Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: 22nd to 28th of May - A Standard Week

Another quiet week - I think the initial 2017 resurgence may have died down a bit, which is only natural. There were 7 reviews posted this week, 2 of them by Jason as he continues his quest to cover all the Switch games. 6 reviews are aiming for 3 positions in our weekly constest of awesomeness. Let's get into it!

Hastypixels provides an entertaining bash review of what appears to be a PC port of a mobile phone installment in the Deus Ex series. While the review rambled on a bit, and there were all sorts of grammitical oddities throughout, the review does have some really clever, snarky lines. "Assume the role of the completely forgettable protagonist if you dare." If you were to edit this review down a bit, sharpen your argument and use lines like the one I just quoted, this could be really good.

Venter covers two Switch games (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and, really, they're still making Street Fighter II games?), both remasters of older ideas (although Mario Kart 8 feels like only yesterday). Both reviews had a conversational tone, and both just felt like you were going through the main menu, listing off modes and talking about what you liked and didn't like in each one. I can't really fault these reviews too much, I feel they were written for people familiar with the originals and wanted to know what's changed, what's improved, but I didn't find either review particularly engaging. I'd rate your Mario Kart review above Street Fighter, but that's really only because I'm more interested in Mario Kart.

Pickhut just barely misses the top 3 with an interesting retrospective of X-Men 2 on the Genesis. 16-bit action platformers were quite common for the time, and I think you did a great job of outlining why this one deserves a look. The cold open sounded interesting, and I racked my brain for a bit trying to think of any other games that might have done this. I found your analysis of the game's visual and audio quite interesting. This is a great retrospective that really fits what this website is trying to do.


Third Place
Akiba's Beat by Zach Walton

The third paragraph of this review begins with the line "The narrative is the strongest part of Akiba’s Beat, when it’s not being sabotaged by meandering dialog and slow build-up." This seemed like such an effective takedown of the game, and it is backed up by the rest of the review. I'm not familiar with the series, so it was interesting to me that the first game was a brawler, while this is more an action-RPG. After illustrating the problems this game has, Zach then begins the penultimate paragraph with "The best thing a person can say about Akiba’s Beat is that it’s a technically sound game." It's refreshing to find a negative review written with such finesse (and it's not a long review, either - Zach doesn't waste words).


Second Place
Mass Effect 2 by Overdrive

Mass Effect 2 is a game that is near and dear to my heart, and I feel like the strongest entry in the Mass Effect trilogy. I'm glad that Overdrive likes it. You really do hit on the points that make this a great experience, such as how it becomes more than just a cover shooter with the Biotic powers you can unleash, and the way different combinations of crewmates change the way the game plays. Describing the focus on teammate missions as "intimate" was just the right word, I think. And yeah, there were a lot of daddy issues in this game's assortment of squadmates.


Review of the Week
Arc Rise Fantasia by Joe Shaffer

This was a really strong week, with not much to really separate the top four this week. I have to admit, what won it for Joe was the discussion on what it meant to be a standard game in a genre, and how you can still find things to enjoy there. I know the Wii/PS3/360 era had a lot of "standard RPGs" to the point where I ultimately got tired of them, but there were some gems that weren't as well known. I'd never heard of this one before. Reading about L'Arc and the fact that he makes bad decisions and has to live with them was interesting, and the battle mode seems like a new twist on an old concept.



I'll be back for another RotW in about a month. I hope to have a review posted between now and then. I think doing these topics also contributed to halting my own comeback tour.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

Yup, a slow week, but that didn't stop the few from swinging hard. Thanks for comments the, and congrats to Joe for his RotW!

I head spaceshit noises.

I had a play at getting a review in for this week. Got most of a draft done too. And then it was midnight and interest dropped off severely at that point. I watched the Ghost in the Shell film instead. Might have been a mistake.

Props to Jerec for getting out the topic with such speed; numbers might be down, but there's still a quality prevalent that make these things bloody difficult. Good work to Zack and OD for reviews I enjoyed, and to Joe for picking up the win.

For us. For them. For you.

Congrats to Joe; that was a good review, which makes me think there still might be a little bit of life in my Wii after I finish Kirby's Epic Yarn and play SMB Galaxy 2 and Skyward Sword. And thanks to Jerec for the placement.

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

Woohoo! Thank you for the win. I had some tough competition this week, so I'm glad to have the V. Congrats to OD and Zach Walton as well!

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

Heh. My "quest to cover all the Switch games" isn't going so well. I've covered not quite a third of them so far, and that percentage will only continue to slip. There's so much stuff coming out for that platform! And you're right, in that the two reviews for your week were written mostly to cater to people who had some familiarity with the originals and wanted to know what's new or different... just like you suggested.

Anyway, congrats to those who placed ahead of me (i.e. those who placed at all) in another strong, rather standard week. I quite like our recent "standard" week, though. Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing more quantity again, but at least we seem to have quality covered. Good job, those who contributed, and thanks for posting your topic in a timely manner, Jerec!

"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

Great job, everyone. I did not participate this week, but it was a good week filled with good reviews.

placid like acid