Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week - Turbo edition - July 11th - 18th

Review of the Week is a reader’s digest of sorts, featuring all the reviews written in a given week, and then judged by a self-important author with delusions of grandeur. That’ll be me today. Only the top three reviews shall be mentioned, in order of relevance. No reviews from the judge will be permissible (though, under a snazzy new rule we just invented, will be then eligible for the next week. Take that, tradition!), and in the event that another writer submits more than one review for the week, only the review the judge deems superior will be included.

More words follow:

Vexx [GC] by Smiley_Face123

I usually average my review word count at around 800-1,200 words, and always considered myself a bit long winded in my rantyness. This review contain a little over 5,700, so you have to really want to know about Vexx to get to the end of it! So,I’m going to poke fun a little. Like how the third paragraph says the game is “Short, sweet and to the point” and then you go on about it for another 5,000+ words. There’s a lot here to take in, not all of it essential. I’m not sure the shot at Gamespot was necessary, no did it really add anything. You don’t need to try and validate your opinion above someone else’s.

A lot of points are cleverly raised and then repeated in different ways numerous, and I’m going to have to call foul on the “Ah, game title here” intro which is always a bad idea. Still, I’m a little impressed in how you’ve managed to start talking about a game you’ve enjoyed and just kept going. So there’s that.

Dark Parables: The Swan Princess and The Dire Tree [PC] by Joan403

I genuinely look forward to Joan’s review popping up because (aside from that time she reviewed the same thing I did) I know I’m going to get the chance to read about something I’d usually never otherwise know exists. She picks out some sometimes obscure games to cover, and there’s an importance to that.

I tend to shy away from sectioned reviews, but these kind of work. There’s a few spacing errors I might go back and tidy away, but there’s a lot of information squirreled away here. Sometimes, you try and drop too much information into a sentence and overload it so that it’s easy for the reader to lose the original context, and there is a certain stiffness that might be accredited to the sections. The conclusion takes an odd tone change into casual chat, which was odd. Still, it teaches me about a game I once knew nothing about, and that’s ultimately what a review is for.


Assault Suit Leynos [PS4] by Pickhut

I remember Target: Earth. God help me, I remember Target: Earth.

I was thinking about this game not long ago when playing the likes of Gigantic Army and Steel Strider which were doujin games that took a lot from the likes of Target (check them out for a manageable slice of the same mayhem) so that it got a little rework is pleasing to me. That said, how you go about dismantling it is a bit of a shame, but I guess I can’t blame you for that. Or can I? No, probably not. Rats…

Some of these examples are very well thought out. Such as the suggestion that striping back the game’s harsh difficulty lays bare the unimaginative level design. I suppose there is such a thing as being too faithful to your source material, and you highlight this well by mentioning the few times the game does shake up the old formula to great success. I’m not sure I could go back to this game; I still remember the things I’ve seen, but it cool there’s a remake out there and it’s not awful, I guess.

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks for the remarks! Yeah, it's a pretty neat remake, but not so great that I would recommend purchasing over better releases. It was difficult balancing that tone in the review, because I didn't want it to come across that I thought the remake sucks. Maybe pick it up once it becomes available on PC and at a discounted price.

I head spaceshit noises.

*11th - 17th

Trying to steal one of my days, eh? Or are you forgetting there are seven of them in a week?

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

That's how little faith I have in you covering an entire week on time?

Yeah, that sounds snarky enough to paper over my poor maths. Let's go with that.

For us. For them. For you.