Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW Nov 06-12 2011

I've taken over Marc's ordinarily scheduled week because he asked me to. I'm not nearly as witty as he is, so I'm just going to get right to it.

This was a challenging week for RotW, as it always seems to be when I do it. There were a lot of good submissions -- in fact, there weren't any that I could dismiss outright as 'bad'. However, there always needs to be an order to things.

THIRD PLACE: Honestgamer's Modern Warfare 3 review.

A fitting piece for Veteran's Day. I almost have to wonder if this was done intentionally or not. Anyway, I felt this was the strongest of your five pieces. You don't waste time bringing to the front what made this series appeal to you most. This I found to be a rather effective method to get us, the reader, to care about your own sentiments, and perhaps even agree with them to some extent. Well, what I should say is it sets us up to believe what you argue next – that this new installment, while exciting and fun in just about every way, goes a little overboard, even to the point where it numbs any previously begotten sensitivity to the characters and story. You also manage to do this without any real spoilers, which I find to be a rather impressive accomplishment. Good job.

SECOND PLACE: Tom Chick's Battlefield 3 review:

I started liking your other review for this week better, but as I kept reading, I realized that this one was superior. Mainly, you do a good job making this game sound unique compared both to others in the genre as well as earlier installments. I may not have had any experience with any Battlefield games, but I do come away feeling as though I know what's important. You may not go into detail about gameplay or similarly traditional avenues for which to report, but I don't feel like I need to know this. Somehow you make the sheer beauty of the environments and the value placed on geographical advantage stand out above all else. Furthermore, you convey all this with a casual, relateable style that is easily understood by anyone reading. Achieving this balance is a remarkable feat and should be commended.

FIRST PLACE: EmP's Tropico 4 review

No groans from the peanut gallery, please, haha. I almost gave RotW to Tom, but when I re-read the reviews in the tiebreaker, his just didn't hold the interest that this one did. In addition to the unceremoniously ignored feedback I gave earlier, I'll just say that I found your style similarly casual and relateable to Tom's, but unlike Tom's you don't get repetitive in restating points in certain paragraphs like he tended to in his, and you also manage to convey a bit of humor that, whether intended or not, made this substantially more enjoyable.

You're welcome. =P


As for the rest, Joe came a close third with his Halloween review, whose brevity I found refreshing, along with finding the general idea of the game quite interesting. We also saw a pickhut review, as we always do, that described a rather thorough run-down of the newest Sonic game, and gave so in such detail that it made it relevant to hard-core Sonic fans. Threetimes submitted what could easily have been her retro tourney entry about a game that I found myself quite interested in checking out. OD bashes a historic-themed game, that, would ordinarily have me quite intrigued on concept alone except that this particular game sounds quite tedious and even pointless. And PAJ tries his hand at a rather unknown PC title.

Thank you all for your wonderful contributions these past two weeks. I hope we can see a similar outpouring from the community in the future, but I also know we all have lives.

[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

Nice topic, WQ, and a tough week to rank the reviews, I'm sure. This was one of the strongest weeks we've had in a long time. As you said, there really weren't any "bad" reviews. Congrats to the others who placed, and go ahead and pat yourself on the back if you participated at all this week; accolades are definitely warranted.

"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

Mr. Venter: you will find that you are mentioned in the other RotW that went up yesterday, the one from the previous week.

Nice job pitching in, Leslie. Very prompt, unlike others.

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

Good write-up wolfqueen, It's nice to get a mention even though it's not so nice not to get a place. Yeah, missed the deadline for the Retro thing by a wide margin... but the guilt spurred me to make an effort to do something.

Don't panic!

Nice one, Leslie. Thank you for the mention!

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

[[Well done, EmP!]]

Thank you, Phantom wellwisher!

[[Write something else!]]

Leave me alone!

Thanks for the mention, bigger thanks for the win. I guess I'll break out the "Not quite dead yet" moniker, after all.

For us. For them. For you.