic for the arrogant over-tones he creates [appealing to the lowest common denominator] or if he honestly believes some of the ridiculous statements others have points out throughout this thread [that I shan't repeat for fear of this rant going on any longer].

In short, I beleive he's overly arrogant for his own level of intellect, doesn't understand game design to the level he claims [then again I also beleive Extra Credits tries way to hard to appeal to the lowest common denominator - but then again I guess its aim is to bring these concepts to a wider audience so they perform their role well, I just dislike how over-hyped the show is by said people more than the show itself], and was / is either deliberately trolling [to be fair to him his fan-base has got him a number of lucky breaks] or making overly controversial statements to remain relevant.

/rant

 

[Jonny The Kay]

I disagree with 65% of what he says, but I really like the 35% I agree with.

 

[D_987]

Not really, I saw it and liked it (although I haven't seen Other M). His argument is mostly that Samus never had a personality, people just crafted her personality for her based off ... movie stereotypes and then get pissed when she wasn't acting like that. Honestly it's worth watching, some people just get upset when people disagree.

I worry more that the review completely ignores other elements as to why Other M should be mocked - the whole submissive overtone, not to mention stupid plot-points, make the narrative a running joke. There're several interesting takes on this game beyond the norm. the best I found being this one [http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html]. I don't think I will watch the review to be honest, ask I ranted [probably a little harshly and over dramatically] Bob's style of analysis and pretentious tones are something I find considerably irritating.

 

[Hiphophippo]

pretty big fan myself. might not always agree, but that's not important.

 

[Echo136]

I was a fan of his Game Overthinker blog before I even knew about the escapist

 

[D_987]

It wasn't a review it was only a counter argument to the idea that they ruined Samus/gave her character a 180. And I still say it's worth seeing even if you disagree because he presents his case well.

To quote Fire Daemon earlier in the thread [whom I trust the opinion of if it's the same poster I remember]:

"The entire video is filled with hypocrisy. He uses a straw man argument that claims that those who hate Other M do so because they are Japanophobes and racist, while using a literal straw man to mock the supposed straw men set up by those that hate Other M! That Is One Of The Stupidest Things I Have Ever Heard, how did he get away with bullshit like that? Actually, perhaps he didn't because after Other M I noticed that he seemed to have many more people hate against him."

That doesn't sound like a well presented case, in fact I don't really recall a time when Bob ever argued a case particularly well, bearing in mind he only has to argue his own side and ignore any inconsistencies with it, rather than looking analytically at both sides of the argument to come to a conclusion. And honestly, that description of the video makes it sound like the exact type of thing I'd dislike so I'm going to pass and stick with my entirely irrational [as in I'm going entirely by other peoples opinions] dislike of the video.

 

[Armored Prayer]

I liked his early Overthinker youtube videos. They were well presented and made me think. Lately he has become more biased and angry in his videos, constantly talking about how great the NES era was and demonizing most modern games (mainly FPS, sports, and Halo) I'm sorry but I not going to sit and watch a man ***** about how FPS are ruining videogames and praise retro game that were popular before I was born. His other videos are better. While the bias and anger is sometimes there its not all in my face and aggravating.

I will give him credit though, he does his research and he shines on his history like episodes.

 

[FastLogan2400]

Bob's a smart guy and I think he has some really good opinions and insights on movies, video games and general geek culture. I have enjoyed all three of his shows, but I think he's taking a specific joke on The Game Overthinker a little far.

 

[D_987]

Just watch the damn thing instead of taking secondhand accounts of it. Honestly if you've never seen it you don't have much ground to complain about it.

Ok, so he spent the first 1 minute and 20's explaining to me something I already knew in an overly elaborate manner.

He then claims the game is "great"...which it's not. He cites the length as his key criticism, then proclaims the game "shatters preconceptions about what is needed to deliver a hardcore game", which is just...wrong. I can't really say there's anything innovative about this game at all beyond maybe the fact the story is so inventively awful. He then claims it should be looked at as the next lesson in game design; again - what the hell? How can a game, with so many obvious design flaws in the narrative alone, alongside some abysmal gameplay decisions [Samus standing still when zooming into first person to aim her gun being one heavily criticized example] possibly be lauded as holding an "innovative" design? Because it uses less buttons than other games? Of course this being Bob he doesn't explain this point, instead he moves straight onto insulting FPS games as being "creatively bankrupt" despite lauding a third person shooter / action game that follows all the typical conventions of the genre as "innovative" just moments ago.

He then gets agitated, immediately defending Nintendo by claiming their handling of the equipment upgrade system was "creative", but if you read said linked article you'll see it fits into the narrative poorly. It's not so much creative as it is lazy, but of course Bob doesn't explore this concept; that'd be to analytical. This is the sort of thing I mean, pushing an agenda whilst claiming to be analytical [or at least giving that pretense]. He then immediately pushes other concepts aside in a mockingly sarcastic manner, claiming "Oh no" without arguing any such counter-point towards the pretty clear, and strong arguments put forward against this, hell, he pretty much does claim that anyone who argues this narrative is badly handled doesn't "understand" Japan, and believes that Japan is somehow a country full of *insert stereotypes here* an argument that's just not true. He doesn't even attempt to examine the true concepts behind it, just sarcastically hide behind mocking tones and insult those with these arguments. Hell he brushes aside pretty much all points covered by those articles by just saying "It's clearly not setting up a you need a man message", when in fact all evidence points to the contrary. It would be nice if he could explain this point - but he doesn't...he just claims it's "not a deal breaker", before then discussing why the characterization of Samus is apparently entirely inaccurate, because apparently the game chaarcter killing the same boss twice now and having a "post-traumatic distress" at the sight of said boss is a perfectly acceptable narrative construct because the player wasn't specifically told other-wise. His own argument is flawed simply because there's no way they can possibly argue it fits into cannon, and the jarring difference between gameplay and story just makes for an overall poorly designed gaming, and narrative experience.

After that the video-player bugged out and to be honest, I didn't really care enough to continue watching. I beleive Fire Daemon, though acting over-dramatic, was pretty spot -on with their comment - the video is a poor analysis that paints the nay-sayers as ignorant so Bob can make his points without there seemingly to be any logical counter-argument.