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Forums > Contributor Zone > Rage Against the (Aggregate) Machine RESULTS THREAD

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Author: Masters (Mod)
Posted: September 19, 2014 (01:22 PM)
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Again, my apologies for the delay in posting this. Emp told me I'd be judging five minutes ago. Good thing I type fast.

Anyway, it's not only nice to see that five people managed to find time around their real life commitments to come through and produce good writing, but that several others responded as being interested.

Disappointing that honestgamer of Honestgamers couldn't be bothered. Ha.

Anyway, here are the results you likely scrolled down to immediately:
Jerec

Final Fantasy XXI-2

It's tough to review a sequel in general. Jerec had the even more daunting task of submitting this review in a contest where the judge doesn't love RPGs. That being said, his very good intro got a nonbeliever interested right away.

For the most part, Jerec is in fine form here, showing little in the way of ring rust.

But... the review's crucial flaw is that Jerec doesn't really explain the rules the game tries to make up and fails at. There's a lot of time spent talking about Chronotrigger and knowledge of other time travel media, and how they work because they stick to logical, ostensibly pre-established sci-fi time travel constructs... this sets up the expectation that you'll explain and take to task the way in which this game defies those rules to its detriment. But no solid example is given.

Back on the flip side, the crystal statue bit is gold, and mostly the writing about the characters is excellent -- surely it's the best part of the review.

However, the 'rounding out' paragraph seems a bit too stream of consciousness, with short sentence fragments carrying the day which give the work an unpolished feel.

Moving on, the para about the worlds doesn't explain much. I couldn't make much sense of it.

But, I like the ending and its connection to the start -- it's a nice touch.

Overall, I can feel your frustration with wasting time on this confusing, pointless exercise, but sometimes your discussion of what's confusing and aimless similarly seems to struggle to find its footing.

72

Ben

The Walking Dead: Season Two

Ben might have had an easier task than Jerec because I know (and like) this game, but then I also read EmP's excellent reviews on the episodes, so it might be a wash.

Anyway, after a great intro, Ben stumbles with the "though the choices" para, which does not flow from the previous one very well.

Using Sarah and Nick as a microcosm for the effect of the more varied experience season two provides was a great decision, employed with even better execution.

The inevitable para pointing out the flaws is insightful, and I appreciate your navigation around "the governor" character and the one OTHER guy. It's admirable spoiler avoidance at its finest.

If ever there was a perfect summation of a game's thesis, this is it: "Telltale wants you to make Clementine feel like your very own Clementine, and they succeeded."

If there's a weakness here, it's really no fault of the review's - it's just that the game is a story-driven work fraught with potential spoilers, and there's not as much meat from a mechanical standpoint for you to delve into without ruining surprises for the reader, as with some of the other game choices in the tourney.

82

Wolfqueen

God of War: Chains of Olympus

Right away, on full display is WQ's brand of delightful prose that would not seem out of place in a good fantasy book. The problem is she's made everything seem cinematic and exciting and then immediately afterwards tells us how pedestrian and derivative the whole thing will strike us. It seems like a small thing, but the lovely descriptive passages actually undermine your point.

The review feels like a tour through the game (an approach which I'm certainly guilty of taking), but it feels more apropos when it's a praise or bash review - a trip through greatness or garbage.

Here, the device is used to show us how unimpressive the game is, and I'm not sure that quite comes off.

Perhaps less description and more analysis might have been more effective? By the same token, the analysis that is present is packed neatly into the tour, so that the review reads less like the usual by-the-numbers format we're used to seeing, and so I appreciate the almost, tale-of-the-game as review thing that was the end result here.

I should also note that this is the hardest kind of review to do; anything in the 4-6 range is about a game the reviewer likely doesn't feel strongly about either way, and it's hard to make us care about the review of such a game either.

A final point: I don't see it mentioned that the game was a handheld title. This seems a missed opportunity, because when big games get shrunk down, it's the first thing folks want to know - did the shrinkage compromise the overall package? If you mentioned this and I missed it, my bad - I didn't see it though.

76

Overdrive

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

I like that Rob's wondering aloud to begin the review -- he's unassuming and relatable from the onset -- but it's kind of crazy to end the opening stanza with, "I must be a good bit out of touch with the public." Maybe a line like that will have an appeal because it sounds cool and counterculture-ish? I don't know.

I REALLY like: 'vigorously enforced tedium'... that's a line that should totally catch on.

The 'unfortunately...' paragraph is rather rocky towards the end, with a very long, difficult to parse sentence closing it out. It would also help to begin the next para by reintroducing what the 'they' is...

But then the next paragraph is awesome (about being a god in school)...

But then the next includes this line: "... I can say Atlus almost completely nailed half of that equation." I think you meant to say 'that half of the equation' but also, 'almost completely nailed' doesn't sound great.

Then, the "there are a lot of" para is awesome again, because it communicates concepts that are very RPG in a way that a non genre lover can unpack easily.

But... you mention problems there, and go on to talk about the next problem which makes the previous seem like a drop in the bucket, which feels at odd with saying that the game almost completely nailed the dungeon stuff -- EDIT: Now I see that you meant to say what you said: THAT half of the equation, as you split monster battling and dungeon crawling. It's confusing because you had already split the experience in half, separating the teen/school stuff from the fighting, so now we're talking about quarters...

Anyway, the review is very good at getting across clumsy, genre heavy references in a conversational way (always a Rob strength), but it rambles at times and would benefit from being shorter and tighter.

74

EmP

Metal Gear Solid

A truly awesome opening, which works at tearing down the legend of Hideo Kojima, is followed up with great bits on the codec, the handholding, the absurdity of the plot and especially the peripheral vision.

The para beginning with 'despite' really takes the AI to task, which seems a bit unfair/overdone given the game's age and the fact that games came down the pipe of much more recent vintage with these same issues.

I also take issue with the glossing over of the famous Psycho Mantis memory card reading... it's a fine balance with bash reviews. As you ramp up the wittiness and derision, you risk seeming petty and unreasonable, which calls the veracity of everything else into question (I've been accused of the same).

Gary mostly avoids going too far, and is consistently funny even when he does.

And the ending is as brilliant as conclusions come: it breaks down everything the game might be trying to accomplish and shows us how it fails at each turn briefly and unflinchingly, a perfect 'getting down to brass tacks' close to an entertaining and unflattering dissection.

87

That's all folks!


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

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: September 19, 2014 (02:25 PM)
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So, to wrap things up, in order of awesomeness, the final scores are:

EmP -- 87
Ben -- 82
WQ -- 76
OD - 74
Jerec - 72

So, thanks to Marc for his timely efforts, any delays, I see, are my fault, and congrats to the worthy winner. Who, look at that, is me! Yay!

BUT WAIT!

Wasn't there some kind of bonus point system attached to a theme, I hear you ask? Yes there was! Stay tuned.


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: jerec
Posted: September 19, 2014 (03:33 PM)
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Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you liked the bits I most enjoyed writing, and it's telling that the parts of the review I struggled with didn't come across so well. Like trying to explain the time travel rules. But if the game can't even do it consistently, I probably don't stand much of a chance.

Man, I was up against some good competition here.


I can avoid death by not having a life.

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: September 19, 2014 (03:58 PM)
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79 30

How did this game get a 79/100?

Regardless, Jerec goes out and does what he needs to do: gets a critically acclaimed game -- even one that no one outside gaming media have ever admitted to enjoying - and tearing it to shreds. I’m looking at the list of sites that Gamerankings have provided here, and recognise exactly one. Did this game get ignored by the big sites allowing Jerec to cash in several years later in an obscure video game reviewing tourney?

BONUS POINTS: 8!

82 80

You knew this was coming!

BONUS DEDUCTION: A lifetime of Velocibox -10

91 60

THE MAN loves his handheld God of War, but WQ comes out and says…. Eh, it’s okay, I guess. Perhaps she’s let down by the lack of siren boob she held to such high esteem in the console versions? Who knows! Her indifference in the face of praise earns her the following points

BONUS POINTS: 5!

87 60

Much like WQ, OD shrugs indifferently in the face of industry praise. Is his a little braver for attacking something that has become a genre defining symbol with so many people? Dunno. Probably? They do both flirt with the same margin of difference, though.

BONUS POINTS: 5!

93 30

I’d hate epople to think me a cheat (is it years too late for that?) so I’m going to take the time to point out these bonuses are all part of a mathematical equations and not just piled out on a whim. Aside from Ben’s -- but he knows he deserves that. Game ranking - tourney entry / 10 +50% = bonus. Work it out; you’ll find it all quite legit. I’m setting this in stone, because it means that I’m about to award myself the highest bonus point allotment yet. It’s not corruption; it’s just better planning, okay?!

BONUS POINTS: 9!

That changes the overall scores to:

EmP -- 96
WQ -- 81
Jerec - 80
OD - 79
Ben -- 72

So…still congrats to me, I guess! Thanks to Marc for finally remembering about that thing he nagged me into doing in the first place, and thanks to everyone who tried to turn up for this thing. There’ll be something new coming at the end of the month. Canadians start coming out of hibernation then, so perhaps Marc will be slightly less groggy, eh?


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: wolfqueen001
Posted: September 19, 2014 (04:50 PM)
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Hey, neat. Generally I have no idea how "good" my stuff is until I get some sort of response to it, so thanks for being the first and putting that much detail into it. I actually did better than I expected, so I can't complain too much. I find I'm much better at describing things in reviews than I am analyzing them, so if the piece is weak there, I'm not entirely surprised. I kind of wanted to avoid making it boring, though, and I was having a hard time writing anyway, so I felt if I at least made it fun to read (despite the point of the review in the first place), it would at least be better received. And I think it was for the most part, at least based on what you say here.

I didn't mention the handheld thing... I kind of felt that if I had, it'd just be shoehorned in there and so wherever it went would be jarring. Either way, the only real downside - if you can call it that - to the conversion is that they had to necessarily restrict the controls due to the fact that only one L and R button exists. It works well the way they did it, though, so I guess even if I had mentioned it, it wouldn't have contributed to my point, haha.

Anyway, thanks again, and congrats to the winners and everyone who participated.


[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

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Author: honestgamer
Posted: September 19, 2014 (06:46 PM)
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Thanks for turning in such detailed write-ups for those who participated, Marc! It's exciting when we can offer reviewing contests around here. Feels like old times. I wish more people had found time to participate (I say, knowing full well that I didn't turn in a review of my own)!


"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

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Author: overdrive (Mod)
Posted: September 23, 2014 (12:46 PM)
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Thanks for the comments. Yeah, a lot of what you mentioned is why most of my staff stuff (at least where it'd be our first staff review of a game and, therefore, GameRankings'd) gets proofed and revised by Jason before it's allowed to be posted. It's good to have that second set of eyes to cut down on my ramblings, especially when it's a game like this one where I have a LOT to say and might not be the most organized at putting those thoughts together at all times.

It still was a fun review to type, though. A lot more fun than playing the game, at least!


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

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