Thanks guys! It's my pleasure :)

A few changes to our schedule the coming weeks:

Sept 29th : 11:00AM MST (Thursday instead of Friday)
Oct. 7th : 11:00AM MST (Friday as normal)
Oct. 13th : 11:00AM MST (Thursday instead of Friday)

Normally we will continue to do the streams on Fridays, but if there are any more changes we'll post them as they happen.

Also, our stream link has changed: https://beam.pro/Dinoracha

I completely agree; we all have go-to formulas. It was not my intention to make that sound like a bad thing -- otherwise I'd be shooting myself in the foot. Sometimes abandoning that formula leads to disaster, but, sometimes, it leads to a very good bit of writing such as the one Overdrive produced on this week.

Many thanks for the top spot -- good work on fitting this in so seamlessly. Joe who?

Good topic. Some very fair feedback there for people to mull over.

Tallowmere, WiiU
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/tallowmere-wii-u

Added.

Thank you, Nightfire, for taking over this topic, and wonderful job! Congrats to the placers and EmP.

Behold! It is I, HG's resident dragon! I have descended from yonder hill in order to mercilessly curate Review of the Week. Once a month henceforth, I shall deem a select few worthy whilst dealing fiery judgement upon all those unfortunate souls who -

Oh, wait, there's only three of you.

Well then. I guess you all make the running. Props to all of you!

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Third place: silversuriv's The Uncertain: Episode 1 - The Last Quiet Day review (PC)

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silversuriv has bombarded the site with strong reviews of late, mostly of the praise variety, and this review is no exception. It is a well-written piece that provides precise descriptions about this game's mechanics and story without giving too much away. He successfully managed to make me intrigued about this game, even though I rarely play point n' click adventure games anymore.

I have only two criticisms to note. The first relates to his mentioning of the Turing Test. While this may seem like a good way to launch a review about a game featuring a society of robots, the Turing Test actually becomes irrelevant in a situation where humanity does not exist, and that is apparently exactly what this game is about. If there is any point within the game where the Turing Test does became relevant, it was not described within the article, so that point just kinda hung there as a loose thread.

Secondly, unlike some people, I actually dislike the inclusion of videos in written reviews. I feel that they break up the pacing of the read, almost as if to state: "Hey, look at this video! It can show you what I'm talking about better than I can!" I will admit that I did skim through it to get a better idea of what this game is about, but I wasn't about to stop my read in order to absorb thirty minutes of footage.

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Second place: hastypixels' Audiosurf review (PC)

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hastypixels submitted three reviews in one day, which is impressive output, but only one can make it into the running. I felt that his Audiosurf review was the strongest of the bunch. It is a concise, informative piece that accurately describes what this game is about and what its shortcomings are. I appreciated how it got right to the point without dragging on.

It makes a lot of comparisons to Audiosurf 2, but as a retrospective review this is appropriate. Anyone who has never heard of the Audiosurf titles would be well-served by reading this review to decide whether to drop their money on the first or second game.

It's clear that he has a chip on his shoulder about DLC, though. He mentions how Audiosurf is DLC-free three times in his article, and I'm not sure how relevant that is in a review about a game that has none. It might've been sufficient to mention this once and be done with it, as not everybody out there has a problem with DLC when it is done right.

Regardless, I could find little else to pick apart about this review; it is a solid and enjoyable read overall.

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First place: EmP's The Technomancer review (PC)

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It can be difficult to form a strong opinion about a game that is "just okay". The Technomancer doesn't sound great, but it doesn't sound terrible either, and sometimes with games like these all you can do is describe exactly what it is and then give a decided shrug. EmP does exactly this while managing to entertain us with a recount of his frustrations with the early game and how silly some of the world-building is. He made me chuckle at several points while reading his review and I must give him credit for this; it is far easier to make a humorous review about a game that is really bad than one that is just so-so.

Beyond this, his review flows nicely, it doesn't bog us down in too many details, and it gives us a complete picture of what we can expect if we are to pick up this title. I can't really find anything to pick apart here, and for that reason, he is the clear winner this week. Hats off to you, sir!

Thief (PC, Steam) Added.
Steamworld Heist (PC, Steam) Added.
Hexoscope (PC, Steam) Added.

Thanks for a timely topic, and congratulations to the week's other winners!

I believe that formulas exist because they work very well indeed when properly executed, so I'm never going to shy away from one if I settle on the best way to cover a particular game and realize that it has been done before.

In the case of Unbox, the game has two issues that wind up feeling rather substantial, so the challenge was to find a way to gripe about those two issues without ignoring a lot of interesting things the game does commendably well. I ultimately decided that the best way to communicate that was to talk about those exciting things first, so that the reader will understand why someone might stick with the game--or try it in the first place--in spite of the frustrating physics and camera.

EmP, I have to both thank you for handing me the win and congratulate you for outdoing yourself by setting a new record for most backhanded compliments in your reasoning.

Oh yeah, and the whole 'offer my experiences and let the reader be the judge' was my plan. By the time I wrote my review, I'd been playing the game off and on for a couple weeks and figured Jason would be getting antsy if I didn't submit something in the very near future; while also still not being really sure if I was doing things right (I mean, I'd guess virtually anyone could make progress if they eliminated a ton of stuff that makes things tricky AND lowered the difficulty as much as possible).

So I decided to write it like that, so people knew my personal experiences, so they can determine if those elements sound appealing and/or if the struggle to learn/master how things work sounds like it'd be worth it. It wound up being a fun way to write the review -- not played for laughs quite like a somewhat similarly themed one I did for some lame NES game (CastleQuest? Or something like that.) -- and was probably the best way I could have covered that game.

Review of the Week is a reader’s digest of sorts, featuring all the reviews written in a given week, and then judged by a self-important author with delusions of grandeur. That’ll be me today. Only the top three reviews shall be mentioned, in order of relevance. No reviews from the judge will be permissible (though, under a snazzy new rule we just invented, will be then eligible for the next week.), and in the event that another writer submits more than one review for the week, only the review the judge deems superior will be included.

More words follow:

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Enter the Gungeon (PC) by silversuriv

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It’s been a while, but someone’s used a food analogy!

Jam-packed

Booo!

Silversuriv’s been dominating the user review section, because that what he does; submit rapid fire reviews and press all the buttons. He’s putting the rest of your to shame! Not so much me. I have other stuff going on. Important stuff.

Despite the food analogy (I repeat, boo!) I prefer this Gungeon review to the Dance Magic one, but that’s probably purely down to having a better subject matter to talk about. I think the overbranching drawback many of his reviews can suffer from is that his use of lists make his reviews, well, listy, so there’s not a lot of scope left to talk about the game as a whole. But, in a statement designed to anger the purists, I do like the inclusion of the video. Because you’re pretty awful.

It’s a big thing to award a 5/5, but it feels backed up by this effort.

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Unbox [PC] by Jason

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Jason provides a tidy, informative review. That’s what Jason does, and we’re all the better for it. Maybe it’s a touch formulaic in how it lists all the pros then works through the cons if I’m trying to pick flaws (I am; it’s my job), but, as a person who knows nothing about Unbox, his review teaches me all I need to know about Unbox.

There’s not a lot to poke holes at. All boxes (ha!) checked, good review.

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Zombasite [Mac] by Rob

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The collection of disasters you suffered amuses me greatly (not least because I passed on the chance to cover this game, so there’s a sense of smug justification involved) but, in chronicling it, it led to a very solid review. It might just sound like rambling, but it’s also a clever way to deconstruct the game’s flaws, talk about how they affected you, and what you have to do to overcome them. Which was more or less turn them off and pretend they never happened until you obtain a better grasp of the basics.

But it’s a clever review, because rather than just state that and move on, you offer the reader your own experiences and let them come to that conclusion themselves. I don’t know if that was the plan, but it’s very strong stuff on your behalf, so you get some praise. You probably stole the idea off me in the first place, but you still pull it off very well.

I love the idea that your friends can turn into murderous ghosts a la Silent Hill 4. Almost as much as I like the fact you clearly named your clan for Michael Bolton. I’m also reminded you have a beatnik mac, and that’s hilarious.

The Uncertain: Episode 1 - The Last Quiet Day
PC
http://store.steampowered.com/app/406970/

Added.

Congrats to all that were mentioned, holdthephone and Dinoracha, and to sam1193 for the RotW! It was another loaded week of reviews, and it's always nice to see some variation.

If you are a PR person working to spread the word about the game, or the actual developer posting here with the same aim, you might be better served by requesting that your account be modified so that you can submit press notices and such. You can find more information on the process right here:

http://www.honestgamers.com/help/prblogs.html

You can submit well-written posts and they should appear on the site for readers to easily see. They can comment on articles and you can respond and see information about how many people are viewing your posts.

Gawrsh.
I was actually concerned when I sent that review draft off since after rereading it for the third time it sounded like I was a fence sitter, but there wasn't really a way to escape that mentality once I was done with the game.

Another RotW by me, where I judge eight reviews and ignore one, as it is mine. As always, I read them, judge them and post results which may or may not reflect anything I actually read, leaving you to determine just what was going through my mind when I did all this. Fun for me, fun for you!

THIRD PLACE

holdthephone's Stranger of Sword City (Vita)

Another week where it was hard to determine who'd place and where they'd place, leading me to simply pick which reviews grabbed my interest the most and then try to explain why they did. For you, the key was that you took a game I'd heard of and gave a comprehensive explanation of what it is and how it works. You described some interesting aspects, such as how your party essentially lurks in ambush and can be considered a random encounter to the monsters. You also mentioned how it's really difficult and how things can veer too much towards THE GRIND as you try to improve equipment to the degree you can be competitive with the tough boss encounters, as well as how the game essentially revolves around those bosses. Good stuff that taught me a lot about this one.

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SECOND PLACE

Lucas Goulding's The Final Station (PC)

The strength of this review is how you did a good job balancing between praise and criticism of a game that probably can be best described as "intriguing, but mediocre". You were quite clear on the many annoyances of this game ranging from how death is essentially meaningless to how you can take cheap hits to the "filler" mini-games. However, there just seems to be enough to this one to make it worth experiencing, if only once. The potentially doomed futuristic world, with many secrets hidden off the beaten path that enrich the game's world seems to be a neat theme, even if (as you said), it could have been implemented a bit better. You really do a good job of giving the impression this game could have been pretty good with a bit more work and imagination on the part of the creators.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

sam1193's No Man's Sky (PlayStation 4)

This one simply resonated most with me. Stuff like your second paragraph reminds me a lot of my youth, where I could look at a road map and spend hours imagining what all the places I'd never visited must be like. That's the sort of thing that makes a game like this seem wonderful -- giving you a massive galaxy (or is it galaxies?) to explore with a near-infinite number of planets to explore. And after all the introductory stuff, you do a wonderful job of simply describing how the reality of things doesn't come close to meeting that lofty expectation, as after getting over the initial thrill of things, you're stuck having to do mundane, repetitive tasks on a collection of worlds that generally all are only superficially different and wind up seeming sterile with collections of similar lifeforms that all apparently exist only to be recorded, since you mention how things don't actually interact with each other. It's possibly the best description of this game I've seen — something that appeals to youthful imagination, but winds up letting it down because the longer you play, the more everything seems the same.

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And that's all for this week. Oh yeah, EmP, you best not forget I had a review this week to carry over in order to win next week's contest. Hopefully, I'll finish my other review today, so that will give me two entries, making it totally unfair to EVERYONE else!

Dance Magic
PC
http://store.steampowered.com/app/394260/

Added.

Enter the Gungeon
PC
http://store.steampowered.com/app/311690/

Added.

Hello Fellow gamers,

Have you played Smashy Toys? This is a new mobile gaming app in the Philippines. Its an action gaming app that you only need to smash asteroids and comets that will come your way. I really love this kind of game. The pixel-type graphic which only require small memory of your phone. It really helps me to ease boredom while waiting for something. What makes it a 4 star rate is its a FREE to play game app and not to use a lot of your phone memory. You can simply search them in Google Play Store and in iOS App Store. Somehow almost but not quiet similar to Crossy Road. There are exciting gifts you can get after finishing each level. You'll be able to get cute voxel-type toys to add for your collection. What's your take about this game? Let's talk about it here and see what improvements can be done to the game.

Cheers!

Crafting Mama
DS
http://www.ign.com/games/crafting-mama/nds-65012

Added.

Sega 3D Classics Collection
3DS
http://www.ign.com/games/sega-3d-classics-collection/3ds-20048340

Added.

Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward
PC, PS3, PS4
http://www.ign.com/games/final-fantasy-xiv-online-heavensward/mac-20039366

Added.

Army of Two Devils Cartel
PS3, Xbox 360
http://www.ign.com/games/army-of-two-3-rumored/xbox-360-138871

Added.

Dead Island Riptide
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
http://www.ign.com/games/dead-island-riptide/xbox-360-135758

Added.

Diablo 3
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
http://www.ign.com/search?q=Diablo%203

Added.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3
PS3, Xbox 360
http://www.ign.com/games/dynasty-warriors-gundam-3/xbox-360-85967

Added.

Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed
Xbox 360
http://www.ign.com/games/sonic-all-stars-racing-transformed/xbox-360-133505

Added.

Thanks for the mention and congratz to the winners! I haven't managed to contribute much around here, yet, but it's nice to see such an involved community.