Poll: Zero Punctuation: Do his words matter?
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I listen to his reviews, consider how much of what bothers him would bother me, then take that into account.
Like any reviewer, his opinion to me is just that, an opinion. It's not particularly a factor either way as to me purchasing games - just an interesting take on them.
ZP doesn't really review any games ive been thinking about buying (i already had cod4 by then) but what he says in that review is pretty much what i got from the game. Now if he were to start tearing into say Dawn of war i wouldn't be happy because i know its good (if only just to the warhammer 40k fans of us) But i don't think ZP could review an RTS and still give the same impact as he does with the billions of sim games and FPS games. He knows his FPS but i think thats why his bulk of reviews are FPS.
Anyway he provides entertainment every Wednesday and has a lot of useful comments and funny imagery to keep me watching til the cows come home.
Anyway he provides entertainment every Wednesday and has a lot of useful comments and funny imagery to keep me watching til the cows come home.
If Yahtzee likes a game, it's got to be good. He loved Portal, and Team Fortress 2, so I went out and bought the Orange Box for the PS3, and loved it (Minus Half Life, I hate it). If he had not so highly praised the game, I would not have bought it.
On the other hand, there are games he has bitched about that I have still bought, becuase I knew I would like the game. After all, his job isn't to inform us about games, it is primarily to entertain, and bring visitors to the website, enhancing profits from advertising therefor making The Escapist money. Where was I going with this again?
Oh yeah, some of what he says makes a lot of sense, but some things you can take with a pinch of salt, it's all about deciphering what aspects of his insults towards games will affect how YOU feel about the game.
On the other hand, there are games he has bitched about that I have still bought, becuase I knew I would like the game. After all, his job isn't to inform us about games, it is primarily to entertain, and bring visitors to the website, enhancing profits from advertising therefor making The Escapist money. Where was I going with this again?
Oh yeah, some of what he says makes a lot of sense, but some things you can take with a pinch of salt, it's all about deciphering what aspects of his insults towards games will affect how YOU feel about the game.
Does he affect my opinion of a game? Not really. I haven't seen him say something about a game that I haven't already read elsewhere. If Yahtzee stands out in your view as a particularly insightful or frank reviewer, I don't think you're reading the right reviews. He's fairly unbalanced, also. He doesn't try that hard to look at a game from more than one angle, mostly because he doesn't seem to accept that other angles exist, outside of freakish stereotypes. If you're the same kind of gamer as him, great; he's probably your best bet for a review that'll match your own interests. If you're not, he's funny. It's a good way to waste five minutes.
The good thing about his reviews is that he points out the major mechanics of a game before he tells you he likes or dislikes them, thus giving you an idea of what the game is about whether he likes it or not.
He does make valid points about what's frustrating in games, but he hasn't really driven me to buy or not buy a given game. I just watch ZP reviews for the sake of humor.
I've found that Mr. Croshaw and I look for generally the same things from the games we play- an immersive single-player experience that doesn't rely heavily on gimmicks, refurbished ideas or flat-out bad design. In that, I give his opinion some weight, but it is seldom a deal maker/breaker. The incredible humor is just a bonus.
Also:
I may have to Photoshop something like that up.
Also:
I am a huge Half-Life fan but this made me laugh out loud. Now I'm picturing a Metrocop signalling a giant dump truck labeled "Conveinently Placed Box Company" into one of the alleyways of City 17.Kayevcee said:
I may have to Photoshop something like that up.
No, he never swayed my opinion about buying a game. His reviews are just awesome, and I agree with most reviews he did, but that's about it. The decision whether I buy a game or not mainly is made through reading as much as I can about the game in question and perhaps playing the demo / renting the full game, and a single review will never again sway my opinion about a game.
Reviewers are just persons, and while his taste seems to be somewhat similar to mine, it's still not my taste completely.
To me, Zero Punctuation is mainly amusement, and I enjoy it even more when I played the game already.
Reviewers are just persons, and while his taste seems to be somewhat similar to mine, it's still not my taste completely.
To me, Zero Punctuation is mainly amusement, and I enjoy it even more when I played the game already.
I once took Yahtzee's advice and bought Psychonauts - I'd say his opinion is worth a listen. His reviews are probably the most reliable and genuinely incisive I've seen. Besides which he addresses critical issues which effect the gamer's experience that are not covered in most of the standardised reviews published in most gaming magazines or websites.
Admitting that someone else's influence makes up an element of one's decision making process is not an admission of feeble mindedness - some people in this thread seem peculiarly defensive (then again, they may also have purchased DMC4).
Besides which, he is rather funny.
Admitting that someone else's influence makes up an element of one's decision making process is not an admission of feeble mindedness - some people in this thread seem peculiarly defensive (then again, they may also have purchased DMC4).
Besides which, he is rather funny.
Not especially, he tends to review games from his point of view, i would buy a game depending on how it looked or if copious amounts of my friends had been talking trash about it.
he says in the beginning of one of his reviews, i think that it was for bioshock, that people didn't like it when he was so nice about psychonauts. He then focused on the bad points of the game, because it was funnier to mock things rather than praise them. This indicates that despite his tirades about how he's a misanthtrope and that he never listens to the people that e-mail him, he is keenly aware that if people didn't like what he was doing he would probably lose his job at the escapist, and all of his free games which go with it. so no, i don't buy games based on his reviews, i just find them funny.
I hardly ever bother with reviews; video games and the games industry are occasionally brilliant, but most often farcical and shallow. Very, very rarely does any game, or any people do anything worth taking seriously. So I get really fed up with reviews which invariably take the whole thing like it was their job or somethng. (oh, wait...)
Anyway, reviews are pointless - games will sell anyway, and different people like different games. If you are going to review a game, you might as well have some fun and be opinionated (the objective view is a myth).
I doubt Yahtzee would ever change my mind about buying a game or not; but that's not point, surely?
Anyway, reviews are pointless - games will sell anyway, and different people like different games. If you are going to review a game, you might as well have some fun and be opinionated (the objective view is a myth).
I doubt Yahtzee would ever change my mind about buying a game or not; but that's not point, surely?
I tend to use ZP reviews more as a way to reaffirm in my mind why i dont like/buy a game than sway me to buy one. The Orange Boz being the exception although tbh I was already thinking of buying it & simply sought out reviews in the hope theyd confirm my intent as the right one.
That said, I do enjoy his emphasis more on what there isnt to like about a game then what there is to like. Some other review sites (gamespot im looking at you) can sometimes read as though the reviewer is simply looking at the back of the games box & eleborating on all the selling points that the publisher has listed there. Simularly when an aspect of a game generally deserves praise, its generally given (though often with the disclaimer that whats good has been done before, & often better)
Also, I do enjoy Yhatzee's use of games/aspects of them as a reason to go into broader commentary on the gaming industry as a whole rather than simply speaking till he cant ad lib about a game anymore (gamespot again). While they dont necessarily make me any more/less inclined to want to buy a game, his tangents on things like quicktime events are interesting to listen to & a nice break in the monologue.
But I digress...No normally I dont decide whether to buy a game or not based on ZP reviews. I buy very few games anymore neway, being a skint student (I think The Orange Box was the last game(s) I bought; & frankly out of that only Portal I considered anything special). GJmy brother is as obsessed with games & still young enough to get parents to buy games for him or id play nothing
That said, I do enjoy his emphasis more on what there isnt to like about a game then what there is to like. Some other review sites (gamespot im looking at you) can sometimes read as though the reviewer is simply looking at the back of the games box & eleborating on all the selling points that the publisher has listed there. Simularly when an aspect of a game generally deserves praise, its generally given (though often with the disclaimer that whats good has been done before, & often better)
Also, I do enjoy Yhatzee's use of games/aspects of them as a reason to go into broader commentary on the gaming industry as a whole rather than simply speaking till he cant ad lib about a game anymore (gamespot again). While they dont necessarily make me any more/less inclined to want to buy a game, his tangents on things like quicktime events are interesting to listen to & a nice break in the monologue.
But I digress...No normally I dont decide whether to buy a game or not based on ZP reviews. I buy very few games anymore neway, being a skint student (I think The Orange Box was the last game(s) I bought; & frankly out of that only Portal I considered anything special). GJmy brother is as obsessed with games & still young enough to get parents to buy games for him or id play nothing
He usually publishes his reviews after I have either bought or decided never to buy the game. Yahtzee, bless him, is the Victor Meldrew of the game reviewing scene. But younger.