Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: Dec. 18-24 -- HOLIDAY HANGOVER TIME!!!

Time for the Holiday Hangover edition of RotW, as presented by me.

Pretty simple task. Three reviews for the week and one holdover by EmP (who also had one of those three) ensures I get to chill out and give everyone awards. So, yay for winning!

THIRD PLACE

Pickhut's 80's Overdrive (3DS)

Only three reviewers this week, but seemingly a "who's who" of people who've been at the top of the charts in these things consistently this year. This one gave a brief discussion of how this game was inspired by OutRun, describing the similarities as far as graphics go. And then went into full-on lambasting mode, ripping on how it's hard in a very cheap way and then cops out by letting players cheat their way past that difficulty. I guess, to my eyes, this review wasn't as well-rounded as the top two placers were, as it is about 80% focused on a handful of flaws. But on re-reading it, there's a good chance that those flaws were easily the most noteworthy part of the game, as it seems to be a pretty simple game where all the mechanics and aesthetics could be discussed in two paragraphs. Either way, this was an entertaining bash review that kept the complaints professional-sounding.

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SECOND PLACE

EmP's Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller (PC)

Heh, in both your reviews, you did the same "I'd like to stop here, but that'd be a disservice to the game" thing. At least I'm not the only one who repeats lines and ideas from older reviews, but at least when I do it, it's not two reviews written within days of each other!

*ahem*

But I did really like this review even though I don't care much for this sort of game and couldn't tell you who Gabriel Knight is other than what I gleaned from this review that he's a detective-type in a series of adventure games. Just the little things like you comparing your awkward transition late in the review to the awkward animations of characters or the deadpan mention that law enforcement isn't keen on their detectives claiming psychic powers in an attempt to link seemingly unconnected cases together. I'll never play this game, but I really enjoyed reading this review.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Masters' Miles & Kilo (PC)

This review was both informative and concise, as you not only give a good account of how this game plays, specifically referencing Adventure Island, but also gave a neat description of its history and roots as an auto-runner for mobile systems. It's hard sometimes when I have nothing but high-quality reviews during a week to come up with specific reasons as to why I picked one over another, instead of just saying "Well, I…uh…liked it more, I guess" and trailing off awkwardly and Holiday Hangover burnout isn't helping, but I'd say that it's just a well-written and organized piece that told me a lot about an interesting game without running too long. You know, no fancy gimmicks or wordplay or anything like that, but just an excellent review that's all about the fundamentals of reviewing.

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Another week done and because EmP was able to enlist more help, it looks like this won't be my final week of doing this thing. So, lucky you, stuck with me meandering my way through fashionably late RotW topics for at least another to-be-determined period of time. And lucky EmP, who's no doubt salivating over how he'll phrase next year's dozen or so reminders to me that I need to get this thing done because the week's nearly over and no one knows where I'm at.

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

Yeah, there really wasn't much else to talk about with 80's Overdrive; review probably would have been shorter if the flaws weren't present. It's a pretty standard race competition that also pays tribute to OutRun.

Thanks for the comments, though! Glad you liked reading the review. Funny you mention the complaints sounding professional: the almost-finished review version had some snide comments towards the end, which I modified in the final version because it was really unnecessary. Though... not as bad as some of the notes I type up when playing through terrible games.

Good on EmP and Masters for ruining my lonely week on the site their reviewing efforts, and Masters for getting yet another RotW win!

I head spaceshit noises.

Bloody Marc...

I'd not realised I'd used that line twice so quickly. I guess it works better in Khimera, because I should be able to just say "It's free and it's good" and call it a day. I just used it for Erika review to make fun of my weak intro.

Thanks for finally getting through the topic, and props to Pick and Marc. I liked Pick's review because I remain a huge Outrun/Chase HQ nerd even after all these years, so watching people still fail to emulate them right makes me smile. The Marc Golding 2017 Comeback Tour continues to be a roaring success.

Next week is Jerec's last judge slot. Time to break out some Metal Slug games.

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks, Rob. I'm kind of happy that the short, easy-to-read, 'no frills' reviews can get some love occasionally. I really liked Pick's review this week, and definitely thought that Emp's excellent Khimera review was the better of his two. He'd been talking about the game for some time, about his love for it, so it's nice to see him finally get it done and done well.

What's this about Metal Slug now?

I don't have to prove I'm refined - that's what makes me refined!

Emp wants to make my last rotw memorable. I might be forced to review every adventure game from lucasarts and submit them on emp's week.

I can avoid death by not having a life.