Which Bombcast member do you think is the best at games?

Vinny seems to mostly like to play games to mess around but occasionally picks up something tough like Demon's or Dark Souls, and Patrick and Ryan generally seem more interested in the narrative than the gameplay, though both have moments where they show their interest in playing harder games (Ryan with a Classic Ironman run of XCOM, Patrick's interest in Fire Emblem and Dark Souls). Brad is Bad at Video Games (Copyright 2008), but he plays a few with very competitive multiplayer doing reasonably well and has a few (literal) achievements that are pretty ridiculous from the Breaking Brad series and other similar videos. I guess that means it's Jeff by default, since he's pretty good at games with no real caveats to offer.

Jeff or Patrick

Ryan is the worst.

Which games though? Jeff is pretty good at fighting games, Brad's specialty seems to be Starcraft II and Dota. Vinny plays his fair share of adventure games. Patrick is pretty experienced with horror games and Ryan.. I dunno. Kinect games?

I hate to be 'that' guy but who fucking cares?

If you were to somehow put them all in front of a game they've never played, from a genre they've never played, gave them a defined goal and a prize that would make them all put their full effort into it. I think Jeff would take it.

They definitely all have their own strengths and weaknesses, so its sort of hard to judge their overall gameplayingness. I'd probably have to go with Jeff, hes really skilled at fighting games and Blitz, and seems to be quite good at racing games and shooters.

Vinny gets special mention for Demon and Dark Souls, and who could forget Patrick for tackling Monster Hunter! Also, hes uh, pretty good at Guitar Hero...

None really.

How is Bradley "Brad at Games" Shoemaker in second place

@jasonr86 said:

The person that made the poll and 52 other people so far?

It's weird I've thought about this. At all. Ryan's playing can fluctuate from fairly bad to really good, but I think it's dependent on there being a competitive element in play. He usually wins multiplayer games against the other Bombers, often in cases where none of them have had any prior experience with the game. Patrick's the most adaptable (and willing to learn in the cases where he's not immediately good at a game) which might actually make him the best overall. Jeff and Brad are fantastic at their chosen genres and kind of not so fantastic at everything else. Vinny mostly seems to play games where skill isn't as big a factor such as RPGs and Adventure games.

Then again, these observations are all derived from watching recorded footage. It might be more the case that not all of them are equally adept at talking about a game while focusing on playing it (it's really hard, try holding a meaningful conversation when you're fully immersed in a game). As none of them seem to have trouble beating the games they need to for review purposes I have to imagine they're all fairly decent. I mean, unless you're Arino, there's no way you wouldn't be after playing games for a living this long.

@hamst3r:

WELL I DON'T CARE!!!

Jeff, but it mostly comes down to what kinda gamers they are. He's just a "no bullshit, let's do this" kinda guy.

@taku128: Probably because of Starcraft and DotA, two games with not-so-insignificant barriers to competence.

I'd say Jeff though, he's the only one that's the world champion at a game.

CHINA DON'T CARE BUT YOU DON'T SEE THEM COMPLAINING ABOUT IT!!!

It took me a while but I figured out who's the best at games

Jeff. Obviously.

I can't recall any recent Quick Look where Ryan was the guy playing, with the exception of DKCR3DS. What an acronym!

Anyway, none of them are particularly great but Brad seems to be the only one who challenges himself, what with the Dota and Breaking Brad and Starcraft 2. I seriously doubt that he's actually bad at games, he just doesn't seem to be very good at talking and gaming at the same time. And, really, only Jeff is. Patrick runs around in circles, Ryan lets the other guy carry the conversation after he's introduced the game, Vinny just does dumb stuff, and Brad dies while talking and gaming.

@mento said:

I definitely agree with you about Ryan. A lot of the time he plays pretty badly, but I think this can be attributed to the fact that most often he does not give a fuck. He is just there for a good time. But on occasion when you can tell he is trying, I think he presents a good case for being at the top. I also feel like Patrick is pretty underrated, probably because it doesn't seem like he is into multiplayer or competitive games much, so it can be difficult to judge his skill. At the same time he is a bit of a wildcard, he may or may not secretly be the best. As for the rest they seem pretty average to me, maybe with Jeff slightly ahead.

Watching this Donkey Kong Quick Look, it is certainly not Ryan. Also the noise he makes when he's about to die is the worst.

I'd say Jeff.

Jeff > Brad > Vinny > Patrick > Ryan

They all have their strength's and weakness's, and this is just based off what we see on quick looks and TNTs, but this is how I would rank them.

The recent DK video kinda proved that.

Jeff. No doubt about it.

Probably Jeff, but Vinny is the best to watch.

Saying someone is good at playing video games means absolutely nothing unless it's competitive gaming.

Unless they have extreme difficulty playing through and beating a game, I would say this topic is completely senseless, and probably more of a popularity contest.

Edit: Also, sometimes when the guys are sucking at playing a game, I chalk that up to them having little or no interest in it. I usually give up 10 minutes into a game that is no fun to play; these dudes have to continue playing no matter what.

based off what we know it's Jeff.

If nothing else his NFL Blitz past is unequaled by the other staff members. And the man likes rhythm games.

It seems to me it might go like this Jeff>Brad=Rorie>Drew>Dave>Patrick>Vinny>Ryan

Brad in particular is a tough one to figure out, I feel like his play is perhaps the most affected by talking and playing. My suspicion based off the way I've seen him play is that he is pretty good when not multitasking.

Rorie seems to figure out game mechanics very quickly and plays generally what I'd consider tough games.

The rest it's hard to tell, I don't think we see these guys's max effort a lot of time since they are more interested in goofing around or demoing a game.

But it's really really hard to say. I'm sure it depends a lot on genre, game and how into it they are.

Definitely not Ryan, especially after the DKCR quick look today. For my money I'd put it on the Gerstmann or Shoemaker.

At first I thought Vinny, but then I remembered his Bufu at the worst of times. Jeff is the winner.

Definitely Luchadeer.

This is real tough.

Jeff was apparently the best BLitz player in the world at some point in time, and he apparently is really good at Mortal Kombat and a few other fighting games.

Brad is apparently pretty high up there in Star Craft. He also seems to have a head for the boring nitty gritty of strategy games.

Patrick doesn't play games you could ever really be "good" at, and he professes to use walkthroughs on anything that gives him difficulties.

Vinny doesn't seem to play games competitively. He just likes to play and have fun.

Ryan I don't think even plays games, really. He just seems to like to "dick around" with stuff occasionally like Saints Row or whatever, but I don't think he ever plays anything multiplayer or competitive.

Hey, I only died twice! But then I am not, technically, a Bombcast member.

Jeff with Brad second I guess?

Patrick. He plays the most games out of everyone these days, experiments with different genres and perseveres with games because of his conviction to finish games he starts.

Jeff as I always admire that he looks like he knows what he's doing whenever he's playing any game - and he's talking at the same time. Years of experience apparently.

Poor Ryan.

Everybody is good at different games but I'd pick Jeff or Brad as they are the only ones who have ever shown that they are especially good at a particular one.

I would say Jeff, although this is only in certain genres like shooters, fighting games and NFL Blitz. However this might just come across because he has the most interest in games which are traditionally competitive. The other guys have not really had the chance to prove their prowess as they tend to play games more for the experiences than to compete with others.

This is obviously not including Brad who does like competitive games but seems to be held back by passivity and a reluctance to try new strategies, and dying all the time obviously.

The real answer is Drew.

Why...the...fuck...is Brad in second place?

Vinny.

@sharkethic: Because irony.

Anyway, it's definitely Jeff. I saw him go on a run with E. Honda in SF4.

I hate to say it, but probably Patrick. Mostly because he actually reads what the tv is telling him.

However, they are all fucking terrible at video games, in comparison to pretty much anybody I know who plays games.

Definitely Jeff, he has the best natural ability to pick a game up and be good at it fast.

I suppose it just comes from his experience at playing tons of video games.

Vinny beat Demon's Souls; that has to count for something.

Jeff. Probably helps that he pays the best attention to instructions out of everyone.

I went with Brad. He beat Super Meat Boy. That counts for a lot with me

Vinny used to collect everything in open-world games, which is pretty hard to be honest.

Also completing Dark Souls? Come on, that's legit.

I would have to disagree with people saying Brad, he's only good at games that he becomes obsessive about (which in its own way is admirable), but Jeff has to be the best all rounder with Patrick a close second.

Hard to say. Jeff obviously has Blitz and has shown pretty decent proficiency with a lot of old arcade games that require fairly clutch twitch finesse. Brad isn't good at multitasking while playing a game, resulting in "Pulling a Brad","Time to Brad" etc, but had a reasonable StarCraft II proficiency and the same for some older FPS stuff like Quake. I might have to give it to Brad because he seems to be the one most willing to actually dedicate time to games that take pretty intense amounts of skill to actually succeed with. Jeff might be the Billy Mitchell of the Blitz world, but the games that Brad has shown competitive interest are games that are basically at the extremes of skill level etc. I don't think Jeff gets quite that obsessive for that. For example, he loves fighting games and has shown some understanding of competitive play, but hasn't gone down the rabbit hole of dedicating himself to getting good at any of them the way that Brad has with SCII etc. I dunno though, Brad sometimes shows a stubbornness about changing tactics when something isn't working out.

LET'S HAVE A WHO IS WORST AT GAMES POLL AND SEE IF WE CAN HURT SOMEBODY'S FEELINGS

I think this answers this question perfectly -

I'm pretty sure it's Rorie anyway, but here's an idea: A weekly show where the guys challenge each other with a game of their choice (i totally didn't get this idea from achievement hunter).