Forums > Contributor Zone > It was a dark and stormy RotW... Oct 12 thru Oct 18.

The three winners all have something in common this week: the macabre! This week bare witness to the startling plots of some great (or not so great) modern games: there are serial killers and military sons battling the most gruesome and devastating of society's menaces, from snuff film makers to grizzly alien invaders, some for their brother, some for their country and some merely for survival. Moreover, it's great to see three reviews that appropriately tackle the atmosphere of these games.

Apologies to Woodhouse and pickhut; I couldn't follow the beat of the former's, whose rhythm review left me a bit lost because of my lack of familiarity with the genre, and the latter showed me plenty of puzzles, but didn't highlight any that seemed to involve an abstract craftiness. Probester's Homecoming review was competent but basic; he'd benefit from checking out the winner this week, I think, to see that players don't just care what they're doing in games, but how games will affect them.

Let's pretend I rattled off the usual stipulations and away we go:

Third Place
Resistance: Fall of Man by mrmiyamoto

Mrmiyamoto takes a look at Resistance: Fall of Man by doing what any review of the game should; combining both atmosphere ("Crushed and downtrodden buildings provide cover from the onslaught of enemies, but you can't help but feel exposed amidst the sheer devastation.") and technical description of the gunfire bouts. It does so quite well. I think the biggest complaint here is that there is room for more; it could be both slightly more technical about what the battles are like (especially some of the ones where you battle the giant Chimera robots -- those are a big drawing point) and maybe a little more development of the setting. But this is a quality review regardless.

Second Place
Manhunt by Suskie

Suskie takes an in-depth look at Manhunt -- its inspirations, its motives, its ambitions -- which is something that has been done before, but still worth reading another take here. It's a solid recap, if not shedding too much new light on the material. One complaint would be that once it gets to discussion of the actual game, the major complaint (or at least the one that struck me hardest) was the lack of stealth involved in a supposedly stealth game. And if that's your main knock against it, and not the gratuitous violence, maybe it's better to focus more on that for the first several paragraphs besides a general history lesson. But this is still a fairly complete look at the game from start to finish, while appropriately delving into the psyche of the game, and well worth a read.

Winner
Silent Hill: Homecoming by True

Maybe some will find it a bit over the top. Maybe a few incomplete sentences -- which are used primarily for effect -- will annoy some grammarians. But read this review, and you come away with three overwhelming feelings. One is that Homecoming is an incredibly psychological game; it will play on emotions. Two is that the Silent Hill series is back... not that I'm a big enough fan to even know it -was- gone, but even I believe it's back after this. And third, you need to play this game. I'm admittedly a tough sell on almost any modern game, but even -I- want to see this one. It sounds surreal, relentless, and all because of the approach True took. And that's why it's the winner this week.

Now let's part ways for another month. See you around Turkey Day.

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Thanks for the mention. I was kind of hoping to get feedback on that review but never did, so I'm happy to finally hear the review didn't suck.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

Congrats to the winners; this certainly was a good week.

Sorry Suskie; I meant to talk to you on AIM about your review because I didn't feel like leaving feedback here for some reason. I really liked it, though, and I honestly thought yours was going to win until true subbed his, at which point I thought it would be either of yours.

[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

Manhunt - really good writing, and argument for the most part, even when I found I didn't agree with most of it, apart from at the broadest level that - Manhunt ultimately isn't all that good, and it's long and samey. I agree with Drella about the opening and maybe the targeting of the violence/stealth stuff.

Silent Hill - Again what Drella said. Though I don't think Silent Hill was ever in trouble. If anything it's amazing it always stayed pretty good in general, considering how weird it was from the get-go. But that's me.

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Thanks for the honor and the positive feedback Drella. I appreciate it. I'm going to try not to let it go to my head that I beat out awesome reviewers like Suskie and Mrmiyamoto.

If I Offended You, You Needed It.

Thanks for the comments on the review. I admit I got lazy with the main example in the review; I didn't want it to drag out for more than one paragraph, so I picked one of the easier stages.

I head spaceshit noises.

Thanks for the mention, and congrats to the other winners. True's review was undoubtedly deserving of first place.

"Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the value of nothing"

*Oscar Wilde*