Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW for 10/16 to 10/22 of 2011

A bit of a review number boost this week with six dudes bringing forth nine reviews or so. And that doesn't count my review, which can just be called the uncrowned champion. Now to determine who is the crowned one and all that. One review per person allowed to place, so let's go! (at this time, please start blasting some form of fast-paced, antisocial heavy metal to set the stage)



THIRD PLACE: Dark Souls (XBox 360) by Suskie

Damn, I hate trying to judge reviews like this, especially on a week with a lot of good submissions that all but demanded placement. On one hand, it's written in reaction to you playing a fraction of this game (hell, I think 40% is roughly the least amount of something I've played before reviewing it…if anyone cares, after finally playing the full thing, Rogue Galaxy can possibly be upgraded from a "3" to a "4-5" sort of rating). On the other hand, everything you typed makes perfect sense and resonates A LOT with a player like me. I've read enough about Demon's Souls to both wish I had a PS3 to play it and to wonder if I'd ever actually try it if I did have that system. I like to unwind with the intoxicating substance of my choice and play games while some random sporting event is on my second TV. While I do bitch about modern games and their abundance of checkpoints making it easy to get through them, having a tough game where I have to pay constant attention to what I'm doing and get punished for mistakes and for getting distracted by other things going on likely would also elicit a negative reaction. And that's what I got from this review. That this is a game that isn't for the guy sitting down to unwind after a day at the office. A few years ago, my best friend and I joked about how we had "real" jobs and gaming jobs. Come home from work and painstakingly play something like Gran Turismo 3, where you need to be ON to do things like the final level license tests or (god forbid) the Complex String arcade challenge. I remember spending hour after hour doing and redoing full lap license tests until I FINALLY got a good enough rating to move on to the next. When I think of that, any desire I have to borrow his copy of GT 4 goes out the window. When I read your review of Dark Souls, that is what entered my mind — a game that can be more work than entertainment. So, good job for writing something that gave me that vivid of a mental picture of frustration.

SECOND PLACE: Civilization V (PC) by Lewis

As I mentioned on the message board thread, I really liked this review because it described this game perfectly for a guy like me, who hasn't played Civilization since the original one came out on really old computers back in the 90s. You do a good job of describing the mechanics as they relate to what you have to do in order to win and how certain things, such as diplomacy, don't really work. Really brought me back to the olden days when the computer broke alliances with me for no reason other than, apparently, it was Tuesday. When you can do a review that I can understand just from playing a 20ish year old game, that's good stuff!

OVERDRIVE PLACE:

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

Really glad I was able to connect with you on that one, so thanks for what you said. Congrats to Jason and Lewis, both of whom wrote terrific reviews this week.

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

Thanks for the win, overdrive. This was a difficult review to write and definitely not something I would try to do every time. It's much longer than I really wanted it to be, the comparison to Zelda adds two big paragraphs and so on and so forth, yet I had things I had to say about a game I love and so I did. I'm glad that it worked for you, and for others who commented in the review's feedback thread.

Congrats also to Suskie and Lewis on their placement, and kudos to everyone else who participated. We wound up having another extremely competitive week, so a win feels especially good!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

And that's that for this installment of RotW, done before last week's was, which shows that I'm pretty damn awesome!

And/or it shows the previous RotW-er sucks. =T

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

I prefer to look at the positive side of me than the negative side of others, so I think I'll keep with this being because I'm awesome than because you were slacking.

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

That's very gracious of you.

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