Good review, and Mortons Fork is so very right. He outdid himself in terms of wildly contradicting himself in his joint review of Left 4 Dead 2 and New Super Mario Bros Wii. First he complains that Nintendo is whoring out Mario too much... then claims that Valve is taking too long to make another Half Life 2 rehash.... yeah, I stopped watching around that point.
Speaking of time... tick tock, tick tock... is that a crocodile I hear?
A fork implies that there are only two choices and they will both lead to criticism: that is not the case however, as the third (and correct) choice is obviously indicated at: make a reasonable number of game sequels within a franchise - don't milk it and don't neglect it.
As for criticising individual elements: "He despises sandboxes" - he criticises dull, lack lustre GTA clones. "No options" - he dislikes games that advertise "choice" but actually only give you two, polarised ones. "Derides Plot Heavy games" - games with a bad story and characters he doesn't want to watch "Bored by Action ones" - poor fighting element with tedious action. Get the jist? He criticises an element of a game when it is done badly, not for the actual element himself. He actually does like some sandbox games, some hack and slash, some story heavy etc. and he will give them the credit where due.
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He doesn't hate sandbox: He hates it being shoehorned in were it doesn't belong. He criticises plots only if they are stupid (be honest, his points on the villains in splinter cell conviction were spot on), and if new gameplay sucks he attacks that.
He is a massive hypocrite though.
^ And the prize goes to Mr. Anonymous!!! Give 'em a hand everybody.
"Whoa" Keanu Reeves
- applause* True. Certainly true. I like the reviews, or whatever you wish to brand it and this is true. Yahtzee is, in many cases, a fan of plot heavy games. His reviews of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 were both partially positive, for Yahtzee at least, and one must assume that such works are plot heavy - in his review of Mass Effect 2 he commented that he appreciates Bioware's dedication to storyline and plot.
Yahtzee's a comedian. It's impossible to tell when he's expressing his real opinions and when he's not.
Uh, I just have to ask... where on earth does Yahtzee claim to want to be a "serious critic"? He's basically said the opposite a number of times. He does these videos for fun, throws his opinion in there cause that's a pretty easy way to make humor (*cough*Dailyshow*cough*), and just tries his best to be hilarious.
I can think of a lot of things to call him, but "serious" is not one.
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He needs to remember who he is
Ben Croshaw is a funny man, his reviews are full of biting wit and clever puns that elevate him above the average angry dick. This review isn't about Yahtzee the comedian, its about Yahtzee the critic, and frankly, he's terrible. Good critics need two things, a discerning eye that can break a work into what it is, and enough objectivity to separate what you like and what is good. In the beginning his hatred was a joke, and his reviews were critical humor, that has changed, Yahtzee wants to be a "serious" critic now and he makes humorous criticism. I'm fine with that, but if he wants to be taken seriously, he should become a good critic, look at the good things in what he reviews, there can be humor in that too.
His style is criticism for the sake of criticism. In one review he despises sandboxes, in another, no options. He derides plot heavy games, and is bored by action ones. New game play elements? Untested crap. Old game play elements? Be original. If there's elaborate character design, its cluttered. If the design is simple, its boring. Mortons Fork is a fundamental law in his critical style, and for a while, I thought it was a joke, but he acts seriously sometimes, he compliments good games, and tries to be a guiding voice for his audiences gaming needs. Yahtzee is changing, and I don't think this change is working, he's on a crossroads, and I hope he makes the smart choice and moves back into comedy, or at least brushes up on his critical style.