Forums > Submission Feedback > Lewis's Thief: Deadly Shadows review

I thought this review was 90% great. The 10% was the first paragraph, which seems to be hyperbolic and nebulous, and also further endangers everything with the 'words cannot describe this thing I'm not really explaining' approach. But the rest rocked :)

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Cheers for the comments.

The Cradle is the sort of thing that turns me into the hyperbolic freak I become occasionally. See also Bloodlines, and the narrative design of BioShock. It's really, really good, and I thought it seemed a fairer starting point than the bad bits would have made for.

As for its being nebulous... well, that was sort of intentional. I'd be similarly vague when reviewing the Big Twist in something like The Sixth Sense, for example - but its equally worth a mention.

Absolutely appreciate the feedback, though. As I've always said, I'm constantly looking to fine-tune my writing abilities. So yeah: bonzer!

EDIT: Why the bloody have I become Suskie?

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Hey, Lewis; I found this: http://www.n4g.com/pc/News-210247.aspx

Nothing like the attention EmP's review got, but it's still something at least!

I personally find that only staff reviews get linked from other sites it seems. Kind of disappointing, really.

As a side note, what is wrong with taht site? Games from 4 years ago are not retro. NES, Genesis, and all those systems are retro.

[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

WQ: I noticed my Dragon Quest V review was getting obscene hits compared to my usual retro review. Googled it and found it was linked at that site too. In less than a week, I'm over 400 hits, which blows my mind, as I wouldn't expect more than 150-200 for that time period.

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

I personally find that only staff reviews get linked from other sites it seems. Kind of disappointing, really.

I hope that didn't come as a surprise to you. I realize that our user reviews are better than those you can find anywhere else that comes to mind, but they also aren't the 'official' word of the site and therefore the main motivation to link to them is effectively removed entirely.

Sites aren't going to link to GameFAQs user reviews, or Amazon.com customer reviews, for obvious reasons. The fact that our user reviews are written at a much higher level than that doesn't really enter the equation when it comes to off-site linking.

"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

No, not surprising, just disappointing.

Well, I think magic juggler's review got linked on some site somewhere, but I don't think it was anything official.

Though all this does make me wonder where large user hits come from in the first place. Or at least the rapidly acquired ones. I know I have a few reviews that have scored crazy hits in just a month, and I'm sure other users have, too. Sometimes it seems like just from around here isn't enough, but maybe it is. But trying to find it linked elsewere is almost pointless.

[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

WQ:
Perhaps from RotW winning. I know from my pre-staff days, all of my RotW-winning reviews got way more hits than any of my other ones due to being featured and on the front page for longer than the norm.

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

This much is true for me as well, but the two reviews with the most hits for me (Age of Empires and Digimon) never won RotW. One placed second, but the topic's dead now.

And actually, one of my RotW reviews doesn't even have that many hits for an RotW win, so these things aren't concrete.

It's interesting how these things turn out sometimes.

[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

Most of the hits that user reviews receive come from Google. It's simply a matter of writing about the things that the typical Internet user is looking to read about (but that the 'major' sites haven't covered well). Something about Naruto or Digimon or any number of other licenses for young, teen boys will generally do pretty well. Some popular PC titles do surprisingly well, also. Unless you're one of the first to write about the hottest new console release--which most of you almost never are--you'll probably get fairly poor traffic compared to those who write about great retro stuff that people played when they were younger and are looking to read about now. Plus, covering that stuff can give you a real boost if said game releases on the Virtual Console or a variation comes out on another platform.

That same thing affects staff, by the way, only the amount of traffic we can receive is exaggerated by links from GameRankings and other such sites. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a staff writer and a general user will review the same game around the same time and it's the general user that builds up hits more quickly. The Internet is unpredictable like that.

"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

Huh, I was wondering why my most popular review was for an old Yu-gi-oh! game.

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