Forums > Contributor Zone > An unforgivably late RotW: May 2nd - May 8th

Well, I've finally gotten around to doing this one after the huge confusion created in the wake of Randxian's absence, which, by the time it had been resolved, almost no one (including myself) was available to do this until now. But, as the saying goes, "better late than never", and it'd be a huge shame to just skip this week after all the contributors and effort put into it. There were 9 reviews with 8 contributors, and this, along with the quality ammongst them, made choosing the best extraordinarily difficult, as it often is.

THIRD PLACE: Dragoon of Infinity's BlazBlue

What made this stand out to me was the fact that the review actually made the game seem interesting and unique, especially since the game's initial appearances don't give this impression. As a review for a fighter game, I more or less expected to see what I'd typically see in a review about a fighting game, but here I was quite surprised with the (later) focus on story. A fighter with any sort of emphasis on story sounds almost oxymoronic, and since I'm not a huge fan of fighters to begin with, this bit of difference is a critical one. Of course, the review itself contributed to my intrigue as well, since its varied points and simple language clearly illustrated what made this game work.

SECOND PLACE: spaceworlder's Street Fighter IV

spaceworlder's simple and straightforward style doesn't always work for me, but here it really did. I don't know a whole lot about the Street Fighter series, but since this is a review for the fourth (numerical) installment in the series, I never expected a rundown of the basics. Besides, it's a fighting game and all fighting games have a general format that's easy to follow. What this review does well, then, is explain what makes this particular version different (or not so different) from the rest. Spaceworlder only explains the newer features of this title, only adding the historical elements (i.e. where the features appeared before) to back his claim that this game isn't anything terribly new. Further, the language is blunt and humorous enough to keep things flowing smoothly, and its short length means that only the bare essentials are discussed here. While this last statement could easily be a drawback in many reviews, here it works because I don't really feel like I'm reading about a completely new game; it almost feels like I'm reading for an expansion of an earlier title, which, to me, wouldn't be far from the truth when looking at sequels to popular fighting franchises.

FIRST PLACE: EmP's Enchanted Arms

This review genuinely appealed to me the most for several reasons. Unlike some of the other reviews, the humor doesn't feel forced, and the writing is smooth without feeling like it's trying too hard. The premise of the review works well, as the thesis seeks to debunk the harshly negative first impressions of the game's start. It's an important claim to make, for obvious reasons, especially for someone who enjoyed it, because otherwise it would be easy to overlook the game's deeper meaning, if the average gamer decided to push that far along in the first place. Of all the reviews, I personally probably found this to be the most useful, at least to me, because of my interest in the genre. I very well could have easily been duped by the game's initial cringeworthy stupidity. Now that I've been forewarned, I'll be careful not to make that mistake if/whenever I get around to purchasing this.

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Man I really hate having to choose three. I would like to emphasize again that all the reviews submitted that week were quality. Suskie's were fairly thorough in covering their subjects, and OD provided some interesting insights of his own. Kudos go to Fedule for writing as much as he did and with passion. In short, whether you were mentioned or not, you're all winners. Because I'm nice like that.

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What espiga does in his free time
[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

But I'm even more of a winner -- just so we're all aware.

Thanks for jumping in andcovering this, WQ. Twice I thought I had it covered only for the person to have to have to leave their respective country (or, in Will's case, leave the house and get lost in the jungle-like woodland that covers 65% of Canada).

Random props to Fedule who I though wrote a great long review.

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For us. For them. For you.

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!

Errrr...I mean, thanks for filling in WQ and congrats to EmP and placers! There were some good reviews that week.

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I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Thanks for covering this, WQ!

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Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."