Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week, 20-25 September, 2010

Review of the Week, 20-25 September, 2010

Coincidentally, the three reviews for this week share a common thread of comparing something new or current to something older or as it used to be (though often not as long ago as all that). The standard of all three is high.

First place

True's Sports Champions review for PlayStation 3

This review of both the game and the accompanying new hardware has a pleasing conversational tone. The later part of the review describing True's surprise at how well it works made me feel pretty excited about the possibilities of the hardware, beyond the expectations set by what we know from the Wii.

The review is especially perceptive about the logic behind the choice of 'weird' sports to include in this game (archery, frolf,) and it is because of its combination of novel argument and warranted communicable excitement that I choose it as RotW.

Second place

EmP's Resident Evil review for PlayStation

EmP frames his review of RE as a description of a past relic. The game content is all described in the past tense, then the review becomes an argument about times having changed. It has a strong direction and reads persuasively. It is also a tighter piece of writing than True's, with fewer plain old writing errors, yet I felt there was some subtle trouble with the logic at the heart of the argument as it is presented here. I spent a long time debating myself, but I decided that while I continued to hesitate, I couldn't vault this over True's, which had been my initial inclination. So I went to the feedback topic to chew on a pipe and muse on logic.

Third place

JoeTheDestroyer's Breath of Fire III review for PlayStation

Joe's first review on the site is a rewrite, apparently. (I discovered this by own research.) It's obvious that Joe knows his stuff in this genre. There are lots of good points about the weirdness of this game's style, considering the year it was made in.

The line about 1998 and 1993 having a child made me laugh, but then the one about being punched in the testicles was a weird surprise. I'd say the review doesn't need the odd conspicuous lurch towards wackiness.

Interested parties for this game won't have any shortage of information about it after reading this review. They may not be sure where Joe leans overall, as this is the kind of difficult review where even numbers of pros and cons result in the dynamic of saying, 'Well A is cool but B is not cool, C is cool but D is not cool'.

In the end, this is not even like the other two reviews, but a worthy third place.

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Thanks for getting this done so quickly, bloomer.

Congrats to the winners.

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

Congratulations to the weiners.

//Zig

Unlimited Zig Works!

Thank you, bloomer. I always have a tough time with 6 and 7 reviews. I feel like I have to denounce part of the game, but still say it's ultimately better than average.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Nice Review of the Week, Bloomer, and congrats to the top three for some great reviews.

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm curious why this is a six-day week?

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Last week the idiot went a day over his limit.

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

I totally should have read the topic below this one before asking that question!

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Thanks, Bloomer. I appreciate both the win and you doing this so quickly. Congratulations to Joe on a wonderful review and to Emp I say:

Ha ha ha. I beat you. I'm the greatest ever.

But congratulations as well, and thank you for upgrading my review to staff.

If I Die Young, May It Be Noble. If I Die Old, Let It Be Peaceful. And If I Am To Live Forever, Please Bless My Loved Ones With The Same Miracle.