History Awesome / ZeroPunctuation

--> What made me choke on my sherbet was when the bloke narrating the gameplay video said, "For the first time, you will be able to choose between a male and female hero!"\\

** All of his anger directed at the game was enough to give it the rank of #1 on the list of [[https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/2019/01/02/2018s-best-worst-and-blandest/ the Top 5 Worst Games of 2018]].

* This line from his review of [[VideoGame/GhostReconBreakPoint]], regarding the game's infamously intrusive microtransactions:

* In a rather mature move, Yahtzee fully admits that his review for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' will ''not'' go over well with the series' fanbase, since "it's not [his] thing". Granted, he still doesn't hold back, but the preemptive warning ''was'' a smart move, considering the ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl last time]]'' he reviewed a Smash game.

*** The contest was also referenced in the GamePro article for ''Prototype 2''.

* The veritable conga-line of political [[TakeThat Take Thats]] from the Enemy Front & ''VideoGame/ValiantHearts'' opening sequence (though some didn't like that Yahtzee was continuing to spout the tired stereotype of "everyone who likes military shooters is a right-wing nutjob):

** The fact that he was one of the ''only'' reviewers to call the game out on its horrific MoralDissonance. Even Gamespot's infamous EightPointEight review only went so far as to call the violence too extreme. Yahtzee actively called out all the morally heinous and downright horrifying shit Joel and Ellie do throughout the game.

YOU ''WHAT''?! Am I on crazy pills?! '''''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''''' '''did that!''' ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT "PROGRESSIVE" IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ''ALREADY FUCKING ARE'', GENIUS!

--> "People ask me if I worry about the future of the interactive arts in this era of triple-A being a constant stream of soulless exploitative knock-offs, but I'm not worried! [[HistoryRepeats Because we've been here before]]. At the end of the 90s, games like [[VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena Quake III]] and VideoGame/UnrealTournament tried to convince us that we didn't ''really'' want artistic single-player PC games when we could just pay to run on hamster wheels all day, and look what the 2000s brought us. ''VideoGame/DeusEx''! ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]''! ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}''! ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''! It's always a phase. In the long run, the only eternal guarantor of success is a quality product well-made, ideally with tits on the front. The money to be made from knocking off what's popular and exploiting the stupid always dries up eventually, if only because the stupids die out from daring each other to headbutt the ceiling fan."

-->''By ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'', though, the series had rather drastically devalued killing off the player character, and virtually every temporary protagonist who isn't palling around with Captain Price's unit gets knocked off by the end of their moment in the spotlight. Instead, the game finds a different way to play with our expectations of a player character by having us participate in a massacre of innocent civilians. It gives us the usual nose-leading mission directive but simultaneously, within the context of the world, condemns us for following it. It brings to mind that one science experiment where members of the public continued electrocuting a prisoner because an authority figure told them to. How much would it take to persuade an average person to commit an atrocity? When we come to Modern Warfare 3, the "shocking moment" has become just another item on the checklist, and is a hollow, incidental event. There's no toying with the perceptions of a player character and their role; you just get to see a small child get blown to bits in London. Presumably just one of many children who were killed in the slightly ridiculous simultaneous chemical attacks on every European city, but apparently the one worth focusing on was the American tourist. Perhaps they felt all the native London children would be less relatable because they'd all be picking pockets and covered in dirt from sweeping chimneys. But that's not why I'm complaining about it (for once). I'm complaining because it failed in its purpose. It wasn't shocking because I saw it coming a mile off. And it bothers me because it wasn't included for its importance to the plot or for any kind of gratification (at least I hope not), but because there had to be a shocking moment. It seems almost bureaucratic, like it was requested by the accounting rather than the story department. And there's something very disturbing about a large faceless game publisher coldly and emotionlessly tearing apart a simulated child purely because it was on the schedule for that day.''

--> "People ask me if I worry about the future of the interactive arts in this era of triple-A being a constant stream of soulless exploitative knock-offs, but I'm not worried! [[HistoryRepeats Because we've been here before]]. At the end of the 90s, games like [[VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena Quake III]] and VideoGame/UnrealTournament tried to convince us that we didn't ''really'' want artistic single-player PC games when we could just pay to run on hamster wheels all day, and look what the 2000s brought us. ''VideoGame/DeusEx''! ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]''! ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}''! ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''! It's always a phase. In the long run, the only eternal guarantor of success is a quality product well-made, ideally with tits on the front. The money to be made from knocking off what's popular and exploiting the stupid always dries up eventually, if only because the stupids die out from daring each other to headbutt the ceiling fan."

* His [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9246-What-Is-the-Matter-with-You-People What Is The Matter With You People?]] article, besides calling out some rather disturbing people in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' FanDumb, he also brings up how the death scene from the nuclear bomb in the original '''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''' managed to be both shocking and horrifying due how the player character in it is struggle to survive before finally succumbing, and how the attempts to shock the player in the series have gone down hill:

* His E3 2018 rundown was everything you've come to expect from his annual anti-hype video, but his takedown of Ubisoft for their false claims about ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'' is amazing:

\\

* [[BrokenBase Arguably]], his review of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' is this to it's detractors. Though many critics have gone on about how bad the games is (one lesser-known reviewer made a four-part review spanning about '''''eighty minutes'''''), Yatzee basically and crassly summed up all of their complaints in little over [[UpToEleven five minutes.]] This feat had a fan pledging in the comments section that, when the time comes that Yatzee will insult a game they like, they will forgive him. [[{{GIFT}} Someone on the internet forgiving a critic for criticizing something they like.]]

--> We live in an age where mass communication has counter-intuitively turned all attempts at verbal debate into a basketball game where the teams are on different courts, and stand around a basket racking up meaningless points and throwing shit over the dividing wall. The only way an individual can safely express their politics these days is to anonymously spend money. [[RealitySubtext Hence why homophobic pizza joints can mysteriously accrue a million dollars in donations.]] [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity ''Hatred'' exists merely as a maypole]] [[StreisandEffect for those wishing to defy]] [[MoralGuardians the cultural nannies who want to tell them that they can't have it until they learn to wipe their bottoms properly.]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech So two groups of affluent middle class people annoy each other]], [[RatedMforMoney Hatred makes lots of money]], [[SeriousBusiness and the world at large gives less of a toss than a quadriplegic shot-putter.]] Good night!

--> ''Until Dawn'' is an interactive story of the [[Creator/QuanticDream David Cage]] school pushed through the filter of slasher movie with the promise being that [[VideoGameCaringPotential if we make all the right decisions, perhaps we could keep all the]] [[FormerChildStar out-of-work]] [[DawsonCasting twenty-something actors]] [[EarnYourHappyEnding alive]]. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint I don't think you were paying attention, Until Dawn]]. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential I will have made the right decisions]] [[EightDeadlyWords if every single one of these]] [[JerkAss gurgleberks]] ends up [[CruelAndUnusualDeath upholstering the soft furnishings in Leatherface's man cave]].

--> "People ask me if I worry about the future of the interactive arts in this era of triple-A being a constant stream of soulless exploitative knock-offs, but I'm not worried! Because we've been here before. At the end of the 90s, games like [[VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena Quake III]] and VideoGame/UnrealTournament tried to convince us that we didn't ''really'' want artistic single-player PC games when we could just pay to run on hamster wheels all day, and look what the 2000s brought us. ''VideoGame/DeusEx''! ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]''! ''VideoGame/{{BioShock}}''! ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''! It's always a phase. In the long run, the only eternal guarantor of success is a quality product well-made, ideally with tits on the front. The money to be made from knocking off what's popular and exploiting the stupid always dries up eventually, if only because the stupids die out from daring each other to headbutt the ceiling fan."

-->So, now your comic is squatting on the Internet like a sewage plant on the river Thames, but you're still not popular, because you're competing with every other hack with a Playstation and a messiah complex, so how do you stand out against the crowd? Well, you're forgetting the most important ingredient: drama. I'm not talking about dramatic storylines, although that can certainly be part of it. Let's say, for sake of example, that you're sick of making [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Companion Cube]] jokes, and suddenly do [[VerySpecialEpisode a serious storyline about your female character having a miscarriage]]. Obviously, you'd need to have several blood clots in your brain to think this is a good idea; you're established as a wacky humour comic, so this is going to be an awkward tonal shift at best and hugely disrespectful of the subject matter at worst. Your most hardcore supporters will [[FanMyopia feebly attempt]] to go along with you on this, smiling nervously at each other as they would around a mentally unstable friend with a shillelagh, but mean-spirited, embittered cocks [[WhoWritesThisCrap are gonna call you out on it]]. At this point, there are many ways you can respond. [[DearNegativeReader "I don't see you doing anything better," "I can do whatever I want with MY comic," "You're just jealous because I get more readers,"]] and other equally flawed arguments. But above all else, [[NeverMyFault never admit defeat]], because the bigger a douche you are, the more traffic you get, as spectators line up to see you jump around the monkey cage, screaming and flinging your poo.

--> "People ask me if I worry about the future of the interactive arts in this era of triple-A being a constant stream of soulless exploitative knock-offs, but I'm not worried! Because we've been here before. At the end of the 90s, games like [[VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena Quake III]] and VideoGame/UnrealTournament tried to convince us that we didn't ''really'' want artistic single-player PC games when we could just pay to run on hamster wheels all day, and look what the 2000s brought us. VideoGame/DeusEx! [[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]! VideoGame/{{BioShock}}! VideoGame/{{Portal}}! It's always a phase. In the long run, the only eternal guarantor of success is a quality product well-made, ideally with tits on the front. The money to be made from knocking off what's popular and exploiting the stupid always dries up eventually, if only because the stupids die out from daring each other to headbutt the ceiling fan."

it's a mistake to dismiss everything out of hand, as any genuine passion a developer had for their own contribution can shine through even the densest corporate machinery. Assume I said the same thing about every game: "Could be good or bad, but there's no way of knowing until it's been played through by someone who isn't being paid to shill for it." As a basic starting point, try considering what you aren't being shown as much as what you are. If you noticed, as I did, a couple of conspicuous edits in the Anthem and Rage 2 gameplay videos that didn't appear to signal a change of scene, ask yourself what was cut out that the publishers didn't want you to see, and why they didn't feel like the game could sell itself by its unembellished appearance alone. Also, consider the way the player in a gameplay video acts wholly unlike one in real life, usually moving slowly and rotating the camera languidly to drink in the expensive scenery, when a real player would probably want to move and look around a lot faster, and such a fundamental change of pacing would almost certainly impact any story elements that the gameplay video showcased[[note]]he cut off here without being able to finish, due to only having two stingers[[/note]]

-->I think it's safe to say that all bets were right the fuck off when it came to ''The Phantom Pain''. Even more than they usually are with Creator/HideoKojima [...] Because of course Konami recently decided that they're going to take everything they've built over the years as a game developer, arrange it nicely in front of them, and then pick up a big hammer and [[DarthWiki/FallenCreator smash and smash and smash and smash and smash!]] "Sorry we had to cancel ''Videogame/SilentHills,'' but we kind of lost our interest in it around the same time we lost our ''[[SuddenlyShouting FUCKING MINDS!!!]]'' Here, have a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ht4dbyPIcM pachinko machine]] instead! We like pachinko machines, because it's nice to have something around with some fucking balls! Also, fuck off, Creator/HideoKojima, you're too reliably bankable for our liking! We'd much rather stick our feet up our arse and bounce down the stairs making burbling noises with our lips! ''Blblblblblblbl!''"

-->Juliet is always in control of the situation, has a healthy, devoted family life, and the developers would never suggest that the player should feel motivated to protect her from rapists - seriously, ''[[http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a387062/tomb-raider-rape-attempt-encourages-players-to-protect-lara-croft.html that's pretty fucked.]]''
** Speaking of Franchise/TombRaider, Yahtzee's review has him calling out how the 'CharacterDevelopment through a DarkAndTroubledPast reboot' ''doesn't work'' if there's no character development outside of a FreakOut after the first kill, DullSurprise from kill 2 to game conclusion, and the feeling that the character is a constantly [[{{Railroading}} Railroaded]] CosmicPlaything that doesn't give players the feeling of choice in 'developing' the character.

-->'''Yahtzee:''' I suppose ''Warfighter'', ahahaha, exasperates because after I declared ''Battlefield 3'' and ''Modern Warfare'' as the twin bollock lords of shit mountain there were dissenting voices dismissing my opinion on the basis that I "just don't like shooters". [[BerserkButton Oh you ignorant little]] ''[[BerserkButton bastards,]]'' stick your balls up your ass and clench yourself castrated. I was into [[VideoGame/{{Painkiller}} shooters]] when you were sucking on Wiimotes, you cover-loving, health-regenerating, murderer-come-latelies. You don't even know what a shooter ''is!'' A shooter is [[MotorMouth fast-paced circle-strafing wits-about-you rocket-jumping last-scrap-of-health]] [[UnusualEuphemism toodly-fuckpies]] organic excitement in a [[NiceHat fancy hat!]] It is ''not'' riding a conveyor belt to the next chest-high wall and resting your head on it until you get lulled into a lovely little sleep by other people's gunfire!

** He ended the video with a major takedown of the entire state of the industry, going to issue a DareToBeBadass (or at least "Dare to Not Be Mindless Sheep") challenge to his audience:
--->(Sigh) You know why I still do these rundowns every year; it's because gamers as consumers have conceded too much fucking ground, and what counts as acceptable standard business practice inches more and more toward Fort Bullshit, Tennessee, every year. Twenty years ago, the relationship was, [[VideoGame/DukeNukem3D "Play one-third of our game for free as much as you like, and then consider paying this unworthy mortal twenty insignificant dollars for the rest, Your Grace."]] And somehow, that's turned into, [[VideoGame/BattlefieldV "Pay in full now, stinking plebs, 'cos we showed you a logo. You can't have it for six months, and then you have to pay another ten bucks for the special helmet with a bell-end on the front so everyone knows what a cockhead you are."]] The pushback against loot boxes was a good start, but how about this? Let's all stop preordering stuff! Just for a year, six months maybe, trial period. If you're tempted, ask yourself: "Can I envision a scenario in which my decision to purchase this game might ultimately hinge on whether or not I can play it while wearing a special preorder cock helmet?" At least consider it, so the next year, I'm not saying, "Hey guys, how about we all stop ticking the box that says, 'Sony have the exclusive ownership rights to ''our blood'?"''

YOU ''WHAT''?! Am I on crazy pills?! '''''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''''' '''did that!''' ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT "PROGRESSIVE" IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ''ALREADY FUCKING ARE'', GENIUS!

YOU ''WHAT''?! Am I on crazy pills?! '''''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''''' '''did that!''' ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT PROGRESSIVE IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ''ALREADY FUCKING ARE'', GENIUS!

You ''what''?! Am I on crazy pills?! '''''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''''' '''did that!''' ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT PROGRESSIVE IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ''ALREADY FUCKING ARE'', GENIUS!

You ''what''?! Am I on crazy pills?! '''''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''''' '''did that!''' ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT PROGRESSIVE IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ALREADY FUCKING ARE, GENIUS!

You ''what''?! Am I on crazy pills?! ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' did that! ''What is the fucking point'' of doing progressive and innovative things if you're just going to pretend they didn't happen two games later and try to score innovation points a second time?! IT'S NOT PROGRESSIVE IF YOU'RE PROGRESSING TO THE PLACE WHERE WE ALREADY FUCKING ARE, GENIUS!

* In his positive review of ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'', Yahtzee took a shot at Disney for wimping out and sanitizing ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' instead of doing something daring.

* Yahtzee blasting people who have taken his PC Master Race joke far too seriously and literally in his review of ''VideoGame/KingdomComeDeliverance''.

* One of the few times Yahtzee Croshaw spoke out against another creator, [[WebComic/CtrlAltDel Tim Buckley]], on this infamous strip "Loss", with one of his most savage attacks before or since: