Below, you can see the 50 most recent posts in the forums, starting with the most recent post first and working backwards. Signatures, avatars and other related information have been stripped so that the page will load quickly. Each post contains a link to the thread where it was posted so you can click to see it in its original context.
Posted by wolfqueen001 on February 09, 2012 at 05:44 PM:
Holy crap, guys. We haven't had even a remotely successful tourney since May 2011. I think it's time we get the ball rolling with what has traditionally been the most popular and successful reviewing tournament in HG history short of the 7-month odyssey known as the Team Tournament.
For those who don't know, The Alphabet Olympics is an annual contest at HG where up to 27 participants enter, are randomly assigned a letter of the alphabet (or the dreaded '#' category), and are tasked with reviewing a game that begins with the same letter. The best review decided by a panel of judges wins. The contest is open to both old and new contributors. In fact, entering contests like these is often the best way to improve your writing, as you will get quality feedback on your chosen entry. So if you're new to the reviewing scene, don't be intimidated by a tourney of such scale; use the opportunity to get the best out of the site.
IF YOU WISH TO ENTER
Pick one of the 27 available numbers below (each corresponds to a letter). Numbers are given on a first-come-first-serve basis, so if you don't post in the thread, it doesn't count. When all the slots are filled, the assigned letters for those numbers will be revealed. If there are less than 27 participants, unclaimed letters will be tossed into a pool and only be available for late sign-ups to take.
Trading letters is allowed (you just can't swap a letter for a letter no one is assigned to). However, the number of trades allowed will depend on the number of participants at the time assignments are generated. Keep in mind that trading is generally discouraged as it mitigates the challenge intrinsic to this tourney, so it will be punished with a slight, but not damning, point deduction.
If you wish to judge, just let me know here, or message me privately. Though, typically only regular reviewers are allowed to judge due to experience. I can swing either way on judging or participating depending on need, but would ultimately prefer to participate.
For the best results, it's a good idea to get the word out. This tourney has been known to draw out the old and the new, so let's try to give this thing the most bang for its buck. After all, the excitement comes from competing against your fellow reviewers. The more reviewers we have, the more excitement we will have.
Currently no deadline for signing up will be posted, since I can't say how things will go. However, I'm going to tentatively shoot for next Sunday. If we don't have enough people signed up by then, I may extend it another week, but going any further than that will likely cause people to start losing interest.
You could always write one, as long as you promise not to type "SkyWard" again.
You would have better luck convincing Espiga to start hating South Korean girls than you would getting SleazyBastard a.k.a. RunningFree to write a review. He just trolls. Constantly.
Posted by Suskie on February 08, 2012 at 05:20 PM:
That's a relief. For a while there I thought he was gone for good.
And Jason, kinda weird how, for as drastically different as our outlooks on the Zelda series are, our opinions of Skyward Sword are pretty much perfectly aligned. If I recall correctly, we even stopped playing at the same spot.
Posted by honestgamer on February 08, 2012 at 05:03 PM:
Jon, just do what I did and spend any wedding money on a nice TV and a console. I did that when my wife and I got married (the console was a Dreamcast) and I'm convinced our marriage was stronger because of it. After all, we're still together!
Posted by honestgamer on February 08, 2012 at 04:57 PM:
Hello again, RunningFree! In case it's not clear by now, HonestGamers will always include a selection of reviews for new and older games alike. Retro coverage still interests a large portion of our audience, and any retro coverage that we provide is not provided at the expense of coverage for newer games that you obviously prefer.
Why haven't we reviewed The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword? That's my fault. I have the game and I planned to have a review ready at launch or shortly after. However, that means actually playing the thing, and Skyward Sword is a real chore to play. I've never had to work so hard in the past to force myself to play a Zelda game. So I haven't been forcing myself. There will come a time when I do review it, but I have to be in the right mood to put up with its unique frustrations. I don't consider it a bad game (there are some solid elements and some of it is near-flawless), but neither do I relish playing it the way perhaps I should. It's probably a 7/10 for me, so far, but the score I ultimately assign it could go anywhere from there.
As far as coverage for newer games in general goes, you're going to see an increase in that over the coming months, if you decide to stick around a site that also has the nerve to cover older games too. We'll soon be posting reviews for a variety of recent releases, including Final Fantasy XIII-2 and NeverDead, so look for that coverage and more in the coming weeks. I'm excited about that and also excited that we'll continue to offer--without apology--reviews for older games that still interest so many of our readers.
Posted by SleazyBastard on February 08, 2012 at 03:59 PM:
Yeah, i've learnt that you are still reviewing old garbage like Star Ocean and Medal of Honor instead of reviewing relevant games like Skyward Sword.
So, i respect Genj's and woodhouse's opinion on games, so why don't you bring back the rating feature, so they can just rate the games they want without wasting their time reviewing them ?
Posted by honestgamer on February 08, 2012 at 10:13 AM:
I'll be getting one. I basically try to own every system, the better to increase my range of opportunities, so that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
Posted by goatx3 on February 08, 2012 at 10:09 AM:
anybody getting one? anybody already have one? what games ya gonna get? the US release is kinda sneaking up on me. i generally am not into portable gaming but somehow whenever a new one comes around i'll talk myself into buying it. then it sits in a storage bin forever. my current reasoning is that i'll be buying a vita to play the new wipeout, and then just hope other good stuff comes along. what say you, honestgamers?
Posted by zippdementia on February 08, 2012 at 10:02 AM:
You know one thing I don't see a lot of on the net is reviews for those little iphone games that seem to be the future of gaming. It's pretty much what I have the time and money to play these days, so I figured I'd start reviewing them.
Game: Mega Jump
Company: Get Set Games
Date: May 5th, 2010
System: iphone app
Genre: casual
Posted by Suskie on February 08, 2012 at 04:09 AM:
I spent the day today completing a bunch of side quests and making a legitimate attempt to 100% the game. And then... something... happened. And now I somehow hate this game far more than I did before, if that's even possible.
I'll finally be returning this game tomorrow, meaning I should no longer have any distractions standing between me and a review. I cannot wait to write it.
Posted by honestgamer on February 07, 2012 at 08:40 PM:
Thanks for the timely topic, Leslie! I was surprised you preferred my Simpsons review, since it felt weaker to me than my Pushmo review, but I appreciate the comments. It was another tough week to place. Congrats to Matt and Gary!
Posted by wolfqueen001 on February 07, 2012 at 07:36 PM:
Well, only six reviews, but fairly tough calls for all, but especially for third place, and then deciding between third and second. Hope you can all be satisfied with the results despite how strange they might be to some. Thanks to everyone for submitting content this week.
Jason has written a very solid review for the remake of the old Simpson's Arcade Game that tells me everything I need to know about it. It's style is fairly straightforward but leaves no stone unturned (at least that I can see or would care about), which makes it quite effective in getting its point across. The pics are a nice touch as well and help to illustrate the various features of the game.
I can't really say why I liked this review enough for second place. Typically puzzle reviews don't get much notoriety because they're incredibly difficult to make sound interesting and are often best served by just hashing out a well-written straightforward review of its pros and cons. Somehow, though, you manage to hook my interest in this game. This may have to do with your often refreshing breaks from the traditional flow of writing in order to insert often witty comments or express opinions on one aspect or another. Furthermore, I happened to find the idea of this game quite fascinating, which no doubt contributed to my held interest.
As is usual with EmP's reviews, he does a fantastic job of vividly describing the game's environment and mechanics while inserting his own personality into the piece in such a manner that makes reading the review quite enjoyable. Aside from the occasional typo, there really isn't a whole lot to complain about here. Airborne is perhaps the only pre-2007 MoH I haven't played except for the original ones on the Playstation, and I remember it looking fairly interesting in previews. It's neat that you liked it, though, because I thought I remember the game not getting terribly good reviews (or at least it just got relatively average ones), so it's good to see a relatively positive response from you. Which reminds me of another thing. Even though you complain quite heavily at the beginning of the review, it's well-placed and doesn't take away from the otherwise positive tone of the work. Good job.
Posted by espiga on February 07, 2012 at 06:50 PM:
I was under the assumption that you meant "Naturally" for the "to be continued" ending.
This is clearly because my brain has been subjected to too many paradoxes, artefacts, l'Cie, Etros, and that fucking moogle, thus turning me into an idiot, kupo.
Posted by Suskie on February 07, 2012 at 03:37 AM:
I just finally finished the game tonight and I have tomorrow off, so expect a review within the next 24 hours. Hopefully. Like Fedule said, there is so much wrong with this game that I don't even know where to start, or whether I can organize my thoughts into something coherent. We'll find out.
Also, fair warning to everyone: completely incomprehensible ending followed by "to be continued." Naturally.
Posted by honestgamer on February 06, 2012 at 07:53 PM:
You're now in the running, disco. Thanks for entering! Remember: there's only one winner each month and people get to vote to determine who that will be. Good luck to you and any others who enter this month! We now only need three or more additional entries!
When posting, please keep the guidelines outlined in the forum help file in mind at all times. Disruptive posts will not be tolerated. Let's all try to have a good time and keep things civil.