There's been worse AVGN episodes released in recent years. The 200th episode being the absolute worst of the worst, and I will be genuinely shocked if Rolfe manages to create an episode of even lower quality than that over-hyped, underwhelming mess that was nothing more than a boring clip-show peppered with unfunny commentary on any game covered by the modern Nerd, as well as poorly acted skits either with the Nerd by himself or with the awkward, mumbling, uncharismatic game designer.
As for the year of our lord 2022, it has been a mostly 'meh' year overall for AVGN with The Last Ninja; an improvement over Episode 200 but still lacking the passion and soul of the Nerd's heyday. Purr Pals; a pretty forgettable episode. The Contra Retrospective; fairly decent despite a shockingly bad scene featuring Godawful, phoned in acting as badly animated poop rains down on him.
As for Hudson Hawk, it's pretty much more of the same from this year, an average episode about the game based on the 1991 flop "Hudson Hawk" starring the James Rolfe of Hollywood actors, Bruce Willis. To give the episode some credit, it feels like Rolfe is trying to hearken back to old school AVGN as the Nerd sits on his couch, "playing" the game, while bemoaning the questionable design choices, and every now and then clips from the movie will be spliced in to add to a comment or a "joke" made, like the Back to the Future episode; and with better acting, humor and writing, I could see the Hudson Hawk episode being as classic as the Back to the Future episode was, or at least really good; and who knows, maybe if James had made the Hudson Hawk episode during the Golden Age or Silver Age, it could have been a classic, but those illustrious days of the Nerd are far gone and what we have is what plagues all modern AVGN episodes: a flat script and even flatter acting that kills whatever Rolfe and Screenwave set out to do. And nowhere is that more apparent than with the forced and fake "anger" of the modern Nerd as opposed to the genuine anger seen in the classic episodes. This brings me to my next critique as I personally believe the Hudson Hawk episode quite possibly has the absolute worst attempt at showing "anger" ever in a modern Nerd video. The moment happens right after the Nerd gets a game over due to the game's poor design, James' "outburst" sounds more like he's suffering from constipation, or experiencing something of the ten-inch variety if you catch my drift, and to top it off, for a split second it looks as if James breaks character and realizes just how bad the take was before it cuts back to the game play footage. This scene was so unbelievable, I had to re-watch it, and I'm sure if anyone watches the episode, they'll be taken aback by this moment too. I also have to wonder if that was the only "angry" take James did as later in the review, the exact same constipated sound is used off screen during a montage of the Nerd losing at the game. That, and the terrible Atari joke that also has to be seen to be believed, are certainly the worst aspects of the Nerd's latest review. The recurring joke of the Nerd trying to drink a beer but something prevents him, done as a pastiche of a recurring joke in the Hudson Hawk film involving Willis and a cappuccino, would have worked better if Rolfe didn't explain the joke before doing his parody of the same exact joke. The joke revolving around the origin of a certain talking pickle wasn't great but could have certainly been worse. The timing and humor of the origin joke is mainly spoiled by, you guessed it, James' ambivalent performance.
As for the review itself, pretty standard commentary, nothing particularly interesting but not as boring as some episodes from last year, and at least he's actually giving a review of a game, unlike the Shrek episode from 2021 which barely counted as a review at all.
Overall, a basic episode with the kind of quality you'd expect from modern AVGN. Not great but not as awful as some modern episodes have been. And hey, there's no way Rolfe would ever make something as terrible as Episode 200 again... Right? RIGHT? RIIIIIIIIIGHT?
As for the year of our lord 2022, it has been a mostly 'meh' year overall for AVGN with The Last Ninja; an improvement over Episode 200 but still lacking the passion and soul of the Nerd's heyday. Purr Pals; a pretty forgettable episode. The Contra Retrospective; fairly decent despite a shockingly bad scene featuring Godawful, phoned in acting as badly animated poop rains down on him.
As for Hudson Hawk, it's pretty much more of the same from this year, an average episode about the game based on the 1991 flop "Hudson Hawk" starring the James Rolfe of Hollywood actors, Bruce Willis. To give the episode some credit, it feels like Rolfe is trying to hearken back to old school AVGN as the Nerd sits on his couch, "playing" the game, while bemoaning the questionable design choices, and every now and then clips from the movie will be spliced in to add to a comment or a "joke" made, like the Back to the Future episode; and with better acting, humor and writing, I could see the Hudson Hawk episode being as classic as the Back to the Future episode was, or at least really good; and who knows, maybe if James had made the Hudson Hawk episode during the Golden Age or Silver Age, it could have been a classic, but those illustrious days of the Nerd are far gone and what we have is what plagues all modern AVGN episodes: a flat script and even flatter acting that kills whatever Rolfe and Screenwave set out to do. And nowhere is that more apparent than with the forced and fake "anger" of the modern Nerd as opposed to the genuine anger seen in the classic episodes. This brings me to my next critique as I personally believe the Hudson Hawk episode quite possibly has the absolute worst attempt at showing "anger" ever in a modern Nerd video. The moment happens right after the Nerd gets a game over due to the game's poor design, James' "outburst" sounds more like he's suffering from constipation, or experiencing something of the ten-inch variety if you catch my drift, and to top it off, for a split second it looks as if James breaks character and realizes just how bad the take was before it cuts back to the game play footage. This scene was so unbelievable, I had to re-watch it, and I'm sure if anyone watches the episode, they'll be taken aback by this moment too. I also have to wonder if that was the only "angry" take James did as later in the review, the exact same constipated sound is used off screen during a montage of the Nerd losing at the game. That, and the terrible Atari joke that also has to be seen to be believed, are certainly the worst aspects of the Nerd's latest review. The recurring joke of the Nerd trying to drink a beer but something prevents him, done as a pastiche of a recurring joke in the Hudson Hawk film involving Willis and a cappuccino, would have worked better if Rolfe didn't explain the joke before doing his parody of the same exact joke. The joke revolving around the origin of a certain talking pickle wasn't great but could have certainly been worse. The timing and humor of the origin joke is mainly spoiled by, you guessed it, James' ambivalent performance.
As for the review itself, pretty standard commentary, nothing particularly interesting but not as boring as some episodes from last year, and at least he's actually giving a review of a game, unlike the Shrek episode from 2021 which barely counted as a review at all.
Overall, a basic episode with the kind of quality you'd expect from modern AVGN. Not great but not as awful as some modern episodes have been. And hey, there's no way Rolfe would ever make something as terrible as Episode 200 again... Right? RIGHT? RIIIIIIIIIGHT?