Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: Feb. 24 - March 1, 2020 -- Of competitive eating, knives and assassins

This week, we saw only four new reviews posted. Three came from contributors other than myself, and the last one represented a surprise appearance from yours truly as I managed to carve out time around mounting personal obligations. Since I am excluded from being counted until next week, that means every eligible writer gets a slot.

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Third Place: Rush'n Attack by JoeTheDestroyer

You've written a solid review that does a good job of exploring how nostalgia makes Rush'n Attack feel better in the mind than playing that same game makes it feel in 2020. This is a somewhat common thing, even with great games. I've accepted that nostalgia is either an asset or a liability, and you get to make the call. I still enjoy playing Super Mario Bros. in 2020, for instance, but it doesn't feel as amazing as I remember it. Some of the nostalgia bleeds in when I play. But those play sessions are more like a refresher to fill in the gaps in the nostalgia. I almost don't even need to play the game anymore at all. With something like Rush'n Attack, which was less capable even near its release, I can understand the desire to play being further diminished. Which is all a long way of saying that I could follow your review along this standard track, and appreciate the attention to detail and some of the neat little side observations. It offers neat analysis and should prove useful to anyone who might stumble across the text. It just had really strong competition this time around that prevented it from snagging the silver or gold metal.

Runner Up: Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection by mariner

This is a strong review that takes aim at the notion a game has to be good from start to finish to be worth playing. The "open world" game is increasingly popular right now, with Ubisoft serving as one of the more skilled and frequent practicioners. There are going to be things in those games that people don't enjoy doing, or that they only like in moderation. And that's not a condemnation of the game. It's a condemnation of that particular mechanic, stuck in a game that does a lot of other things right. How do you review such a thing, pointing out what's wrong in the necessary detail without leading to a review that feels overly negative by the time a more positive score rolls around? Mariner does a good job here, never shifting the balance too far in any one direction, while offering up the necessary disclaimers. It's an interesting read of the first Assassin's Creed games I haven't yet gotten around to playing, and manages to hit a lot of important points in a way that made the text valuable for me and should prove similarly useful to those people who might be considering this collection as a way to finally introduce themselves to one of the most ambitious open world franchises in existence. Good stuff!

Review of the Week: Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth by EmP

This review features sentences that are remarkably effective. For example, there's this one: "They poke at the embers of their world, unable to avoid the occasional wallow in self-pity or grief or guilt." It also features the occasional sentence that needed just a bit more time in the oven, such as this one: "There’s more battles to wage with better mechanics; while Deception would occasionally break up its visual novel-esque plot with occasional skirmishes, Truth wages war harder and more often." I trust you to see what's beautiful and not about each of those. The good news is that much of the review, and especially the first half, contains more examples of excellence than not. I should note I don't agree with your conclusions about how "Star Wars" ended (I thought it achieved more with its final installment than anyone had a right to expect given the troubled development and uneven eigth episode), but we'll just have to agree to disagree. And even though I do disagree with you on that one point, I can see that you've managed quite the feat here. You wrote a convincing five-star review of a story-driven conclusion to a trilogy I've not touched that makes me feel almost as if I have played it, without spoiling anything important that I can tell. I don't see how I have any choice but to award you this week's top honors.

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We've definitely been going with quality over quantity as of late. I hope we can see a little more activity soon, and I look forward to contributing more reliably myself in a few months. Site activity has always gone from peak to valley and back again. As long as we keep playing games and writing about those experiences, I'll remain excited to see what each new week holds. Thank you for your continued support and contributions!

"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'm not going to talk about Star Wars. Jason has form for making me rant about films I hate in ridiculous length but this is not that day. Just keep in mind you admit thinking the middle film was crap and make excuses for the last one. Good films don't need excuses. Good films are not awful. More to the point, there were an army of people who are supposed to be very talented writers who entire job was to close out a complex character-driven set of stories and they failed in many hilarious ways. The point is it's easy to fail and hard to tie up long-running plots in a way people are going to be happy with, and it's very noteworthy that Uta manages to do this. But you know that, and that's as much Disney Star Wars ranting as you'll get out of me, young man!

Really appreciate the nod over two very good reviews. Getting through both Utas felt like a real labour, but it was a labour of love. I spent a lot more time than I usually do writing both reviews, so I'm glad they're not pretentious messes. OR ARE THEY?!?

Ray's a shit character that belongs more as a self-insert protagonist on Fanfic.net than a major Hollywood release Thanks for reading!

For us. For them. For you.

Well, that was unexpected!

Also, despite a lot of things working against such an outcome, Rey was able to provide a ray of hope for struggling humanity, just when it needed that most. She was like a delicious green olive in a bland pasta dish, bringing it to life so it could excel!

"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

Not today, Satan!

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks for the kind words, sir. My largest concern is that the review wouldn't say much for people who are more familiar to the series than I, so I guess it's good news that you still found it useful regardless of that fear. And congrats to EmP for the victory!

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