Poll: Zero Punctuation - Review or Comedy?
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Personal opinion:
The whole thing that makes ZP funny to some people is that Yahtzee's "character" that he plays in the reviews seems to pick fault at every little thing wrong with a game. Sure, he does touch upon serious points (such as constantly dragging your cousin around between every mission in GTA4 is annoying and flow breaking) but he seems to poke his big, long annoyance stick at everything he possibly can however major or minor it is. That is why ZP can be classified as both. The serious review side is definitely a review and it carries its own style, but taking a serious point (and some not so serious points) and driving it out of context makes it a comedy. It satisfies both criteria extremely well so I see it as both.
The whole thing that makes ZP funny to some people is that Yahtzee's "character" that he plays in the reviews seems to pick fault at every little thing wrong with a game. Sure, he does touch upon serious points (such as constantly dragging your cousin around between every mission in GTA4 is annoying and flow breaking) but he seems to poke his big, long annoyance stick at everything he possibly can however major or minor it is. That is why ZP can be classified as both. The serious review side is definitely a review and it carries its own style, but taking a serious point (and some not so serious points) and driving it out of context makes it a comedy. It satisfies both criteria extremely well so I see it as both.
It's a comedy with review elements.
I'll give you, he plays up the horrible aspects of any game, but he does still admit to the good elements. In fact, there were some reviews where he was actually praising the game in his own weird way.MaxTheReaper said:
But I would call it both because he fairly points out every flaw. It is up to you to decide if those flaws are liveable or not. As opposed to focusing entirely on the good and then you buy the game and find huge gaping flaws that are deal-breakers for you, but you are now stuck with the game.....lordlee said:
for future reference-Daggermonkie said:
this sort of post will get you in trouble with the mods and will lower the member's of the Escapist community's view of you. Oh, and welcome to the Escapist
OT:
I think he's more of a critic than a reviewer because he doesn't talk (much) about pros of games. He did with Psyconauts and Portal and I think those are the only one he talked positively of the whole time. He is very comedic.
Comedic critic I would say
yahtzee's skill is getting the balance right between comedy and review, he makes points but in a funny way, if you can look beyond the sometimes sidesplitting analogies, you can find some genuine points about the game that he is reviewing
I see it as both. What intrests me the most is the comedy as it does most and is the reason why I started watching. The reason I keep watching, though, is because of the review aspect. If I wish to know about the negative points in one of the games he reviews than I like to watch this, that way I will know if they will overpower the good aspects. I don't take his final verdict seriously most of the time, though.
Best description is, "Criticism". Humorous criticism. He raises valid points, but his purpose is to break a game down, not to balance the pros and cons. It's certainly a comedy, and its also a review, but it's reviewed though an entirely biased perspective, through a lens of criticism. If you understand that, then you can tease out a more proper review. It's not the best review, but its probably the funniest.
Reviews that use satire to highlight pesky bits in games, something that I wish more reviews would cover. He'll occasionally get too bogged down in what he personally doesn't like about gaming, but that's something all reviewers do. Not the best reviewer, but at least he'll let you know about all the annoying finnicky stuff that puts stalls on gaming, and he'll usually at least describe some of the better aspects of the game, it's merits, it's quirks, fun stuff like that.
It's comedy. Yahtzee is there to behave as a hilarious troll, and that's why we watch him. Yes he'll sometimes state an interesting opinion, however as a whole I wouldn't trust his videos as an actual review.
I selected both, only because there is no option that says:
"Yahtzee sees video games almost precisely as I do, and therefore, prevents me from wasting money on games he knows I won't like."
A good example of this was Devil May Cry 4. I absolutely loved DMC1 and DMC3. When I watched his review I knew right away that, even though DMC4 may have some good hack'n'slash aspects, I would regret committing $60 to it.
I tried DMC4 at a friends house a few weeks later, and found Yahtzees words rang true.
Also, Yahtzee saved me from the embarrassment of purchasing Mirror's Edge: One of my best friends was saying it was going to be a great game.
Later on, I tried that game at my friends house and found it to be craptastic.
In short, I trust the reviews that Yahtzee provides more than any magazine -- because I can actually relate to his preferences in gaming.
"Yahtzee sees video games almost precisely as I do, and therefore, prevents me from wasting money on games he knows I won't like."
A good example of this was Devil May Cry 4. I absolutely loved DMC1 and DMC3. When I watched his review I knew right away that, even though DMC4 may have some good hack'n'slash aspects, I would regret committing $60 to it.
I tried DMC4 at a friends house a few weeks later, and found Yahtzees words rang true.
Also, Yahtzee saved me from the embarrassment of purchasing Mirror's Edge: One of my best friends was saying it was going to be a great game.
Later on, I tried that game at my friends house and found it to be craptastic.
In short, I trust the reviews that Yahtzee provides more than any magazine -- because I can actually relate to his preferences in gaming.