Zero Punctuation: Difference between revisions

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{{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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Darkness]]'' and ''[[Fable (Videovideo Gamegame series)|Fable]]'' video reviews, you can now enjoy videos very much like them every week at ''The Escapist''."''|'''Ben Croshaw''' announces ''Zero Punctuation''}}

Less than a month later, he was hired by ''[http://www.escapistmagazine.com The Escapist]'', an online magazine with a big boat made of money (see the page quote), to release one of these video reviews a week. That explains the origin of '''''[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation Zero Punctuation]''''' in the driest possible way, but not the popularity of it; the combination of [[Accentuate the Negative|caustic humour]], [[Motor Mouth|rapid-fire delivery]] and [[Visual Pun|visual gags]] made Zero Punctuation an instant success. The result is quite a polarising, [[Love It or Hate It]] series.

Yahtzee has started doing a weekly follow-up column, called "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131213010753/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation Extra Punctuation]", in order to explain his views and opinions on the game of the week in greater detail, and bring up points he could not turn into jokes.

Staring in February 2011, he also did a column called "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130420021850/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extraconsideration Extra Consideration]" with Bob "[[Moviebob]]" Chipman and James Portnow of ''[[Extra Credits (Web Video)|Extra Credits]]'' (though Portnow was replaced by Jim Sterling of Destructoid fame after he left the Escapist). The column petered out by early September, sadly, but its entire run can still be found [https://web.archive.org/web/20130310044320/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/articles/Extra%20Consideration here].

** He stated in his ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]]'' review that he views his job as tearing the bad and the mediocre games to shreds so that the rare game that could be called great can shine all the brighter.

** In his review for ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' Yahtzee says that he's more of a QA man and that anything he doesn't mention in his review is a good part of the game.

** ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|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 BarkersBarker's Jericho]]'' review: "I could go on listing the stupid design decisions...so I will."

** Even going back to his ''[[Bio Shock 1 (Video Game)|Bio Shock 1BioShock]]'' review: "If my ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'' review taught me anything it's that no one likes it when I'm being nice to a game..."

** Inverted: when he finally got the chance to play ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|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.

* [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]]: In-universe (for lack of a better term) example: Yahtzee said during his "review" for ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]'' that the cancellation of the game wasn't the end of the world since it had been overshadowed by other franchises, most notably ''[[Half Life]]''. However, in his Extra Punctuation article, while reflecting on the plans of bringing it out in 2011, Yahtzee admitted that too many FPS have taken the cover-based combat route and he'd like a return to the basics with one guy facing armies all at once.

* [[Alternative Character Interpretation]]: In-Universe: For a number of games he reviews, his viewpoint tends to cast the protagonist in an extremely negative light.

** Faith of ''[[Mirrors Edge|Mirror's Edge]]'' could "easily have been a terrorist" without changing the game much.

** Rico of ''[[Just Cause (Videovideo Gamegame)|Just Cause]]'' is an "immortal, physics-defying wizard."

** Vanille of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' either has Alzheimer's or is from space.

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

** Cole Phelps from ''[[LAL.A. Noire]]'' is a robot.

** 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.

*** In his pants!<ref> "In his underwear" for us non-Brits.</ref>

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

** [[Goichi Suda 51]] was the result of a bizarre cloning experiment.

** The player character in ''[[Sniper Elite V 2 (Video Game)|Sniper Elite V 2V2]]'' is either a hallucinating clock tower sniper a la Charles Whitman, or trapped in a combat simulation.

* [[Analogy Backfire]]:

** His reason for suspending judgment on the Kinect. "Pope Urban VIII probably thought ''he'' was very clever when he condemned Galileo, but who got the last laugh there? Well, he did when Galileo died alone and in poverty but what I'm saying is [[A God Am I|I'm basically like the Pope]]."

** Then there's this example from his [[Catherine (Video Game)|Catherine]] review:

{{quote| ''...men are all directionless tidal waves and women are all dikes built in the path of their raging floods. [[Lampshade Hanging|Blimey, what a badly worded metaphor]].''}}

** In 2009, the hosts of [[Unskippable]] pretended to stage a [[Hostile Show Takeover]] and reviewed [[X Blades (Video Game)|X -Blades]] before Yahtzee seized the show back to review [[Halo]] Wars. Yahtzee also guest-commentated on [[Unskippable]].

** In ''[[Batman Arkham Asylum|Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'':

{{quote| "I could talk about how the combat flows, and how the atmosphere is solid, and how the highlights for me were the Scarecrow sections where Batman's perceptions of reality are skewed in favor of a nightmarish introspective delusional glimpse into the darkest recesses of his soul and how jumping on people is cool."}}

{{quote| SHAME<br />

FAILURE<br />

IGNOMINY<br />

** From his [[Resident Evil: theThe 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.

* [[Audio Erotica]]: His opinion on [[Stephen Fry]] in ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]]'' as well as [[Interactive Narrator|Rucks]] in ''[[Bastion]]''; he's a fan of famous voices in general, and feels that having them as [[One-Scene Wonder|One Scene Wonders]] is a waste of potential.

* [[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.

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

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

* [[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.

* [[Brain Bleach]]: In-universe example -- itexample—it's a favorite reaction by Croshaw.

* [[Brick Joke]]:

** 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 (Film)|It was his sled]], [[The Usual Suspects|Keyser Soze = Kevin Spacey]], etc.}})

* [[Buffy-Speak]]: His metaphors descend into this while reviewing ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]].'' [[Lampshaded]] in the same review -- it was very hot that week and he couldn't think of anything better.

** "[[Hello, Insert Name Here|Senor Koquonfaes and Gareth Gobelcoque]] are cousins by marriage."

{{quote| "Bang! Punch! Bang! Punch! Bang! Punch! Woof!"}}

{{quote| "Grr! Kick! Grr! Kick! Grr! Kick! Splat!"}}

** In the ''[[Super Mario Bros Wii]]'' review the credits state that Yahtzee only has two friends. Later in the ''[[Nie RNieR]]'' review we find out that this was referring to the imp and the extremely bored looking man respectively, hence why they are the only recurring characters in his videos.

** In his ''[[The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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.

* [[Clip Show]]: The [https://web.archive.org/web/20131111120616/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2589-Holiday-2010 Holiday 2010 episode], after Yahtzee mocks the viewer for showing up when they should know that he gets that week off.

* [[The Coconut Effect]]: Discussed in his ''Extra Punctuation'' column on [[Boss Battle|Boss Battles]]s.

** 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: theThe Adventure of Link (Video Game)|Zelda II the Adventure of Link]]'' and [[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures]], two games that severely change the Zelda formula, have appeared that way too at some point.

* [[Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For]]: In [https://web.archive.org/web/20100829075857/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8031-Extra-Punctuation-Dont-Use-the-Word-Gamer.2 this] Extra Punctuation blog, Yahtzee announces that there will not be an update next week, and informs anyone who has a problem with this, "Now, you only have a right to complain about this if you are actually paying money to watch and read this stuff. And even then, only because someone appears to be pulling a fast one on you."

* [[Cosmic Deadline]]: Yahtzee has accused several games of falling prey to this, including ''[[Dark Void]]'', ''[[Splatterhouse]]'', and of course ''[[IndigoFahrenheit Prophecy(2005 video game)]]'' aka "[[Fan Nickname|Baron von Teapot's Fucking Ludicrous Adventures]]."

* [[Creator Thumbprint]]: Platformers and games that don't use bloom and [[Real Is Brown|brown gritty graphics]] earn a somewhat higher note in his book.

** ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' is one of the few games that pleased him, resulting in a review that sounded like, in his own words, "an overlong wedding proposal" due to the fact that it entertainingly combines [[Rule of Fun]] and [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] whereas ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' went for [[Real Is Brown]] and [[Darker and Edgier]]. See also ''[[Just Cause (Videovideo Gamegame)|Just Cause]] 2''.

** He also has a great love for anything that does things differently like ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'' and ''[[No More Heroes]]''; he complimented ''[[MirrorsMirror's Edge]]'' for trying something new even after tearing the actual gameplay apart, and [[Assassin's Creed]] got praise for being original even though it was let down by highly repetitive gameplay. Similarly, he praised ''[[Dark Void]]'' for being an ambitious failure, and as such, better than "committee-designed sludge". He also liked ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'', despite hating ''[[Silent Hill]]'' spinoffs and saying that the monsters and chase scenes weren't scary and the psych test gimmicks weren't enough, for trying something new. He raves about ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' for [[Trope Maker|creating]], [[Trope Namer|naming]] and [[Trope Codifier|codifying]] the [[Colossus Climb]], and ''[[Ico]]'' got a love note from him for making him ''[[Video Game Caring Potential|care]]'' about a [[Cute Mute]] [[Love Interest]].

** A warped sense of humor is also a big plus for him, as in ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'', the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series and the aforementioned ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]''.

** Good writing impresses him as well; the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series has led him to give [[Bio WareBioWare]] a dirt-cheap [[Deal Withwith the Devil|offer of his soul]].

{{quote| "When the bottom falls out of the game criticism market and I have to start prostituting myself to developers, [[Bio WareBioWare]] will be one of my first ports of call, because there are few enough developers in the world who treat writing as an integral part of the game rather than an optional set of colorful tassels to put on the handlebars." }}

** In his review for the second game he spends almost the whole review talking about the changes in gameplay, then mentions casually how the writing and characters have gotten better, but because it's [[Bio WareBioWare]] they don't get any points for it.

** Considering his positive mentions of ''[[Serious Sam (Video Game)|Serious Sam]]'' and his love of ''[[Painkiller]]'', along with his positive review of ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'', Yahtzee also seems to like games that pit the player against large hordes and give them the freedom to just go wild.

{{quote| "Not that they'd know anything about work, the lazy nig-" [END CREDITS]}}

* [[Cut His Heart Out Withwith a Spoon]]: Wonders aloud if ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'''s ending is ''intentionally'' bad, so players will purchase the DLC. "Anyone who pulls ''that'' shit deserves to have their hands cut off. And sold back to them for 500 Microsoft Points."

* [[Damn, It Feels Good to Be Aa Gangster!]]: This trope, and the infrequency with which it is played straight, is discussed in his ''[[Mafia II]]'' review.

* [[Dare to Be Badass]]: Well, at least "dare to be different", in his ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' review. In spite of his bashing of it he does admit in the end it ''is'' fun and if people want to play the same games he can't really do anything to stop them, but he does request that those people go out and do one thing they never have before.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Once a simple story, "the new ''[[Bionic Commando (Video Game)|Bionic Commando]]'' has taken the dark and edgy route", illustrated with said commando [[Emo Teen|slashing his wrist]] and singing "[[Linkin Park|CRAAAWLING IIIIN MY SKIIIN]]".

* [[Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy]]: In-universe example: A big irk for Yahtzee is games where protagonists are just as (if not more) unlikable than the antagonist, citing ''[[Wet]]'', ''[[Kane and Lynch]]: Dog Days'' and the ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]'' sequels as major examples.

* [[Death Seeker]]: More of a [[Suicide Asas Comedy]] but noticeable in this line for ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]''.

{{quote| "If you are like me: handsome, successful, and secretly longing for death."}}

** Speaking of repetition, there is ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'', which is repetitive.

** Don't forget [[Tom Clancy|Tom Clancy's]] ''[[HAWX (Video Game)|H.A.W.X.]]'' by [[In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It|Tom Clancy]].

** From ''Darksiders'', describing the first few games he will review starting in 2010: "[[Darksiders|God of War ripoff]], [[Bayonetta|God Of War ripoff]], [[DantesDante's Inferno (Videovideo Gamegame)|God Of War ripoff]], and God of War... well, ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]''."

** "''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' is really just an expansion pack for ''[[Fallout]] 3'', and I said everything I need to say about ''[[Fallout]] 3'' in my ''[[Fallout]] 3'' review of ''[[Fallout]] 3''."

* [[Designated Hero]]: [[In -Universe]]: in his ''Extra Punctuation'' article of ''[[Uncharted]]: Among Thieves'', Yahtzee portrays Nathan Drake as one, accusing him of massive [[Moral Dissonance]].

** The ''ZP'' review of ''[[Mirrors Edge|Mirror's Edge]]'' also suggests this: we only have the plot's say-so that the police chasing you are the bad guys, and as far as we know, the packages could be bombs to blow up someone's grandma.

* [[Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)|Dethroning Moment of Suck]]: It's rare that he experiences any of these, but there have been specific moments in a few games (such as [[Mind Jack|a boss too poorly-coded to be defeatable]] or [[AMY (Videovideo Gamegame)|a bad AI forcing him to restart a level he was just about to clear]]) that made him give up on a game outright.

{{quote| "Think of something wholesome."<br />

"OH DEAR GOD"<br />

"Look it up"<br />

"Thanks [[Deviant ART]]!"<br />

"NEIN!"<br />

"BELIEVE IN CHRIST"<br />

** 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.'''

* [[Disposable Vagrant]]: Yahtzee keeps a spare vagrant chained in his basement -- inbasement—in case he needs to review a co-op game.

{{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.]]}}

* [[Eastern European Animation]]: Yahtzee claims to have grown up watching Russian cartoons ala [[The Simpsons (animation)|Worker and Parasite]] rather than [[Transformers]], which he states is the reason that he has no particular nostalgia for the series.

* [[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 and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story (Video Game)|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.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: While Yahtzee isn't too keen on kids, he mentioned in [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20200814111518/https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/9246-Extra-Punctuation-What-Is-the-Matter-with-You-People this article] that he was disturbed by a comment on his ''[[Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare 3]]'' review by someone expressing a desire for the [[Big Bad]] to torture children "[[Holocaust (miniseries)|Holocaust]] style". As an "ironic statement".

{{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.}}

* [[Everything's Better Withwith Plushies]]: The Escapist is now selling [https://web.archive.org/web/20140715234444/http://www.splitreason.com/productdetail.php?id=789 Imp plushies].

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

* [[Fail O'Suckyname]]: Not Yahtzee himself, but he has a fondness with abusing the naming system whenever one exists. Examples include [[Nie RNieR|Twattycake]], [[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|Fuckme]], [[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Video Game)|Fagballs]], and [[Mass Effect|Titty]].

* [[Five-Man Band]]: Notes the main parts of the cast of recent ''[[Final Fantasy (Franchise)|Final Fantasy]]'' games, giving them names similar to the [[Spice Girls]].

* [[Freeze -Frame Bonus]]: His review of [[Fifty50 Cent: Blood On theThe Sand]] flashes a picture of Yahtzee with the words NOT RACIST several times.

** 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 (Web Video)|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.

* [[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 (Video Game)|Tepig]] after him.

** 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.

* [[GIFT]]: Yahtzee actually cites the [[Penny Arcade|original formula]] then alters it by subtracting 'Anonymity' and 'Audience'. Or in other words, [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|Normal Person = Total Fuckwad.]]

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

** Sometimes inverted--heinverted—he'll say something (relatively) tactful in the narration, and the animation will unleash what he REALLY thinks.

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

{{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''."}}

** Also seems to link back a few times to [[Does Not Like Women]]; he'll make a joke about not being able to get laid, comfort himself with the excuse that women are terrible anyway, and then cap off the joke with "But I'm still not gay." Perhaps the gentleman doth protest too much? <ref> In the same review, he compares pushing the buttons on the fret bar to fingering a female lover. Yes, he had mentioned that he was heterosexual.</ref>

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

{{quote| "Fans are clingy complaining dipshits who will [[Unpleasable Fanbase|never ever be grateful for any concession you make]]. The moment you shut out their shrill, tremulous voices the happier you will be for it. Incidentally, why not buy a ''Zero Punctuation'' [[The Merch|t-shirt]]?"}}

** End Credits for his ''[[Left 4 Dead (Video Game)|Left 4 Dead]]'' review: "There is a special circle in Hell 4 people who replace numbers for letters".

** On ''[[Rayman (Video Game)|Rayman]]'': "Honestly, who can like a character [[Raymanian Limbs|whose hands and feet have no visible connection to their torso?]]"

{{quote| "The game just sort of cuts out halfway through resolving everyth-[END CREDITS]}}

* [[I Love Nuclear Power]]:

{{quote| "''[[STALKER|Ess-Tee-Ay-Ell-Kay-Ee-Ar: Clear Sky]]'' is set in the area surrounding an alternative post-disaster Chernobyl, where presumably the station ran on fairy dust before the meltdown and released a cloud of ''magic'' instead of boring old radiation..."}}

{{quote| "All you really need to know is that there is a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning. I wish I could make something like that up. It shoots shurikens and lightning! It could only possibly more awesome if it had tits and was ''[[Incendiary Exponent|on fire]]!''"}}

{{quote| "You only get to see like one second of bare arse anyway so it's hardly going to make your [[Mass Effect|mass erect]]" ... immediately followed in the credits with: [[Lampshade Hanging|"Yeah, this whole review]] was [[Overly Pre-Prepared Gag|leading up]] to [[Lampshade Hanging|that horrible pun at the end."]]}}

** [[BaldursBaldur's Gate|"...Balder's Gait."]] (''[[Too Human]]'')

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

** "Bits of it were so boring that I almost had a ''[[Nie RNieR]]''-death experience! Boosh!"

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

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

** In [[Sniper Elite V 2V2]] he calls it at one point Sniper Elite Wee Poo, then chuckles at it.

* [[Innocent Bigot]]: How he viewed the controversy surrounding [[Resident Evil (Videovideo Gamegame)|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.''}}

* [[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.''}}

* [[ItsIt's the Same, SoNow It Sucks]]: In-universe, he tends to be particularly critic of sequels that don't add much or differ from what the original was. Examples including ''[[Bio Shock 2 (Video Game)|Bio ShockBioShock 2]]'', ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', and ''[[Left 4 Dead 2 (Video Game)|Left 4 Dead 2]]'' to a smaller point.

** 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 (Video Game)|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 Thethe Series]] ''[[The Legend of Zelda: MajorasMajora's Mask (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask]]''.

** "A good [[Wide Open Sandbox|sandbox]] is one where you can mess about for hours after making the hollow promise to yourself that you'll stop any minute now, and ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]] 2'' certainly has that."

{{quote| No puppies were harmed in the making of this video, [[No Except Yes|except for one who genuinely deserved it.]]}}

{{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?"}}

** The entire opening of ''[[Just Cause (Videovideo Gamegame)|Just Cause 2]]'' was one giant, lovingly crafted [[Lampshade]] about the [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] that the name ''[[Just Cause (Videovideo Gamegame)|Just Cause]]'' offers -- inoffers—in the format "Why X?" "[[Just Cause (Videovideo Gamegame)|Just Cause]]!". He then subverts it -- seeit—see [[Rule of Three]], below.

* [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]]: The crossdressing contest between [[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|Cole]] and [[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Alex]].

* [[Limited Social Circle]]: "I asked everyone I know and neither of them had heard of it either." (''[[Nie RNieR]]'')

* [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]]: Has teamed up with [[Moviebob]] and [[Extra Credits (Web Video)|James Portnow]] to form [https://web.archive.org/web/20130420021850/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extraconsideration Extra Consideration], a panel in which all three discuss the state of the gaming scene.

* [[Meat Moss]]: He calls it "jam" in ''[[Amnesia: theThe Dark Descent (Video Game)|Amnesia the Dark Descent]]''.

{{quote| "Oh pissing BLIMEY there's JAM coming out of the walls!."}}

* [[Men Don't Cry]]: Parodied in his ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]] 2'' review.

{{quote| "I'm not to proud to admit that I was welling up at ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|In Famous]] 2'''s good ending, a little bit. Well, not much at all really. It most more like stoically nodding my head while doing squat-thrusts and grunting."}}

{{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."}}

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20111101154831/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8892-Extra-Punctuation-Action-Is-Not-Finisher-Porn This] ''Extra Punctuation'' takes the metaphor of "[[Too Many Cooks]] spoil the broth" and keeps stretching it until he reckons "I think this is already the best metaphor I've ever written."

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: In his ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' review, he mentions that it occured to him that it might be a good idea to stop stealing things. After getting attacked by bandits and taking their stuff, he mentions it is not stealing because they attacked him, which makes it his by the international law of "Go Fuck Yourselves."

* [[Mythology Gag]]: During his ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' review, Yahtzee separates each hour he played the game with a brief break showing a black screen with the unit of time and then which unit he's on (Hour 1, Hour 2, Hour 3, etc.). He used a similar mechanism with three of the games in the ''[[Chzo Mythos]]''.

* [[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."

* [[Nightmare Retardant]]: [[In -Universe]], He states that [[Alice: Madness Returns]] made [[Creepy Doll|Creepy Dolls]]s not creepy just by the fact that the game uses it constantly to the point where players just get used to it.

** Yes, we're [https://web.archive.org/web/20131031022322/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1321-Demons-Souls looking at you], ''[[Demons Souls|Demon's Souls]]''.

** 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 Onon the Tin|Impossible difficulty]].

{{quote| "If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that all these games are sequels. And if you haven't... * claps twice* OI!"<br />

** The ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' review has the distinction of genuinely breaking the fourth wall, as Yahtzee suggest pausing the video, while his avatar points to the pause button on the video player.

{{quote| "I shouldn't have to talk about the core gameplay, I consider that an insult to you and me. My review of ''Mario Galaxy 1'' hasn't gone anywhere, why not pause this video, pour yourself a glass of wine and go and enjoy that. I'll just wait here slapping myself in the face until you return. * cut to black, slapping sounds and Yahtzee groaning, then cut back, Yahtzee now with a bruised face* Finished? Right, well, ''Mario Galaxy 2'' is more of that."}}

* [["Not Making This Up" Disclaimer]]: Describing the ending of ''[[Condemned]] 2'', and says "I ''wish'' I was fucking kidding!"

** In his review of ''[[Epic Mickey]]'', he brings up a Mickey Mouse comic where he ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130719215338/http://ridz.sg/blog/2008/04/mickey-mouse-loses-minnie-attempts-suicide/ tries to kill himself]'' after Minnie breaks up with him.

* [[One of These Is Not Like the Others]]: In his ''[[Batman Arkham Asylum|Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' review: "I could go on about how the combat flows, or how the atmosphere is solid, [[Overly Long Gag|and how the highlights for me were the Scarecrow sections where Batman's perceptions of reality are skewed in favour of a nightmarish and delusional glimpse into the darkest recesses of Batman's soul]], and how jumping on people is cool...

{{quote| '''Otacon:''' Metal Gear<br />

'''Snake:''' Metal Gear?<br />

'''Otacon:''' Metal Gear!<br />

* [[Pet Peeve Trope]]:

** [[Doorstopper]]: He tends to rag on games that are heavy on dialogue and cutscenes, like ''[[Mass Effect]]'' and especially ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''.

** [[Stealth -Based Mission]]: He likes the stealth genre, but a "forced stealth section" in the middle of a non-stealth game is one of his pet peeves.

** [[Take Cover]]: One of his main beefs with current-generation [[FPS|FPSs]]s.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: In an ''Extra Punctuation'', although he couldn't sympathize with gamers who cried at Aerith's death in ''FFVII'', he said that the emotions they felt were real and no one could call them fake or wrong.

{{quote| "Essflawcondodgeckindesimudstorliketersockity."}}

** Since ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' had none of these, Yahtzee instead used "Press X to '''KICK ASS'''."

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

** He actually explains a couple of the reasons why licensed games tend to do poorly [https://web.archive.org/web/20140306012322/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1815-Prince-of-Persia-The-Forgotten-Sands while reviewing] ''[[Prince of Persia|Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands]],'' released to promote the ''[[Prince of Persia: theThe Sands of Time (Film)|Sands of Time]]'' movie, citing that most of them put too much focus on the story or license (as opposed to gameplay) or get rushed enough to where notable issues don't get fixed (both of which, he says, are evidently the case with the 2010 Prince of Persia games). He still finds the game enjoyable despite having the look and feel of a licensed game.

* [[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 (Web Video)|Extra Credits]]''.

* [[Punctuated! forFor! Emphasis!]]: [[Red Faction|Darius Mason]] triumphs by using his magic flashlight the fix Mars' weather inside of five minutes. ..Erm.

* [["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 (Video Game)|Braid]]'' review is one of these directed at the ignorant [[Gears of War]]-buying crowd.

* [[Rebus Bubble]]: According to Yahtzee, the formula for the cutest thing ever is sum of teddy bear and [[The Powerpuff Girls|Powerpuff Girl]] divided by [[Pokémon (Franchise)|Pikachu]] equals [[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet|Sackboy]].

{{quote| If the developers [of ''[[Heavenly Sword]]''] thought I would consider buying the full game just to find out what "twing-twang" is then mission fucking accomplished I suppose, but I'm going to be very disappointed if it doesn't turn out to be a cutesy euphemism for [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|lesbian cunnilingus]], ''yeah I went there.''}}

* [[Ret-Gone]]: The final product of ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]'' was apparently such a transcendental work of awesomeness that it collapsed reality and ended up being cancelled before completion in the new timeline. Now the new version will likely fail to live up to the "original".

{{quote| ''Fish McTarse''<br />

''Blast his arse''<br />

{{quote| Fucking bastard<br />

Flocking [[wikipedia:Bustard|bustard]]<br />

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

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

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

** Nose-picking is mentioned frequently when talking about [[Artificial Atmospheric Actions|mundane actions]] on the part of either the player or [[NPC|NPCs]]s.

** Rattling off a list of numbered sequels and turning it into a football score, i.e., (''[[Half Life|Half-Life]] 2'', ''[[Silent Hill]] 2'', ''[[Thief]] 2'', ''[[Spider -Man]] 2'', (Arsenal: 3)). (A generic British joke, possibly first coined by [[Spike Milligan]] in ''William McGonagall Meets George Gershwin''.)

{{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.}}

** In a similar fashion, Yahtzee took ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' and complained that the game is neither red nor dead. He then went to call the game throughout the review by several alternate names, namely [[Real Is Brown|Brown Alive Redemption]], Blue Poo Atonement, Green Spleen Submarine, and then [[Word Salad Title|Purple]] [[Shout-Out|Monkey]] [[The Simpsons (animation)|Dishwasher]].

** 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 (Film)|Batman Returns]]''.

** Pulling out his "Like ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]'' [[Serial Numbers Filed Off|but]]" stamp.

* [[Sand in My Eyes]]: "I'm not too proud to admit that I was welling up a bit at ''[[In FamousInfamous (Videovideo game Gameseries)|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 (Video Game)|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.

* [[SchrödingersSchrödinger's Cat]]: In his "Console Rundown", he compares his Xbox360 to a Schrodinger's Console, constantly swinging between a broken and unbroken state.

* [[Screamer Trailer]]: The ending of the ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]]'' review, as an obvious homage to J-horror movies such as ''[[The Ring]]'' and ''[[The Grudge]]''.

** A [[Freeze -Frame Bonus]] example from the ''[[Silent Hill Origins (Video Game)|Silent Hill Origins]]'' review. It shows all the different Invader Zim fanfiction writer pictures, and the one with the lowest bar is his picture.

* [[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|Half-Life]] 2'', ''[[Silent Hill]] 2'', ''[[Thief]] 2'', ''[[Spider -Man]] 2'', ([[Running Gag|Arsenal: 3]])) are all sequels.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110829080831/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6474-Extra-Punctuation-On-Sequels In the Extra Punctuation entry for his '''Splosion Man''/''Tales of Monkey Island'' review], he stated his belief that a sequel should be done by people who played the first game and didn't like it, rather than fans of the first game. He reasons that the former would change it and evolve it (at the expense of fans of the original), as opposed to fans who would only advance the parts of the game they liked (which could include unimportant/bad [[Scrappy Mechanic|mechanics]] or strictly throwaway gags).

{{quote| "I do have a guilty enjoyment for ''[[Alone in Thethe Dark]]'' and ''[[MirrorsMirror's Edge]]''. They’re wracked with issues, but I find games that try to do something new and fall apart far more compelling than the merely mediocre games that don’t have an original thought in their heads."}}

* [[Serial Numbers Filed Off]]: Has accused many games of being this, most notably ''[[Bio Shock 1 (Video Game)|Bio Shock 1BioShock]]'' to ''[[System Shock]] 2'', and ''[[DantesDante's Inferno (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dantes Inferno]]'' to ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|God of War]]''.

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

** He has referenced ''[[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|Back to The Future]]'' several times, usually when talking about Time Travel.

** One of the dungeons in ''[[Nie RNieR]]'' takes the form of a text adventure game, illustrated with "This dungeon has been replaced by a series of [[Colossal Cave|twisty text screens, all alike]]."

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

** At the end of his ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' review, he suggest for the next game that Nintendo [[Okami|get rid of the princess, change the hero to a dog, change the setting to feudal Japan, and replace the weapons with magic spells cast with a paintbrush.]]

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

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

** "[[[Singularity]]] rips off the cutesy, '50's style ads from [[Bio Shock 1 (Video Game)|Bio Shock 1BioShock]], which [[Bio Shock 1 (Video Game)|Bio Shock 1BioShock]] ripped off from [[Fallout]]. It's like a magnificent [[The Human Centipede|Human Centipede]] stretching back through gaming history."

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

** In the ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]'' review, one of the monsters "borrowed from European folklore" is [[The Moomins|a Moomin]].

** When reviewing "Risen 2: Dark Waters", he mentions that the combat system "can kiss [his] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E3/E03 The Curse of the Black Spot|black spot]]".

{{quote| "Contrary to the claims made in the previous video, I have not, in actuality, [[Your Mom|fucked your mum]] because, damn, that shit is nasty, yo."}}

* [[Spiritual Licensee]]: A lot of comparisons are drawn between ''[[LAL.A. Confidential]]'' and ''[[LAL.A. Noire]]''.

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

{{quote| "...Blimey, [[That Came Out Wrong|what a badly-worded metaphor.]]"}}

{{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."}}

** He handily applies this trope to user-made content as well, during the ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]]'' review.

{{quote| "I feel there's a fundamental difference of philosophy between me and the developers of ''[[Little Big PlanetLittleBigPlanet]]'': they believe every single person is an extra-special god-child with a bud of creativity aching to burst out into a single perfect flower; and I believe every single person is a tosser, and any flowers that pop up are going to be buried under garbage, fiery penises and countless reproductions of levels from Super Mario Bros."}}

* [[Subliminal Seduction]]: In his [https://web.archive.org/web/20130310042805/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/616-50-Cent-Blood-on-the-Sand 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand review], [[media:yzblackfriend.jpg|this]] [[Image Macro]] quickly pops up several times during the video.

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

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

* [[Take That]]: Various games -- notgames—not just whatever he's reviewing. He's made recurring insults against ''[[Halo]]'', its fans, Nintendo's fondness for its own franchises, [[Eagle Land|Americans]], Gamespot after the ''[[Kane and Lynch]]'' [[Four Point Scale|debacle]], and Japanese RPGs. Not to mention two of his videos, which were extended [[Take That|Take Thats]]s aimed at, respectively, bad gaming [[Web Comics]] in general (and one [[Ctrl +Alt +Del|in particular]]), and ''[[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]'' (dedicated to insulting 3D Realms, their investors, and the fans disappointed by the game's demise).

** 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.

** An absolutely huge on at the start of his ''[[Borderlands (Video Game)|Borderlands]]'' review: tearing into people that demand he review a certain game, despite his highly critical approach, only to then be shocked and complain when he criticises it.

{{quote| "SEE, ROGER EBERT, THAT'S WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!"}}

** "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:

{{quote| "If you willingly parted money for the [[PSPlay Station 3|Playstation Move]], feel free to go nuts, because you probably already have done."}}

** "Will [''[[Symphony of the Night]]''] be one of those old classics that still hold up from a fresh modern perspective -- like ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|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]]?"

** ''[[LAL.A. Noire]]'''s director asks a [[Motion Capture]] actor to "look like you're lying". His [[Speech Bubble]] is a picture of [[Tony Blair]].

** Comparing ''Driver: San Francisco's'' [[Body Surf|Body Surfing]]ing antics to those of ''[[Quantum Leap]]''. Cue Tanner donning a Scott Bakula mask, along with the caption "[[Star Trek: Enterprise|I RUINED STAR TREK]]".

* [[Take That, Scrappy!]]: [[In -Universe]], he ends his ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' review with him doing horrible things to Vanille.

{{quote| "I wonder if the Geneva Convention covers torturing metaphors?"}}

{{quote| "There's no reason to build any troops, really. Tanks do not move any slower, they just take longer to build and, well, ''they're fucking tanks!''"}}

** 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!"}}

** He even claims the opposite in regards to playing [[JRPG|JRPGs]]s for any length of time beyond [[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|five hours]]. Like he did with ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]''.

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

* [[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!"

{{quote| "Not to dampen your sense of victory, Darius, mate, but why didn't you do that three years ago ''right after it broke?'' You '''''DUMB''''' [[[Dope Slap]]] '''''BALD''''' [dopeslap] '''''TWAT.'''''}}

{{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 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]''.

** He takes this metaphor to [https://web.archive.org/web/20111101154831/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8892-Extra-Punctuation-Action-Is-Not-Finisher-Porn extraordinary lengths] in ''Extra Punctuation''.

** In [https://web.archive.org/web/20130929232530/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/657-Grand-Theft-Auto-Chinatown-Wars one episode] he considered combining the two to make a Cadbury's Branston Pickle Egg. Then cut to credits. Then [[The Stinger|he came back]] with a report on how it went (not very well).

* [[TwainsTwain's Observation Onon 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.

* [[Twenty Bear Asses]]: One of his reasons for hating [[MMORPGMassively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGsMMORPG]]s is because most quests are variants of this. A sight gag from his ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' video is him running from a cougar holding a pile of [[Life of Brian|otter noses]] while the caption "7/8 OTTER NOSES" floats over him.

* [[Victory Cake]]: [[Seen It a Million Times|A few times]] but most recently in the ''[[God of War (Video Gameseries)|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 Caring Potential]]: Usually, Yahtzee is a cruel, heartless bastard, but every once in a while even he admits to liking the characters that he plays or the [[NPC|NPCs]]s he gets saddled with.

** Also, from his review of ''[[Sim CitySimCity]] Societies'':

{{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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|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 [[InInfamous Famous(video (Videogame Gameseries)|In Famous]] vs. [[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|it was the one that let you eat people]].

* [[Visual Pun]]: Many of the [[B -Roll Rebus]] visuals. He even [[Lampshaded]] it when he came up with an [[Incredibly Lame Pun|exceptionally lame one]] with a large caption reading "VISUAL PUN".

** All the way back at his [https://web.archive.org/web/20131213003339/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/7-Peggle Peggle review], you have the images on the pegs: busts of [[Simon Pegg]].

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Rebecca Mayes' love song to him, calling him out on the lowest-common-denominator parts of his humour then asking him out for a drink...[[Yandere|and threatening to stab him with a screwdriver]].

* [[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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|a tentacle attack with way too long a reach]], [[Soul Calibur|tossing his helpless AI opponent around like a ragdoll]], and [[God of War (Video Gameseries)|the "fuck you" button]].

{{quote| Christ, this is like ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Videovideo Gamegame)|Zelda]]'' meets ''[[There Will Be Blood]]''!"}}

* [[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 (Video Game)|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 Fail Biology Forever]]: In the Shadow of the Colossus review, Yahtzee says that the female character is the player's girlfriend because she is the only thing with an X chromosome. This is incorrect--malesincorrect—males have X chromosomes too, females just have 2.

{{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...}}

** Or in one case as shown in his ''[[Bionic Commando (Video Game)|Bionic Commando]]'' review, kicking some ass.

[[Category:ZeroThe Punctuation]][[Category:Pages with comment tagsEscapist]]