Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week (09/21/08 - 09/27/08)

This was always going to be a tough week to produce a Review of the Week topic. Even before you all flooded the queues with entries for the current competition, there were some great reviews posted and I was looking forward to having a difficult time choosing the best. Then a bunch more dropped just a few hours ago, and that meant more work still. I'm not complaining, just saying...

Anyway, I've finally picked my favorite three for the week. As usual, staff and freelance reviews are excluded and I named only one review from any given contributor. Here goes!

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Runner Up #2: Mount & Blade by magicjuggler

The only problem I had with this review was the occasional sort of grammatical error that creeps into even the best of reviews. This certainly was a great review, aside from that. I didn't know much about the game going in, but this review really made me think that should change. The combat sounds truly exciting as presented in this text. The open-ended nature of things sounds like it could be great. This was through and through an effective praise review and now I wish that I could play me a little bit of Mount & Blade. Good going!

Runner Up #1: Mutation Nation by JANUS2

When janus2 is writing at his best, he can really capture me as a member of his audience. The descriptions of the fighter at the start of this review--though feeling generic--were effective because he followed that up so well with a single-sentence paragraph that said exactly what I was thinking, only in a more clever way. The rest of the review kept that witty flow going, for the most part, and described eloquently a game that sounded quite interesting. The angle that the review ultimately took--sometimes good memories should be left in the past--is hardly a new thing around these parts, but the review wasn't weakened terribly by its ultimate reliance on the old cliche. Additionally, things for the most part seemed to flow effortlessly and some of the sentences were just darn cool. A very good read!


Review of the Week: Bad Dudes by wolfqueen001

In some ways, wolfqueen perhaps had an unfair advantage here: she's a she. That normally wouldn't matter when reviewing a game, but she chose to review Bad Dudes and made it matter. The result was a really funny introduction that gets her point across splendidly. Her writing there definitely made me smile, and that lighthearted tone was carried throughout the review. If she'd just had a clever intro and left it at that, it wouldn't have been enough, but this whole review oozed personality while also describing a lot of important gameplay elements. This is her strongest review to date, I felt, and that was good enough to take the top spot on this very competitive week. Score!

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Thanks go out--as always--to those who pitched in and made this a difficult week. I hope that many of you will show up with reviews next week, when EmP will be posting his topic. Try to make his choices even harder, will you?

"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

gg wq

rad bro

Oh no, it's a Goomba!

Erm, I mean, congratulations and victoly to the wolfqueen, and the runner-ups, Janus and magicjuggler!

I head spaceshit noises.

JANUS2??

I can avoid death by not having a life.

EmP's note: No reviews after the first three submited to site this week will be hosted. I can and will abuse my possition for ease of life.

Congrats to the mentioned three for coming up trumps on a very crowded week.

For us. For them. For you.

Wow. Thanks, guys! As usual, I'm surprised it did so well, but I'm glad you liked it.

I'm glad the humor worked. I really wasn't sure whether it would come off funny or cheesy.

Anyway, congrats to the other winners and participants.

And LOL EmP had better be joking. >=O Haha.

[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

I need to follow up Pickhut's post and find a picture of GLaDOS's anger module to post here. Nevertheless, congrats to the winners.

Edit: Got it.



RRRAARRRRRRRR

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

JEREC?!

"fuck yeah oblivion" - Jihad

DAD?

Oh no, it's a Goomba!

KHAN!!!

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

This one of (if not) the best reviews I've read from WQ, though I was a little confused about the conflation of manliness and pure evil (punching kittens isn't manly! And what kind of man steals from orphans!?). Perhaps this reveals more about WQ than was intended...!

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Hahaha. Nah; this review is not a reflection of my true nature. In fact, I almost considered scrapping it because it didn't really sound like me.

As for the punching kittens/stealing from orphans thing, I just thought it would be funny. But I suppose you're right; it's not technically "manly", just mean. =P

Thanks for the kind words, though.

EDIT: Oh, yeah. The "punching kittens / stealing from orphans" thing is also supposed to represent how bad they are. >_>

[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

Hey, didn't Blu submit his Final Fight this week??

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

He did.

He was beat. By a girl.

For us. For them. For you.

girl... debatable.

it always happens, Venter snubs me and goes "no your MGS4 where you talked about the graphics and then a paragraph about the music and then a bit about the STORY! was better" and then the review goes and wins a contest.

Oh no, it's a Goomba!