2nd Inspiration

Joe Vargas is an independent video game critique that has built his work on creating lengthy yet substantial video reviews on YouTube. Yes, while his content isn’t necessarily “readable,” I couldn’t help but think of him immediately as I thought about reviewers who greatly inspire me.

'AngryJoe' gets ready to list his top 10 games of 2012. (Photo courtesy of Joe Vargas)

Of course, I’m not a fan or promoter of his use of vulgar language (I find it to be alienating to some audiences and unnecessary), but everything else about his reviews is excellent. For starters, his integration of humor alongside his serious analysis of any given game is very well balanced. In other words, he’s able to come across as honest in what he’s saying even when presenting himself in a silly or exaggerated fashion. He also backs up every claim he makes about a game (whether positive or negative) with a spoken account and video footage, ensuring that everything he says is completely truthful.

Despite the fact that his videos reach a lengthy 30 minutes on average, he’s able to keep his audience completely engaged. With well-paced and strong deliveries of what he has to say, you can tell that he puts hard work into making sure he covers every aspect of a game fairly and equally with the right mixture of humor and seriousness. He just never loses that spark of energy and passion that drives everything he creates. Even in his reviews of horrendous games, he manages to make them the most compelling because he vehemently believes that no one should be deceived into buying a bad, falsely advertized product, and he makes that known to everyone and the game industry with his extensively detailed breakdowns of any game he plays.

Joe Vargas talks to his audience about attending PAX Prime 2011, a game convention that was held in Seattle, Washington. (Photo courtesy of Joe Vargas) 

In all this, he doesn’t act high and mighty. He makes it known that he’s just a guy trying to make a living reviewing games because he loves the culture and industry surrounding them. He doesn’t appeal to intellectuals by flavoring his content with complicated words or a pretentious display of snobbery. He wants to appeal to all audiences (and game developers) with meaningful, sincere critiques of games that have a down-to-earth and informal presentation.

As I have said, even though he doesn’t write his content, I think Joe Vargas or ‘AngryJoe’ (his nickname) serves as a good example for how to do reviews. Not everything he does should be followed, but he definitely does a lot of things right that every reviewer should emulate. Among many people I look up to for my future career as a video game journalist, he is one of them.

His review of "Injustice: Gods Among Us" is an excellent representation of his typical reviews.