Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW 6/22/08 - 6/28/08 -- Unfashionably late

I know, I'm late again. I blame my own forgetfulness. And EmP for doing the week I was all set to do. And the already messed up RotW schedule. And my addiction to Team Fortress 2! And my desire to replay Half-Life 2, which I was going to review tonight but didn't because I had more pressing matters to attend to. You see how I sacrifice for the greater good? YOU SEE WHAT I DO FOR YOU?!

Staff reviews are ineligible, as always, and only one review per person is allowed. So Felix, whatever you think you're achieving but submitting three reviews in one week, stop that! You're making everyone look bad. Now on to business.


Review of the Week: The Bouncer (PS2) by genj

It's difficult to be at all insightful about a review that, above all else, succeeds for one simple reason: It's funny. The Bouncer seems like a very easy game to make fun of, and Genj takes all possible opportunities to do so, his delightfully sarcastic tone providing laughs with too many great lines to name individually. What impressed me, though, is that he doesn't go all-out on The Bouncer and admits the game has potential: The battle system shows promise in unique ways, but isn't given enough time to flourish, as it's bogged down with too much story content. And the game is over quickly, anyway. This review started as a stright-up bash and evolved into something far deeper. Way to pull that one off.

First Runner-Up: Final Fantasy X (PS2) by Felix_Arabia

It's remarkable that Felix is able to review a game as over-covered as Final Fantasy X (just look at all those reviews!) and still come off sounding fresh and making me want to play the game more than ever. I've played bits and pieces of the game but have never actually owned it, and Felix's emotionally-charged coverage of the plot makes me really feel like I'm missing out. While the review flows beautifully, upon closer inspection I realized that Felix doesn't really talk about the gameplay very much at all, and what's here isn't all that compelling. So you attack enemies? And you gain special abilities? And sometimes it's challenging? It doesn't sound too compelling, and while I'm sure there's a lot more to the game than what you described here, I'd love to see you go into more detail in those areas. Nonetheless, this review makes me want to run out and buy a PS2 with a copy of FFX. In fact, I think I'll go do that. Bye.

Second Runner-Up: The Return of Lady Frog (Arcade) by drella

Good lord. The first two lines are utterly hilarious. This review is handicapped by default because it covers a puzzle game, and you can see Drella somewhat struggling to find something to talk about. He succeeds: The in-depth discussion about the game's nude images had me cracking up, mainly because it's funny to see someone analyzing something so crude with such a matter-of-fact tone, and because the game itself is so uninteresting that this is what you have to sink to in order to write an effective review. It works, somehow, and the final paragraph does a nice job of pulling together everything I've read up to that point.


There were plenty of worthy reads this week that didn't quite make the list: Bluberry's casual and informative SpyHunter would have had a shot at runner-up status if he'd ditched the overused "I was skeptical" device at the beginning, Dagoss took a chance with a letter-styled Etrian Odyssey that oddly worked, and Credit_Card surprised me with a review that opens and closes wonderfully. Everything I read this past week was solid, and it seems that every time I do RotW, the quality maintains a consistent high while the quantity steadily rises. Keep the good work coming, folks! HG's reputation as the number-one place for online user reviews is only growing more firm.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

I tried to get a good balance of humor and technical gameplay observation, so I guess I achieved that! Thanks for the win and congrats to drella, felix and everyone else that submitted. There have been a lot of quality user submissions lately.

_

Cool! Thanks for the mention and congrats to Genjuro for the win and Leroux for the other mention.

Genjuro, I forgot to answer your question in your feedback topic over your review, so I'll answer it here. The Bouncer looks awesome because it's so hokey. And since it's short and cheap, it would make for a fantastic purchase.

As for the commentary on my review, I could have delved into some of the more technical stuff, but I figured that since my review was already 11KB, and that there are 17 or 18 other FFX reviews, it wasn't necessary for me to explain the finer points of gameplay.

I don't have to boost my review resume because I have a real resume.

Who is supposed to do this next week?

I don't have to prove I'm refined - that's what makes me refined!

I understand what you mean, Felix, but your review is so compelling that it could have gone on a good deal longer and still held my interest. You're already on your way to having the definitive FFX praise review (quite an accomplishment, considering how many there are), so I just wanted to make sure you covered all the bases.

Masters: You are, but I guess you know that now.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

Haha. Wasn't expecting that little review to even be mentioned, let alone praised. Thanks!

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