Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW for April 11-17: I'm back doing this stuff.

After quite the long hiatus, here I am again, doing a ROTW topic. Some said this day would never happen, some thought it would just be a matter of time before my judging services were brought back into regular practice. Well, here it is.

In sad news, that I'm doing this week means that my review for R-Type isn't eligible. If there were only 2-3 reviews, you can bet I'd have found a way to sneak it in, but out of interest of fairness to all of you, I won't be handing myself a much deserved win. No, but KNOW ONE THING. Whoever wins the title this week will have to live with the knowledge that you won because my review didn't count. Sure, you might be thinking "Whatever, dude, your review was the least interesting of anything submitted this week, now shut up and tell me who won!", but you're not the one doing the judging now, are you? ARE YOU!?!?!

*ahem*

Anyway, I'm sure we have rules like we always have for this, but I'm not one for following rules. Even rules I set. There are five eligible reviews this week and three of them will be mentioned. The End.

THIRD PLACE

EmP's Julai (PC)

This was a good week to be back on the RotW train. Every one of them was good, so I had to think a bit on things before making my picks. In the end, this review got the nod due to just having a sense of freshness about it, putting it a touch above one for a port of a NES game or one for a copycat of a more popular series. I'm not sure what I like more about this review: The actual review or the aftermath you detailed about the obviously-fake counter "reviews" on Steam that started popping up.

I mean, this review is just a fun bash of a threadbare game that seems to be a rip-off of almost-hilarious proportions. I mean, paying $19 for this? This review about writes itself. I read it and then read it again just to make sure I'd read everything and not accidentally missed a couple paragraphs where you described cool features and whatnot. I mean, there's just so little to this game that this review offers a valuable service warning people away from wasting a lot of money on this game. I mean, I just bought that Divinity RPG that Suskie was raving about a year or two ago on sale for that price! It included the original version and the enhanced version of a game that probably will take a few dozen hours to get through! Just the thought of spending an equal amount of cash for this almost makes me physically ill. Seriously, thank you for exposing this thing as overpriced crap. If you're charging "x" amount of money for something and only supply this much content, you deserve all the calling out that you get.

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SECOND PLACE

Joe's Slain! (PC)

Apparently, this is a good week to take down seemingly unfinished games. While this seemingly doesn't have the added entertainment of a designer trying to balance out negative reviews by posting their own "This game are goodest I seen in days" high-quality professional work, it is a very effective review. It's obviously that you went into this game wanting to really like it because of how metal it tries to be. And then the flaws started hitting you. And then the ending came and you realized you'd only played one chapter of a larger story with little fanfare.

While it may not have been great fun for you, this sort of review is probably one of the best negative type to read. It comes in with high hopes that eventually get dashed. Call me an evil monster of a sadist or call it a side effect of subjecting myself to Kemco mobile RPGs for the past few months, but I delight in reading about these experiences.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Kai Powell's Stranger of Sword City (Vita)

I really dug this review. First, the game has a badass name. Kind of metal to tie things in with second place. Secondly, if I had a Vita, I'd be running out to buy this game after reading your review. Fortunately, I don't have a Vita, as my backlog is WAY too large for me to be buying another "this will take a while" dungeon-crawling RPG. Like, at least, I should beat the remake of the first Etrian Odyssey on the 3DS, you know?

Anyway, the main thing I really liked about this was just that you did an excellent job of telling me a lot about this game in a short period of time. The "life point" system seemed really interesting, especially with how that creates a trade-off between using older or younger party members, as older are superior, but can be perma-killed more easily. I liked how you assumed a reader would have a certain amount of familiarity with this genre, so you spent the bulk of your time talking about features more unique to this game and how they affected things, with little additions such as how new characters start at a higher level as you get more powerful, so that having to replace a guy who died too many times isn't too crippling of a setback.

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And there we are. Another week bites the dust. Get geared up for next week when whathisname does whatever he does with this thing.

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

Thanks for taking care of this, Overdrive, and congratulations to the winners!

"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

Haha! I'm number 2!

...

I mean, like, place. Not poop...

Congrats to Gregarious on the v.

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

Julai may not have won me this prestigious award, but it's certainly a gift that keeps on giving.

Good job, OD. 'Grats to the hacks who finished above me no doubt via nefarious means.

For us. For them. For you.