CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 2 (Zero Punctuation)

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This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Codblops 2.
Fast-talking Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw reviews a new game each week in this animated series that combines informed critique with cutting humor. Watch the next episode of Zero Punctuation a week early, only on The Escapist.
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[@RoyalFusilier]

This guy is one of the only people I've seen prominently feature a critique of the underlying politics and racial and natonalist implications of the series as well as things like the gameplay, story, controls, multiplayer, popularity, fanbase, etc. It's actually kind of refreshing to see.

[@WHATISUTUBE]

nationalist implications, sure. But everytime I hear cries of racism I've grown so tired of it because its usually of the ''why are there white people here I am angry'' variety. I will never understand this self-hatred complex white people have.

[@starchmonkey]

WHATISUTUBE You really don't see the problem that every game's tedious plot involves white American protagonists killing brown people?

[@AlaskanTrain21]

***** All I want for Christmas is the comment character limit to return.

[@AlaskanTrain21]

***** I think 79 lines is more than a conversation (I'm in the reply box; line count is inflated)

[@starchmonkey]

Iceninja mihm I'm white and my ancestors never owned slaves, and they aren't from a country where the slave trade was prominent (Slovenia)

[@Daelonnn13]

"HE A TURRIST!!" God dammit Yahtzee. Just about died on that one. XD

[@UseZapCannon]

So the hypothetical _The Adventures of Hooky Wingsuit: The Amazing Flying Racist_ at 3:14 is basically _Just Cause 3_? Damn, Yahtzee saw it coming all along.

[@pisaks6782]

+Zapsie except for the racist part

[@brainflash1]

+vovka murla Well it would've been a little racist if it was an American going in and "liberating" the island.

[@louis922]

+brainflash1 but he's not American, he comes from the island. So its not racist. For it to be racist you would have to completely change the plot (and his accent)

[@helloworld9957]

+Learn Quick would've

[@felisasininus1784]

Rico is from Medici.

[@jesse9149]

"The adventures of Hooky Wingsuit, the amazing flying racist" Someone needs to make this.

[@brodericksiz625]

They eventually did, minus the racist bit, and it was fucking sweet. Why did they do it? Just 'cause, three

[@WayToTheDawn65]

I'm not sure if he's referring to the white ancestors who enslaved blacks/etc, or if Yahtzee is aware of the people I personally have locked in my basement...

[@nic0_nic0_n0pe9]

this video is so burned into my brain from my childhood, i had to give it a rewatch after yahtzee's latest review. the entire commentary aged phenomenally. way ahead of his time calling out cod as a jingoistic recruitment tool.

[@MrEarlSwift]

as a Canadian, i just wish there were more games that had ANYONE other than Americans as the protagonists, not that i hate Americans mind you, its just its a bit repetitive. i dont care if you play a herdsman in Mongolia or a Tibetan monk, just as long as its a change.

[@cas9564]

Yeah, I'm an American and I want someone else who isn't American as the protagonist.

[@RedDuke42]

*cough* Elder Scrolls *cough*

[@cas9564]

Oh yeah.

[@MrEarlSwift]

***** of coarse Im not, I'm a person, people cant be countries!!

[@Scorecatron]

***** I'm not Canadian.

[@fsffda]

I can believe yahtzee didn't point out how ridiculous the section where you play as the bad guy. You become invincible, gain the ability to run at 20 mph, and hear things a half a kilometer away.

[@fsffda]

and you get a shotgun with unlimited ammo. this is NOT a realistic shooter

[@CountSpartula]

And that would matter why?

[@fsffda]

AceOfBlazes because it is probably one of the stupidest sections in video games ever. I was so confused when i played it because i wasn't sure if it were satirical or not

[@CountSpartula]

fsffda But still, why does it matter? And also, were you even paying attention to the story and events of the game?

[@fsffda]

AceOfBlazes what is your point here? Are you trying to defend the black ops 2 campaign?

[@anonymous6705]

3:28 To be fair, the same can be said for Doom's partial invisbility powerup. To be unfair, Doom came out in 1993.

[@fulldisclosureiamamonster2786]

Yeah, but the keyword there was "partial." Like the spectre enemy, you're still visible, just harder to make out, and by proxy, hit. Which is how it works, it makes enemies much less accurate while attacking you. I believe hiding you from vision entirely wasn't a feature until ZDoom and other source ports added it.

[@JCDenton2012Modder]

"Boo Hoo Dr. Doom.." I bust out laughing when I heard that. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself, politics put aside. :P

[@ThatCanadianGamer374]

I remember a part of the first mission where if you don't stand on the literal square inch of space you're supposed to, you fail the mission. Fuck this game.

[@christianmac4973]

Well,by looking at this comment section I learned one thing. Don't ever look at a comments section for any big shooter game.

[@crazedautisticanarchist9704]

Or any comment section where someone says whites are privileged

[@mklzer0]

@hi there jews aren't white

[@Liam-vu7wo]

@@mklzer0 jesus christ

[@TwilitArchon]

"Couldn't outwit a spider with seven legs pulled off" Sounds like the end of Brothers.

[@Akay4444444444444444]

Get out.

[@noble300000]

Once again, Yahtzee predicts the future about JC3

[@xSmythosx]

looking back on this more than 8 years later and all i can say is “holy shit he got it. 8 years ago before this was mainstream to say and he fucking got it.” yahtzee been a real one this whole time we love to see it

[@hoagielamp6543]

Or he was unduly soapboxing in an otherwise relatively politically sterile review. There hasn't been a tirade like this before or since. EDIT: He's undoubtedly based but this stuff is particularly racist. He equates whiteness to white supremacy and no matter how bullshit whiteness is their identity shouldn't be invalidated.

[@darkjanggo]

yahtzee was based then and is based now

[@TheSundayShooter]

Crowshaw (Yahtzee) said this to be cheeky (perhaps), but shills invoked it hoping to get a teen convicted for defending himself from race rioters

[@thomastakesatollforthedark2231]

@@TheSundayShooter are you referring to that kid who took his dad's rifle, went to another state, and started shooting at blm protestors?

[@TheSundayShooter]

@@thomastakesatollforthedark2231 Burning Looting Marauders bussed in from out-of-state, race rioting as tribute to the knife-wielding domestic abuser: Jacob Blake. They assaulted that minor, but he defended himself

[@F4LLEND4RK]

I feel ashamed of myself that I've only just found zero punctuation now. How did I manage to live my life without it?

[@sithdude2436]

Weak. I found it less than a month ago.

[@siegmund87]

I need money because I honestly didn't know who had the bag on his head. So 1000 dollars would be a good start......

[@chavaspada]

I did the same exact thing, and you shoot mason, I think.

[@chavaspada]

Breeze Ark Sadly, it does... I didn't realise Farid was a part of the team until you control him, that tells you how much I cared about the story and its characters...

[@gamerdude730]

"Video games should be able to stand on Single Player Alone." -Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw

[@devinl9863]

What I don't like is how yahtzee said that white people have to are crying about the people we used to enslave. The thing about racism is that people have to start forgiving. It's not even that person, it was generations ago. I'm part Cherokee, do I blame pure white Americans for taking my land? No. I'm part Argentine, do I blame the Spaniards for making my ancestors revolt against them? No. I'm part black, do I blame any Americans for slavery? No. Part of my family left France during the French Revolution, do I blame any french people that did that to my ancestors? No. But more than that, I'm an American, and I guess a mutt, but do I blame anyone for that? No. People need to forgive, and get on with their lives and stop bringing up racism when it's hardly even relevant anymore.

[@shakesbeare-gaming]

If people in the world had that level of intelligence, all of our problems would have been fixed.... a looong time ago

[@69KnightBlack]

Firake12 amen dude

[@sreamwalker24]

I have to disagree with you I'm a quarter Aztec Indian and I think European people screwed over all the native Americans from Eskimos to the Inca the killed over 100 million people that was way more than Hitler and Stalin

[@69KnightBlack]

***** it ok to think they screwed you over, but dont keep the hate alive. What you said is fact and yes they screwed you people big time. But take it form a black man who used to be really mad at all white people because of slavery and the subsequent actions during the civil rights movement. Holding on to the past does nothing for you but make you feel worse. Remember it to keep it from happening again, but dont keep the hate so you wound up doing the same

[@magnusbergman6153]

From another point of view, how would you possibly go about assigning blame? How many "White" people had ancestors who had nothing to do with slavery, colonialism, or what-have-you. For example, I'm "white," but all of my ancestors are Swedish. The only slaves they ever had were Russian. (Incidentally, the word "slave" comes from the term for people of western-russian descent, "Slav").

[@4TheWinQuinn]

He's so right about how they insert really interesting mechanics and gameplay sections for about a minute and then there never seen again. World at War was the best Call Of Duty, it just didn't have any of those 1 minute mechanics, plus the only cod to have drivable vehicles in multiplayer ( the tanks ) and the only Cod to have some verticality and scale in its maps ( think about the church tower that you could go right to the top of )

[@ECL28E]

"This really is a game for absolute cretins." This and almost every other CoD game

[@ncc9610]

From Black Ops onward I agree.

[@technomancerhammerballs8816]

cant get mad if you say "almost" after all, nearly all, the ww2 based ones were really good, but if you say that about mw1 or 2 you just haven't played them really, or payed attention to the story at least

[@nathanclark2424]

No, they weren't made for cretins. They were made to TURN YOU INTO a cretin. Seriously, I almost have a seizure every time I try to make sense of BLOPS 1's plot.

[@Untarnished2022]

"Except modern warfare 2 hurr durr"

[@marinmarinhola]

@@technomancerhammerballs8816 Can't really defend modern warfare 2s story that much. The multi-player is fun(albeit horrendously imbalanced) and the campaign is serviceable, but saying it's on MW1 or WaW level, absolutely not. And it's not even on the same universe as COD 2. MW2 is a slightly above average game, but it isn't anything more than that, unlike other cods.

[@CaptainConan]

While it is retarded to believe that all white people are privileged and that white people cannot be the victims of racism, i don't interpret this video as a serious political opinion. It's just humor, and damn good humor at that. If pressed, i imagine that Yahtzee would admit that yes, white people can be the victims of racism and aren't universally privileged, and that he was just going for comic effect, which i respect. I think everyone need to learn how to chill out a bit.

[@BenKuyt64]

This game actually had one of the most understanding villains I've ever met. Seriously, him and Handsome Jack went from being "Evil because evil" to "YOU KILLED HIS FUCKING DAUGHTER/SISTER!" Seriously, you had a clear good vs bad thing, and then you completely justify Ramirez/Jack's anger and vengeance by killing the only thing they loved. Seriously, after that, I was like "Holy shit, I get this guy's rage now!"

[@kishin901]

Except for the fact that handsome jack enslaved his own daughter and used her as an energy reactor, effectively dooming her the second she was disconnected from the machine he plugged her into. Besides that, she wanted to die, and killing her only provided extremely mild justification for his actions, he was gonna kill everyone regardless of whether his daughter lived or not.

[@tonycullen301]

I don't believe you ever met a single videogame character EVER -.-

[@BenKuyt64]

Tony Cullen Well, seeing as how I can't technically "meet" them...

[@MrAssassinkid17]

*Menendez

[@XEL777]

2:16 Farid was a good guy and haven't betrayed the protagonists.

[@ethanedwards3357]

Yeah, in fact he was THEIR mole for cordis die. Only reason he killed his own men is because he had to in order to not blow his cover, and if you kill Harper (which you have to do to save Karma and get the best ending, yeah there's multiple endings) he's clearly distraught over it.

[@jackwisniewski3859]

I assume yatz didn't realise the game has multiple ending and possible choices, so I don't blame him for not catching the plot. Truth is this just isn't his kind of game and he has the full right to think it's shit. I personally think it's a lot of fun.

[@Varaldar]

yeah because someone with similar skin tone to me enslaved someone with similar skin tone to my friend about 200 years ago means i have it better off than him

[@terencesmith7231]

again, what is it with people insinuating that poverty is based on the color of your skin? poverty is based on wealth, and generally location.

[@Varaldar]

+Terence Smith because more black people are in poverty therefore they are more likely to comit crimes. not because they are black but because they are more likely to be in poverty

[@crazedautisticanarchist9704]

yOU STILL DO IN PRISONS. ACTUALLY READ THE SLAVERY CLAUSE OF YOUR OWN FUCKING CONSTITUTION.

[@nerdy_bumblebee]

god it's WILD how well this holds up

[@AmuroRay007]

Well who the fuck WOULDN’T shoot at a mysterious floating fedora running right at them?

[@styk0n]

I don't know how many times I had to pause this because I was laughing so hard I couldn't heard Yahtzee talk.

[@giorgibujiashvili3942]

ike

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Hear.

[@dangermittens2656]

Your conversation was fantastic. You both are prime examples of perfection in youtube speak. I honestly respect you and wish you nothing but happiness.

[@cs5476]

No matter what everyone tells you Yahtzee, you really are a good person and it's great that you took a stand against the stereotypes/cliches (and racism) of modern games. Bravo.

[@derpaderpy4931]

This comment is meaningless.

[@StarvingTroll]

This reply is futile.

[@derpaderpy4931]

Absence of Grey This reply back is stupid.

[@rogerjones7126]

+Daniel Sharples This comment is meaningless.

[@grintv6238]

the true meaning comes from within

[@PristianoPenaldoSUIIII]

Much like all of the others under this video.

[@LeafeonThePoet]

5:01 On the last hat on the tower, It's the Familiar Fez!

[@aperturesciencegames]

I think anyone who complains about 'sjw' censorship, but also complains about Yahtzee's politics and jokes at the expense of white people needs to really think about that double standard

[@goa141no6]

aperturesciencegames SJW censure and don't talk other think (really narrow minded) the later is a discuss (or coment) of yathzee opinion, if you want to make political comments good for you but i or someone else could answer you as well. If you don't want political debate don't throw political comments (and yathzee do that a lot).

[@joshuathomas5626]

Yea because yahtzee is the standard. Right?

[@tomkenning5482]

goa141 No Do you want to take a deep breath and try again

[@goa141no6]

Tom Kenning I was beign hot headed back then, and the first guy is right on the double standard, criticize can be done both way but my comment was dumb.

[@tomkenning5482]

goa141 No Holy shit someone admitted they were wrong on KZbin. Well done, you're a decent bloke.

[@TheHikariOne]

I remember when this episode first came out. Yahtzee got a ton of blowback/dislikes for his commentary at the end about privilege and how it boiled down to white guys gunning down anything with a foreign accent, saying things about how he was pushing an agenda. It's around a decade later and, from what I've seen from recent comments, people now seem to agree with him on those points. Just goes to show he was ahead of his time.

[@Beastleviath]

I'm always mildly annoyed by that "people you used to enslave" bit. As though I am personally to blame for what my great^6 grandparents may or may not have done

[@JonahLoeb]

Nobody said you're personally to blame. But those things that your great^6 grandparents did have had devastating consequences for every generation of the descendants of the people they enslaved, and ignoring that because "nobody's enslaved NOWWWW" is really myopic.

[@paladinboyd1228]

Beastleviath, Yeah I'm British and by that logic I'm worse than Hitler.

[@anon9579]

People today regardless of skin colour are NOT RESPONSIBLE for anything their ancestors did and never will be. That's like imprisoning a baby for the murder his father committed.

[@XoxeroThePoet]

+Jonah Loeb True, but some of the problems can be caused by the ancestors of slaves requesting special treatment and alienating themselves from the ancestors of slave owners. If everyone was treated the same without prejudice (from both sides) we wouldn't have a number of problems. To put it another way, people hated the new Ghostbusters because it heavily promoted the fact that it had a mostly female lead cast and promoted this as an innovative concept. Mad Max: Fury Road was well received because it asked to be judged on its own merits, not for the prominent female leads.

[@pissedoffnation]

Beastleviath yeah its guilty by association and tbats ridiculous. was it terrible? yes should it ever happen again? no was it any living persons fault? no

[@BIadelores]

And as it's always the case, 10% of the comments are about whining about the content of the video, 90% whining about the comments that whine about the content of the video.

[@LostTimeLady]

I regret reading the comments...

[@iruleharderthanyou12]

Oh yahtzee, you are the absolute FUCKING best! Can't get enough of the zero punctuation vids.

[@I_am_ENSanity]

Eh, I had fun with the game. Played the campaign while drunk and had a blast then played MP for a couple of weekends and got some really fun stories to tell.

[@quetzalthegamer]

WHOOPS, MY BRAIN FELL OUT AGAIN!

[@legs0fsteel]

This was actually my favorite COD of the series with all the futuristic stuff and changes they made to zombies and multiplayer modes. Then MW3 came around and we went back to the ''super realistic hardcore army man'' thing and i haven't bought a COD since i hope next year's COD from treyarch(the studio that made Word at War and BLOPS 1/2) will be as good as this one

[@piardthefart2659]

How do you feel now after all those years? Good? Bad?

[@blinkin78]

Modern warfare 3 came out the year before this

[@thicboibigsmoke7220]

Its funny how this is now regarded to be the “last good” call of Duty in the year 2018, even being called the most balanced by the pros.

[@bob123456789267]

I'm white and privileged and find all of this hilarious. I've watched 50 of these tonight so far, and have had 3 asthma attacks from laughing so much. My reason for admiring Yahtzee is that he makes me feel like a kind reasonable person who his happy with everything in the world. The ZP playlist is like a seemingly never ending hate train of stand up comedy, crackhead analogies, and kickass intro music. I know there's no real reason for posting stuff like this but after literally falling on the floor with ecstatic laughter, I feel like I need to. Thank you Ben Croshaw, you wonderful, wonderful man.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

Good for you, how does this apply to anything mentioned.

[@goatskin4487]

Stop supporting this sjw bullshit of privelage. Seriously gave me one example of your so called priviallge that you get from being in America.

[@jordanj809]

Kye Dysarthria don’t be a douche

[@GearGolemTMF]

I’m over here dying at them not being able to outwit a spider with seven legs pulled off 😂😂

[@PanzerFaustFurious]

wow people see racism in anything nowadays..

[@SoCalledSpaceAge]

Especially where there's actually racism. Go figure.

[@jacobjimenez3240]

Especially if it is racist.

[@here4good]

I wonder if he'll ever do a retro-ish-review of Call of Duty 2?

[@doger944]

I liked this game. It wasn't Citizen Kane but it was a huge improvement on the Call of Duty series and it wasn't racist at all.

[@paladin400]

+doger944 not racist at all? you are probably so used to shooting brown people in COD that you started to believe that's normal hence not racist

[@jagannathbarman6712]

+paladin400 “CuteSpaniel” listen I am a brown guy and I don't think it was a very racist game

[@DCSMustang]

now i have to explain to my boss why i'm giggling all the time. this is hillarious! subscribed!

[@Parnifia]

You know, as a middle class white person, I feel like most of the world hates me for no reason. I'm well aware that over 75% of the people in this group are complete assholes. But I'm not one (at least, I don't think I am). Relative to our position in society, my family isn't exactly well-off (dad works from home as freelancer perpetually on deadline, mom runs small-name eBay shop), and yet I still won't qualify for significant financial aid. I know why I'm hated, but it's still not exactly fair (it's kind of fair, but not really).

[@cantorlok2815]

agreed

[@Armendicus]

Actually its not fair to be hated ,patronized or demonized for something you had nothing to do with... This is a black man talking and We know the feeling ll too well. Thats why I hope people start judging individuals more than groups.

[@cantorlok2815]

Armendicus yeah

[@dragonslair951167]

Armendicus I agree, when MLK said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." he didn't say black or white.

[@SilverFeet]

dragonslair951167 He also said that the biggest enemy of black people are moderate whites who only care about the issue of race as it pertains to them.

[@snakelord2]

There are very heavy racial undertones in this game how it seems that the black characters always get killed or basically any colored characters get killed mutilated ect ect and also noticed how this game is almost gun porn for the right wing crowd granted I do enjoy fps but it's all so ironic how bad this game is and it seems to appeal to those "casual" ppl the same ones who don't truly think about what they play they play it because it's popular........my god.....yhatzee is 100% correct Best review ever lol

[@scourge7373]

I never got that, the white guys get it bad too, albeit to a lesser degree. Hudson gets his legs removed by a shotgun, Woods is shot multiple times and left crippled, and in the bad ending Mason dies. Also Harper needs to be shot to get the good ending or the hacker girl dies

[@caustic260b]

"Gun nuts" hate these games too: every time a Call of Duty title gets released, forums dedicated to weapons get flooded with prepubescent shitheads that have to go around showing everyone why the FAMAS is better than the ACR, why everyone should love this WWII weapon that got bubba'd to shit, or how they're gonna join the Army so they can kill people. It gets so terrible every fucking time that the forum regulars have to hide in the fort they made with ammo cans until 9PM when the Call of Duty types got ushered to bed by their mom.

[@TheGeoshark]

scourge ks bad ending? I think you mean best ending.

[@false_guru]

I'm African-American and honestly couldn't care unless the racism was totally blatant. I find it very terrible when nobody does anything interesting (no matter how bad it is) to anybody who isn't the same race as the main character or white. I find it 'pussy-like' and don't hold back. In COD BL-OPS the only black person on your team gets to be the only one killed unceremoniously by a violent bashing to the head because he pissed off the guy that captured you all. The reason I don't find it racist because that's what war is, that's what Vietnam was, that's what happens when you buy a game about killing people. Calling black people having the same shit done to them in a game that happens to anyone else racist is like saying the metaphorical shit hitting the metaphorical fan is an impact grenade because you just happen to be in the room.

[@jaukkurik8294]

Got to boards.4chan.org/k/ and go tell them how obsessed they are with CoD.

[@ryuknightofflame]

I love how people say that you are privileged just by being born white. I'm white and have a hard time getting a job just like everyone else. I can't get assistance for school and I'm a 3.65gpa student, yet my ex gf gets $1800 a month going to school part time and has a 2.4gpa. Guess what. She showed me all of her scholarships and all but one are only available to African-Americans and the other is only available to women. A few years ago me and a few friends tried to start a business. One of us had experience running a business, another had his degree in business management, another had a degree and past experience in accounting and we got denied for the loan even with us all having perfect credit. Yet my neighbor got a huge loan and didn't present anything other than a vague descriptor of the business and proof that he was Indian - American while having just declared bankruptcy for the second time. I'm all for equality so where is it? Being a white male can be as much of a death curse as it can be a blessing. If you live in America it's almost always a curse. Unless you're born to a family that already has money and/or power it shuts you out of having a fair try. If you mess up once then you're stuck in a dead end job if you're lucky. On top of that we have to have racial slurs thrown at us daily by both media and other citizens. Then, if we say anything back we're pegged as racist and can be fired and/or arrested! Don't try to tell me I'm privileged because of my skin color because I know better. I'm on the fence about becoming racist because of all of the emphasis my country puts on how "white people are bad because of what happened in the past". News flash! THE CURRENT GENERATION DIDN'T DO ANY OF THAT! STOP PUNISHING US FOR WHAT OTHER PEOPLE DID!

[@psychotic17]

There seems to be a lot of "I'm white and my life sucks, therefore white prvilege doesn't exist" comments. And it's stupid and irrelevant. I don't believe patriarchy exists. Still, when someone says (or implies) "I have a female boss at work, therefore patriarchy doesn't exist", I'll still call them an idiot.

[@kibskibs498]

LOLOLOL 3.65? That is fucking garbage.

[@psychotic17]

Salvatration Halex One of us really needs to look up the meaning of the word "prove".

[@psychotic17]

Salvatration Halex Or so he claims. But yeah, people of color and women do get privileges. So do men and white people.

[@psychotic17]

Salvatration Halex You people? It is curious how no one on the internet seems to grasp the notion that not everyone who criticises them has to be one of "those people". You know, the "other side".

[@OurGourdandSavior]

Games like this are the reason that I call cutscenes "that time for going to the fridge."

[@1krani]

I actually found the story to be quite good as the last three villains we got from Call of Duty were a Russian psycho out to destroy the U.S. because he's nuttier than a Snicker's bar, a Russian general out to destroy the U.S. because it's the Cold War and that's kind of what you do when you're a Russian villain in a video game set in the Cold War, and that same Russian psycho as before plus an American general who betrays you for no adequately explained reason. So, a villain with a clear reason to hate the U.S. for all the death and misery it's brought him personally plus how much evil he perceives it to have done in the world in general? A bit more intelligent than Activision deserves, I'd say. It almost makes up for the first Zombies map released with the game being a big steaming pile o' sheit.

[@aleksanderolbrych9157]

+Ikrani If this would be any other game, people would be bowing their heads and praising the moraly grey story that makes the player doubt who is right and who is wrong half of the time. But it's CoD, so you have to be a racist stereotypical privileged gun-toothing white person who's as dumb as a rock. That's the internet way of things.

[@1krani]

Aleksander Olbrych I know, right? It's ridiculous. Even Yahtzee admits he's not entirely sure who he's supposed to hate here.

[@aleksanderolbrych9157]

Ikrani I'm waiting for his take on BO3. Especialy for "racist stupid pro-american gun-hoo" comments about a game in which the only clear villain is the CIA. By the way, IMO BO3 has a storyline that's borderline Bioshock/Spec Ops: The Line/Wolfenstein: New Order in terms of complexity and quality, and yet everyone calls it incomprehensible gibberish because, you know, it's CoD, it has to be dumb.

[@1krani]

Aleksander Olbrych Well, I'll withhold judgement on it until I play it, which I will because it's Treyarch's CoD and their CoD lineup puts Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer to shame. Guys haven't made a bad game in their entire run and I don't think they're going to start now.

[@1krani]

This just in: Black Ops 3 is officially "Ah! MEDIOCAH!"

[@Former_Halo_Fan]

"In his quest to find justice..." I'm sorry, how is killing thousands of people, running guns, and selling drugs justice?

[@marvinbrewton23]

Cause for the same reason you cant just walk into a place of work and demand them to give you the highest paying position there...you gota work your way up to the top to get anywhere near your goal.

[@trustworthytim4762]

I don't agree with the sentiment, but sometimes good men (not that Menendez was good, I wouldn't know) have to do horrible things to achieve their goal. A morally gray villain is key to a great story that lasts generations, but execution is key to success.

[@RexSpec]

Francis Drake A true villain relies on blurring the line between good and evil to achieve his/her ultimately evil ends. Actions, the consequences of those actions and the implications of those actions should define if a person is ultimately evil or good. Not words. As for philosophical outlook of a game or franchise, whether the game is black/white, grey/white, black/grey, or blue/orange does not matter. Grey-scale morality doesn't make for an instantly successful media franchise. If a game relies on values dissonance to make itself a success, then there is something seriously amiss with both the developer and the audience. Like you said, the issue is in the execution. And common archetypes or tropes will become cliche' very quickly if it is not executed correctly. Black/white morality and grey-scale morality are EXTREMELY common archetypes or tropes. Do you honestly think if a series that adopts grey-scale morality as it's story-telling or philosophical "hook" that it will become an instant hit or renowned classic? That's absurd.

[@Padruig9]

For a second there I was wondering if Yahtzee browses Tumblr.

[@moooshroomdragonking1335]

+Bp Elliott you seem to realy be racist agenst white people allso love to put people in groups based on things i cant control i will not do shit just because i have your catholic original sin of being white

[@supercoolguy43]

+moooshroomdragon king (mooshroomdragon) You were put through school for a reason.

[@supercoolguy43]

Padruig9 I agree with him, I just wish it wasn't a puzzle trying to read his comment.

[@erikruder3360]

+Padruig9 'white apologists' what the fuck is that even supposed to mean?

[@Padruig9]

Bp Elliott I'm related to some.

[@medi2649]

"They couldn't outwit a spider with seven legs pulled off." I forget if Limbo had come out by this point but... Yeah, the lack of legs doesn't stop them. Wait this video is eight years old why am I commenting?

[@DoubleNN]

Are you reffering to the Australian Top Gear?

[@awsmrandomness]

When I played this game, I suppose I "enjoyed" it, at least under the context of Call of Duty games. The semi-nonlinear campaign was a step in the right direction and the villain definitely had the moral high ground throughout this debacle. I remember that I forgot to save that one token hacker chick and ended up letting the guy live because I'm not a Texan. Then everything went to fuck and I saw that I supposedly got the "bad" ending. I was tempted to try for a better one, but it occurred to me that that Woods bloke got what he had coming and the even more cynical part of me said that this society could seriously use a bucket of ice water in the form of drone strikes and power outages. Ultimately, this ending wound up being a lot more satisfactory. And what the fuck is with this comments section? Are all white male Americans seriously this insecure about racism? You people seriously need to grow the fuck up.

[@projecttitanomega]

I'd hardly call it a tower defense. Its more like a unit based RTS, not that that makes it any better in any way.

[@simple-commentator-not-rea7345]

2:02 Actually I DID know that it was Mason under that bag. Why do you think I made sure not to miss the head and unloaded a dozen rounds instead of just one?

[@RyB305]

b-but i enjoyed blops 2...

[@itwasapleasuretoburn7236]

for shame

[@ethanedwards3357]

@@itwasapleasuretoburn7236 You sure? I enjoyed it too. (The single player campaign, and by the way, it has multiple endings, which are dependant on the choices you make throughout the ENTIRE GAME, not just a last second choice, though that does exist, but will only change your ending rather than give a bad one)

[@Kemonokami]

***** "Call of Derpy: Muffin Warfare 3. Available now."

[@5440FupaTroopa]

This got amazingly political pretty quickly.

[@mclovinleo]

Oh fuck this is the funniest most well thought out review I have ever seen...if I had medals to give yahtzee would have every single one.

[@M12GProductions]

I played this game for two hours: I had no idea what was going on, who I was or who I was supposed to be shooting, and by the end of the session I had a headache. So yeah, can't recommend.

[@Rykanable]

You guys all do realize that Yahtzee absolutely cannot stand SJWs and the tumblr crowd, right? And that he relies heavily on hyperbole, hypocrisy and other fun stuff to get the best humour value out of his videos? Right? ...right?

[@matthewcooper4248]

Rykanable That doesn’t really work when he’s literally spewing SJW propaganda. It’s funny, yes. But it’s hypocritical as fuck.

[@TruthTeller-]

It is kinda double standard

[@MrTombombodil]

Man it's a shame because CoD4 was the shit, both Single player and online. I guess when your starting point is the top of the mountain the only way forward is down.

[@AlphaZeroX96]

The guy lied. BO2 is actually great and DIFFERENT.

[@Zerpderp0]

+Nightcaster460 Not really. The only thing he was wrong about was that there was a nother black guy (The African General with a War Machine and ruskie attack chopper) who did not betray the main players. Still like the game. A shame the Multiplayer has no one on it.

[@jagannathbarman6712]

+Zerpderp0 there's also farid

[@siveth8149]

"Then throw the chicken in the sewer" did Yahtzee predict Idubbbz???1?

[@FANGSUP7]

I scrolled down to the comments, to see if anyone said what I was going to, that Blops 2 actually at least TRIED to do new things with the series, like multiple endings, binary choices, and the neat little ability to edit your loadout before a mission, in case the gun they give you is total shit for the circumstance, but NOPE. Just discussions about racism and politics and white privilege. Honestly seems like I'm the only one here, who watched a video ABOUT video games, and in turn would like to maybe DISCUSS video games, but apparently that makes me fucking weird around these parts.

[@farmerboy916]

Well, that would have been interesting to know instead of some silly shit about race and politics and a commentators thoughts about privilege being included in the video.

[@Krebons1200]

By "multiple endings" do you mean the NES Metroid/ Mass Effect 3 brand or Mass Effect 1/ Deus Ex brand?

[@FANGSUP7]

Krebons1200 By that I assume you mean Ending Tron 3000, pick a button to receive credits? No. There are several points in the story where your failing to do something (or making the wrong choice) will alter the outcome of the ending. And the differences between the best ending and the worse endings are pretty stark in contrast.

[@AlphaZeroX96]

Well guess what, Zero Punctuation is about a stupid British guy making fun of great games.

[@ricoman486]

No I agree with you

[@TimeBomb014X]

I can't wait to see him do Ghosts

[@V-Jes]

"its boring and stupid" there

[@ECL28E]

mywlan2 No it's not! It has....DOGS! Fuck this shit

[@V-Jes]

having a dog don't make gameplay overall better

[@dracocrusher]

ECL28E Call of Dogs: "Modern Warfare" (note how those words are in quotations) Although an all dog shooter would be cool... but considering how recycled the series is, I can't see them ever being that cleaver.

[@marvinbrewton23]

dracocrusher Lol well then you will love the mmo gundog it is a all dog shooter XD

[@trustworthytim4762]

It'd be easier to get into the campaigns if they were actually engaging on a deeper level than "Shoot all the guys that are different to you in a roller coaster corridor." A really good shooter would let you choose your approach. Keep the regenerating health and cover-based gameplay (but maybe let you carry a pistol along with two other weapons), but give free thinkers an alternate way in besides the front with mouth foaming and guns blazing. Maybe some stealth, optional vehicles a la Halo, parachuting in, sneaking into an area and hijacking a tank to tear the place up- the possibilities for a great game are there, but left behind for the sake of that multiplayer everyone else loves but I think is pointless. Apparently I'm in the minority on that one amid my circle of friends.

[@AlaskanTrain21]

Many of the gadgets in SP for this game are really cool and well-orchestrated and designed, except you use them all once or twice just like Yahtzee said. You could literally take this game and it's content, throw in some more buildings, make larger and less linear maps, add optional gadget usage/break cover options like you said and boom, there's the game you're looking for.

[@xXNinjaSpartan11Xx]

The game you are both asking for is known as Crysis. Well... There aren't many gadgets but the ones you do get are awesome

[@laserphaser1019]

Play Borderlands 2

[@AlaskanTrain21]

xXAFAEDrummerSpartan11Xx Yeah, I've seen Crysis. But a mod/new game like the one I've mentioned built on this game's gadgets has the potential to surpass Crysis, with graphic improvements along the way.

[@not_plausible2033]

That's why no one over 12 plays it

[@xmm-cf5eg]

I'm white and this makes me happy-offended. Because it's fucking right and hilarious!

[@cinammonstyx7622]

I don't get this whole thing of me supposing to be guilty because people of my race who aren't still alive enslaved people of another race who also aren't still alive. Slavery was and is terrible, but I didn't cause or perpetuate it, so why am I to blame?

[@cinammonstyx7622]

Please tell me that's sarcasm.

[@cinammonstyx7622]

Where do you live?

[@cinammonstyx7622]

Rural Illinois. I was just curious if it was a country or regional thing or whatever.

[@crazedautisticanarchist9704]

There's a part in your constitution, saying prisoners are exempt from anti slavery laws

[@GREATGAIWAIN]

No one said YOU, Braden Chittick are to blame for slavery. I'm really sick of seeing this knee jerk reaction from people. You didn't cause it, you don't perpetuate it, all you do is benefit from it. It isn't your fault that you do but you do. If you apply for a home mortgage, you are MUCH more likely to be charged less, the police are much less likely to pull you over and/or shoot you. You are much more likely to be chosen for a job just because of the name on your resume than a more black or otherwise ethnic sounding name applied even given the same qulifications. These facts are together what make up institutionalized racism. The racism that you benefit from simply by being white. THAT is what Yahtzee is referring to (aside from being born in the west and not Africa, a continent that had it's land stripped of resources and people and are still suffering because of it). No one blames YOU for this or any other white person existing today but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem or people shouldn't be angry.

[@MenkellJr]

That is kind of harsh. I'm charity work now because I didn't know who was under the bag... I'm not the only one that didn't know

[@SaintGat99]

Farid never betrayed them, he died saving a chick.

[@Innateight]

I keep re-watching this just for the "He a Turrist" part

[@ZPM7]

This was before Gamergate. Yahtzee knows what he has to say to hit the Escapist demo now, though.

[@wheresmyhugat]

This fucking comment section is depressing.

[@Thenameless1]

Rewatching the zp cod series of reviews really makes you realize how downhill this series has gone.

[@josuebartley7272]

Is this the first time that spunk-gargle-weewee was used as a genera name?

[@panqueque3441]

no,the first time was medal of honor: warfighter

[@NICK41206]

Story: Man seeks revenge for his dead sister. People: DA EBIL WHITE MAN!

[@MrTombombodil]

This might be in the running for the funniest review he's ever done xD

[@TimSenna]

+Willie Gross So true, it's so on point I always come back to it

[@danihettinger8932]

Even if Call of Duty was able to keep up the facade that they're more open and deep than they seem (which they're not), the gameplay would still be a boring, linear, copy-and-paste mess and the portrayal of actual war would still be horribly, offensively inaccurate. To anyone who believes that what I'm saying is heretical and that I'm a "faggot" who "is a stupid innorant" (because I've had this said to me before over live connection), go watch "Saving Private Ryan". Immediately knowing that you who play this game have no clue what that is, I will now tell you that it is set during World War II, specifically D-Day. There is a scene during the invasion of Omaha Beach on July 6th, 1944, that shows the US troops charging up the beach under heavy fire from Japanese artillery. You go watch that scene, or movie in general, and you watch those soldiers being blown to pieces by massive artillery shells fired upon them in an open field, crying for their mothers, and then, only then, will you have a good representation of what combat in a man's war is like. Seriously, fuck all of you. The day there is a properly good FPS set during US wartime is the day you all get PTSD from playing a video game.

[@danihettinger8932]

golden eyeRA Wow, how did I forget that Omaha Beach was France, not Japan? *Major* screw-up! Thank you for pointing it out! Either way, the point stands. If FPS's such as Call of Duty want the privilege of being called "realistic", they should depict war honestly, like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan. They're even worse about that than Halo, especially considering the fact that they still were seeking out a "realistic" tag when they made Ghosts. Even though that game couldn't get any *less* realistic.

[@Darkgun231]

***** I think realism is implied when the game is based around actual countries, places, and weapons, and is more or less Earth now, give or take a few decades. Plus, the events portrayed are depicted as being "possible" so that adds to the potential realism.

[@soschar2050]

Daniel Hettinger Call of Duty isn't "realistic", and it's not even trying to be realistic. Ever played Modern Warfare 2 where you make a James Bond jump in a snowmobile?

[@danihettinger8932]

soschar2050 It's basing itself off of real combat in real places, where real people have been involved. It kinda carries that responsibility. If it wanted to avoid the "realistic" responsibility, they should have changed their setting. That's why I think Advanced Warfare is slightly more acceptable than other games, though not by much.

[@soschar2050]

Daniel Hettinger​ So does Metal Gear Rising. except for the combat of course.

[@Freedom-yz7dn]

On the "kill droid" part. I was vaguely tempted to make a comment solely on how technically, most US military drones are piloted remotely, so there's still a human involved. Something thinking and feeling has to pull the trigger, push the button. Pilots that can get a new form of drone-related PTSD, as recent research has shown. There's another form of drone piloting where you can give it a set of parameters and instructions to follow to seek and find targets, but as I remember, still require human permission to fire once the target's found. Sort of unmanned, but not entirely. Even if it were an AI, they'd need tending to by human ground crews, and unless they have magic fuel tanks, they can't go half a world away to make a strike mission, the MQ-9 Reaper having a range of "only" 1,150 miles... But then I read the game's entry on wiki, and apparently COD BLOPS II's drones aren't hampered by these minor little details, closer to the kill droids Yahtzee mentioned than anything realistic. Ironically enough, given it's supposed to be a "realistic" shooter... Anyways, they're likely the programmable kind, except stupidly set up with the whole fleet hijacked by taking over ONE aircraft carrier's computer, and can be hacked to go attack a city that's likely well out of their fuel range. No, it is - sounds like the aircraft carrier's in Yemen, and the city's Los Angeles. Even if the magic hacking let you command MQ-9 Reapers in the USA proper with the pre-programmed strike coordinates and route to the target, they'd still need to be fitted out for attack by ground crews(given Hellfire missiles) and fueled up, and I highly doubt anyone would do so with (I'd assume so) an alert going out after the aircraft carrier was compromised. And any that did get off the ground would be shot down. Unless these drones fuel, fly, fire, and load themselves, at which point they're basically Terminators and there was no point trying to have any semblance of "accuracy", there's no way the game's plot would work. So a "realistic shooter" screws up realism, even on its "PHWOAAAR EH" military box of toys showoffing. Maybe spunkgargleweewee does what it does (stringing the player along) so that no one will notice these kind of holes.

[@Renovartio]

This video hasn't aged well

[@pallyboy6005]

I never understood the "COD is racist" argument. I really don't see that. Bad guys being non-white isn't racism.

[@otvertka1337x]

any game that has a white protagonist who doesn't spend at leat 2/3s of the game apologising for muh slavery is racist, didn't ya get the memo?

[@goldenhorde6944]

If all but one or two of your non-white characters are demonized for opposing a majority-white conservative superpower founded by slave owners in a game where said superpower is represented by an all-white zero-accountability globe-trotting death squad that's pretty condemning, trying to boil it down to "the bad guys aren't white" is just reductionist and fallacious.

[@anon9579]

The people of today regardless of skin colour are not responsible for the atrocities committed by their ancestors that's like blaming a newborn baby for the murder his father committed

[@fardimnazir666]

Great, another NPC we should take advice from.

[@michaelcastro1944]

That is true, but said people KNOW that it's fucked but don't shit to fix it... It kinda makes it hard NOT to blame them

[@idksomethingedgy2265]

themutantlizard that isn’t what that’s about. It’s about realising that straight white men will have an advantage over others because that’s how their forefathers set it up

[@thiccviking861]

I didn't understand how the villain could hack into all of the military drones, Each drone runs on a individuals system flown by a pilot that specialises in drones.

[@jacobstormann4452]

Deus ex machina?

[@thiccviking861]

No.....not even that. (whatever the hell "that" is)

[@neocomp92]

That american pony Assume that the drones have been controlled by AI, or central system where one man simply gives orders, and the master computer does the dirty work. Still, that makes it an argument for the "old fashion ways". At least they're unhackable.

[@abirvandergriff8584]

That american pony The term (has evolved to) mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina Basically, it's a cop-out when the plot isn't going to go anywhere by itself, so a magical event happens that allows it to happen.

[@hansabrams1258]

That american pony Because its cool when the villian can hack into military stuff and he thne he kills abunch of peple and he almost wins and then you kill him and it super cool 9000/10

[@Andriej69]

Holy shit, entire comment section is infested with /pol/acks, and raging hard too! BTW I think this is one of his best videos

[@shuansown7884]

The people I used to enslave? I didn't enslave anybody. My ancestors may have but I didn't do crap. If they make fun of me they should have a better reason then my ancestors enslaved their ancestors. That's stupid.

[@GrEEnEyE089]

You are right, you should stick to the game instead of the political stuff. i like your videos because you mock games not stereotypes of players

[@GrEEnEyE089]

Lol this reads as if someone mixed up snippets from two completely unrelated conversations

[@GrEEnEyE089]

yes you may leave

[@AlphaZeroX96]

Ok I may had went too far. I'm really sorry. My reply was dumb, I wasn't thinking, forget I was here ok?

[@AlphaZeroX96]

***** Edit your replies so I can delete mine.

[@fightingmedialounge519]

So you've interacted with the majority of cod players.

[@voidstrider801]

I enjoyed playing as Mendez, running around as berserking screaming bullet sponge with a machete, my screen was covered in red the whole time but I somehow did not die. Your mission motivation: find your sister and escape, you finally reach your sister, but can't reach her because of US soldiers, who then throw a fucking grenade which ends up going in her room and killing her, and giving you both a physical, and mental scar. Yeah I can understand why the guy hates the american military and cia so much, he was just small fry before they blew up his house and his sister, killed a shit ton of his men, and cost him an eye. He literally went from just a criminal, to full blown terrorist leader and mad bastard out for revenge. All of this could have been avoided is some dick hadn't thrown a grenade inside a house, and killed a civilian, basically committed a war crime and got away with it, they just could have shot or arrested Mendez, not try and blow him up with a grenade, indoors. Mendez, one of the best villains in the COD series, he actually had a good backstory and was almost sympathetic, but he went a bit far, I feel like when he tricked woods into shooting mason and then crippled him afterwords, that he got his revenge, everything after was not necessary "now you suffer with me".

[@nur-_.]

I like this guys reviews but about this game being racist: There's an Arab you have to play as in a mission and he is trusted the entire time. He doesn't betray the player or anything, Why the hell has everyone forgotten that part!?

[@Plasmaman2]

old original comment i know but the reason why everyone forgets is cause they're not gunning down foreigners as a white american male.

[@fardimnazir666]

And how integral was he to the story? Felt more forced to me.

[@thesliveringsnake4133]

Ah 2012, when privilege wasn't used to silence white people, good times

[@cailumgrantham-tibbitt8543]

So true

[@spool122]

everyone keeps telling me that the shit stain is CoD Ghosts. I tell them to look at Black Ops 2.

[@spool122]

Illumined Fain that makes sense.

[@leamJG]

I say to look at Modern Warfare 2.

[@Leap1Games]

For me the only thing that made codbo2 seem cool is the zombies mode. But when it comes to ghosts I bought it because......well at the time I wasn't very up to date on the game because of the fucking wiiU and having to try and Figure the damned thing out so I bought ghosts because I was hoping they slapped zombies mode onto it but they didn't and we all know the rest of the story

[@Leap1Games]

Illumined Fain I did the same,all we can do for now is hope advanced warfare won't be shit

[@Leap1Games]

Illumined Fain There have been COD games that have been good,maybe this game will be the beginning of a redemption for the series

[@nuyabuisness7526]

here is my experience with black ops two: input, blow through the story mode in two days of binging (it would have been shorter if I put it on normal rather than insane difficulty,) go online, never ever touch zombies past one time, get on multiplayer, play that for a weekend, immediately get murdered repeatedly by knifers, pull out of my xbox, place back in case, return, and go play games that are actually fun.

[@stonedoco7455]

Everyone will die, they don't have to be over 40

[@zackeryj1234567]

+hijacking smurf Not true. If you are a rich person you can live for a long time. At one point you mind will not work anymore but you will still be alive. It cost a lot of money and does not full work. It is said the first person to live to 500 have all ready been born.

[@jachughes608]

He said it because ppl over 40 never played video games when they were young so they usually don't understand it but with them dead most ppl like it

[@coolpatrickandryan]

I actually enjoy the call of duty games

[@sethjk8871]

"but perhaps I shouldn't dwell on the politics" Several minutes and 4 games too late Yahtzee. That seems to be the entire point of you reviewing cod games, so you can ramble on about your politics for 5 minutes

[@ckcl04wb]

theres a magical thing in multiplayer called the mute button we need to remember this