Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week: 08/31/08 -- 09/06/08

This was a very light week. Is this a trend? Couldn't tell you -- for me to know, I'd have to have been paying attention.

Anyway, there were only four submissions, of which two were written by the same dude. What that means is that everyone places. In an obscure tribute to the winner: huzzah!

Staff submissions don't count, but then, you knew that. Alright then, on to the reviews! Heh.

Second Runner-up
N+ by timrod

This is a pretty straightforward, no-frills review -- and it's short. That being said, the subject material doesn't lend itself to anything much more interesting.

I found what may be a typo: The one major problem is that a lot of doding the various traps involves a technique called “grazing”.

One last thing: I thought the 3/10 was pretty generous given that you describe a thoroughly execrable and broken gaming experience.

First Runner-up
Tail of the Sun by pickhut

Another very brief review of a weak title. This isn't pickhut's best work, but it gets the job done (if the horrific screenshots don't already do that for you).

My only other comment would be that some mention of the genre of game up front would help.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Silent Hill 3 by bloomer

Bloomer has two gems up this week, but of the two, Silent Hill 3 is the more entertaining and 'rich'.

I already sang the praises of this review in the feedback topic I made for it, but for the sake of completeness, I'll repeat it here.

Having re-read the review for the purposes of RotW, the below passage still strikes me as utterly comprehensive and dead-on in its summation of the Silent Hill experience:

My favourite phase in SH3 comes after Heather escapes the horror version of the mall and makes for the subway to catch a train home. The station is deserted. A series of locked gates herd her deeper underground. Dispassionate tracking shots follow her as you guide her down one repeating tiled tunnel after another, the metronomic clatter of her boots taking over the soundtrack. Your sense of passing time begins to dissolve. It's hard to tell if the emptiness is due to it being late at night or if something supernatural is taking place. The artful design of such stretches of SH3 – stretches which do not necessarily affect the outcome or involve fighting, but which manipulate your apprehension of a world – is what continues to most strongly voice the series' unique identity and attraction in horror gaming.

There's not much else to say. Wade's review takes notice of everything worth noticing about the game, and communicates the insight in a smooth, effortless fashion.

Kudos -- you're on your way to winning every RotW I do for the year.

C'est tout.

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

Yeah, I should have given a better idea about what the game is like. I also was gonna do a mmorpg comparison, too, which I should have done as well.

Congrats to bloomer on his victoly.

I head spaceshit noises.

Thanks Marc.

I read your Tail o the sun review during the week Pickhut and it's definitely another very funny review to read about a game I definitely don't want to play.

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Thanks, you've written a pretty good review, too.

I head spaceshit noises.