Who are your favourite video game reviewers?

My favourite is SkillUp - his reviews are like a piece of art themselves. Honestly, I can happily watch him review a game I have never played and have no intention of playing, just because I like the way he talks about games.

He is also unafraid to level criticism where criticism is due, clearly flags where his views are coloured by his own subjective preferences, and is always fair to the games he is reviewing. He doesn't do that thing which is common in video game journalism of just hating on something that people have worked hard on because hating on it is popular and scores lots of views.

As an example review, here's his review of Subnautica:



I can also highly recommend his review of Red Dead Redemption 2.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq6VFHwMzcMXbuKyG7SQYIg
I watch Critical for videogame reviews. He justifiably puts a premium on entertainment value, he seems to be willing to review virtually any game, and it's easy to get a feel for his preferences and adjust to what you would probably think of the game. I would say he's reasonably fair in the sense that even when he has a ton of terrible things to say about a game, if he can find something positive to say about it, he'll bring it up. An example would be how he liked the score in Mass Effect: Andromeda. I suppose a sort of blind spot of his was his review of Minecraft, in which he jumped onto a minigame server rather than just playing it normally.

 

Not the traditional type of review but more of a long form critical format but hands down Joseph Anderson. He makes long videos on games and goes into deep detail with all important parts of the game. More importantly for me he painstakingly edits his videos to make sure relevant content is shown on screen to what he is discussing. Definitely not for everyone considering how long his videos are and how much of it he can spend recapping the story but it is definitely my type.

 

Dammit @Meerkats , Joseph Anderson was the first guy I was going to recommend. :/

The only other video game reviewer I watch is Hbomberguy, but he doesn't just look at video games. I found his video on Pathologic very enjoyable.

 

MandoreGaming is probably my favorite. He generally reviews older and more obscure games but luts a lot of time and effort into it.

 

Totalbiscuit.

 

Zero Punctuation! Always highly entertained by every review. Wish the guy'd talk a bit faster though, c'mon.

 

He means MandaloreGaming, for folks who try to google it.

 

I miss him so much. Got to meet him a few times, and he was just a good guy who poured his heart into what he loved.

Still haven't found anyone to replace him, both in spirit and in game reviews. Probably never will.

And just to add to the sadness, his wife (who also has cancer) was confirmed positive for Covid a few days ago.

 

Well fuck. :/ I hadn’t heard that.

 

For long form critiques, Joseph Anderson. His new planned ~12 hour witcher critique is something I can't wait to sink my teeth into.

For a years worth of zero punctuation with zero punctuation I go with zero punctuation. His visceral cynicism can get a bit samey sometimes but still entertaining.

I don't always agree with his reviews, but for sure Videogamedunkey has to be up there for me. His take down of Death Stranding was a thing of glory.

 

Dunkey's FF7R was fucking gold. It helps that his opinions lined up so well with mine too.

NakeyJakey doesn't do a lot of reviews, but his RDR2 review was amazing.

Honestly, finding a reviewer you like is a personal thing. Objectivity and Subjectivity are a sensitive issue when it comes to video game reviews. What I find works best is to just find a reviewer whose tastes line up with your own. I've basically abandoned all 'mainstream' video game coverage at this point, but I don't really rush to anyone in particular for reviews either.

Having said that, one of the only video-game related commentators I listen to regularly these days is Colin Moriarty, but our video-game preferences don't really line up aside from being PlayStation centric. He and ChrisRayGun have a bi-weekly playstation podcast that reminds me of a video game version of Half-in-the-bag. Two intelligent and funny guys just talking about the medium they're experts in.

 

I like a few reviewers, but I don't watch every single one of their videos: MandaloreGaming, SsethTzeentch, RagnarRox, Noah Caldwell-Gervais, Whitelight and Indigo Gaming. Like I said, I don't watch every single one of their videos, and the likes of SsethTzeentch are watched only for the entertainment value because I've already played most of the games he talks about.