Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week October 14 - 20: Dawn of the Deadline.

There's so much more I want to write, but I got to post this in a hurry because it's waaaaaaaaaaay late. All you need to know is I've been playing Castle in the Darkness lately, and I have a severe love/hate relationship with it. I might review it, and I think my tagline will be something along the lines of "Hello Darkness, my old frienemy."

Reviews:

EmP - The Cat Lady
I know this is a resub, but I don't remember the original version being this great. You do a fantastic job of playing with words while painting a picture of how this game plays out. I have it in my Steam library, and I'm almost ready to buy it again based on this (that would be a third time, too; I originally had it on Desura before it went under). Sometimes there's no better way to communicate how both odd and beautiful a piece of horror fiction than colorful descriptions. You handle them perfectly here.

Pichut - One Piece: Grand Cruise
I've often toyed with the idea of getting into One Piece, but the whole 1000 chapters/900 episodes thing makes it look unlikely (especially when I've also been toying with getting into JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Ultraman, both of which are pretty large series). Maybe one day, though... Anyway, this solid review wonderfully takes down the game, showing the reader why it's a dud through terrific examples. It also shows your level of enthusiasm for the series, and that you speak from a position of an experienced, disappointed fan without gabbing overmuch about the franchise itself. Nicely done!

Mariner - Ingress
There's a bit of a story in here, one where you started playing this game to add value to walks, but slowly switched to Pokemon GO, as Ingress became less enthralling and more of a chore (though remained somewhat intriguing). Through this story, you gave a detailed explanation of the game and threw a good number of criticisms that paint it as your standard 3/5 affair, which can be tough to do, especially with a game that's probably more interesting than it sounds.

Overdrive - Gargoyle's Quest
Hey, I reviewed this during OctJOEber one year, plus the other two games. So, the beginning of this review does seem a bit long, but worth reading because it's both interesting and funny. Yeah, Nintendo preferred bowdlerized games back in the day, even up to the GBA era (or beyond?). I remember GBA's Tales of Phantasia's drunken sea cruise scene, where the characters binged some stiff drinks and woke up with hangovers begin changed to "eating too much" and "waking up with stomachaches." Anyway, the second half of the review excellently describes the game, and both its high points and follies. You don't linger too long on any one subject, dishing out just the right information before moving on. Good review!

Honestgamer - Trine 4
Jason the Pun Master strikes again! And that's a really good one, too. Anyway, this is a good review that separates the good from the bad regarding Trine 4 effectively. This is a puzzle-heavy franchise, but you didn't excuse the game's slack pacing or more tedious sections by saying, "Well, it is a puzzle-platformer." That led to a more honest review that gives appropriate praise and proper criticism where needed.

TomatoMan - The Sinking City
This is a solid review that does a fine job of describing the game without giving away too much, which is probably something I would have done in my uncontrollable enthusiasm. It's a very well organized piece with a lot of good details offered, with examples that support your points very well. You definitely make it sound like an interesting, albeit flawed, game that I should probably check out. Of course, that'll probably lead to a future October offering that'll have too much detail on my part. What can I say? I get excited about things...

CptRetroBlue - Castlevania: Bloodlines
All around good review with some interesting points regarding some of the characters. I like that you incorporated that into this piece, as it makes for a more engaging read. I almost said something about there not being enough on this game's difficulty, but I have to remember that other people are likely better at this game than I am (I got smacked around pretty good, but still had a great time playing it).

CptRetroBlue - Uninvited
It's surprising that I've never played this game, given my appreciation of Shadowgate and love of the horror genre. I will eventually be checking this one out, though, and perhaps reviewing it for next year's OctJOEber. Anyway, this is one of your stronger reviews because it gives good details without going overboard, and presents the game with the proper amount of information for the uninitiated. Those who know nothing about the game should know for sure whether or not this is their bag after reading this.




THIRD PLACE
Pickhut - One Piece: Grand Cruise


SECOND PLACE
OD - Gargoyle's Quest


REVIEW OF THE WEEK
EmP - The Cat Lady

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

Thanks for the topic, Joe, and I'm glad you liked the pun. It just came to me, and I knew I had to run with it. Congrats to those who placed ahead of me (that is, at all), and as always, congratulations to everyone who participated. This was an especially strong week, I thought, with some really terrific reviews even without factoring in the OctJoeber bounty.

"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 placement, Joe! Glad you liked the review; I tried to put a tad bit more personality into it, so it was something I liked, but wasn't sure how it'd be received.

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

Thanks for the placement, Joe. I saw the game on sale in the PlayStation store and thought, "Would be neat to play and submit a review on the anime's 20th anniversary date." Then I played the game. Oof. It was also difficult not to explain everything in great detail, considering a full "playthrough" is 10 minutes, so I couldn't help myself.

I can understand the feeling of not wanting to dive into something that's about 1000 chapters/900 episodes long, especially if you're not clear on its actual quality. I will say, the show version has its ups and downs, and there's some very questionable pacing issues which is more obvious in the later story arcs. But to be fair on that, the show has a surprising lack of filler and has been closely tailing the manga since the late 1990s; it's kinda hard to pace a show like that without some drop in quality. Though, they could just go the route of making it a seasonal show with breaks to help.... That's not to say it doesn't have solid moments; they're pretty great when they happen.

I can somewhat relate to your Ultraman dilemma. I have the first Ultraman series on DVD (became available on blu-ray a few days ago, btw), and I managed to only watch the first few episodes. Then I gave up for a while. Then I decided to give the very first show, Ultra Q, a shot, and I just barely got through that one. I still haven't tackled Ultra Seven yet. I'm... I'm trying!

But enough of that tangent! Congrats to EmP on the RotW, everyone for participating, and Joe for actually getting this up when he's busy with the all the reviews he's been releasing this month.

I head spaceshit noises.

Appreciate the nod. As usual, there was a lot of strong stuff on display so props to OD and Pick. I replayed Cat Lady to lean into my playthrough of Lorelai and when I read the review back, I didn't like the focus I put on some of the puzzles when I could have been talking up the weird shit that games goes through instead, so it got a rewrite. It remains my favourite Indie horror game out there.

Nice work on getting the topic out so quick after Marc was unable to help. Mine will be up after I've finished slogging through a metric ton of horror reviews from some jerk.

For us. For them. For you.