Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW // 2nd July – 8th July // Retro Platforming, Sometimes w/Blocks

Let’s talk about talking about videogames.

Jason did what he could with a console version of Pictionary with a punny name I quite enjoyed. It was light-hearted and upbeat with perhaps a few too many digs at himself, but was absolutely crying out for personised screenshots that reflected the words, rather than the generic press released ones he went with. I can imagine screenshotting from a Switch is a pain, and I know screen capping party games in the midst of a multiplayer session is pure rage fuel for all involved, but the two aspects work in odds with each other and make the entire thing look and feel disjointed.



THIRD Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube [PC] by Freeman


If there was a ‘most improved in a ridiculously short amount of time’ award on these pointless weekly rewards things, you’d probably clean up. Today, you tackle the tricky Q review. I’ve been known to phone that one in, bit you go the route of the soothing puzzle platformer, and a good job of it, too.

If I was to complain, and I am; it’s what I do, then I would say that though your intor does present a good point, you go absolutely nowhere with it, making it obsolete. If you’re not going to try it into to anything else in the review for conclude the point you were making, it’s just kind of there... taking up space. As it, you review would probably work just as well if not better if it started from the second paragraph. You’re also the illustrious winner of this week’s Golden Joe award for saying the game’s title a ridiculous amount of time throughout the body of your review.

Still, you take a genre that’s very hard to write engagingly about and manage to do just that. I’d mark that off as a success.

SECOND 8bit Boy [PC] by Joe


Joe had a small collection of reviews hidden in the week before’s backlog making him very lucky indeed that this is my week and not Rob’s. Of them, I preferred 8bit Boy. Mordor was a good review, too, but I struggled to get past the bit where you a/ called Creed a good stealth game and b/ made a paragraph about how there was always something exciting happening, then used herb fetch quests and kill X in Y as your examples. Blergh.

None of that noise with this 8bit Boy review, which sets its stall out early. It’s an indie Mario clone the likes of which we’ve seen before. A million times. Joe makes it clear that he’s okay with that; Mario’s a good platforming time and good platforming times are to be enjoyed by all. It’s an important stance to make early so that when the complaining starts, it can’t just be dismissed as elitist whining about someone ripping off Nintendo.

Capping off with the “NO REAL ENDING FOR YOU!” was a good way to close things out. 8bit Boy seems more hassle than it’s worth, while not being a particularly bad game. Middle ground achieved; onto the next one!

WIN FOX N FOREST [PC] Masters


Metis One gets points for the straight faced delivery of the game’s rehashed plot being the same as all the others, but FOX provides Master’s best review this week. Here, he talks about a retro platformer not without its charms but still weighed down by poor design choices.

Marc’s review tries to tackle it head on, making for a review that’s always trying to highlight strengths throughout while attempted to counterbalance them with issues. It’s a daring bid; there’s been a few threads kicking around about the best formula for reviews (praise review should big the game up and mention the pitfalls at the end, etc) so his attempt to be more cohesive is admirable. It’s not without its drawbacks; the game often seems too besieged with complaints to warrant the 4 star rating bestowed upon it.

Joe’s review takes on the retro platformer in a cleaner fashion, but Marc takes the risks with the foundation of his review and it pays off this week.

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks Emp: for the very prompt, very curt RotW, for the comments and for the nod. I put out three reviews this week; I'll be happy when I'm through my backlog and I can retire.

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

Did I call Creed a good stealth game? I didn't care for Creed (2.5 out of 5 for that game should say as much). I might need to re-read that review, because I thought the first AC was tiresome and I never forgave the second one for its "random file corruption" glitch.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Thanks for the comments on my review, Emp, though it didn't place. I knew you wouldn't much care for it, because of the personal stuff I included, but that felt like the best way to share the story of playing the game in a way that others might appreciate (my hope is that they can imagine themselves playing with friends and enjoying the freedoms the game offers).

As far as taking screenshots goes, it actually wouldn't have been as awful as you suppose. What I do now to capture screens is just start recording for a chunk of time--such as a half-hour--and then I go back through the footage and can grab screens at my leisure. It's an approach I adopted for writing guides, and it works well for other purposes also. But you have to have the capture hardware hooked up and make plans in advance, and the notion of grabbing custom screens didn't even enter my mind as I was playing with friends. It might have to be something I do a bit more in the future, though, if time permits.

"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