Zero Punctuation: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"Releasing videos on [[YouTube]] is kind of like throwing a message in a bottle out into a churning sea of messages in bottles: the chance of you getting noticed and someone being sent out to rescue you is punishingly slim. But every once in a blue moon, someone who owns a big boat made of money finds your message and agrees to let you ride on his big boat made of money if you keep making messages for him. Then the two of you go on adventures with a smart mouthed talking dog and travel to the land of the gumdrop king [[Metaphorgotten|and I've sort of forgotten where I was going with this.]] Anyway, the point is, if you enjoyed my ''[[The Darkness (video game)|Darkness]]'' and ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'' video reviews, you can now enjoy videos very much like them every week at ''The Escapist''."''|'''Ben Croshaw''' announces ''Zero Punctuation''}}

[[Ben Croshaw|Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]], critic and amateur game developer, decided one day to conduct an experiment. He was faced with a demo of ''[[The Darkness]]'' he wished to review for his website, but wanted to try something new. So he took Photoshop, Windows Movie Maker, a headset mic and his sense of humour, and turned them into a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWS9_nrKOPA YouTube video]. He then turned to ''[[Fable|Fable: The Lost Chapters]]''.

 

 

 

 

Previews of the next video were shown on ''[[X-Play]]'' for a brief period in 2008.

 

Do not confuse with [[No Periods, Period]] or [[No Punctuation Period]].

** ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'': "I can't think of any criticism for it" [Cue Escapist logo holding up a contract] and "Absolutely sublime from start to finish and I will jam forks into my eyes if I ever have to use those words to describe anything else, ever again."

** From the ''[[Clive Barker's Jericho]]'' review: "I could go on listing the stupid design decisions...so I will."

** Inverted: when he finally got the chance to play ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'', Yahtzee was actively trying to like it and ignore the faults, but eventually had to relent because he'd been harsh to games for far lesser reasons.

** Spoofed in his ''[[Gears of War]] 2'' review, where he tries as much as he can to hate it, but lists off some of the stuff it does well that prevents him from hating it. It ends with, "There aren't even any quick-time events! Oh, wait, there is ''one''. A little one. I guess that means I have to hate it."

** The protagonists of the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games have [[Syndicate|chips in their mind]] and are actually in a [[Creepy Basement]].

** The protagonist of ''[[Fable]] 3'' is [[But You Screw One Goat!|shagging his dog]].

** Bowser of the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' games is a charismatic union leader who defies the upper-class bourgeoisies of the Mushroom Kingdom but secretly yearns for their approval.

** Jack Slate of ''[[Dead to Rights]]'' is more murderous sociopath than law enforcement agent.

** Vincent of ''[[Catherine]]'' is a bumbling idiot whose friends only pretend to like him.

** ''Batman'' revolves around hordes of [[Justified Criminal|impressionable, poverty-stricken]] [[Street Urchin|young people]] having [[Kill the Poor|all their arms and legs broken]] by an extremely rich businessman.

** Snarky!Hawke from ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' is [[Camp Gay]].

** Link from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' is a pathetic drug addict and [[Sociopathic Hero]] who can only function when given an adventure or while absolutely snowblind.

** ''Splosionman'' is a [[Broken Bird]].

** The protagonist of ''[[Red Faction]]: Guerilla'' is a Norse god wielding the hammer of Mjolnir.

** ''[[Max Payne]]'' is actually actively looking for trouble.

** Mccall from ''[[Call Of Jaurez]]:[[The Cartel]]'' is over-reacting.

** From his [[Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles]] review: "Umbrella Chronicles is a heavily cut down retread of three of the major [[Resident Evil]] games, starring [[Johnny Bravo]], a prostitute, an idiot, a mullet, a 9 year old boy, a brick shit-house, and Carlos."

* [[Asexuality]]: Has self-confessed issues with sex and/or kids, so games that rely on either for appeal get marked down severely.

* [[Author Filibuster]]: Occasionally, if Yahtzee can't find enough to complain about in the game, he'll engage in one of these.

* [[Awesomeness Is Volatile]]: Yahtzee implied this would happen if ''[[No More Heroes]]'' were combined with Branston Pickle.

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: A surprising amount of people write in with requests and then get offended when he rips into the game.

* [[Berserk Button]]:

** In the ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' review, the mention of [[Shia LaBeouf]] sent him into a barely-restrained seething rage.

** Quick Time Events. Enough so that he named a trope for them. (See: [[Press X to Not Die]])

** He seems to developing one over reboots/sequels that share identical names with their predecessors, such as Wolfenstein, Mortal Kombat, Twisted Metal, and Aliens vs Predator, saying it's needlessly confusing to have two identically titled games in the same series separated by nothing but time, even if that time in some cases is a few decades.

* [[Bias Steamroller]]: Occasionally a topic of jokes.

* [[Big No]]: The ''[[Spore]]'' review. Twice. But with a [[Deadpan Snarker|twist]].

{{quote|"Short answer: no. Long answer: nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo."}}

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: When Yahtzee "quotes" a ZP fan extolling [[Siren Blood Curse]] to him, said fan starts spouting off about Yahtzee's love of Japanese horror, eventually devolving into random Japanese words: "Watashi wa baka gaijin," which roughly translates to "I'm a stupid foreigner."

* [[Bland-Name Product]]: In order to avoid mentioning any real gaming webcomics in his review of the genre, he used ''[[Penny Arcade|Benny Barcade]]'' and ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del|Bontrol Bolt Belete]]'' as names instead. This was a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', with its [[Those Wacky Nazis|National Bocialist Party]] and their boncentration bamps.

* [[Book Ends]]: Before reviewing ''[[Fable|Fable II]]'', Yahtzee notes that all he needs to do now is review ''[[The Darkness]]'' a second time then be "[[Squick|sucked into a grown woman's vagina]]" and his life will have been more-or-less symmetrical. (Sadly, he failed to bring this joke back up while reviewing the sequel to ''[[The Darkness]]''.)

** The review of ''Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands'' ([[Blatant Lies|which totally wasn't made to cash in on a movie]]) starts with a [[Take That]] against [[Roger Ebert]]'s (then-recent) remark that video games couldn't be art. He then ignores it for the rest of the review until the very end when he yells at Ebert again.

* [[Brick Joke]]:

** The ''[[No More Heroes]]'' review opens with the Stranglers song of the same name. However, the song's [[Record Needle Scratch|abruptly cut off]]: "No, no, that's a bit too obvious." This isn't mentioned throughout the entire review. Finally, in [[Credits Gag|the credits]], the songs used in the video are listed as normal, except that "No More Heroes" has been thoroughly scribbled out.

** Another one consisted of a spoiler warning in mid-episode, where Yahtzee told spoiler-sensitive viewers to plug their ears and wait for the credits. The credits mini-comic consisted of a series of famous spoilers from other works. ( {{spoiler|1=[[Citizen Kane|It was his sled]], [[The Usual Suspects|Keyser Soze = Kevin Spacey]], etc.}})

** The [[Groin Attack|sausage-slicing machine]] in the [[Killzone|Killzone 3]] review.

* [[Broken Record]]: "You couldn't get away with releasing a buggy game in the cartridge and cassette days; you'd be trampled under the company Brontosaurus. But I'll tell you the worst part- worst part- worst part- worst part- [[We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties|*system error*]] [[Orphaned Punchline|...and whistled for a baboon!]]

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Yahtzee's avatar gets hurt in a variety of ways throughout his reviews.

* [[Call Back]]: As far as the eye can see.

** The phrase "triple-cunted hooker" makes a number of appearances.

** In the ''[[Hard Reset]]'' review, Yahtzee compares the game to ''[[Painkiller]]'' by dint of the fact that many who worked on the former were also among the crew of the latter. While praising ''Painkiller''' for its array of creative death distribution implements, the avatar onscreen wields a shotgun that has tits and is on fire -- precisely the phrasing Yahtzee used in his review of ''Painkiller''.

** The "paddling pool full of disembodied breasts" analogy in the ''[[Saints Row|Saints Row 2]]'' review returns in an exaggerated form in the ''[[Saints Row the Third]]'' review.

** In his ''[[The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings|The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings]]'' review, he refers to Geralt as "Gerald", which continues a [[Running Gag]] that began in his review of the [[The Witcher|first game]].

* [[Chaotic Neutral]]: Yahtzee claims to be this alignment in his ''[[Spider-Man: Web of Shadows]]'' review and encourages his fans to argue on the forum as to whether he is or not.

* [[Chew Bubblegum]]: A [[It Makes Sense in Context|zombie Duke Nukem]] says "Time to kick ass and chew brains" in the ''[[Bad Company]]'' review.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: At least once per episode. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in his review of ''[[Wet]]'', where he claims the protagonist Rubi considers [[Cluster F-Bomb|swearing to be wit]], yelling out "[[Hypocritical Humor|That's my thing!]]"

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Referred to by the exact name during his ''[[Overlord|Overlord 2]]'' review.

* [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch]]:

** He has accused the Zelda series of all its entries being the same game. However, he has also shown he actually hasn't played the series that thoroughly. By the time the show started, he only had played two games ([[The Wind Waker]] and [[Twilight Princess]], which he claims to like) and yet, he made that accusation right from his first Zelda review ([[Phantom Hourglass]]). In other words, he only knew 3 out of 14 games. He also admited in his review of the [[Nintendo 3DS]] version of [[Ocarina of Time]] that he barely played the original game, and in his [[Skyward Sword]] review, he shows those five are the only games in the series he has played and finished. That means he still only knows one third of the series. See [[It's the Same, Now It Sucks]] below.

** The fact that he always includes [[Majoras Mask]], of all games, inside the "all Zelda games are the same game" statement (via background images), makes it even clearer. If people complain about something in that game is, precisely, [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]]. ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' and [[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures]], two games that severely change the Zelda formula, have appeared that way too at some point.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: In the ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' review, Yahtzee's Shepard dons hot pink armor in memory of Gareth [[Meaningful Name|Gobulcoque]], his character from ''[[Tabula Rasa]]''.

* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: Apparently whoever designed the inventory system for ''[[Resident Evil]] 5'' should be sent to a special Hell where he has to pack shopping for old ladies...or just punched in the stomach.

** Music used interestingly in his ''[[No More Heroes]]'' review, as mentioned above for [[Brick Joke]].

** Also, the credits themselves have a little minicomic going on, acted out by the little figures he uses in the reviews. The one for ''[[Spore]]'' had a flying saucer alien abducting Batman, who then beat it up and stole the flying saucer. Additionally, there is generally a caption referring to something earlier in the video.

* [[Crossover]]: With the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''-esque series ''[[Unskippable]]''. Yahtzee appeared in their ''[[Star Ocean: The Last Hope]]'' riff and [[Loading Ready Run|Graham Stark]] of ''Unskippable'' appeared in the first section of the ''[[Halo]] Wars'' review to review ''X-Blades'' before running out of things to say and getting kicked out by Yahtzee.

** A throwaway gag, mere seconds into the aforementioned ''Halo Wars'' review, poked fun at ''Eternal Sonata'', which was ''Unskippable'''s premiere episode.

* [[Crying Indian]]: The ''[[Fallout]] 3'' featured a deer crying over the landscape being littered with rubble.

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: He spends the entirety of his 50 Cent reviews carefully wording his criticisms so that nothing can be misconstrued as racist, then ends with:

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: Discussed in his ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' review. He also devoted a column to discussing games that have done it well, singling out ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' for particular praise.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: More than a few times has Yahtzee made jokes and jabs at something, only for it to be ''just plain wrong''. But Yahtzee sometimes has just a week to play the game ''and'' make each review, so [[Enforced Trope|this can sometimes be unavoidable for him]]. Yahtzee has acknowledged his mistakes... sometimes.

* [[Discretion Shot]]: The statement that a premise has been "stretched wider than a catamite's rectum" is accompanied by a black screen with the text "'''IMAGE VERY CENSORED'''".

** The captions in censor boxes are a [[Running Gag]]:

"THE BABY IS FINE THE BABY IS OKAY" (after someone was juggling several objects including a baby and a chainsaw, then drops them all.) }}

** Conversely, he decided to show a fairly, uh, ''graphic'' rendition of [[Convenient Miscarriage|a certain controversial strip]] from a [[Ctrl+Alt+Del|certain webcomic which shall remain unnamed]] followed immediately by the caption '''THIS IS THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER DONE AND I HATE MYSELF FOR DOING IT.'''

* [[Dissimile]]

* [[Does Not Like Women]]: A [[Non Sequitur]] toward the end of the ''[[The Sims|The Sims 3]]'' review, brought on by minor [[Creator Breakdown]] over his girlfriend.

** After Rebecca Mayes' love/hate song that called him out on this he claimed he ''does'' hate women but only because he hates everyone.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Subverted/Lampshaded in the video where Yahtzee takes a tour of Washington D.C. He makes a few mentions that certain buildings or monuments remind him of something, but goes on to mention something mundane and non-sexual. He then double subverts it while looking at the Washington Monument:

{{quote|'''Yahtzee''': It's really long and tall, has those trees at the bottom from this angle. Kinda like, uh...[[Captain Obvious|a big cock and balls.]]}}

* [[Doomy Dooms of Doom]]: In his ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Airborne'' review, he refers to the [[wikipedia:Flak tower|German flak tower]] as a "doom fortress".

* [[Eagle Land]]: In his reviews, Yahtzee portrays Americans as Flavor #2, and [[Author Tract|covered all aspects of that flavor]] in the span of two reviews (''[[Medal of Honor]]: Airborne'' and ''[[Call of Duty]] 4''). He's had a long history of this view, though, as seen in his writings on ''Fully Ramblomatic.''

* [[Ending Fatigue]]: Discussed in his review of ''[[A Shadows Tale]]'' ([[Insistent Terminology|NOT Lost in Shadow!]])

* [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]: In-universe example: In his review of ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', he notes that he's always preferred Luigi to Mario, since he at the least isn't Peach's personal gopher. He also wonders why Tails gets so much more hate than Sonic despite the fact that he's basically Sonic with flight.

* [[Escalating Punchline]]

{{quote|Er... thanks for your input, Mr. Poster Man, but I wasn't talking it down for not being extreme enough. Or 'ironic' enough. I doubt emptying an entire lorry full of toddlers into the woodchipper would have improved my opinion any.}}

* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: Referred to by name in his Lego Indiana Jones review.

* [[Fake Difficulty]]: Part of the reason he despises motion controls. As he put it, "Motion controls are a system wherein a game can fail you for something that completely wasn't your fault."

* [["Faux To" Guide]]: Concerning the creation of [[Gaming Webcomics]].

* [[Freudian Excuse]]/[[Start of Darkness]]: His ''[[Red Faction]] Guerrilla'' review pins all his negativity on bad experiences playing the original ''[[Red Faction]]'' when he was younger.

* [[Freudian Slip]]: His ''[[Bayonetta]]'' review is full of these.

* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: In-universe examples are sometimes denoted with the expression "HOLY SHIT I JUST GOT THAT".

* [[From Clones to Genre]]: Mentioned in his review of ''[[Mercenaries]] 2''.

** The series itself has started to become one of these. At first it was a simple case of [[Follow the Leader]] as imitators sprang up on [[YouTube]], but now that [[Extra Credits|three]] [[Moviebob|series]] on the ''Escapist'' itself have followed suit, two of which are not review shows, it's safe to say this is a legit genre now.

* [[Funny Background Event]]: In his ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' review, he shows the Dictionary.com definition of "game", with another tab open titled "Super Huge Tits".

* [[Gay Option]]: In his ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' review he mentioned having hooked up with Anders, more or less because Snarky!Hawke annoyed him and came off as gay to him anyway, though he later detailed that roleplaying played a major part of it and ultimately did [[Video Game Caring Potential|develop a genuine fondness for Anders]], even {{spoiler|forgiving him for blowing up the Chantry}} and naming his [[Pokémon Black and White|Tepig]] after him.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Seeing an enemy with a bull's head in ''[[Prince of Persia]]: The Forgotten Sands'', he correctly anticipates it to be a [[Bullfight Boss]]. He also claims "powers of clairvoyance" that mean he predict how the opening [[Cutscene]] of ''[[Singularity]]'' will play out.

** He is also aware of tropes, and knows that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]. He may or may not be aware of this site, but at the very least he understands the principles of this wiki.

* [[Giant Spider]]: These show up in the visuals occasionally. Usually they represent something being either unexpected, very difficult, or both.

** Arachnophobic prospective viewers should take warning that they're usually taken from photos of actual tarantulas.

* [[Gosh Darn It to Heck]]: Whenever he swears in the narration, the animation will replace it with something far more innocuous.

** For instance, in his Assassin's Creed review, he remarks; "This video review was created by a not particularly multi-cultural person, but who really loves religious extremists a big huggy bunch," where the text displayed reads "''...not particularly multi-cultural person who invites religious extremists to suck out his farts and die.''"

** On the flip side in his Halo Wars review when the units he runs out of time for the mission he was on (And thus the units he was escorting magically disappear when they were right at his front door) he cries out "Bull! Fucking! Shit!" which is displayed on screen by "What arbitrary silliness."

* [[Grammar Nazi]]: In his "Mailbag Showdown" video, while reading out some of the more obnoxious examples of hate mail he received, he corrected them onscreen in the manner of a primary school teacher, coupled with letter grades, giant question marks and "SEE ME" at the bottom. Also, his "Split [[British English|Stroke]] Second Colon Velocity" review.

* [[Half the Man He Used To Be]]: Shows up in the ''[[Demon's Souls]]'' review to show that a character loses half its health when dead.

* [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?]]: Yahtzee plays with this trope on several occasions, most notably his ''[[Guitar Hero]] III'' review, where he very specifically lists several homosexual acts (and one heterosexual act) which he is [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|most certainly not doing]]. And at the end:

{{quote|"On the whole though it's just not as good as tonguing another man's balls. ''[Both figures stop playing and stare at the [[Fourth Wall]]]'' I mean... as it used to be. [<nowiki />[[Beat]]] ''I'm not gay''."}}

** He also admitted that he grew to be more attached to [[Dragon Age II|Anders]] than he intended.

* [[Heavy Metal Umlaut|Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut]]: He specifically [[Gratuitous German|pronounces the extraneous umlaut]] in ''[[Brutal Legend|Brütal Legend]]''.

** Tried "Tiddles" in [[Deus Ex]] but was slapped down by the game's system of using "JC Denton" as a "[[Hand Wave|codename]].

{{quote|''"The moment you put in your own name it goes '''"Wrong!''' Your name is JC Denton.""''}}

** His sarcastic ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' "review" was voted the #1 fan-favorite... just before the game was [[Uncancelled]] at PAX 2010.

* [[Hurricane of Euphemisms]]: Yahtzee makes a concerted effort to get through his review of ''[[Tomb Raider]] Anniversary'' without referencing a certain part of the female anatomy. He ''almost'' makes it.

{{quote|"Bosoms, melons, milk factories, busts, funbags, knockers, [[Resident Evil 4|ballistics]], boobies, jugs, nipples, jubblies, ''[[Memetic Mutation|stonking great tits!]]"''}}

** "''[[Fallout]] 3'', that is!"

** The ''[[Just Cause (video game)|Just Cause 2]]'' review starts by lampshading this to allow him to make "Why? Just 'cause!" jokes "ironically".

** "I don't see [[Alice: Madness Returns]] making mad returns, [[A Worldwide Punomenon|meheh myeh]].

** In his review of Monster Hunter Tri "You play an adventurer-type showing up at the prerequisite village of immobile retards in a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth to try to be a hunter of monsters. A Monster Hunter Try, if you will."

** "You want a review score? How about FOUR, as in '''FOUR-K YOU'''!"

** In the credits of ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]]'': "I'm so force sensitive I clean my swimming pool with midichlorine."

* [[Innocent Bigot]]: How he viewed the controversy surrounding [[Resident Evil (video game)|Resident Evil 5]]:

{{quote|''...one really shouldn't worry about this sort of thing unless there's genuine hatred behind it, and I don't get that impression. Capcom aren't bad people, they're just idiots.''}}

** He also refers to [[Bastion]] as Sebastian.

* [[Irony]]: Now at the bottom of every ''Zero Punctuation'' video there are ads linking you to various online retailers prompting you to buy the game that Yahtzee just finished eviscerating due to scripts and other coding used on the site to bring up ads on whatever product keywords are on the web page.

* [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks]]: Joked about.

{{quote|One should always support the independents, at least until they start making money, the ''soulless sellout fucks.''}}

** Admittedly, averted by his ''[[Gears of War]] 2'' review, in which he admits that things are often mainstream because they're good (Or because [[Will Smith]] is in it).

** Pretty much his opinion on anything Nintendo if it's not a joke about casual gaming.

** Yahtzee frequently accuses the Mario and Zelda series of churning out near-identical sequels, even though fans are lucky to get two games ''per console''. Particularly noticeable in his ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' review, when he describes the series as 'essentially releasing the same game with graphical changes and gameplay tweaks' while the games shown include [[Oddball in the Series]] ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask]]''.

* [[It's Up to You]]: He notes that early missions in ''[[STALKER|S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky]]'' have a tendency to solve themselves, which is a good attempt to avert this, but a bit bizarre to play.

{{quote|"Now this is all looking a lot more professional, isn't it, although I'm certain some of you pricks are already putting this down as my shark jumping moment."}}

* [[Just One More Level]]: ''[[Peggle]]'' (and other [[Pop Cap Games]]) are described as "the gaming equivalent of premium crack cocaine."

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: The end tag on the ''[[Guitar Hero]] III'' review, regarding the art style.

{{quote|"Did no-one else think it was weird for the character in image 110 to wearing a sling when he only has free-floating circular hands?"}}

* [[Land Down Under]]: Yahtzee was born in Britain but moved to Australia, and often makes jokes about it.

* [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others]]: ''Deus Ex: Human Revolution'' has breathtaking visuals, the impish appeal of stealth, rewarding exploration, but most importantly, you can pick up every vending machine in the building and pack them in the office of your least favorite co-worker.

** Same could be said regarding RTS games. After his experience with ''[[Halo Wars]]'', Yathzee has apparently decided to never touch the genre again.

** Explained further in "On RTS", in which he explains he's not good at RTS ''and'' he doesn't like the impersonal disconnect one gets between story characters and units and the player.

* [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros]]: He never even heard of Marth before playing ''Brawl'', and based on his other reviews, shouting "[[Fire Emblem]]" loud enough near him [[Brown Note|will cause his brain to explode.]]

** Jim Sterling of the Jimquisition has now joined the panel.

* [[The Mean Brit]]: Though currently living in Australia.

{{quote|"It's like wrestling an excitable dog in a paddling pool full of disembodied breasts. *[[Beat]]* Don't think too much about that simile, I certainly didn't."}}

** Especially when it's a hot summer day and his AC isn't working. "Really good like...something...[[Buffy-Speak|good]] that's...made out of chocolate..."

* [[Milestone Celebration]]: Spoofed with his 100th episode, where he decides to review... exactly the same game he would've reviewed otherwise (''[[Call of Juarez]]: Bound in Blood'').

* [[More Dakka]]: His review of ''[[Spore]]'' shows the civilization stage as imps strafing other imps cities from the air, with the caption "Dakka Dakka" under the war planes.

* [[Nice Hat]]: "Yahtzee is a British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder." The hat originally appeared in [[Mythology Gag|his own games]], ''[[The Chzo Mythos]]'', worn by the character of Trilby. The hat itself is known as a Trilby hat, and it tends to get him [[Creator Worship|more attention]] [http://twitter.com/YahtzeeCroshaw/status/11013246821 than he really wants].

* [[Nightmare Fuel]]: [[In-Universe]] example: The ''Kinectimals''' [[wikipedia:File:Kinectimals.jpg|box art]] is "the most terrifying thing I've seen all year. It looks like what would happen if [[Monster Clown|John Wayne Gacy]] went to Disneyland."

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Yahtzee prides himself on as having been playing video games since early childhood and frequently recalls how hard they were back then. He routinely mocks prospective critics who complain about the difficulty level in games these days. That said, games with [[Sonic Unleashed|ridiculously impossible sequences]], he blasts with both barrels.

** However he did enjoy ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'', though he states that no person, unless it's for charity should ever try [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Impossible difficulty]].

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: Technically doesn't qualify as there's no suspension of disbelief, but a review still pushed back the boundaries when Yahtzee addressed the viewer as "Adrian", and noted that while that's not particularly likely to be any given viewer's name, "it was worth it to freak out all the Adrians in the world."

** "I know I can't speak for everyone, at least not until ''the device'' is completed, but..."

* [[Not Himself]]: Wait, what's this? ''[[Resistance]] 3'' has no regenerating health? A sum of weapons greater than 2? No chest-high walls? "..erm.....[[Sony]]?.......Are you feeling all right?"

** And revealing the final boss of ''<nowiki>Kayne and Lynch 2: Dog Days</nowiki>''

* [[Not So Different]]: ''[[The Witcher]] 2'' review makes this observation of console & PC gamers. [[Hates Everyone Equally|You both suck equally]]!

* [[Old Shame]]: Yahtzee has admitted at least twice he used to watch Pokemon when he was a kid. While some people might not consider this shameful, he certainly does.

** [[Real Is Brown]]

** [[Regenerating Health]]: He prefers health meters and medkits.

** [[Updated Rerelease]]

** [[Waggle]]: One of his key issues with Nintendo consoles, because how shoehorned-in it seems.

* [[Portmanteau]]

{{quote|"Essflawcondodgeckindesimudstorliketersockity."}}

* [[Prepare to Die]]: Used as a [[Credits Gag]].

* [[Press X to Not Die]]: [[Trope Namer|Named it]], see [[Running Gag]].

** ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'': "Press X To Not Care" ("You can't just spend the whole game knocking back Singapore Slings on a beach all day")

* [[The Problem with Licensed Games]]: [[In-Universe]] Oddly averted. One of Yahtzee's favorite games is the licensed tie-in for ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]] 2''.

* [[Product Placement]]: Branston Pickles or '''GAME TRADERS ROBINA'''.

* [[Promoted Fanboy]]: A college kid by the name of Daniel Floyd created a video heavily inspired by Yahtzee's show. A few months later, he was hired by ''The Escapist'' and started a show called ''[[Extra Credits]]''.

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: The [[Web Comics]] review becomes progressively more and more vindictive towards [[Ctrl+Alt+Del]], to the point of becoming blatant.

** The start of his ''[[Braid]]'' review is one of these directed at the ignorant [[Gears of War]]-buying crowd.

* [[Record Needle Scratch]]: In the ''[[No More Heroes]]'' review, as previously mentioned.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Lampshaded in-universe:

** Also appears in the review of ''Medal of Honor: Airborne'', where every subsequent use of "fucking bastard" is replaced with a visual rhyme, like so:

{{quote|Fucking bastard

Sock in mustard }}

* [[Ridiculous Future Sequelisation]]: Yahtzee invokes it in his ''[[Peggle]]'' review:

{{quote|'''Yahtzee:''' "Once your budget hits seven digits you're supposed to make Gun Battle Slap Fight Thirty-Seven for the Playstation Twelve...!}}

* [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]: Mentioned in his Driver: San Francisco review by name.

* [[The Roleplayer]]: Yahtzee states that he does roleplay when playing RPGs because it's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|the entire point of the genre]].

* [[Rule 34]]: "I checked and yep, there's already erotic fanart of the [[Final Fantasy XIII|ff13]] characters."

** Also, his character from his ''Age of Conan'' review got hit, which he even acknowledged in a later review.

* [[Running Gag]]: [[Press X to Not Die]]: Guaranteed to show up in a review of a game with quick time events.

** Also the caption "Oh no everyone can see my bum," first appearing in his review of ''Mercenaries 2'', where [[Soul Series|Soul Calibur's Ivy]] bent over and had the caption above her. Then ''a box'' did it in the same review. Then a few reviews later, a male figure did it. Eventually [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] when a figure bends over with the caption "Oh no everyone can etc."

*** The real ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' review had Duke saying, "Oh good everyone can see my bum."

*** Makes a comeback in the "Assassin's Creed Revelations" review, where one of the many prostitutes Ezio has recruited in the past makes a statement concerning "bums and the seeing thereof."

** Yahtzee references making a [[Super Villain]] [[Wide Open Sandbox|sandbox game]] called "Mankind Has Yet To Recognize My Genius, The Game" at least twice.

** Also, the image of that red-haired guy. For those who don't know, he's one of Thomas Ruff's "Expressionless Faces" found in one of Yahtzee's Google Image searches. [http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/gallery/2002/02/01/ruff_head.jpg This] guy is apparently what Yahtzee sees the huddled, unwashed masses look like.

** Within the ''[[Dead to Rights]]: Retribution'' Dead to Rights: review, the Dead To Rights: recurring joke of Yahtzee [[Overly Long Gag|Dead To Rights: replacing]] every RE- word with the game's title, but the RE- word in place of Retribution. Likewise a similar gag was done for ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'''s [[Word Salad Title]].

{{quote|[Dead To Rights: Retribution] isn't ''technically'' a sequel since the plot starts out the same as the first game, so perhaps a better name would've been ''Dead To Rights: Remake''. Or perhaps ''Dead To Rights: Revisionism''. Let's just hope it doesn't end up Dead To Rights: Retarded. That would be Dead To Rights: Regrettable.}}

** Similar to the [[Red Dead Redemption]] example above, Yahtzee kept changing the title of [[Alice: Madness Returns]] for things like ''Return of the Madness'', ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Return of Jafar]]'' and ''[[Batman Returns]]''.

** A character bending over and asking to be, er, taken advantage of will always be saying "In mah butt".

* [[Sand in My Eyes]]: "I'm not too proud to admit that I was welling up a bit at ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]] 2'''s good ending. ..A lil' bit. ..Well, not much at all really. It was more like just [[British Stuffiness|stoically nodding my head]] while [[Real Men Hate Affection|doing some pelvic thrusts and grunting]]."

* [[Sarcasm Mode]]: The entire ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/748-Duke-Nukem-Forever review]. Let's start from the fact that he's reviewing a game that (at the time) was canceled and work from there. The part that qualifies this as this trope is the bit at the end where he points out there is no actual game, as the lawyers told him to do.

* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: What he believed the plan to DC Universe to be, claiming if there were enough crazies in the world the Aliens would just go away rather than get involved.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: While his ''Zero Punctuation'' persona is obviously an arrogant [[Caustic Critic]], Yahtzee is known for making blunt, humourous digs at himself from time to time, such as acknowledging the nerdiness inherent in reviewing video games for a living and mocking his own abilities in the practice of social and sexual intercourse (or lack thereof).

** "A [[Nerd]], after all, is someone who obsesses over something, like the cultural impact of gaming, or people who criticise same in silly internet videos."

* [[Sequelphobic]]: Yahtzee is not ''inherently'' against the idea of sequels, but he's extremely critical of most due to their alleged lack of innovation. Franchises that go in new directions are preferred, and several of his liked games (''[[Half Life]] 2'', ''[[Silent Hill]] 2'', ''[[Thief]] 2'', ''[[Spider-Man]] 2'', ([[Running Gag|Arsenal: 3]])) are all sequels.

* [[Shoehorned First Letter]]: "''[[Serious Sam|BFE]]'' stands for ''Before First Encounter'' - not, as I had first believed, ''Big Fucking Egun''..."

* [[Shout-Out]]: Lots. For example, the first ship seen in the ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' review is the Pyro-GX from ''[[Descent]]''.

** Almost all instances mentioning time travel have a picture of the [[Doctor Who|TARDIS]], as well.

** Yahtzee is a fan of [[Eddie Izzard]], phrases like "small yappy dog", "running, jumping, climbing" and "buttocks for a hat" have all been used in Izzard's sketches. Confirmed on one of the podcasts for Australian Gamer, when Matt calls him out on saying that everyone in Britain has a country manor.

** He's recycled one or two of [[Seanbaby]]'s jokes, but they may be more flat ripoffs than shout outs because the ones Yahtzee borrowed aren't particularly well-known.

** The plot of ''[[Singularity]]'' has "more [[Plot Hole|holes]] than [[The Beatles (band)|Blackburn, Lancashire]]".

** The ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' review (the real one, not the parody one) gives us [[Teen Girl Squad|ALBATROSS'D]]!

** Yahtzee comments in the ''[[Catherine]]'' review that anime protagonists all tend to be "[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|angsty and ineffectual, and given to wanking off over unconscious women]]".

** In one of his Extra Punctuation articles he offhandedly refers to a generic supervillain minion as "Longshoreman X." A reference to [[Dead to Rights]] and almost certainly [[Slowbeef]]'s Let's Play of the game.

** Even the very first video for the Escapist features a reference to Halfbrick Studios, an independent game developer based in Brisbane.

** Says [[Twisted Metal|Calypso]] could only more obviously be Satan "if he had horns and [[Divine Comedy|was idly chewing on Judas Iscariot]]."

* [[So Bad It's Horrible (Darth Wiki)|So Bad Its Horrible]]: In-universe, this is his opinion of ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]''. He even uses the same line graph as [[Xkcd]].

* [[Something Completely Different]]: The ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' review, which of course was all made up, as well as the ''[[Wolfenstein (2009 video game)|Wolfenstein]]'' review which was, except for the introduction, entirely in limerick form, including the tag-ending text.

** "[Fairly serious analysis]...and I can't think of a joke for that sentence, so here's a picture of a dog in a hat."

** In describing ''[[Heavy Rain]]'': "The zenith is a hauntingly visceral and ''[[Precision F-Strike|fucking]]'' ''hard to watch'' scene in which..."

** He referred to [[Painkiller]] as "The unofficial [[Doom (series)|Doom 3]]".

* [[Spoof Aesop]]: The lesson of ''Catherine'' seems to be "men are all directionless tidal waves, and [[Accidental Innuendo|women are all dikes]] built in the path of their raging floods."

* [[Starbucks Skin Scale]]: A [[But Not Too Black]] character is dismissed as "dipped in tea".

* [[Stealth Insult]]: His ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' review features "Killing in the Name Of" by Rage Against the Machine playing over the end credits, which becomes hilarious when you consider that he has spent most of the review telling people who suggest things to him to get fucked. He doesn't play the song long enough for the joke to become apparent, but anyone who's listened to it knows that towards the end the singer just keeps repeating "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" over and over again.

* [[Story to Gameplay Ratio]]: Yahtzee's a bit hard to pin down on this one, but the important things are that the amount of story must fit the game and that [[Story and Gameplay Segregation]] must not intrude. ''[[Silent Hill]] 2'' is his definitive example of getting the balance right.

* [[Stout Strength]]: An odd example, he refers to any large muscular character as fat even if they have an impossibly fit and overmuscled build.

* [[Sturgeon's Law]]: Applied frequently, with an even more negative twist: "Everything is shit until proven otherwise", a.k.a. "the Guantanamo Bay approach".

{{quote|"Experience has taught me that while declaring a game shitty because of the first few hours is perfectly valid and completely professional, you should never assume that a good game will stay good."}}

* [[Suicide as Comedy]]: Pretty much a [[Running Gag]] where he will try to kill himself.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: See [[Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?]] (not gay.)

** In the review for ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', Bruce Wayne is represented with a man wearing a t-shirt saying "Not Batman".

** There's another [[Take That]] directed at ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' in his ''[[Mass Effect]]'' review.

** Yahtzee's review of ''Wii Sports Resort'' was a [[Take That]] to the fans who stop watching his videos because he pans the [[Nintendo Wii]]. He later [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the [[Internet Backdraft]] that will inevitably occur by bidding his Wii-owning fans a fond farewell. Yahtzee has a longstanding animus toward all things Wii (and some other things about Nintendo), and while he has praised a small handful of Wii games, he gladly indulges in that animus.

** "Or, if you would prefer something [[Transformers: War for Cybertron|bland and unchallenging]], then how about ''eating a dick?''"

** At the end of the ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' review ([[Shocking Swerve|which he actually said could stand up on its own as a single-player experience, though not to the level of classics]]), he mentions that your enjoyment of it is dependent on your disposable income:

** "Will [''[[Symphony of the Night]]''] be one of those old classics that still hold up from a fresh modern perspective -- like ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' and [[Patrick Stewart]] -- or will it be like one of those embarrassing older relatives that survive on nostalgia and self-effacement, like ''[[Myst]]'' or [[William Shatner]]?"

** "...[[British Footy Teams|Manchester United]], nil."

** His review of ''[[Dead Island]]'' is absolutely full of it, declaring that he will make a zombie apocalypse game where your party will struggle to survive against an avalanche of zombie apocalypse games, titled ''Enough With The Fucking Zombies Already'', and that gamers couldn't handle it if the world ended in any other way.

** "So much of triple-A gaming these days is endless [[Kane and Lynch 2|sequels]], [[Kane and Lynch 2|ripoffs]], and [[Kane and Lynch 2|wank]]."

* [[Take That, Audience!]]: Constant, constant, constant. There is very rarely a video or an Extra Punctuation column where he doesn't insult the viewers and/or himself.

** Commenting in the ''[[Dead Island]]'' review, notes that while the average gamer acts as if they would take a zombie apocalypse as an opportunity to shine, they would be more likely to talk suicide pacts if the internet went down for more than a week.

* [[Talks Like a Simile]]: For humorous effect, given the nature of the similes. As an example, one of them involved the voice acting in a game being comparable to being raped in the ear by a man wearing a sandpaper condom. Though technically it wasn't ''him'' who said it, it was his roommate. And "Not in those exact words, of course."

** Matt maintains he actually described it as like driving a corkscrew into his ears.

** Regarding the miserably scowling hero of ''[[Darksiders]]'':

{{quote|"If I threw a seven-foot demon into the air and cut it in half with one swing... I'd be like, ''fucking hell!'' Did anyone see that? I'm squirting machismo out of my ''nipples'' here! I am a monster truck that walks like a man!"}}

{{quote|"...Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go play an FPS before my body finishes ''absorbing my testicles''."}}

** He does however have a poor opinion of games that use this trope unironically.

* [[The Theme Park Version]]: Most people who claim to share Yahtzee's views exactly have patently never watched a single review and simply parrot over-exaggerated versions of his particularly caustic reviews as though that were his entire opinion on the entire genre.

* [[This Loser Is You]]: Yahtzee's hatred for this trope is made plain in his ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' review, where he derides Shia LeBeouf's various characters in ways like, "Indiana Jones is over thirty? No one can relate to that!"

* [[Tickle Torture]]: The way he illustrates the mentioned the initial torture sesions of ''Black Ops''.

* [[To Make a Long Story Short]]: In his review of ''Spore'' and whether it's as good as ''[[The Sims]]''.

{{quote|Short answer: No. Long Answer: [[Big No|Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo]][[Overly Long Gag|oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.]]}}

* [[Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup]]: He brings this up frequently about the large-name corporations running the big-budget titles, and even brings up how such lack of discipline ruined ''[[Dead Space 2]]''.

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]:

** Branston Pickle, which is typically used as a metaphor for "so unique you have to try it".

** Cadbury's Creme Eggs and chip sandwiches show up infrequently.

** He also mentions Cornettos several times in his earlier reviews.

* [[Troll]]: Yahtzee once reflects that he's seen as a "professional troll," which he imagines as a hulking creature lurking under a bridge, handing out business cards.

* [[Troperiffic]]: Many of the entrance quotes of the Trope pages are from him.

* [[Twain's Observation on Originality]]: Numerous reviews allude to this concept. His running metaphor about Branston Pickle (to describe something so original and distinctive that it must be appreciated in spite of its flaws) more or less amounts to this trope.

* [[The Unintelligible]]: The Imp, during his extremely short lived [[Hostile Show Takeover]].

* [[Unpleasable Fanbase]]: Lampshaded in-universe. "Fans are clingy, complaining dipshits who will never ever be grateful for any concession you make. Incidentally, [[Hypocritical Humor|why not buy a Zero Punctuation t-shirt?"]]

* [[Victory Cake]]: [[Seen It a Million Times|A few times]] but most recently in the ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] III'' review:

{{quote|The actual challenge of the fight is basically 'Go here, then here, then [[Quick Time Event]] then win. Then cake.'}}

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Why Yahtzee loves ''[[Saints Row]] 2''.

{{quote|"It seems when you place most people in the position of a god and give them responsibility over many tiny lesser beings, then their attitude towards them is usually less about [[Video Game Caring Potential|beloved children]] and more about target practice."}}

** In his "Best of 2010" video, his favorite game of the year was ''[[Just Cause (video game)|Just Cause 2]]'', because "any criticism I might have given it is drowned out by the terrified scream of an enemy soldier with one leg tied to a Harrier jet."

** He dedicated a point during his [[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]] vs. [[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]] match to which game gave the players a better oppurtunity to be a colossal dick. If you can't tell which one won that round, [[Prototype (video game)|it was the one that let you eat people]].

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: In Yahtzee's review of ''Deathspank'', how many people got that he picked the town name of Northampton for a visual gag about a mystical place because it's very close to the real life English town of [[King's Quest|Daventry?]]

** Then subverted in one review, where the word "incongruous" was met with a screen of text just saying "A word I can't fucking illustrate."

** ''Deathspank'' is illustrated with [[The Grim Reaper]] giving Yahtzee's [[Author Avatar]] a spanking.

** In ''[[Mafia II]]'', "fast whores" is illustrated by a female imp [[Speed Lines|zooming]] across the screen going "NEEEOOOW".

** When he says "Give me some credit" (about assuming the everyday details of the character's life), an imp offers him a credit card.

* [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?]]: By his own admission, he doesn't believe in it, even stating that "true love" is indistinguishable from brain damage.

* [[Whoring]]: Yahtzee both hates the very existence of and abuses the hell out of moves that can be used for extreme versions of this, including but not limited to [[Red Steel|a parry that automatically stuns the opponent]], [[Prototype (video game)|a tentacle attack with way too long a reach]], [[Soul Calibur|tossing his helpless AI opponent around like a ragdoll]], and [[God of War (series)|the "fuck you" button]].

* [[X Days Since...]]: Parodied in the ''[[Army of Two]]'' review as "X Hours Since the Last Gay Joke".

* [[Yaoi Fangirl]]: One of these makes a brief cameo in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'' review when Yahtzee points out that [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Snake and Otacon's]] relationship is a goldmine of [[Ho Yay]].

* [[You Bastard]]: Yahtzee actually suggests this exact trope as an alternate name for ''[[Monster Hunter|Monster Hunter Tri]]'' when his first suggestion (he got as far as ''[[Overly Long Gag|Hunter/Gatherer Of Innocent Young Dinosaurs Pathetically Mewling Their Last As The Memory Of Their Mother's Warmth Drifts Away To Be Replaced By The Unforgiving Coldness Of...]]'' before giving up) didn't really work.

* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: During the Mailbag Showdown, after a reader told him, "There wasn't really much of a review here. From a purely objective standpoint, ''[[Super Smash Brothers Brawl]]'' is actually quite a superb game, as you can tell from reading reviews":

{{quote|'''Yahtzee:''' I think you should look up the word "objective", because [[You Keep Using That Word|I don't think it means what you think it means]]. It's worth remembering that all reviews are subjective personal opinions and if you personally enjoy the game, then they shouldn't really get to you. Unless of course there's a despicable little niggling doubt in the back of your mind, that maybe you're not having as much fun as you've convinced yourself you're having, which doesn't go away no matter how many times you try to slap it down with the wet flannel of weak excuses...}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Notable Quotables]]

[[Category:Rant Comedy]]

[[Category:Web Animation]]

[[Category:Video Review Show]]

[[Category:The Escapist]]