Emmett Watkins Jr

Writer, Podcaster, and Video Producer for nearly a decade. Video games, movies, and music critique is my specialty. Looking for work in writing, video production, or podcast creation.
(email, CV, and social media links below)

Published Work

Below is a collection of articles I've written for VGU.TV, sorted by most recently published. They range from reviews and list articles to features. You can also find all of my written work for VGU.TV here.

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The 24 Best Video Essays of 2024

Welcome to the start of yet another year! Despite everything, I have managed to watch a lot of excellent video essays this past year. If you are new here, know that this list is unranked, but my words will show which videos I loved more than others and, more importantly, why. You can find each video by clicking the image or title of each section. I also went out of my way to find creators I’ve never heard of, so while you will be seeing some familiar names on this list again, I hope this year’s...
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VGU.tv's 20 for '25

2024 may not have been the best of the decade so far, but now at this halfway point, we’re ready to look to the future! We kicked off last year with a look at our most anticipated pieces of media (or events!) in 2024, and this time we’re narrowing the playing field by choosing five each! Join Allan, Emmett, Graydon, and Josh as they ring in the new year with their Top 20 of 2025! Will all of their wishes come true? God, I hope so. We deserve it, dude.
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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II Review — Return of the Bro Shooter

This is, potentially, the greatest bro shooter of all time.


If I played this game when I was younger, maybe around the same age I was when I played and loved the original Space Marine, I think this would have been the piece of Warhammer media that would convert me. I know Warhammer is much more than just cool little painted figures; it’s hundreds of books, tabletop & video games, and more across tomes and tomes of fantasy and science fiction lore. It’s frankly so much that I get intimidated b...
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GNX Review: The Compton-ist Manifesto

On December 4th, 2024, Luigi Mangione gunned down the CEO of United Healthcare in the middle of the street, to the delight of the entire country, if not the entire world. We’ve all known, or even witnessed first-hand, how health insurance companies kill the vulnerable by denying coverage of life saving medical care. United Healthcare isn’t the only company with blood on its hands, but considering that it denies claims 2-3 times as often as any other US health insurer, it is certainly the worst o...

This Was Supposed To Be an Astro Bot Review. It's Not Anymore.

Prince and his guitar shaped into his symbol. (Image Credit)

This is because I wasn’t born until the end of the following year, Dec 11, 1994. And only eight days before I came into the world, so did the original PlayStation console. Anyone who would be reading an article like this, about a topic like this, on a site like this, doesn’t need to be told of the influence of the PlayStation brand. For millions, it was their first exposure to CD technology, DVD technology with the PS2, or Blu-ray tec...
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Bad Boys Ride or Die Review: Lost Sauce Restored

It took me a while, but I get it now.


Anyone who knows me knows that Bad Boys II is one of my favorite films of all time and I hold it up in my mind as a near-perfect movie. So I was beyond excited for Bad Boys 4 Life (which should have been the title of this movie). Well, while the excitement of the franchise returning carried me through the movie, I soured on it the more I thought about it. It wasn’t a bad flick, but it felt like a very utilitarian film, trying hard to fit within modern tas...
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Mullet Mad Jack Review: Millionaire Murder Simulator

It’s really hard these days to not be addicted to consistent stimulation. Even I am guilty of picking my phone up immediately upon waking up most mornings. Often I don’t focus on one single task when at work, as I have music or podcasts in the background or, at worst, a whole video playing despite not having the excess attention to give to it properly. Anyone who grew up, even in part, in front of a screen knows this struggle, and we’ll likely spend a bulk of our lifetimes getting our fix or fin...
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VGUt.v’s 24 of ‘24 Part Four

Okay okay! Everyone else on the site has had their turn to discuss what they’re excited about this year. I’ve kept y’all waiting long enough, but it’s finally time for me to get hyped with the rest of y’all. On with the list!


This one may maybe a bit of a surprise to folks who know me. My experience with heavily anime-inspired games is shaky at best. Played a few hours of Persona 5, but just haven’t gotten around to playing more of it, but it’s well-documented how much I adore the Bayonetta...
VGU.TV •

The Top 23 Video Essays of 2023

Welcome back to yet another list of my favorite video essays of the last year! Some might be glad to hear that I have not been terminally online as much as 2022, as this is the first time I’m delivering this article after the year I’m writing about has ended. But being outside a lot more didn’t stop me from watching a bunch of video essays. We got writing on everything from US back genocides to games about nuclear war to several bafflingly bad video games. Once again, there’s no real ranking to...
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Disney's Wish Review: I Wish They Didn't

Wish is the most soulless corporate “creation” I’ve seen in a very long time.


It’s very cool to have a traditional Disney lead be an unambiguously black woman. This is a legitimately great move and considering how this film is being positioned in the canon of classical Disney, that’s a pretty massive move. It’s cool that the art style attempts to be a hybrid between the classical 2D and modern 3D styles. And it’s cool that the movie has some parts where it’s about anti-fascism and resistance...
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The 22 Best Video Essays of 2022

Welcome back to yet another look at my favorite video essays of the year, this time of 2022. I have been just as terminally online this year as I was last, so I have a lot of videos to shout out. And of course, I’m always looking for more, so if you know a video I missed, please share it with me on Twitter! This list, much like last year’s list, will also not have any real ranking to it, except the final video is definitely my favorite of the bunch. But I clearly would recommend any and all of t...
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Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Review: This Shit Hard

I’ve talked about it at length elsewhere on the internet, but Kendrick Lamar genuinely changed my life when he made To Pimp a Butterfly. There are several aspects of my personality and worldview that wouldn’t exist, or at least exist in the same way, if I didn’t listen to that album during my earliest years of adulthood. So, of course, I loved DAMN a few years later, and of course, I loved the Black Panther album a little bit after that. In the final track of To Pimp a Butterfly, Mortal Man, whe...
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Everything Everywhere All At Once Review: AYE YEOH!

Many years ago, I left my home state for the first time in my life alone. I’ve stayed over at friends’ houses, and I’ve gone to conventions nearby up until then, but this was the first time I was out, all on my own, with a group of friends I had either only known online or were just meeting on this trip. Despite any concerns that would be perfectly reasonable to have, it was a fantastic trip. But at the end of that trip, after meeting so many new acquaintances, trying so many new experiences, an...
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Shadow Warrior 3 Review: Lo Key, Lo Brow, High Fun

Back when I was a young child trying to survive the harsh heat of summers in south Georgia, one of the most exciting parts of my breaks were the days I spent at summer camp. It wasn’t the kind of camp one might think of from things like 1998’s The Parent Trap or 2005’s Psychonauts, where you would leave home for the entire summer to adventure in the wilderness. No, this was more of a daycare center for kids whose parents didn’t work any less despite the summer break. Most days at camp would be c...
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Emmett's Games of the Year 2021 (And Some Other Years Too)

Welcome to yet another year-end list where someone gushes about the games they’ve played over the last 12, and now 13, months. Much like 2020, 2021 hasn’t been anything like we expected. But unlike last 2020, the past year has had a deeper effect on my headspace. So, throughout this list of games, you might notice how many of these games speak to how I’ve been emotionally over the last few months and my emotional needs during that time. So, when you notice that heavy hitters like Halo Infinite a...
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VGU.TV’s Official 2021 Game of the Year Awards

It’s that time of year again! You’ve heard us argue about these games over the last month, but it’s time to finally reveal the winners of all of our categories, including the coveted Game of the Year! This page will plainly list out all of the winners in all 20 of our categories. If you would like to listen to how we came to these conclusions, you can listen to our deliberation podcasts. All of them can be found here, but each episode will be linked in each part of this article. So, without furt...
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The 21 Best Video Essays of 2021

As someone who is terminally online, I watch a lot of internet video, and I do so especially on YouTube. For years I’ve watched all kinds of content there, from movie and game reviews to vine compilations and music videos to even a video podcast every now and then. But this year is the year I got really into video essays. Now, I’ve watched video essay-like content for a few years already. Channels like GVMERS and Game Makers Toolkit have given me some of my favorite documentaries and game analys...
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Keepin It 💯 Ep 10: The Grand Finale

Welcome to the final propper episode of Keepin It 💯, the podcast in which I, Emmett Watkins Jr go through my top 100 games of all time to sort them in proper order.


Over the last few months, we’ve had:10 Episodes (+Ep 0 and 9.5)534 Matchups100 Rejected Games100 Properly Sorted Games1,273 minutes of audio recorded (over 21 hours!)And one live finale that is 11 hours long over two streams.


As for that live stream, it’s embedded into this article, so if you are averse to reading, check it out...
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For Better or Worse, It's Kanye: Donda Review

Some of my most cherished memories in life are attached to when I experienced certain pieces of art for the first time. Seeing Spider-Man Homecoming for the first time in a theater full of the overwhelming love of dozens of new and old friends. Playing Shadow of Colossus in a Walmart gaming chair right after marathoning through Modern Warfare 3 on Christmas night and finally having its obtuse design click with me. Being introduced to Kendrick Lamar through Good Kid, Maad City while riding home f...
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Knockout City Review - Dodgeballin'

Despite participating in little league sports up to eighth grade, I was not an athletic child. As the son of a football and track and field coach for over 2 decades, this incidentally ended up being a defining trait during my childhood. But my lack of passion for traditional sports didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy physical games, it just meant those games were never seen as “real” sports. I grew up running chariot races in Latin Club and participating in crabwalk races on several field days, but above...
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What Kane and Lynch 3 Could Be, If It Could Be

The Kane and Lynch franchise, however short-lived and obscure it is, has remained a point of fascination for many game enthusiasts. In an industry that often rewards brightly colored worlds and lighthearted tones with critical acclaim and high sales, this series envelopes you in a dark universe full of terrible men doing terrible things. But despite how hideous the games are, both in very different ways from one another, the series has remained fascinating to play, and even more to discuss. But...
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Emmett Watkins Jr's Most Anticipated Games of 2021

Only a month into the year, we’ve had plenty of games get unexpected delays and the next-generation consoles are expected to be tough to find for many more months. And that’s only in the gaming space, as several other newsworthy moments have happened outside of interactive entertainment. But, while it might just be the optimist in me, I still think 2021 is set to be a year full of new beginnings that, in comparison to last year, should kick of a much brighter future. But here, I wanna focus on t...
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VGU.TV Videos

This playlist has every video I've made and appeared in for VGU.TV over the years, including Let's Plays, unboxings, and more.

The Player's Club Podcast

All episodes of The Player's Club Podcast are hosted and edited by me and can be found here. I also had a special series called Keepin It 100 where I decided my top 100 games of all time, which can be found here.

Personal YouTube Channel

I also have been making videos on my personal YouTube channel for some time now. My best work there can be found in my Kendrick in Review series, where I analyzed each of Kendrick Lamar's albums, including Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. That series can be found here.

Welcome to the Thing

I've been a co-host of Welcome to the Thing, alongside T.L. Foster and Jarrett Green for over a year. These episodes can be found here.

Other Samples and Work

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Get While the Going’s Good: Stop Playing Games While You Still Love Them

I finally got around to getting my platinum trophy in God of War this weekend. I’ve gotten plenty of platinum trophies in dozens of other games, but I’ve never felt the urge to get one in any other God of War game until now. Sure, once I realized I collected almost every collectible in Ascension, naturally, I thought about replaying the game on hard to clean up the last of the trophies. And after replaying God of War 3 via the PS4 remaster with a guide, I considered playing again on hard using a...
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Why You Should be Excited for RAGE 2

RAGE 2 has officially been announced by Bethesda this morning, and gameplay is going to be revealed tomorrow. As someone who played, and mostly enjoyed, the original game, I was very excited to see a sequel for it, even after all these years. But, RAGE is not a game that had any real impact on the gaming landscape when it dropped in 2011. Due to its problematic launch on PC, it’s lack of compelling multiplayer, it’s abrupt ending, and its shallow open world and gameplay loop, it was quickly forg...
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The Awe-Inspiring, yet Juvenile, case of God of War 3

I finally got around to getting my platinum trophy in God of War this weekend. I’ve gotten plenty of platinum trophies in dozens of other games, but I’ve never felt the urge to get one in any other God of War game until now. Sure, once I realized I collected almost every collectible in Ascension, naturally, I thought about replaying the game on hard to clean up the last of the trophies. And after replaying God of War 3 via the PS4 remaster with a guide, I considered playing again on hard using a...
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F.3.A.R. vs. F.E.A.R. 2

Greetings! So, early in 2017, I listed off my top 10 games of the following year on YouTube. That was a long time ago, and now I’m writing out the script for my GOTY 2017 video. But as I wrote, I just realised something: Why don’t I post the text along with the original video? So, here I am, albeit nearly a year later, telling yall about my favorite games of 2016. And be on the lookout for another, more current, list in the coming weeks!Besides a certain pocket monster simulator, this game is th...
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The Transformation of Jay-Z through Two Decades Album Art

This was originally written for a Visual Rhetoric class last year, but I liked it so much that I decided to share it with the internet. Hope you all enjoy!Shawn
Corey Carter, or Jay-Z as he’s more commonly known, has had one of the most
successful carriers in all of hip hop history. With businesses in numerous
industries, thirteen studio albums, and the biggest pop star on earth as his
wife, Jay-Z has been at the forefront of pop culture for nearly twenty-one
years. However, over these years, he...
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Tupac’s Changes

Since he released his
first studio album in 2011, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth has been one of the most
celebrated artists in all hip hop. While many contemporary rap artists make
songs about the usual topics of sex, drugs, and violence, Kendrick has always
tried to have his music deliver deeper messages. In 2012, he imbedded Christian
themes and used unique techniques to tell the story of Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, which introduced him to mainstream success.
In 2015, he used historical African imagery...
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Atlanta and the Rise of African American English

This was originally written for a Visual Rhetoric class last year, but I liked it so much that I decided to share it with the internet. Hope you all enjoy!Shawn
Corey Carter, or Jay-Z as he’s more commonly known, has had one of the most
successful carriers in all of hip hop history. With businesses in numerous
industries, thirteen studio albums, and the biggest pop star on earth as his
wife, Jay-Z has been at the forefront of pop culture for nearly twenty-one
years. However, over these years, he...
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Eminem’s Legacy

Marshall “Eminem” Mathers
has been making rap music for over twenty years, and for the duration of his
career, he has consistently been a controversial figure in music. Many are put
off by his often violent and misogynistic lyrics in songs like “Kim”. Some
claim that his music has never lived up to the heights he reached on his 2000
hit album, The Marshall Mathers LP.
Even within the rap community, he has gained many critics in recent years,
claiming that his musical style is outdated by today’s...
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Kendrick Lamar’s FEAR.

This was originally written for a Visual Rhetoric class last year, but I liked it so much that I decided to share it with the internet. Hope you all enjoy!Shawn
Corey Carter, or Jay-Z as he’s more commonly known, has had one of the most
successful carriers in all of hip hop history. With businesses in numerous
industries, thirteen studio albums, and the biggest pop star on earth as his
wife, Jay-Z has been at the forefront of pop culture for nearly twenty-one
years. However, over these years, he...

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