Zero Punctuation: Tomb Raider: Underworld

[101998]

Yahtzee is the Jezza of Video Games.

Jezza is the Jezza of Video Games. http://www.australiangamer.com/news/1510_jeremy_clarkson_declares_videogames_the_answer_to_world_peace.html
[/quote]

Great article, thanks for the link. <3 Jezza

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Hm. Somebody has been toiling away for a while now on their rant. Sad that it can be entirely refuted so easily: "ZP is entertainment, and it seems be succeeding in its objective, considering that the number of views keeps going up each week."

Basically yes.

ZP is entertainment, and it is entertaining. People are still watching it and people still like it. So I really don't get Newclassics complaint. Can someone break it down for me?

 

[raggymandan]

Nice review!

I've been watching ZP for ages, but 2 day's ago I saw Charlie Brookers Screenwipe and any fan of ZP should watch this. It's like ZP but for TV, and like ZP it's seriously underrated, go youtube it!

 

[AceDiamond]

So right now we're at the point where people are going "I liked ZP before it got (more) popular", yes?

I mean seriously the game itself is badly repetitive and he's also pointed out a good point about Lara not exactly being a great protagonist (which is something a person with writing experience would gravitate towards discovering)

I'm not saying all disagreements with the more recent ZP eps are wrong, and I'm not saying Yahtzee is the critical version of Jesus Christ, but I am saying we may need to just remind ourselves it's just a show and we should really just relax.

 

[HobbesMkii]

"I'm MR BRAIN HAT" made my day.

Yes, that was brilliant.

Also, NewClassic's review just seemed shoehorned (I know it was. It'd be nigh on impossible to write all that and slip in the images in six minutes, and contains only one explicit mention of Tomb Raider). He probably wrote it after the Escapist Show came out so he knew it would be about Tomb Raider. Frankly, I think he was attempting to respond to prior reviews as compared to the Tomb Raider: Underworld, but needed a fresh review in order to make his point heard (which he accomplished, kudos to him). I'd say this ZP was a step back towards that original funny. That said, I have noticed that stagnating over the course of the run. But hey, that's a problem with writing the same thing over and over, inspiration starts to drain out of you. It's a common problem, and there's lots of ways to handle it. Most shows hire new talent or just work through it. Ricky Gervais purposely limited The Office and [/i]Extras[/i] to two seasons specifically because he knew he couldn't go for an extended run. Ronald D. Moore for Battlestar Galactica set down four seasons (I've heard he shot for five) as the complete arc. ZP doesn't have a storyline, so there's no readily handy point for Yahtzee to get off. He either has to keep going (I imagine it's steady money) or just end it (one Wednesday we wake up to find out it's over). It all depends on which one you'd rather see, I guess. Some lukewarm ZPs for every one great hilarious review, or no ZP at all.

 

[000_00_00_00]

I haven't played any Titties Mcgiggles games since I think about the third one, I think because three boobies though 50% more boobies it just too much.

Maybe the developers need to have a 'break' from her for a few years and actually come up with something entertaining, that way we have a chance to miss her boobies and they have enough time to think of something good for her to do.

 

[Arcanum3000]

Yahtzee, you ought to tree Tomb Raider Legend. It was actually surprisingly good, and I don't remember the camera being nearly as irritating as it was in Underworld demo. It also might make Underworld make more sense.

 

[Abedeus]

"I'm MR BRAIN HAT" made my day.

Yes, that was brilliant.

That, and the "HAR HAR HAR".

 

[thisbymaster]

Anything more than a handfull is a waste? To hell with Yahtzee he has clearly gone insane.

 

[SYSTEM-J]

Once upon a time, Zero Punctuation was a series that was more about game reviews with good humor and an active style the encouraged the viewer to be a part of the experience, laugh, and actually learn something about a game.

You went wrong there. By the criteria of any professional reviewer (who isn't writing New Journalism) Yahtzee has always been a terrible reviewer and ZP is a case study of How Not To Review. I've been writing web reviews (of music) for coming up to four years, I've had quotes and scores from my reviews used on official artist websites and promotional material and I've learned the long and slow way exactly what constitutes a good review. Yahtzee willfully breaks almost every rule I can think of in any given review.

Zero Punctuation has always been a comedy show that uses the framework of a review to house the laughs. Yahtzee admitted very early on that it isn't funny to praise something so he would focus on the negatives, a fairly blatant admission that laughs come first and the review comes second.

With that said, all your lengthy (and obviously pre-prepared) showpiece rant boils down to is "I no longer find him funny". Welcome to humour: maybe the most subjective thing humanity knows of. Yahtzee has an original and inspired visual/audio delivery format with a distinct style. Like any comedian, once he's found his style it's all about writing good jokes. At the end of the day, I'm still laughing at him and if you aren't that's more likely to be your issue than anything Yahtzee is doing wrong in a sense of craft.

 

[Sylocat]

Anyways, you can't at all expect people not to comment like I just did. Posting your opinions in that fashion smack bang into a ZP episode thread is asking for trouble. Much smarter would have been to make another thread.
Posting his "views" like this, borders on trolling in my opinion. Sure post your views in your blog, as a story or in another thread, or what ever - but choosing this thread is just bad form.

Alone the fact that you are a long-time viewer of ZP would indicate that maybe this "samey" feeling you're getting is precisely gained from watching ZP for too long?
I've watched every ZP since Yahtzee threw them up on YT too, and I don't at all share you're feelings about the show. Sure some episodes are better than others... but that' bound to be the case. And if I did, I sure wouldn't choose a ZP episode to approach that matter.

People always know better - just that it's never the ones doing it.
If you really are getting tired of ZP, stop watching it. Dropping numbers in viewers are surely more of an incentive for anyone to change the show rather than an ill-placed rant like NewClassic's.

By your own logic, if you don't like NewClassic's rant, ignore it and don't post about it.

 

[tustin2121]

NewCastle just wanted attention really really badly. That is defiantly a copy paste and now we're giving him all the attention he wants by commenting on his post. So "Like a child putting the cat in a tumble dryer", let's stop giving him what he wants and pay no more attention to him.

Great Review. I'm still laughing at the credit comment "Laura Crofts's boobs are so big, right, that when she gives someone a titwank they have to be recovered with spelunking equipment." HA!!

 

[Sabbad]

Posting his "views" like this, borders on trolling in my opinion. Sure post your views in your blog, as a story or in another thread, or what ever - but choosing this thread is just bad form.

No, you are wrong, and I say this despite my issues with NC's original post. This thread is, presumably, set up as a place for viewers to give feedback to the video they've just watched. There's no reason that constructive criticism doesn't belong there.

EDIT: And what's the inverted commas around "views" supposed to mean?

 

[m_jim]

Bravo, New Classic. My friend and I, both long-time ZP fans, have been talking about the decline of the series for quite a while. I think that you were fair in your assessment, and if anything not hard enough. While I'm sure that the faithful will see any slight against Yahtzee, their projection of what they could have been if they had talent, as reason enough for jihad, your chief criticism here rings true, even if you did write it in advance: he didn't spend any time talking about the bloody game.

 

[Sir Ollie]

Awesome ZP

 

[DDragonfly1990]

Good review, I think the Tomb Raider series is getting really old now and she's giving brits a bad name (especially when you get people like Angelina Jolie portraying her in dire film versions). I think that NewClassic maybe has something against Yahtzee, posting his own review about Zero Punctuation as soon as the video goes up... looks as if it was pre-written then edited after seeing Yahtzee's review then posted straight away.

Looking forward to the next review!

 

[JoeNut]

Agreed, all tomb raiders are exactly the same.

 

[RAWKSTAR]

Bloody great!
But thats always the case!

 

[Baby Tea]

NewCastle just wanted attention really really badly. That is defiantly a copy paste and now we're giving him all the attention he wants by commenting on his post. So "Like a child putting the cat in a tumble dryer", let's stop giving him what he wants and pay no more attention to him.

But I like Nuke, and I think his post DOES deserve attention. It's well written, and has some excellent points.

If I "don't get it", why don't you expand on it for me, then.
As said, that convoluted-rant is just much too full of itself - it's like writing a Michelin guide on a hamburger.

Well if you didn't read it, as your original post suggests (And as this post basically proves), you'll find the rant (If you could even call it that) wasn't convoluted, or full of itself. It was a well written, thought out observation of the sliding that ZP has made from 'Reviewing with comedy' to 'comedy with maybe reviewing'. That's what you don't seem to 'get'. You also don't seem to get that negative and positive posts about the episode are welcome. Including Nuke's post. And if is TRULY is 'tl' and you really 'dr', then why post about it at all? You're trying to sum up something you know nothing about (Until you actually read it).

And you can call his post (Not rant) 'misplaced' if you like, but it's certainly being read more here then if it was on it's own thread. You said yourself you don't frequent the forums, and you certainly aren't alone. I would imagine a lot of fans-but-not-members scroll through the comments on the latest ZP to see people's reactions! And there is Nuke's post right on page one. That's dame good placement, if anything.

And the MODs do a dame good job around here, and obviously haven't found fault with it. Were it truly misplaced, they'd ban him, or put him on probation, or even delete the post! But they haven't done any of those things. That's because it's an articulate post with points to make (Contrary to 'tl;dr', which only shows you have no attention span).