Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: March 25-31, 2019 -- Rampaging tank edition

I thought I would put together another timely RotW topic, as is my habit with only occasional exceptions to date, so let's get right down to it.

This week, reviews from March 25 through March 31 were in the running, and there were a total of 7 of those from 6 unique writers. By his request, I am not including the second of hastypixel's eligible reviews, though in the future, I ask that everyone who doesn't want a review considered for one week avoid submitting it until the week when it actually needs to be considered. This will make things easier on everyone. The deadline to submit a review in a given week is 23:59:59 (PST) on Sunday night, so keep that in mind.

I have this nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something else, but I'm not sure what it might be, so I'll just go ahead and ignore it. On with the reviews and comments!

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First, here are those reviews that didn't place in this week's top 3:

The Goonies (NES) by CptRetroBlue

Your writing continues to evolve, and I enjoy your typical review more now than I did when you first start contributing. That's excellent, and not unusual when an author cares about output. This particular review did a good job of establishing why The Goonies is interesting (one might say "good enough" to warrant a review, though I think all games deserve discussion on some level). After your introduction, I think it might have been helpful to more quikly paint a few broad strokes about how the game works. Is it a platformer, or is the action viewed from overhead? Setting the scene like that would make subsequent discussion--which was helpfully detailed--easier to visualize. Some of the writing also needed a bit of cleaning up, particularly in the case of the last few paragraphs. There were some sentences that needed a few commas to avoid feeling like run-ons. Overall, though, this was a solid review of a game I'd not read much about previously, and I enjoyed reading it.

Bomberman (TG-16) by hastypixels

I feel that this review relies too heavily on the reader realizing that you've been reviewing Bomberman games for the last little while, which is evident at present but likely won't be a few months from now. And even if you linked to other reviews in your text as relevant, a lot of readers don't want to do that bit of homework in order to understand what you're saying in this current review. Your introductory paragraphs are a bit of a jumble as a result of that and an organizational approach that feels like a list in disguise, and they don't come around to actual discussion of the game at hand in time to likely retain most casual readers who might click a link and find themselves reading this review. If you're going to make a lot of comparisons to the other games in the series, you need to make sure each point in the current text provides a foundation so those comparisons make sense. I do think you have included some useful information within this review, particularly for the player who has a lot of experience with other Bomberman games and wants to know how this one stacks up. It simply doesn't feel like one of your stronger reviews and that prevents it from placing this week.

VERTI-GO HOME! (PS4) by pickhut

This is a really strong review for a game I didn't even know existed until you asked me to add it to the database. I'm not entirely sold on VR yet, but I would like to be, and damning evaluations such as this one are disappointing for that reason. You did a great job of describing how the developers took a simple concept, dressed it up, then failed to do anything else meaningful with it and also messed up because of the unreliable interactions players will have. One personal preference I have is that if you are going to repeat an adjective a bunch of times in subsequent sentences ("giant" in this case), you make something of it in the end. But you did communicate successfully that your enemies are just various "giant" objects, so the intentional repetition seems to have accomplished what I assume was its goal. And as I said, this is a strong review.

Cat Quest (Switch) by mariner

I rated it a full point higher than you did, but I think your criticisms of Cat Quest are fair (and similar to my own, even). It all comes down to tolerance for repetition and interest in the world and its aesthetic, which you properly noted in your review. What held you back from placing this week was the occasional grammatical hitch, but there was nothing major and your writing was sufficiently lively and engaging that I enjoyed reading your text from beginning to end. It definitely doesn't read as a dry summary, even though you found the game underwhelming (but decent) overall, and that's a tough balance to get right. Good job on that!

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Now here are the top placers:

Runner Up: Yakuza Kiwami (PC) by EmP

This was a really fun review that rightly relies on the game's bizarre strengths to properly sell it, and I liked how the game begins and ends with references to a really strong scene but shows how a lot of the stuff that happens leading up to that point is interesting enough that you'll maybe want to ignore the end game just because you've having so much fun. A little less information about what that final sequence involves wouldn't have bothered me, since it felt borderline spoiler-ish, but I see why you went that route and it works well. This was a dense review, so here are a few sentences you might want to adjust.

"Kimami starts off where Zero finished..." < Kiwami

"That seems a vert mafia thing to do." < very

Anyway, those didn't really do anything to get in the way of this review placing well this week. As you can see.

Review of the Week: Apex Legends (PS4) by sam1193

I read this review with interest, because until now I've avoided reading much about Apex Legends that goes beyond the cynical YouTube streamer you mentioned in one of your opening paragraphs. But I have to say that you spend a bit longer making your points than a lot of readers are likely to tolerate. Your setup, where you outline your experience with Respawn, does a good job of establishing your credibility but prevents your review from diving into the actual criticism as quickly as it probably ought to. From there, you move into your just plain excellent discussion of how the team-based mechanics and ping system of communication make a big difference, convincingly making your point so that I'm suddenly more interested in anything else you might have to say (and more interested in the game itself). Your writing throughout is exceptionally readable and largely devoid of the small errors that all too often creep into anyone's writing (though you might want to find and fix the sentece that ends with "Respawn subverts expectations just enough to make these character feel fresh and exciting" and "navigating throughout" should just be "navigating" in a separate sentence, while the third paragraph from the end concludes with a hanging "i" that doesn't seem to belong). Also, your organization is terrific, with solid transitions from paragraph to paragraph and point to point, even if the last few paragraphs feel a bit too uniform and maybe a couple of them could stand to be combined for diversity. Ultimately, this was an authoritative review with enough details and general insight to earn the time a person will have to spend reading, and that is enough to warrant this week's win. Good going!

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Thank you to all who participated, and--

Oh, will you look at that? I glanced outside my window just now, and there's a giant tank rolling toward my apartment. I wonder what a tank is doing here on the Oregon Coast. I think I hear someone shouting. It sounds like "Land griefer noble" or something simi-- oh, it's apparently "Langrisser Mobile." People in tanks sure do shout odd things these days. Anyway, I guess it's time to wrap this--

Oh, that seems to be overdrive! Which reminds me: he wrote a review that hadn't been considered in multiple previous RotW topics (sorry about that!). And so it really ought to get some comments today. Without further adieu:

Langrisser Mobile (Android) by overdrive

This review does a good job of addressing that irritating additional component so common in mobile games: the mechanic that allows the developers to go whale hunting. You did well to start there, since Langrisser Mobile is a game that bucks that trend and its reluctance to constantly make plays for your wallet definitely sets it aside from the pack. From there, you went over your limited history with a series that has a limited history of appearing here in the US (though you may be interested to know that a poorly received 3DS installment also came to North America a few years back) and transitioned smoothly into discussion about how the game feels to play for someone who hasn't spent time getting to know the franchise ahead of this point. A lot of your discussion from there related to game features that sound like similar features in most free-to-play mobile games I have played myself, which if nothing else lets your readers know whether they are likely to share your experience or like the game more. And you conclude with a helpful reminder that while Langrisser Mobile didn't last you more than two weeks, that's more than a lot of paid games get you. Given all of that, this sounded more like a 4/5 than a 3.5/5 sort of game. It plays like many other games in its genre, except it is apparently better in virtually all respects and most especially on the free-to-play side. But whatever. There's not a huge difference between the two scores, and anyone who reads your actual text will have all the information necessary to make an independent decision on the matter. It's good stuff and this week's third-place finisher.

"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

Very nice RotW, Jason. Detailed and super timely. I rather liked Gary's review, as you seemed to, but didn't get a chance to read the winner's yet, and I am interested in that game (and anything Respawn put out, really). And it's finally a happy ending for Rob and his holdover headaches. =D

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

Thanks Jason. It's a new challenge for me to be reviewing games in a series but still write each review as a stand alone piece. I guess it's the novelist routine that has me picking up where I left off in the previous review, and I'm consciously battling that. I think my Bomberman 94 and Super Bomberman reviews reflect that better.

Don't worry, I haven't posted the latter review yet, but I will shortly. Super Bomberman 2's boss is turning out to be pretty stupid and there's no guidance anywhere about how to beat it. I guess it really fell off the attention train. And yet there are three more in this run to review, even though they were Japan only releases.

Oh well. I may just shuck the boss and get the review done anyway. I just hope the next one is an improvement.

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

FINALLY!!!

Thanks for the words and placement, so fortunately, I don't have to try obtaining a tank.

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

Yeah, the entire point of using "giant" over and over was to emphasis the unimaginative use of ordinary objects, but I get what you mean with your point. Thanks for liking the review! I had an inkling, coming into the game, that it probably wasn't going to set the VR world ablaze, but I wanted to do it anyway. Though, based on hasty and your comments, I probably made VR gaming looked unimpressive in the process. I'll probably aim for more "notable" titles when doing future VR releases, just to see if there's legitimately impressive VR titles for the machine.

Congrats to sam for nabbing the RotW with the Apex review, and I'm sad to see the unintentional running-gag has died good on OD for finally getting his Langrisser Mobile review mentioned in one of these topics.

I head spaceshit noises.