Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

I guess I wanted to make a "reviewer" topic, like people on the internet who make videos of themselves reviewing movies or games or whatever other sort of topic you can think of. Any ones you want to recommend? Why do you like them so much? Any you feel are absolutely positively overrated? Not enough attention? Blab about it.

This also goes for Let's Play. Any good ones you have found or bad ones? I keep thinking snooths would be wonderful in this, and it could also spark stuff because I find myself being really picky with reviewers :-[ (Such as not being too fond of Nostalgia Critic or Linkara, etc)

but adoring the shit out of nostalgia chick

maybe i will explain opinions more if there is some involvement, please try to avoid just kind of listing the stuff you like. From what I noticed in the webcomic thread, listing doesn't really spark conversation, explanation does!!

It is kinda funny that I do rather like watching reviews of things, but I seldom do it, because I can't get over the constant, nagging feeling I'm wasting time. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't mind it at all.

I haven't seen too many, only a few videos by The Angry Video Nerd and some Machinima stuff. Also, one AWFUL video by some guy reviewing Sonic Adventures, but I can't remember his name, and I heard it was one of his worst, so it isn't fair to judge him entirely on that.

For The Angry Video Nerd, I personally find him a bit ridiculous sometimes, but overall, it is a nice experience. He makes some pretty clever jokes, typically with nice execution, and somehow, even when his jokes bomb, it isn't really pitiful. I guess he just oozes self-confidence. I attribute the anger. And, if you are capable of separating meaning and humor, then his reviews are actually pretty useful too. Though, he is more for the entertainment factor.

Machinima is pretty good. Occasionally they have a joke or something, but mainly I watch them when I'm seriously considering a game. Their reviews are normally really straight to the point and interesting. They also have some Let's Play's and stuff similar to that. I think they have videos showing off different Skyrim mods that was pretty entertaining. They're usually good. I haven't seen to many, and the only one I can remember was nostalgia'ing on some CoD:4 while a guy completely destroyed everybody.

All in all, I like them, though not as much as some people. They don't always have to be hilarious (even though it is preferred), but they must be at least somewhat interesting. I particularly enjoy when they explain video game history and go on tangents like that. I've always liked listening and learning, and watching people review things lets you keep up with pop culture with a little less involvement.

The "angry" reviewer shtick has been done to death if you ask me.

For Lets Play? Retsupurae. They're pretty entertaining.

This post has been edited by Vigtyr: 22 August 2012 - 08:16 PM

I watch and enjoy some of the Nostalgia Chick too. However, while I think she alone is very entertaining and charming, her annoying sidekick friends almost ruin it for me. I can't recall a single iota of entertainment I've gained from them, and it's sad, considering the parts of the show with Lindsey alone are excellent.

Nostalgia Critic is okay. However, like NChick, he seems to act as though humor is directly proportional to how many guest characters he can cram into one episode. He even sank as low as to guest star fucking BrentalFloss, quite possibly the most unfunny internet persona I've ever seen.

I do enjoy AVGN, a guilty pleasure for me. His voice just completely nails the role, as opposed to Doug Walker's annoying, high-pitched yells. I guess the nostalgia factor kicks in too, with me being a fan of him for a very long time.

As for Let's Plays, the only one I keep up with is Two Best Friends Play (Matt and Pat). Their personalities bounce off each other fucking flawlessly. The recent "Super Best Friends Brawl" with them and Woolie playing Mario Party 9 was golden. I'm still keeping up with their playthrough of Final Fight: Streetwise, despite how much I pity them for suffering through such an awful game.

This post has been edited by MintyFishbowl: 22 August 2012 - 08:27 PM

I don't really watch reviewers, but really, the two I watch most frequently are Storm Dain and JonTron.

KiraDood5, on 22 August 2012 - 08:56 PM, said:

Thank you! That was the guy with the really awful Sonic Adventures review.

I ended up watching most of the AVGN reviews. His profanity jokes felt annoying after a while, yet sadly they felt more or less necessary to his videos. Other than that, he was funny on occasion.

I also watched most of the Nostalgia Critic and Nostalgia Chick reviews. They were both funny, and sometimes had me splitting my sides with laughter. It made me sad when Nostalgia Critic reviewed Pokemon: The First Movie, though. :<

The only LPer I watch with consistency and see most of his videos is UberHaxorNova. He's hilarious all the time, and I don't think I've ever gone through any of his videos without chuckling or dying laughing.

The last LPer I watch on occasion is Rachelkip, but that's more for watching her play Limbo than laughing.

MintyFishBowl: THANK YOU. I hate the Nostalgia Chick's sidekicks. They never really add anything to it other than just them being dumb and random, I would much rather hear a review using Lindsey's wit, her deadpan jokes are way funnier to me and they don't even need the bells and whistles that other reviewers try to cram.

The only time I've ever thought the sidekicks was the review for The Little Mermaid, because it's a movie so many people love, and Lindsey was in the minority so it was interesting seeing her bouncing off the sidekick's rebuttals and such. That was a good way to use them.

I used to love Two Best Friends Play until they started using the embarrassing animations inbetween their reviews. That is just unnecessary and embarrassing. It seems like a lot of reviewers believe that for them to be successful, they have to add some stupid storyline into the mix or up the production value when it would be much better they just go for clarity. I don't care if you can photoshop some red eyes into a bird that sits on your shoulder, I care if you're clever.

I guess I'm a minimalist, but I love reviewers when they.. review. I mean Pat the NES Punk is an example of a guy that does have storylines inbetween his reviews, but he's like the only guy that doesn't shit me about it, probably because it adds to his charm. He's like a dogged nice guy and I find him thoroughly enjoyable. Though his toy-buddies do get grating at some points. I'm heavily picky.. but I guess I can make those little things slide if you're a good and funny writer.

Probably my favorite NChick episode(s) are the ones about the Disney sequels (worst and least awful). It's probably no coincidence that there's no secondary characters in either of them.

Yeah, the animations in TBFP are kinda superfluous. A nitpick of mine is that they sometimes use them during awkward, brief pauses, which I think ruins the humorous effect of them. It's funnier to just imagine their facial expressions and reactions and leave it up to interpretation. However, chibi Matt is undeniably adorable.

If you can't tolerate the animations, then I recommend checking out their full playthroughs on their personal channel, TheSw1tcher, as opposed to their regular episodes on Machinima. They're unscripted, unedited, and are free of any gimmicks. It's just them being themselves, which probably makes it the most charming and enjoyable series they have. They've done full playthroughs of Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill: Downpour, and like I said, Final Fight: Streetwise. There's also Two Best Friends Watch, which is them commentating on cutscenes MST3K-style. However, the first episode of it (Metroid: Other M) felt a little dragged on, and their discussions would stray far from the game at times. I still enjoyed it, though.

I currently keep an eye on two Let's Players. One is Darksydephil. I enjoy his stuff because he acts completely natural in front of the camera and isn't awkward, slow, or scripted with his commentary. At times, he does well in games, at other times he rages mad hard or acts stupid when a game is sucking, but I think that's kind of the point because I feel his way of playing kinda makes it feel like you're there watching him. If you're into the game he's playing and he's performing badly, it kinda feels releiving to see him finally figure out when he solves a puzzle since it's as if you just want to scream the answer at him but can't If you want to see his stuff, I think his Heavy Rain gameplay is a good introduction:



There's also Cr1tikal, who mostly plays random or unknown titles. He doesn't complete them like traditional players, but what I like about him is the odd way he delivers his deadpan humor. A lot of what he says makes no sense, but at the same time it's just...well, you have to see for yourself:

The Two Best Friends Play full playthroughs are really boring. The only reason their series works is that they edit out the cruft.

Genuinely good internet reviewers and lets players

• Angry Video Game Nerd and the other Cinemassacre videos - A funny earnest guy that does a good job almost all the time. He's such an affable person that it doesn't matter if he doesn't hit all the time. It's so impressive how he has shaped this miniature industry. I enjoy his friends too, I think Mike is great.
  
• Nostalgia Chick - Insightful, educated, funny. Though I am expecting her mind to rot the more time she spends with her idiotic fat friend (though vampire friend is ok just boring)
  
• Pat the NES punk - I can see this guy being an acquired taste but I think he's really funny in this off-beat self-deprecating way. I actually kinda like the "story" aspect of his show which so often bogs down these reviews with bullshit mainly because I like him as a person and I'm interested in seeing his writing. This is maybe the funniest thing he's ever posted and I just love it.
  
• Todd in the Shadows - Mostly sharp and seems like a nice guy. I like his perspective on music.
  
• Two Best Friends Play - at the bottom of this list because there are some real duds on their playlist while other times they're totally hilarious. I found the few games they played that I had played (e.g. Arkham City) totally fell flat because of how hard it felt that they were reaching for absurd problems in games that didn't really deserve it, so I really hope that this is not true of all their videos and I just didn't realise it
  
• Cybershell - What a great definitive work his S3&K playthrough was. A funny guy whose personality shines through.
  
• Gamecenter CX - Not on the internet, but really the best possible way you could do a show like these. It gets nearly everything right.

Acceptable background noise when you need something you can listen to and the TiVo has run out of Law & Order

• Zero Punctuation - I don't care enough about modern video games to watch all the stuff he does, but I check his review out after I beat a game. I don't think his taste is exquisite but the videos he puts together are usually decently funny and have some interest.
  
• Nostalgia Critic - A horrible noisy unfunny uninteresting idiot but I enjoy that his videos are long and are often covering interesting movies.
  
• JonTron - Only was linked to this guy a few days ago in some Starfox discussion in the IRC. Amazingly unfunny and horrible, but the videos are vaguely entertaning in a Nostalgia Critic way.

The fucking worst

• Red Letter Media \ Mr. Plinkett - THE MOST OVERRATED IDIOT ON THE INTERNET. Yes he has a decent handle on what makes for competent narrative storytelling. So do most undergrads in an arts faculty. Yet he presents his video in a stupid unfunny distracting voice and constantly interrupts himself with weak jokes and a ridiculous meta plot about his life as a kidnapper\rapist. It's my contention that even if you've seen the Star Wars reviews and previously enjoyed them, you cannot in good faith read this section of his Wikipedia article without concluding that his videos HAVE to be unfunny internet nerd trash. The absurdity of his dumbass character and the reminders of his constant shameful attempts to be funny would be enough to invalidate the entertainment value of his reviews even if they were filled with great insights. And they make it a foregone conclusion for his overlong, mostly uninteresting amateur takedowns of easily maligned franchise films.
  
• Linkara - A screechy moron who has nothing to say and loves the sight of his own fedora. Did you know he seriously tries to tell a story about himself in his comic book reviews? What a fucking joke.
  
• Spoony - unfunny idiot I'd like to rape
  
• Desu girl Spoony wanted to rape but I forgot the name of - a boring christian idiot with nothing useful to say about anime trash
  
• LordKat - What a self-important immature faggot. I hope he rots in his parents basement into his late-twenties OH WAIT
  
• Almost everybody else on TGWTG - Whenever I look, it's always a boring hatted idiot mumbling into a camera about shit I don't care about.
  
• MST3K - Always unfunny and horrible. Every one they did. Deserves a mention because they're the guiding influence behind every bad reviewer on the internet.

Complicated feelings

• Retsupurae - Not fully into these guys yet. Seems like a lot of unfunny or boring stuff mixed inbetween comedy gold. I am willing to think more of them the more I see, though.
  
• SirRonLionheart - Complicated feelings indeed. His runthrough of Kaizo Super Mario World is hysterical but almost everything else sucks or kinda sucks. I think he was a flash in the pan.
  
• Irate gamer - utterly embarrassing and horrible in this trainwreck way that has made for hysterical parodies. Third Rate Gamer is super sharp and hysterical when viewed alongside the original videos, and Save State Gamer is enjoyable too.
  
• Angry Joe - he is angry in a space ship.

tl;dr:

Um, a Let's Player I've checked a couple of times who let's plays of old games I've played is HCBailey. He doesn't try to too hard to be funny, and he has a pretty likable personality that doesn't grate you much. What I like most about his let's plays is that he completely breaks everything down about the game he plays with every fact and trivia you can imagine, and he will go through every nook and cranny in the game for full completion. He thinks Mystic Quest is a good game though, what a dope.

Retsupurae is a mixed bag. I guess it just depends on the luck of the draw. Overall, I like them though, and they have interesting personalities with their own kind of razor wit. Their retsupurae of Darkseeds 2 is overrated though, cause it drags on too long with a lot of dull moments.

oh shit and rinry game game

a really weird reviewer to watch i have extremely complicated feelings about whether she's annoyingly saccharine or just plain kawaii \ entertaining btw read the youtube comments about her rape baby p. funny

Surprised how this has gone 12 replies without someone mentioning either how amazing or how horrible Game Grumps is. I think I watched the first two episodes of their Pokemon Emerald playthrough, but I got bored and stopped after that.

Suitcase: I can't fucking stand Angry Joe. I tried to watch his video about the disc-locked content on SFxTekken, but couldn't get passed the obnoxious yelling and stopped around the five-minute mark. I know that a name like Angry Joe points out what you should expect, but even then, he does a pretty shitty job at trying to do the Angry Reviewer Shtick.

And didn't Spoony get kicked out of Team TGWTG for being a raging alcoholic or something?

This post has been edited by MintyFishbowl: 23 August 2012 - 08:19 PM

I Like
AVGN/Cinemassacre: I get a nostalgia kick as well as entertainment. I like the reviews on older movies too, they're quite informative
Zero Punctuation: I love to see how far he can go with trying to get creative word play to work. I like his nitpicking and I get all giddy when he bashes gaming companies, too. As for his reviews, I tend not to take them seriously at all, I've seen him bitch about games that are legitimately good (so I like him for entertainment only?).
Nostalgia Chick: I haven't really watched much of her stuff, but much of which I have I really liked (her Milo & Otis review was an eye-opener ).
Wreckless Eating: the good, the weird, and the awful; they eat it all. Sometimes it's like watching Jackass if they were bought up by the food network, other times it can be informative and actually get me to try of the foods myself.

I'm Conflicted
Red Letter Media: I like their movie reviews because they tend to go into detail (their Red Tails review, for example, was spot-on), but their shticks get really tiring really fast.
Nostalgia Critic: I only tend to watch him if he's doing a movie I've seen, I really can't stand it when he over-does it with flash animations and after effects. The other things people find annoying about him don't bother me. Though I do like his "Top 11" lists, like his Top 11 Nostalgic Mind-Fucks.
The Spoony Experiment: I used to watch him quite a bit, mostly for his Let's Play videos, but he's really gone down hill. I only ever watch him now for his reviews on newly released movies. The addition of dumb shticks like the Nostalgia Critic's are equally annoying.
The Cinema Snob: His voice can get really grating after awhile, but I still get a kick out of him reviewing awful movies I will never watch myself. I also like watching him eat weird things. However, I can't be bothered to watch him anymore, I lost interest a long while ago.
Angry Joe: I revel in his out-right enthusiasm for some games, but I generally ignore him because I find his "angry" thing gets annoying at times. Though I do pay close attention when he talks about games and franchises that interest me (like Aliens Colonial Marines).

Fuck 'Em
Linkara: just annoying.
Escape to the Movies with MovieBob: anime biased faggot.
Xplay: I used to love 'em, but fuck me, things had been going downhill even before Sessler left. Now they are less about their own style of reviews and more about game related shit I can see elsewhere. After watching their older stuff, I had no idea just how biased some of their reviews were.

MintyFishbowl, on 23 August 2012 - 08:19 PM, said:

I believe they fired him for making a rape joke. They had apparently fired someone outright for that before, but gave Spoony another chance. He didn't improve so they cut him loose. That's what I heard, though I'm sure all the other stuff had something to do with it too.

This post has been edited by ChewySmokey: 23 August 2012 - 10:59 PM

well, it looks like most of the thread is in agreement on Nostalgia Chick, Nostalgia Critic, the TGWTG team, etc. so i don't really see the what else I can say about them other than that i agree with you guys on them.

i've been watching "The Bunny Perspective" lately, though. it's a dude hiding behind a rabbit puppet that looks like Max from "Sam and Max" as he reviews (mostly) movies and television. i haven't seen all of his videos yet, but most of his stuff seems okay. there are some parts of his reviews which don't really make sense, like, he used to add this roommate character to certain parts all the time to show this illusion that the puppet is a real person, but that pretty much stops in later episodes. in general, i don't care if reviewers are funny. i'd rather that they just get to the point on certain topics, so i dislike most attempts at humor in reviews. what "Phil Bunny" does is give a general overview of the movie/show and his thoughts. he does a few "commentary" episodes, which i don't really care for and he did a series of "Let's Play" videos of the video game version of "The Room", which i only saw one video of because i generally don't care for "Let's Play" videos.

This post has been edited by Kaxbe: 23 August 2012 - 11:36 PM

I'll throw a curveball, I've been listening to Maxamillion the past few weeks(Breaking Down Black Ops 2 Multiplayer - Part 4 *Net Code and E Sports* - YouTube). His actual "Skits" don't really do anything for me, but for background noise and some insight into the Fighting game/CoD community it's been something interesting to listen to. It's not a pure review-esk style channel that some of you are used to, but here it is.

As an aside,I really find that I need to be interesting in the voice and inflection a reviewer has. Someone like Angry Joe has a specific tone that gets my attention (yelling/spazzing out aside which he does too way too much on some reviews), while NChick's voice drowns out for me

This post has been edited by Pants: 24 August 2012 - 05:20 AM

I'll be the one who says it, I actually like most of the TGWTG team except for Nostalgia Chick, something about her personality just really fucking annoys me, but I still watch her reviews since most of the movies interest me and I agree with her a lot of the time. Something about the character she puts out is just so annoying and pretentious sounding, even more so than the actual reviewers that are suppose to sound snobby like CS and Oancitizen though I really do dislike a lot of her early episodes just for being boring.

I also really do like Linkara too and over all don't mind story arcs, to me it feels like you're more watching an actual TV show rather than just a review show. Don't get me wrong I can see how some people wouldn't like that and just want reviews but I like em.

Also I'm super excited about the silly little 4th year anniversary movie for TGWTG, so judge on.

i just don't like it when reviewers do those weird little "story arch" things because it takes away from the reason why someone would want to watch them. we tune into these review shows expecting a review and most of the time when a story is added you take away from the review. it's one of the reasons why even though i enjoy MST3K, i can't get too into it because they interrupt the part i enjoy, the riffing of the movie, with a ridiculous story and stupid and unneeded sketch gags. i mean, back when i knew nothing about Linkara, i'd see snippets of some of his videos and be immensely turned-off by it because i didn't even know that reviews were what he usually did. i just saw a dude doing some sort of stupid sketch story and wasn't at all interested in it. and that really just baffles me because a lot of these reviewers talk about how important every single element is in a movie/television show/etc. in order to be effective and yet they throw in these stories and extra characters into their reviews that don't really do anything to help them get to the point they're trying to make in the review.

confirmed: leaving a comment is a brainless moron

Oh golly Suitcase doesn't agree with me and thinks less of me because I like something he doesn't, let me immediately change my opinion to something that he agrees with.

And like I said I get why other people don't like it I just do, it makes me more invested in the reviewer themselves which prompts me come back to a review show even if I don't like what they review.

I tend to watch Zero Punctuation a lot, but that's just because I admire how long he can keep his analogies going. It's good background noise and has some good wit to the segments. I might not be a fan of some of his opinions but it keeps me awake.

I used to be a frequent watcher of Nostalgia Critic until I opened my eyes and realized that all his reviews are shit, though once in a while I will go back to watch the Top 11's because I think that he's ACTUAL view on movies is very good. Nostalgia Critic is just a character he plays, in his actual vlogs where he talks about movies without any of his "jokes" I tend to listen to him more. In his Top 11's it's actual opinion and not just loudmouth farce. Seriously, how many times is he going to use the gun joke, holy shit.

Game Grumps tends to get on my nerves a bit, JonTron on his own is...okay,I guess and Egoraptor is Egoraptor, but bringing them together? They're supposed to be reviewers but they spend most of their reviews in childish giggling and not even talking about the game they're playing. In the end it just seems like "hey, watch these two assholes have fun" instead of an actual review of the game they're playing. It's not very professional. But if you're bored on a Saturday night they're at least watchable.

I don't like YouTube reviewers in general. It's like digging through a mountain of shit for nuggets of comedy and insight and crawling out with wasted time and undigested peanuts.

Shada, on 25 August 2012 - 10:30 PM, said:

And even then, it's pretty obvious that Yahtzee goes for comedy more than actually giving insightful reviews. Anyone that gets mad over his opinion is missing the entire point of his reviews in the first place.

Figured it was best to put this here. Doug Walker is no longer focusing on NC episodes.

This post has been edited by MintyFishbowl: 16 September 2012 - 02:35 AM

I've known this Let's Play for a long time but didn't bother to link it before. But this guy plays some mad insane games, and my favorite Let's Play of his is Eastern Mind: An incredibly twistedly whimsical and surreal game that makes me wonder what kind of mind the person who made this has.

You can start from here. Years later he replays it again using a walkthrough.

I like reading some Angry Metal Guy now and then. Music isn't an objective thing and he doesn't understand how you're supposed to rate music on an objective basis. It makes no sense, so he approaches it subjectively and goes from there.

@Seppucrow

That guy wasn't exactly the most interesting individual, to be honest. The video was actually pretty boring

I disagree.

It seems nobody has mentioned Roo, the guy behind a series called 16-Bit gems.

I really enjoy his reviews, as they are usually mixed up with a games history lesson. It brings a lot of insight about the times and the environments surrounding the game in question, and even busts out some interesting trivia sometimes. At times he tries to be funny, but that's not really his main draw, as he really is better at being informative. You might still get a smile every now and then though!

Sadly, he hasn't made a review in a long time. But apparently he's working on one right now, so cheers!

16-Bit Gems | Clan of the Gray Wolf

This post has been edited by ZoeStellan: 14 May 2013 - 07:50 PM

On the topic of let's plays I've always been a fan of SSoHPKC. He's wonderfully cynical and sarcastic and I really like his play style, but a lot of people dislike him. (results may vary)

Well for let's plays, I'd say either the yogscast (aka bluexephos) or theradbrad. Their both on YouTube.

Zoo Tycoon Gameplay and Commentary

Cr1TiKaL is usually pretty entertaining. Some of his stuff is very hit and miss, not to mention he is hardly a serious Let's Player; but all of that aside, I like his videos a lot more than I like plenty of other people's.

The thing is, most of his low-tier unfunny shit is about on par with a lot of reviewers better videos and jokes. Probably why I like him so much more. Though, I will admit, unlike say Angry Video Game Nerd, Cr1TiKaL's jokes do KINDA bomb when they don't land. Not to say it is cringe worthy or anything, it is just worth saying he puts himself out there a bit more.

This post has been edited by Meowth: 15 May 2013 - 03:57 AM

I guess my opinions on reviewers are generally wrong then?

I generally prefer Nostalgia Critic to Nostalgia Chick. Yeah, most, if not all of his skits aren't funny, but I really enjoy some of his jokes and all his more serious editorials. While I may not agree with him 100% of the time, I think he generally makes his case quite well. And at least I laugh at some of his jokes, which is more to say than Nostalgia Chick. It's weird, because I'm generally a huge fan of deadpan, and I know objectively she does it well enough, but it just doesn't seem all that funny to me. Just not on my wavelength I guess.

And I really like Jontron, and Gamegrumps. It brings back memories of hanging out with friends, playing video games and just talking. It's terrible as a Let's Play, but I maintain that it can be funny at times, in that sort of overblown way. I guess I like that a lot more than I thought.

AVGN CAN be absolutely hilarious, but it's pretty hit and miss for me. The gross-humour gets old really fast, and I'm glad he's been keeping it down a bit with his more recent videos. PeanutButterGamer is kind of my favourite in the genre of video games. He's got that sort of awkwardness that just kills me.