Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW // 3rd June – 8th June // [Save] State of the RotW

High (comparative) numbers for me -- six reviews. I’ll still do this early; I need the rest of the week for grumping.

I had a lot of trouble with the ordering for these; I would change my mind on the positions right up to posting. I'll probably change my mind again afterwards. It was a very good week for reviews and you all deserve props

Starlink: Battle for Atlas [SWH] Hastypixels

It’s a rambly week this week, so we’ll start off with Hasty, who has a lot to say about Starlink, but perhaps in a way that could be better organized. Some of the information could be ordered better, so that you’re not talking about things before you’ve explained them -- this whole scan a toy nonsense holds zero interest with me, so I’m more or less ignorant of the entire scheme. Other bits of terminology turn up out of sync, like Arwing and Snow Drop.

But what this review does well once it gets going is how it hides it length with no small degree of enthusiasm. It’s probably as long as it it because you want to talk about Starlink and, because that shines through, it becomes an interesting read. I thought it closed especially strongly.

Double Dragon [NES] CptRetroBlue

Cpt has adopted screenshots into this review, but still has a habit of spacing them weird. I feel like I’ve said this before? You probably want to aim for at least two paragraphs of text between shots otherwise it looks weirdly stretched. Still, it’s a good review on what everyone believes to be a brave conversation of the foundation of brawlers. Aside from Pick; he wasn’t a fan

Danger Zone 2 [PS4] Sam1193

Sam’s clearly a very good writer and, for the purpose of this review, perhaps too good. There’s a weird criticism I’m not able to level very often. This review goes in and makes its points very well, but it suffers from being overlong and overwritten in places. Sometimes, you dwell on subjects too long and, sometimes, some word choices come across as thesaurus abuse. I’m not sure you need to bust out the likes of ‘diegetic’, ‘luxuriate’ and ‘analogous’ to talk about a diet Burnout attempt. All these words are used correctly and within the right context, it just seems like overkill. It works in points -- the introduction is very strong, and it helps relay your authority on some subjects, like talking about the previous Burnout series --but we already know you’re really good at this, dude. No need to overdo it!



THIRD Riviera: The Promised Land (PSP) Joe

Half this review is, basically, an argument towards save state scumming and, as someone with two decades of X-COM fanatasim under their belt, I struggle to accept that.

That isn’t to say I don’t get it, or that Joe’s argument in this context is without merit. It’s clear that Riviera wants you to play through the game with a sizable dose of RNG powering your adventure, but Joe makes the point that RNG is dumb and gifts you nonsense. Seeing as JRPGs are often digitized wars against your own personal OCD (I remember the sleepless nights worrying about that one chest I couldn’t figure out how to access in random dungeon #256), I get that missing out of an item because of a failed QTE or the RNG not rolling your way is rage fuel, but isn’t that the game’s sell? That each playthrough will be different because you’re not guaranteed the same items on each trip? I dunno; I’m arguing with myself here.

Joe does well to address this and sets out his stall on the matter early, but it dominates the review. The rest of the talking points kind of get swallowed up by it.

SECOND Blood & Truth [PS4] Pickhut

I’m not a big VR player, so little details like how you can only play VR games for X amount of time before you get tired make perfect sense yet, at the same time, is a facet I would have never imagined being an issue. Pick brings this up in order to highlight that while boring plot dump sections will always be boring, in this particular instance they’re doubly damning because they eat into that small window you have before you’re forced to stop playing. It’s a clever insight only obvious to people with a lot of VR time under their belt. Pick suffers to educate us.

The review itself is solid throughout, explaining the foundations of the game as a mini title expanded into a full game that fails to learn from its initial mistakes. Talking about how both strains have you groping at object while people chat in the background sounded particularly painful.

WIN Castlevania Anniversary Collection (PC) Masters

The universal rule to collections is that they always disappoint someone as an actual collection. Game X should have been included, say the braying mob, or why is Game Y included while Game Z isn’t, they demand. Marc’s happy to join in with the pitchfork waving, but takes the difficult stance of, while the collection could and perhaps should have been better, it still contains a lot of excellent titles that make the collection as a whole more than worthwhile.

Collection reviews are bastards. Most of us have had a go at them at some point, and are painfully aware of that fact, but Marc tackles this one masterfully. There’s already a bunch of universal complaints leveled at the collection which are addressed early. So he can get on with proving each title’s worth succinctly. You could say that it’s geared towards a returning player base rather than those new to Castlevania, but I’ve played precious little of these games (don’t judge me!) and managed to follow the mini reviews fine. I look forward to the seven individual reviews that follow, ETA 2025.

Marc probably wins out because only a third of his review is an advocate for save scumming.

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks for a surprisingly punctual and insightful RotW, and the win of course. We just need to get our volume up!

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

Thanks for keeping things timely, so you don't look like a hypocrite if you remind others that they're running a bit late with their own topics. Not that such a thing would ever happen! Also, congratulations to the winners, and to all who participated to make this another solid week!

"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

Thanks for the second placement.

Funnily enough, the part about VR time constraints didn't actually enter the equation until I was towards the end of the game and wanted to end things as fast as possible. When a dialogue-heavy scene popped up, I pressed every single button on the controller, and to my shock, there wasn't an option to skip. That's when I decided to force myself through all the talking just to do two action stages in one session; by the end, all I could think about was taking the headset off to stop this strained feeling, but I needed to reach an autosave point.... But then there was more talking. It was torture.

Basically: don't waste players' time in VR. If you're gonna "pad," you better make it worthwhile.

Congrats on getting RotW, Masters! Been meaning to get that collection for some time, and while it could have been more (the collection), I liked your approach in the review. Good on everyone else on participating this week, as well.

I head spaceshit noises.

Thanks, Pick! I tried the PS4 VR unit at an exhibition the other day... was wondering if it's worth a more serious look. You are definitely the resident expert: are there any killer apps?

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

It's always a bit of a risk for me to write reviews when I'm working long hours. I tried to give it time so I could edit it for better clarity, but once again it boils down to organization at the outset.

Boy these lessons aren't subtle, are they? As always I appreciate the feedback. Congratulations to everyone who posted/participated!

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

are there any killer apps?

I've only played a few games in VR so far (actually, all the VR reviews I've written have been for games I've played from start to finish), so I can't really say there's a "killer app." At this point in time, I can only "recommend" based on what other people are praising as quality VR experiences, stuff like Resident Evil 7, Tetris Effect, Moss, Beat Saber (music rhythm title), Astro Bot (the PSVR's equivalent to a 3D Super Mario game), and Raw Data. I've been meaning to get to those, but at the same time, there's a surprisingly sizable catalog of VR titles on the PS4 to try, so I also want to uncover any "hidden gems."

Though, of the games I've played so far that shows the huge potential in VR gaming, titles like Pixel Ripped 1989, Statik, and Superhot VR were unique experiences, in spite of their downsides.

I head spaceshit noises.

Hey, thanks for getting this up quickly and the critique. I was worried that my rambling about save scumming would get in the way. It really wouldn't have bothered me as much in that game if I could truly save scum, and not have to go back through a long string of events every time I screw up an RNG-oriented event. Oh well.

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