Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW // 11th February – 17th Febuary // Super Phantasy no Wedding Bell

No Almost Club this week. There should have been one as there were four different writers to choose from, but one of these reviews mysteriously vanished after I had finished writing everything up. “The world was not ready”, said mysterious author, DE, yanking his One Piece review from site, forcing me to re-edit this entire thing. His real reason is wanting to revise a big chunk of it after spending more time with the game. Which, I suppose, is fair enough.

So, places for all once more, courtesy of unreliable Croatians who’ll probably never even read this!


THIRD Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell [NES] CptRetroBlue

Retro’s starting to get some of the props he deserves. While there are some issue present still in a lot of his reviews (the second half tends to be a listy rundown of stuff you couldn’t fit in elsewhere -- the graphics are/the sound is), it’s always fun to be able to watch writer’s get gradulary better and better as time passes. As is his way, Retro spits out a few reviews this week, his Contra stuff ruining my IM clients with all the nostalgic reminiscing I currently have to suffer from Marc in lieu of the slacker actually reviewing something. For my money, I prefer the Urusei Yatsura review.

It starts out well, dropping some history on the anime it’s based upon, before slowly devolving into that list thing I spoke about. Maybe start thinking about how you can start fusing these standalone elements together to start talking about the game as a whole rather than a collection of parts in the future.

You absolutely win the Golden Joe award this week, though. The award awarded to the writer who massively overuses the game’s title in their review. So many Lums. Lums everywhere. Lum.

SECONDSuper Meat Boy [PC] Brian

Brian often goes in super hard with the word count, absolutely drowning his reviews with text and giving himself an uphill battle to maintain interest. This review suffers less from that. I mean, sure, there are some things that could be trimmed, like the constant Steam vs Epic shots that seem superfluous after the first attempt.

The second half of the review works much better, where it talks about the old-school platforming and multitudes of deaths. Super Meat Boy’s just-one-more-go aesthetic has often struck me as a difficult thing to describe in words, but Brian does a good job of describing it. Then he circles back to the Epic thing again, and I groan.


WIN Phantasy Star [MSM] Joe

Heavily unedited Rob-like ramble about how much I love the Phantasy Star series used to live here. It’s gone now. Let’s talk about your review instead.

There are parts of this review that are chronically overwritten. “However, the campaign makes up for this deficit by eschewing an obvious rail = This game is non linear”. Christ, dude! I might have to fall back on the 2004 Ruder slur of people eating a thesaurus for breakfast. Still, I get it; you’re trying to sound more garndose because it seems a fitting way to give Phantasy Star the gravitas you feel it deserves. Some lines get away from you, but it’s an appreciable approach for the most part. This game was a big deal back when; it was a massive 4mg cart, it contained a rare female protagonist, it wasn’t a saccerine tale of rescue the princess. I’m talking about the game and not the review again. Right…

Joe doesn’t dwell on these things and presents a fresher thesis: Phantasy Star has not aged well, and the genre has moved on without it. To be fair, the examples he uses both to discredit and elevate the game are well thought out. I think what I appreciate more is that it manages tom weave these things together and not just end up a disguised list of “here are some bad bits; here are some good bits”. That’s difficult to pull off.

For us. For them. For you.

Nice, prompt RotW, with helpful, if snarky, feedback. Constructive criticism is a tricky thing around here; be careful! But, come to think of it, if you directed all of those back-handed compliments my way, I might rightfully snap. Anyway, a good win from Joe who has been quiet this year by his standards.

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

I'm not in the right headspace to reply to that comment at this particular time.

I get accused of snarky and mean-spirited feedback sometimes, but it's often not my intention. I think these topics should serve some purpose beyond random hair ruffles and victory parades. People are absolutely free to dismiss anything I say however they please, but I hope, occasionally, I say something worth taking onboard.

For us. For them. For you.

Too soon, dude, too soon.

But you're right: RotWs can be useful beyond the two purposes they presently serve (1. Reminding folks that yes, someone is reading their stuff and 2. Ass pats for jobs well done).

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

Thanks much for the win! I wasn't trying to sound grandiose, that's just the way I wrote the review. I'll try not to overwrite, but I really don't notice when I do it.

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