Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: April 16-22, 2018 -- I love these weeks where it's all high-quality stuff!

Back at it and this time, I checked to see if EmP submitted anything during the previous week before turning this in, so I MAY NOT have forgotten anyone. Hopefully. We'll see how it goes. Speaking of which, I have TWO reviews waiting for Jason next week. DON'T FORGET THEM!!!! Seven reviewers with eight reviews is a pretty solid number. Not so few that placing might be a formality for some, not so many that I wonder why I'm still doing this thing because I've read 13 and still have a couple more to go. Good times!

Since everyone wrote good stuff, I'll even be nice enough to give a bit of praise to the non-placing reviews. Consider you all to have earned honorable mention from me, your most benevolent judge!

In no particular order (okay, the order I read them).

1. Midcore's Table Tennis was a nice historical read. And I thought I was Cap'n Retro, with my Atari 2600 reviews, but here you are with an even older game, explaining its place in history and how Pong could be seen as essentially a slightly-different copy of it. A very interesting read.

2. Simon's Bubsy game review impressed me most by its lack of cynicism. Let's face it; we're talking about a new game in a series that contains some of the most mocked and derided platformers in the history of the genre. I only played the first Bubsy for a few minutes and hated it so much that I'd probably enter this with a "this is gonna suck" mentality where if I gave it a 2/5, I'd probably be "praising" it for not sucking as much as I was expecting. But you took a "this is a chance to make things right for Bubsy!" mindset, which led to a review where when you seemed disappointed at its mediocrity instead of expecting it. Different than what I was expecting and, honestly, a bit refreshing. With people like EmP and I around, this site is automatically at risk for Cynicism Overload!

3. EmP's Umiro is a perfectly solid review of a mobile-to-PC port that actually comes off as worth the time and money. I dug the disappointment you felt at not being able to truly tap into your cynicism, leading to a high-quality description of how the game works, the measures undergone to alleviate frustration and how addictive it can be to just try to go a little further.

4. Masters had two reviews. Kim Possible, the one I liked the most, was a strong review about how an action game doesn't need to be tough or long if it's fun; although I wondered how much of that has to do with your knowledge of the subject matter. Since, as someone who never watched the show, I couldn't quite feel your enthusiasm. Kite wasn't quite as strong, as it came off as less descriptive to me, but still got the job done and was an easy read.

THIRD PLACE

Zachary Walton's Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PlayStation 4)

Okay, before I start on this, I really have to question how you seem to have a positive impression of Rogue Galaxy and its repetitive action over never-ending dungeons, each composed of corridors and rooms that all blend together. Talking cool about Dark Cloud 2, I get. This game…NO WAY!!! Getting that out of the way, this is a review that started out in the honorable mention group, but just got stronger as it went through. Early on, you're talking about this aspect or that aspect might not be as good as the first game and I'm seeing a 5-star rating and wondering what is going on here. But then, you start tying everything together and I could understand just how well this game blends stuff together, essentially melding a ton of sub-genres into one package and making it so work in one sub-genre gives you more to do in others. And, therefore, this wound up being a really good review that I enjoyed a lot.

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SECOND PLACE

Pickhut's Darius R (Game Boy Advance)

You had the perfect intro to this game, talking about how the GBA became a house for ports, regardless of how they turned out, which is something I've noticed myself with the disappointment I've felt playing their takes on PS2 Gauntlet and Balder's Gate games. And you do a great job of describing how this one fails, starting with trimming down the three screens to one, with action being slower-paced on what you get. And the level progression has to be screwed up for this. I played the TG-16 port and there were repeating stages, but I don't recall you getting them back-to-back, although it was been forever since I played it. Overall, you do a very good job of showing how this port is a huge letdown from the original.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Fiddlesticks' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)

As I haven't played this game, I can't get involved in the message board talk about this review; however, I can say I really love the way you reviewed it! Your early paragraphs spoke to me, as I've noticed that as time has gone on, the series really has gotten more linear with you being forced to progress in a certain way, and how long trading chains have been necessary to get certain useful items in certain game. But I also agree with your end-review discussion about how a certain sense of urgency is nice and this game apparently never really brings that out. Overall, I found this review to be well-organized and thought-out. This wasn't an easy week to win with the strong competition, but you found a way.

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Good week to be a judge. Keep it up, people!

Was what I said last time I did this, but with this sort of quality, I might as well keep saying it so it keeps happening!

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

Thank you for the write-up and win. I always enjoy reading these topics, and it’s particularly nice when I get to participate, and even better when I get to win. I particularly liked Masters’ and Pickhut’s reviews this week, as well as your Super Mario Land 2reviewm which should be strong contender for the win this week.

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Thanks for the topic as always, Rob. I wanted to see just how compact I could make a review with Kite, while covering all the bases and preserving some semblance of flow. Nice job, Fiddlesticks. And I agree, Rob should likely snag a top spot with that SML2 review.

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

Thanks for the comments, OD, and Fiddlesticks, too. Glad you liked the review so much to give it second placement! With you and Masters talking about your experiences with different ports of the game, I'm really tempted to check them out for curiosty's sake, but that would have to be for another time. Don't want burn out to set in.

I head spaceshit noises.

Good week for reviews, and good work getting your topic up, OD. One day, you'll do so in a manor some might consider timely.

Congrats to the top three and to everyone else who made it such a strong week for content.

For us. For them. For you.

Who's buying me this manor? Because that sounds nicer than the small house I currently live in!!!!

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

From EmP's description, though, it would probably contain a lot of clocks. So that could get noisy in a hurry, especially if they're the old-fashioned ones.

"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