The Irate Gamer

There is an extreme controversy that has leaped to the forefront of internet culture over the past few years. Pertaining to web-critic Chris Bores, a man better known by the title of "The Irate Gamer."

For some background, "The Irate Gamer" is a series in which Bores appears in character, and "reviews" video-games. Often games that are considered too difficult, of a poor quality, or flawed in some way. Within the context of the series, Bores is a short-tempered man, who will eventually reach such a point of frustration, he will begin to rage (becoming, as the title implies, irate), generally culminating in a flurry of insults using all sorts of colorful language that IMDb will definitely not let me repeat.

The series also features a number of running gags, secondary characters and other assorted elements to keep the material fresh.

That's a fundamentally solid set-up for what promises to be a good, fun series. Which is where the controversy comes in- Bores wasn't the first person to do this. And in fact, much of Bores' shtick is heavily inspired by (if not outright plagiarized from) the well-known internet critic "The Angry Video Game Nerd." (created and portrayed by James Rolfe.) Bores has even gone so far as to admit that the "Nerd" was a heavy inspiration for his character. (Though he has since attempted to deny this) And many rightfully feel Bores has been shameless in stealing material from Rolfe's series. (As I said above, he's borderline plagiarized Rolfe's material on several occasion) And this has lead to a lot of bad blood and extreme backlash between Bores and the numerous individuals online who view his content. And it is an issue that will likely remain controversial for years to come.

But I'm going to attempt to remain neutral on this issue, and give my thoughts on "The Irate Gamer" without factoring in this ongoing controversy. And it's unfortunate, but even beyond the controversy, I don't believe there is much to like here.

Bores just isn't charismatic or likable enough in his delivery or look for this sort-of material. Nor is there enough of a wit to his writing.

I really hate to use these words (as I don't want to appear mean), but Bores comes across as far too awkward and forced when he's on-screen, and his look and general demeanor don't quite fit with what he's going for. You never really buy the idea that he's becoming angry. And you definitely do not buy the idea that he really means what he is saying. He has too much of a sort-of dopey "everyman" feel to him, and he just cannot emote the anger he is going for. While his heart may be in the material, you just can't feel it. I don't think this is necessarily Bores fault. Some people just cannot pull off certain types of material. But by attempting to force it, Bores makes the episodes almost hard to sit through, because it feels too much like a performance. It's unnatural.

Adding to that, Bores has also exhibited a degree of selfishness and spitefulness in the series several times. Even becoming sort-of a bully to people who do not like him. And it's not in the context of his character. It's clearly a bit of narcissism on his part coming through in his writing. I've watched quite a few of his episodes out of curiosity, and I was shocked by the pettiness he displayed at times. Dismissing everyone else. Being incredibly mean-spirited. Even throwing rather nasty "Easter Eggs" into at least one video that take subtle swipes at the "Angry Video Game Nerd." (Despite the fact that Bores has taken his material in the past.) I can be accepting of Bores being un-charismatic, because that's not necessarily his fault. But to become so spiteful at times is uncalled for and I have a much harder time forgiving that.

The writing leaves much to be called for. Bores doesn't seem to necessarily understand the art of writing jokes. Or how to string together sentences or cuss-word-loaded exclamations in an amusing fashion. Bores has tried to introduce narratives to his reviews, but I find that they are ill-structured, and often feel a bit meandering and underdeveloped. The humor is far too random, and includes many moments that will leave the audience scratching their heads.

While he will sometimes bring up valid points, and even deliver occasional good, original content, I find that his pattern of consistent sub-par writing, his lack of presence on-screen and his occasional attitude problems rob too much of any potential likability and watchability he might have otherwise had. His episodes that do work are too few and too far between.

And I cannot help but interject that the clear stealing of material from other internet critics (obviously most notably James Rolfe) is a huge problem.

I am giving "The Irate Gamer" a 2 out of 10. I don't believe he's quite as bad as he has been made out to be, but I still find his work of a generally exceedingly poor quality. And I think it's best to skip it.

The Irate Gamer, the most hated gamer there ever was (As now he done with his career surprisingly). The hate I sorta understand and somewhat agree with. The original episodes this guy made were like most people say, just flap-out ripoffs of AVGN (Angry Video Game Nerd) like his Back to the Future video and his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video. Just stealing a-lot of AVGN's lines such as "Cowabunga piece of S**t" and "What a S**t load of f*ck", and most importantly, the AVGN's popular line, "What were they thinking", this is totally I will agree, is unnecessary, and I'll honestly agree, that he does not have the rights to violating steal lines from AVGN. The jokes that were made, did absolutely nothing for me, and another is that there are a-lot of errors to find in these episodes which I'm not going to go through, especially his most infamous one, "Super Mario Bros. 2", tons of errors in that one, which makes it appropriate to be his most popular. But however, these episodes (According to me) are watchable. The Actor/Director/Writer of this Show, Chris Bores, sure did do a-lot of effort in making these episodes, and I'm not talking about the uncreative Script/Jokes but the action which is both that and his detailing about certain things like Video Game Series, toy lines, and etc., are like the only positive things I could even say about these early episodes. I absolutely loved it when he talking about the confusion of being a "Goonies 2" game, despite there weren't a second Goonies' film, and the example of the earlier Donkey Kong's Games, which was kinda of a nice example to be honest, now this may be a ripoff of AVGN's "Chronically Confused" Video, but it not that unacceptable like the other ones I already mentioned, and yet his "Goonies 2" is probably one of the few best videos of the first season. By the second season, things kinda comes slowly to a change, in which something I'm going to give Bores some credits for, for being smart at this moment, as the Irate Gamer's characters seems to slowly becomes his own, not just a typical Knockoff. His "Predator" review is probably another favorite of mine, and somewhat his Contra videos, but however they're some complaints but I'm going to bring them up however. Now the use of other Characters in this show by now seems to go a bit of a change too, now the previous season didn't seems to have that much of interesting characters, such as Tony, who is pretty much a "S**t pickle" ripoff, but here we have characters, despite they seems to already be characters that seems to be done before, like a Skeleton who seems to be a crazed fan of the IG, and is a obvious Homosexual, and the IG's evil Twin (Yeah pretty common to used) but they're fun to watch however and Bores did a good job writing them, especially Satan, who have just good lines in this show. By Season 3 and beyond, the whole concept of being a AVGN's ripoff is now completely faded away, and this is where things gets so better. This is where Bores prove to those highly Devout, but yet mindless AVGN Fans that he's not a Idiot like they think he is, by referencing the AVGN's review of "Sliver Surfer" in his review of the same exact game by admitting he knows he already done it, now that is GENIUS. His "Kool Aid" review was good, I thought the Kool Aid was kinda funny to see honestly, and his "Aladdin" review was alright, except there are some errors (The same exact ones seen in his early Reviews), but yet it was enjoyable. I truly thought his "Mike Tyson's Punch-out" review was hilarious too, and yet another of mine favorite. It is quite surprising that Bores decide to end this well-conversational series, but yet it was a good idea however, not because it was considered a bad show but it was to just to shut the Haters up once and for all.

Overall, I'm going to get this show not a high score nor a low score, but a average score of about 5, if you seen a episode of this guy that was most likely just a ripoff of AVGN, I suggest you watched a later episode like during season 3-5, I'm sure you'll most likely get a different look on this character from any of those episodes.

Five reasons why The Irate Gamer should not be watched by anyone.

5.Chris Bores can't act. If you are going to make a show with the gimmick that you sit in front of a camcorder and act angry, make sure that you know how to act. Any small piece of acting would be good. Bores is a terrible actor. He can't even make a convincing grunt while he plays video games.

4.Highly unfunny. If you are going to make a comedy show, make sure that you are funny. Bores does a blend of observational humor and slapstick that have it in common to be unfunny and predictable. For example; When reviewing Tetris in a very bland manner, Bores mentions how addictive the game can be but says that he's not affected, just like clockwork, we are treated to a cut of a black screen with the letters 'couple of hours later' where we then see Bores acting like a Heroin Junkie, sweaty screaming out "I want my Tetris". Not only was this joke very predictable to the audience, but it was done in such a manner that I can't imagine anyone laughing at it.

3.He's not a Gamer. If you are going to make a show about video games, make sure that you can play them. Bores might be a couple of things. A Martial Artist, a Ghost Hunter, a college graduate (at least according to him) but he ain't no gamer. This becomes highly obvious when he complains about how some, if not all, of the games that he plays are too hard, and these include games that six year old kids were beating on their first try. Only eight seconds into Contra, he got killed, which he then blamed on the game, for being too hard. This often lead to Bores cheating his way through the game or playing it on the easiest difficulty level. Which is just plain stupid. He's there to review a game, not skip through it on the easiest setting. Would you watch a cooking show where the cook would simply order take-out because cooking is way too hard? I don't think so.

2.He's not a reviewer. If you are going to make a show where you review games, please be sure that you are able to review things. Reviewing is not really a skill, it's just saying your opinion on something in a manner that most people can understand it, Bores takes whatever game he can get his hands on, talks about it's flaws (like, how easy to die it is for him) and then says it's terrible. He often doesn't bother to go into any detail, with most of his episodes ranging from 2 to 5 minutes in length (with maybe some additional minutes for abysmal acting).

1.RIPP-OFF. The concept of the show came from the much more talented and enjoyable James Rolfe who created the character of the Angry Video Game Nerd back in 2004. After becoming a YouTube sensation in 2006, Chris Bores mimicked him with his show, something that he admitted, although privately to the AVGN Homepage, and has denied since. All comments on YouTube about the similarities are often taken down minutes after being posted and Bores pretty much pretends that James Rolfe doesn't exists, unless he gets pinpointed in a radio interview, where he will say that it's all a coincidence, despite saying in the mail to James Rolfe (that was posted on Rolfe's forum) that he was inspired by his world famous 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle' review, which makes sense, seeing that the Irate Gamer did not only review the exact same game, but he also stole a large portion of Rolfe's jokes, and in order to not come of as a plagiarist, he decided to review the highly popular and well made Konami sequels, which he reviewed poorly, saying that they were just as terrible. Bores has often stolen more subtle jokes from other YouTube NES reviewers, including from the lesser known WizWar, where he stole a lot from his Predator review, including his 'Fists of Fury' punchline and from VideoGamesAreAwesome who did a hilarious dance video with R.O.B. and were badly mimicked by Bores.

Now, when I write a review, I like to write a positive and negative paragraph...There is no way I can do this on this review. So I guess this interview will be only two paragraphs, the introduction and what is bad. This is because there is no good that comes to mind when I think of the Irate Gamer.

The show, if you can call it that, is nothing but a shameless knock off of the "Angry Video Game Nerd". Even with that aside, the show is without a doubt thoughtless and horrendous. The jokes are predictable and dull, the information is downright inaccurate at some points, and the production is half hearted. To conclude, this show is to the AVGN what Turkish Star Wars is to Star Wars.

And to think I liked this show... LIKED! Boy I was wrong! couple of things...

1) He was BORING!!!!

Oh my gosh, I have never seen any body in any video be this boring... I can understand if people are inexperienced in front of a camera and trying things out and they be boring, but this guy, UGH! Now I know where you people are coming from! His voice is so monotone!

2) The GOD AWFUL ACTING!!!

And before you criticize me of calling him a bad actor, I have a bunch of acting experience, limited in front of a camera, but I have stage acting! And boy, talk about bad movies having bad acting! This guy is HORRENDOUS!!! He can't convince me any longer that he's good!

3) NOT A GAMER!!!

I know you people have gone this way, but, let me give my thing about gaming! I have played video games basically my entire life! Hard games, easy games, difficult games, etc... but when this guy complains about how hard a game is when I could probably beat it in about a day.

4) These aren't reviews...

These are infomercials! The fact he complains a game is hard when it's not, he destroys the games afterward, and he gives them the finger after he shreds them, just proves these are infomercials!

5) TOTALLY UNENTERTAINING!!!

Originally, I would watch his videos with not a care in the world, but then... I read reviews on this site...