Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: June 12-18 -- A strong week with many contenders and a generic tagline.

Time to crank out another one of these, sandwiched between me finishing off my contest review and me leaving for a second straight extended weekend camping/drinking trips. So, let's see who did stuff. Besides me. My latest Kemco review waits for next week's edition because EmP keeps saying I'd be screwing up the year-long standings he's running if I just gave myself first place every week. A regular killjoy, he is!

While not quite placing, Jerec's review was the most entertaining of the week. Good use of speaking of yourself in the third person and painting a picture of your experience of turning the most common letter into a major dilemma as far as picking a game. I can't say I know a huge deal about the game you played other than its a walking simulator where you can ignore the narrator if you see fit, but I enjoyed the read. It's kind of funny, really, as that's the sort of thing that would play off well back in the day on GFs due to the tone and creativity, but isn't exactly a "review" review. And I've noticed that for the contest, so far, there have been a few of those and a few actual reviews, which will make it interesting to see how the judges react. Old-school verbose creativity or the more pure professional (but with personality) game recaps. A big part of me wanted to place this one, but the top three were really good, so I couldn't bring myself to punish them because you did something original. It still deserved this rambling bit of commentary, though! And the knowledge that it won't be me struggling to give a proper point rating to it whenever the judging goes down!

I'll also give Rhody credit for struggling through another Telltale series, since they've seemed to oversaturate the market with them, while the quality suffers. Bonus props for mocking that dominoes "choice" as indicative of their games in general, where no matter what you do, the end result remains the same. Much like Jerec's, on another week, this could easily have placed.


THIRD PLACE

EmP's Fahrenheit (Sega 32X)

Man, I was always under the impression this title had to do with that book-burning fireman novel by Ray Bradbury or whatever. Guess I was wrong. This was just a hilarious put-down review of a horribly conceived and executed game. Three places to go with two of them being large mazes where everything looks the same, a laughable premise, choices that are either pure trial-and-error or something anyone not a moron should automatically know. There's a little part of me that thinks you may have gone on a bit long in the bashing, but I was entertained throughout, so that might just be me trying to nitpick a bit. Either way, it was a good place-worthy review.

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SECOND PLACE

Jason's Mighty Gunvolt Burst (Switch)

The voice of authority was strong with this one! And that was its biggest strength, as you took a new-age Mega Man wanna-be and expertly dissected it. I'm a Mega Man fan, although not to your degree, so all the stuff you wrote where you compared this game to that series was really interesting to read. How combat has a cool addition with damage increasing the more that you're at risk and the myriad of tiny details where this game falls just a bit short. But with the conclusion that this is both a good game and a pleasant surprise, considering how shaky those other "Mighty" MM clones have been.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Pickhut's 88 Heroes (PlayStation 4)

So, it's like Super Meat Boy if all the characters were unlocked from the beginning, but picked randomly for you, so you might get stuck with Tofu Boy at a bad time, leading to a final game over. Yeah, no. This was just a great takedown of this game's gimmick. You made it sound so cool at the beginning with its 88 varied heroes and how each of them is different from the rest. And then brought up the random-choice gimmick and how it all goes to hell because you just have those 88 lives, you might get a good character for some stages in a stage where they can't get the job done and how other characters are jokes that aren't good for much of anything, if even that. I loved this review, as it took a seemingly-good game in a genre I do have my share of fun with and then deconstructed it so much that it just feels like a complete letdown of a game.

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There. Most obligations done. Time to work on packing or whatever and hope I don't get rained out for three days straight. Tomorrow looks ugly as hell, but the next two days might be okay. No matter what, at least I'll have beer and liquor, which is at least 85% of the camping deal.

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

Thanks for the topic, and congratulations to the winners and to all who participated, as usual. It was a strong week, as you alluded to, with another strong week probably to follow.

"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

Thanks, OD. I don't really know what to make of it either. It might not even be my true submission. There's still a little time left.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

Well shit, my Battleborn didn't even warrant a mention. Shitnuts.

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Glad you liked the review, and thanks for giving it RotW! It was a pretty painful game to play, so I'm glad that translated well for you in the review. I got much better at it and managed to beat the game, but that still doesn't excuse the soulless, irritating feeling I get whenever I return to it, so everything in the review still stands. Hell, the final time I played 88 Heroes, to gather screenshots, I got a headache after turning it off, and it stayed for the whole day. Never again!

Congrats to EmP and Venter on their placements, and for everyone that submitted a review that week. It really was a tough week, so I was genuinely surprised when I scrolled down to see who got RotW.

I head spaceshit noises.