Note: the original Zero Punctuation videos for this post were lost; I’ve replaced them with a few I found funny in 2024
I stumbled across this series of comic video game reviews earlier this week, but didn’t actually watch any of them. You see, I had heard that this particular reviewer had given a negative review to BioShock, and my unsubstantiated reaction was that the reviewer must be a total moron.
Well, Yahtzee may be a total moron (who’s to say?), but his reviews make me laugh…even though I disagree with much of what he says. Check this out (WARNING: somewhat crude humour, not really safe for work):
Or how about this?
And Lara Croft needs some love too…
If you don’t find these funny…well, to each their own. Maybe check out some more of Yahtzee’s work. But even though I disagree with his BioShock review, I still laughed. The humour is perhaps a bit rude, but it does a good job expressing a point without trying to tell me I’m stupid for disagreeing- and that makes me listen and maybe see a different perspective. Good stuff!
That’s brilliant!
And what makes it work is that they are good reviews. By which I mean you don’t have to agree with them but you get an idea of what he liked and didn’t like and why, so you can judge whether you would like it. In otherwords, they are useful.
You hit the point well, Chris. It is illuminating to me to get this nice illustration of how differently I can perceive someone who has a different opinion than mine just based on how they present their point of view. It is one thing to say “this game sucks” (or the ever popular “this game sucks, and anyone who likes it sucks too!”), quite another to say “I didn’t like this game personally and here’s why”.
The humour helps a lot in terms of making his perspective clearer, without seeming to make me feel like an idiot for having a contrary opinion. Even when he fires a few zingers at people who might disagree with him, he usually follows up with some sort of self-deprecating comment that softens the blow a bit.