Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week Nov 5-11: Light Week Edition

This week saw the addition of only 5 new reviews. I wrote two of those five reviews, which means they're excluded from the running until next week and leaves me with three reviews to rank. I feel like Oprah, as I talk to those who submitted something during the eligible period: "You get a place, you get a place, and you get a place!"

There wasn't a bad review this week. There wasn't even a mediocre review this week. They were all great reviews, but alas, there can only be one winner. So here they are, starting with the review that did the least for me and building up to the one I thought worked best.

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Third Place: 20XX (Switch) by hastypixels

This review probably didn't rank higher because of the introduction, which felt a bit awkward. It wasn't entirely clear whether you were trying to say the game's technical issues surprised you by being a noteworthy issue, or if you were saying the game's technical issues didn't surprise you and were about what a person might expect. If the latter is the case, that seems a weak way to open on an otherwise solid, detailed review. You haven't been back from your hiatus for long, but one thing I appreciate is that your reviews in general seem to be slightly more focused and easier to follow since your return, which works to their benefit. You included a lot of helpful details in your review, in justification of your high score. You were simply going up against some stiff competition.

Runner Up: Triggerheart Exelica (Xbox 360) by pickhut

I liked this review a lot, in particular the middle portion where you described in terrific detail what sounds like an interesting mechanic. There were some great lines, too. I especially liked this one: "Yeah, the is action occasionally frantic, but the chaos is actually tame for bullet hell standards... I would even say, in many areas, it's tame for normal shoot 'em up standards." However, the review had a variety of small grammatical errors throughout and those held it back a bit. I also wouldn't have minded more detail, with more discussion about some of those more generic elements with details such as the number of stages, variety of environments, technical performance... stuff like that. As-is, this is an effective review for a particular audience and I think strong overall. But it wasn't enough to win the week.

Review of the Week: Pathfinder: Kingmaker (PC) by EmP

On the forums, Marc made a joke about how long this review is. He's not wrong. It's definitely a lengthy read. However, I read it and didn't look at the clock once. It is a very entertaining critique of a game that sounds great, one that explores various elements of the game with anecdotes told in the lively manner you manage when you're truly inspired. Sometimes, I felt like it could have included a little more opinion in response to the scenarios described, but I'm sure you were running up against word counts and trying to keep things from going on even longer than they did. In any event, it's a terrific review and a performance worthy of this week's crown.

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Thank you for your contributions, everyone! I hope we'll see a lot of great content this next week and beyond, as well. Tell our audience about all the games!

"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

I had Emp placing fourth. But opinions differ, I get it.

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

Huh. Odd how I missed that mistake in the sentence you provided. I even read through the review a few times before submission. Whoops!

But thanks for the (second?) runner-up! An interesting gimmick squandered. I understand why you would want to hear more details about the inner-workings and descriptions, and I would normally do such a thing, but the game was so strictly generic, that I was concerned mentioning any more of that stuff in detail would have dragged the review. I could be wrong, though.

Also, congrats to EmP, and to everyone that participated this week.

I head spaceshit noises.

Yup, "Runner Up" is the distinction you were bestowed. I just forgot to include that in the original post, so I've updated it to make things clearer.

"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

Appreciate the nod; I'm as happy with Pathfinder as I've been with anything I've written all year. Forth place confirmed!

Glad you got an easier week that still managed to throw out some quality reviews about them thar video games we just keep playing. Cheers, all.

For us. For them. For you.

I don't know the right place for this, but there are three Joe reviews on the top of the front page... that I'm sure I've seen before...? Am I losing my mind? (I know I am, but with regards to THIS specifically?)

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

I think, because of Jason's busy schedule over the past however long and because of the October horror game review thing necessitating that each of his reviews go up on a certain day to keep up the "new horror review a day" deal, that Joe submitted a lot of reviews as user reviews while they were waiting to be edited. And then when they got edited, he resubmitted them as staff reviews, which I guess causes them to go back to the top of the review list.

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

Speaking of Joe and busy schedules, I wonder if he'll need relief for his RotW this week...?

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

Third place! Nice! Thanks, Jason. I appreciate it. It took me months to even rate a mention in the RotW, so that's another indicator that I'm improving. Your vote of confidence is reassuring.

Looking back, I see what you mean. I wasn't honestly sure how to present it ... since I'd reviewed it once already and was only doing it again for comparison sake. I hadn't expected to go so deep with the review, hence the sideways introduction.

Look, the only time I'm not wrong is when I'm right, so...