Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW Sept 22 - 28 -- Straight Up EmP'd

Ahem.

This week saw six new reviews, but Jason wrote two of them, so I ignored the hell out of one of his. Really, though, there were no dud effects included, and the top two reviews really were both respective authors at their best. I was glad to revisit them, because I missed one the first time around and my disinterest in the subject matter of the other only lead me to to skim it -- so this catch up has been to my gain. Now check out this awesome HTMLing I'm about to drop in out of nowhere.

THIRD PLACE
Wolfenstein 3D (360) by andrewtopointoh

Andrew's review is compact and technical, telling you what you need to know about iD's Wolfenstien, how and why it worked back in the day, and how it works now it's been ported to the Xbox 360. As such, it's as good a review as you could probably find on the dated subject material. It talks about how the game's lack of, well, anything, instead runs off historic prejudices and that the simplicity is counterbalanced by iD's clever designing, and some slice of luck. I enjoyed the inclusion of the music paragraph where its argued that this was botched by the devs, but managed to work almost in spite of itself.

SECOND PLACE
Disney Infinity (WU) by honestgamer

Genuinely nice guy Jason probably doesn't have it in him to offer up bash reviews like the more hateful of us can, but languishing his review in steeped disappointment is an equally effective method that really gets across the shortcomings of Disney Infinity. Right from the start, he takes himself out of the "I'm just reviewing this to lay the boot in" crowd, and paints himself as a fan who expected better. Whereas I would often suggest staying away from publishing the game's price (because reviews are timeless, but game valuations are not), the mention here puts across that he was willing to drop a sizeable cash sum expecting the game to repay him in entertainment, and that, for a poor game, DI expects a lot of your cash.

Jason's review, more than anything else, is fair but a little unbalanced. The offered score of 5 doesn't fit the text which speaks of a more negative experience, and the parts that he enjoyed are offered up in throw away sentences. I know, the score itself is arbitrary, but if this review was aiming for a middle of the road feel, it's not hit it. The game is made to sound purposefully and meticulously disappointing.

Still, I can't help but to enjoy Jason's patient, kinder type of bash. When he does exhibit little bits of annoyance -- the laser-eyed robots, for instance -- it has all the more impact because everything that preceded it wasn't overly bubbling hate.

FIRST PLACE
Super Mario Land 2 (GB) by dagoss

Back in the day, I used used to really dig Dagoss reviews, because he often took his stuff in a direction that I did not see coming. His Etrian Odyssey love letter review never got the props it deserved, and his encyclopaedic attack on Neverwinter Nights was great. Here, he does it again, making me think about a game we've all sunk hours into in a completely new way.

By now, Mario reviews more or less blur into one. That's not so much the fault of the reviewers, but the problem of having so many games more or less share the exact same foundations. If Dagoss was to step out of this trend, he would have to tackle the game differently, and he does that brilliantly. Maybe this is less a review and more a well-researched essay, but it still paints the game in glowing terms. It just cements these by looking at how the game came to be alongside why. That's a laudable extra layer of depth.

This is an infinity clever effort that reminds me of Leroux's excellent work on the likes of Asteroids and Pong. Someone go find Dagoss and tell him I said so.
Belated congrats to all reviews that took place. Jason's second review, for the new Duck Tails had a typo in. A really obvious one. I fixed it now, but, man, it felt great to find that typo after all the passive aggrieve digs he's made over the years about my own awful proofing abilities. Maboroshi's effort for Ys would have probably found itself up in the rankings on any other week -- what is it about Ys games that always seem to promise good reviews?

One tardy week down -- discussion about my sudden brilliance and congrats can go directly below. EmP out.

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks for making sure this one finally got done and dagoss got his due! Congrats to everyone else who participated this week, as well. I plan to catch a few other weeks in the near future, so everyone look forward to that as we catch up on the RotW backlog. It's great to see so much excellent content still coming through!

"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

Good stuff, thanks for doing this EMP. HEY, YOU TOTALLY HAD A TYPO TOWARDS THE END THERE, DID YOU SEE THAT ONE? O--wait...


:D

"Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing"

*Oscar Wilde*

Woohoo! Thanks for doing this, EmP, and congrats to our placers!

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

Thanks for the nice words! Glad to see my old reviews made such an impression.

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Now write new reviews, and further any impressions made.

(Notes: Should have mentioned the Fantasia one. That review always makes me chuckle)

For us. For them. For you.