Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: May 14-20 or something like that, I think. It's been a long week.

A smaller week that I've had, but still, there were some good things to read, so that was fun. Let's see what I have to say about people, in no particular order for non-placers.

CptRetroBlue (only three typos before I got the name right!) had a solid Alien Trilogy review that did a good job of stating how it's a fun take on the DOOM formulas with a bit more strategy. It could use a bit of formatting, though, as a large chunk of it didn't have line breaks between paragraphs.

dirtsheep had a pretty personable and easy-to-read review about a short-term time-waster in King Oddball. This review's a winner in the "bang for your buck" category, as the game seems really simplistic (and is described as a "one-trick pony" in your review) and those can be hard to review, but this was pretty engaging.

Joe had two reviews that came close to placing. Jericho does a strong job of discussing a game that seemingly got everything but the actual "game" part of things right. Portrait of Ruin showed how Castlevania's "metroidvania" concept may have run its course, showing a game that starts out great, but fades down the stretch due to how the second half of its stages are essentially revamped versions of the first half of them. Both do really solid jobs of discussing games that had good aspects, but are marred by poorly done aspects that really detract from the final product. Interesting, 2/3 of our placers do the exact same thing in their reviews.

THIRD PLACE

Follow_Freeman's Devil May Cry (PlayStation 2)

In past weeks, Freeman has suddenly lit the site on fire, winning a couple of these and getting praise for tackling obscure games that many are not familiar with. So, how does he handle a big-name release on the PS2? Pretty well. I played this game briefly back in the dark ages when I was married to some harpy from hell. While I don't necessarily remember the game all that well, this review brought back whatever memories I do have. This was both a very descriptive review and one that doesn't mess around, immediately jumping into a description of its combat and going on from there to describe the abilities and how they're obtained and the character of Dante. There are fun descriptions of the game's atmosphere, as well as its sound. In short, I really liked this review.

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SECOND PLACE

EmP's Minit (PC)

While I can't say I'd be all that keen on playing a game like this with its 60 seconds of life followed by you trying to use each successive 60 seconds to get a bit further (sounds a lot like my early experiences with Dark Souls before I got the hang of things and made EVERYTHING pay for everything done to me), you do a very good job of making it seem like a fun diversion, bringing up nice touches like how the one dude talks really slowly and gives good info at the very end, forcing you to get to him quickly and use a full life just to hear what he says. And you do a good job of explaining how things fall short of your hopes due to how the designers seemingly ran out of ideas even though this is a short game, leading to it becoming repetitive down the stretch.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Pickhut's Rambo III (Genesis)

You win for one simple reason, which is what I'll focus on. You did a really awesome job of showing how this game didn't meet expectations by simply describing how a stage or confrontation is in theory, getting us to expect a tense and exciting battle. And then you describe how things actually play out, showing us how it's nowhere near as thrilling as it could be. I think we've all played games or battles in those games that are great in theory, but the execution results in the experience being disappointing. This review did a great job of putting that feeling into words in a way that leaves no doubt as to how much of a bummer it is to experience something like that.

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And that's that for this extremely tardy week. Good news for you all: I'm about done with a busy time at work, so there's a good chance that my next RotW will come in a reasonably timely manner. By bestowing me with praise and accolades so I feel good about myself, those odds can only improve!

Now off to a long afternoon/evening of work today, followed by a long afternoon tomorrow! Bleh...

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

Numbers might have been low, but it was a solid week. Full of solidness. And your tardiness gave me something to make fun of. Win-win.

Congrats to Pick for breaking out the mockery directly after I said he was above that shit and to Freeman who can no longer seem to stay out of the top three. And to Joe for killing a dull site so he could steal his backlog back. I know it was you!

For us. For them. For you.

Thank you kindly! Good week, too. Incidentally, I didn't intend to post so many 5/5 reviews consecutively, but this with Unreal Gold going on sale determined the matter for me this we. I hope this doesn't make it look as if the rating is cheap to me; these games do deserve the rare praise, even if they're getting it one after the other. Next review will be a visual novel that isn't Snatcher, as hard as it tries to be.

Congrats to Pick for breaking out the mockery directly after I said he was above that shit

I aim to disappoint!

Thanks for the RotW, OD. Another solid week, especially with fresher faces coming in swinging, so I was pleasantly surprised to see my placement. Thanks for the comments, and happy to know you got that much out of the review.

I head spaceshit noises.