Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: June 9-15 -- Not many reviews, but they were all good. Huzzah!

Looks like we have five people submitting seven reviews, since to EmP's surprise (and chagrin, since he LOVES reminding me about things I forget), I paid enough attention to notice he had a holdover from last week to go with his submission this week. On that note, my South Park review goes into next week's mix, so NO FORGETTING, JASON!!!!

Okay, less chat, more critiques. I have way too much going on to be delivering small talk like a commoner or anything like that. Yeah.

Because I'm so awesome (and every review was well-written), here's a bit of wordage for our non-placers.

Jason wrote a really solid review that reminded me of how I've gotten to the point where when I see the word "rogue-like", I think "lazy designer" because instead of a good campaign, the focus is on a randomly-generated one where you'll (in theory) get replay value due to not knowing what you'll see next. And with a Mega Man theme? Pure nightmare in my mind. Every time I go from one screen to the next, I'll be thinking "Oh, I know this is the time I'll get stuck with one series of disappearing blocks after another" because that's what you get with Mega Man and a rogue version likely would just throw them into every situation just to mess with players. Anyway, you did a good job of showing ways in which this is a worthy take on the source material and you also mentioned that it has a fair amount of failings. In particular, I found the lack of area diversity to be a noteworthy mention and a big flaw, as if there's one thing you can count on from the average Mega Man game, it's a wide range of diverse zones. And, as per the norm with rogue-likes, the uneven difficulty resonated with me, as well. I liked this review a good bit, it just fell a bit short of placement.

For EmP and his two reviews, the old one (Knight Terrors) is the sort that's got to be a pain to write. A very simple game that's essentially Ghosts & Goblins meets casual gaming. The sort where a person is straining for stuff to say and then realizes they've gotten through two paragraphs. A Light in the Dark had more meat to it and was a strong placement contender. This isn't the sort of game I'm interested in to any degree, but I enjoyed your review, as you gave a good synopsis of what's going on and then did a good job of explaining its failings. Some stuff resonated with me, such as how, to get a particular ending, you have to be super-meek until a certain point and then go all out in trying to escape; as well as the slow text, even if you're trying to skip through it. The whole "playing it to get every ending" travails didn't get to me so much, but I tend to struggle with games that one must replay multiple times to get endings, with that being part of the game's actual appeal. Hell, of Chrono Trigger's 12 endings or whatever, I've seen maybe three of them and that's one of my favorite games of all time, so digging for extra endings in a game like this seems about as much fun to me as taking the business end of a hammer to my dominant hand.

THIRD PLACE

Follow Freeman's F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon (PC)

Damn, typing this game's name was annoying. To the degree, I considered giving your placement to someone else after my fumble fingers botched it a couple times. You've gotten many comments in ROTW about how you've improved a lot and this review really shows a lot of that. I've never played this game and only really know that it's a shooter and that Alma plays a big role in things. So…you barely mention her (or the plot in general) and focus the entire review around the game's action and how well it works. And do so at length, describing aspects both obvious (enemy AI, for example) and not-so-obvious, such as mentioning how the firefights are spaced apart by setpieces and exploration, so that one doesn't think we're simply talking about an old-fashioned DOOM .wad. Very strong review that tells one all they need to know about the action, while letting them discover everything story-related after the prologue on their own.

---

SECOND PLACE

Joe's Breath of Fire II (SNES)

This game isn't one of my Top 5 SNES/Super Famicom RPGs and I don't know if it'd even make my Top 10, although if it did, it'd be towards the bottom of that list. Still, I've played it about 2.5 times, which is more than I can say about several games ranked above it. I think a bit part of that is due to the monster designs, which you discussed at length, combined with that dark intro (and conclusion) as well as the tall tale/vignette approach to storytelling, where you constantly are feeling like you've accomplished something. You mentioned all of that to some degree, tossed in a good bit about how this game has teeth and you'll be finding yourself worn down by the monster encounters. And had plenty a good laugh at the translation issues, which do a "fine" job of taking one out of the game's vibe. All in all, a very good look at a good, but very imperfect RPG that (at least for me) proved to be far catchier than it should have been. You showed its failings, but in your writing also illustrated those aspects that've made it one of those games I come back to as frequently as I do the Chrono's, Lufia 2's and EarthBound's of this era.

---

REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Masters' Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC)

Marc is a smart man. Seeing that this was my week to judge, he reviewed a Castlevania clone that's directly comparable to that series' third NES game. He also correctly called it the best Castlevania game (and of every game I've beaten in my life, I feel the biggest sense of accomplishment about that one…the final level is only the most brutal short level/boss rush -- err, three-part boss fight -- of all time). And I don't know how he knew this, but he submitted this at a time when I'm playing Super Castlevania IV because I'm in a CV kind of mood and hadn't played that one in a good 20 years. This was a really fun review to read, as it shows your knowledge of the subject matter in making immediate comparisons between your allies here and those from Castlevania III. I could simply quote this paragraph and call you the winner based on it...

"Their answer proves that truly excellent gameplay is timeless; their answer is a game that feels like Castlevania III in all of the most important ways, yet caters to modern sensibilities and manages the difficult dual accomplishments of making you want to replay it multiple times through its various modes, and making you also want to go back and (re)play the fantastic source material (which has held up better than I could have imagined). Bloodstained seems set to be a new, modern day classic, even while it elevates an old one."

But I'll go further and bring up the part where you talk about how the characters work together -- essentially adding in NES Castlevania wanna-be Little Samson and how you could switch between characters, each with their own use. Except it seems done better here. There, a couple characters were very useful, while the other two had specialized uses, but weren't good for that many situations. Here, it seems like everyone has a lot of usefulness and, with how you essentially have four lives per life, you'll get a lot of use out of each one. The pics help show that, with Alucard II flying over those giant fire streams against the two-headed dragon dude in a situation where it looks like the other guys might be toast. Damn, this game looks like fun and your review makes it seem like even more fun!

---

And, for anyone counting, that's two in a row that I've done in a timely manner. Who'd have thunk it?!? Not me, for sure...

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

Look at you go...

You're right about Knight Terrors. It's a fun little game, but doesn't really have enough going on to give you anything to really talk about. Light in the Dark - and I mean it this time - should be my last visual novel review in a while. They're not much fun to write about, either.

Congrats to Marc who knocked it out of the park, and to Joe and Freeman for placing.

For us. For them. For you.

I'm very pleased that you enjoyed the review so much, Rob. Glad I caught you in the right mood to do so. And kudos for getting the topic up pretty much immediately -- AGAIN?!

Congrats to Joe and Freeman who continue to run this place.

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

Congrats on getting this topic out timely. We've all been on a roll lately. Thanks for placing, and congrats to Marc and Freeman as well.

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