Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW // 29th June – 5th July // Vacant’s reign of terror is over!

NOT VACANT - Golden Axe: The Duel [ARC]CptRetroBlue

Blue wastes little time laying into The Duel, picking fun at its dubious links with the main series and its lack of creativity. Pointing out some of the names was a good tactic -- this guy’s a plant so we’ll call him GREEN. We’ll just call the end of game boss GOLDEN AXE because, why not? Also, giving examples of why the AI is cheap was well advised.

There were a couple of points that the brevity of the review seemed to work against though. Filling your power meter by walloping the original game’s mana thieves sounds like a unique idea and a clever callback, so, if it doesn’t work, it would have been a good idea spending a little more time on why it turned out to be a bad idea. There’s also a paragraph that basically says “The background art is rubbish. The background art is great. Who plays games for background art?”. You argue with yourself and then make the point null anyway. There’s certainly a better way to make that point.

THIRD - Resogun [PS4] Overdrive

“When I started my lifetime of gaming with the Atari 2600...” starts ths review, and you know you’re about to be Rob’d. But it does actually set up a discussion of the game this is the spiritual successor to, even if you do try your best to invalid it by saying you didn’t put a lot of time into it because the port was kind of crap. I think you do a good job talking about what is, essentially, a pretty simple game that lasts five levels but, a little like Retro, I think you dig your own pitfalls with some of the arguments you make. For example, talking about how there’s a host of extra modes you have to grind at to unlock, and then seemingly admitting that you’ve only really unlocked one , but base all the ones you’ve not played on the same theory that they’re slight deviations of the base game at best. Or the line in a praise review about how you’re only bothering with the game because it’s on subscription and you’d not want to spend dedicated funds on it; it seems a little off.

Typo:

”could easily be described as aa modern re-imagining of Defender”


SECOND Max Payne 2 [PC] Flobknocker

The first line about losing images isn’t a great start. It’s certainly ideal when you supply your own screens but, if you need them, just ask here. We’ll (and by we, I of course mean I) can probably provide the PR released screens every other sites uses; it’s probably better than nothing, but you certainly don;t need to apologise for a screenless review. The site ran that way for most of its life! I remember the first time I used screens in a review body, Jerec knocked me down that week’s RotW because he considered it cheating!

ANYWAY!

I’m glad you got your weird line break thing in check, almost enough to let the awful “read on to find out!” trope slide. The best aspect of this review is that the author genuinely cares about the series, and I think that something you, as a writer, tend to communicate really well. I remember thinking the same back when you wrote Trackmania and ONRUSH that these were games that clearly meant a lot to you. The downside to writing passion projects is that you tend to gloss over fundamental information and sometimes work on the assumption that your reader is as well informed as you are. This review does suffer from this at points; there’s bits where you reference the first game which makes no sense outside the context. It’s not all bad, though; for example, the monkey paw wish swapping the baby maze for escort missions was great, even if it relies on prior knowledge. Just as well I have prior knowledge, then.

Typo:
and It has full controller support Errant caps

WINNER Streets of Rage 4 [PC] Masters

I should dock you this place for being so bloody late. He’s a little insight into the Gary & Marc review corner, kids; every day I’ll get “I’m absolutely going to do X today”, and then abject failure, and then the cycle begins anew. It’s exhausting! But it’s almost always worth the wait. I suppose this one isn’t so bad.

It’s a retrospective look at a retrospective game, holding it up to previous versions, meaning the review will suffer a bit if you don’t have prior knowledge, much like with Flob’s effort. The blow is lessened here, though, because the game is custom built for a returning fanbase (and considers picking up new fans a happy bonus), which leaves Marc free to billow up, dropping praise on both the game and it’s developers at whim. Some killer lines included, like labeling SoR4 exactly what SoR2 would have been if it was released today -- it’s a powerful statement to the right crowd. It was also a very good idea to talk about the levels of accessibility, letting people just brawl brainlessly if they’d prefer, to the other side on the spectrum offering counter combos and knuckling down to really learn each character to get the best out of them.

I’m not as enthused with the weird Lizardcube paragraph were they’re damned for making impossibly faithful and ridiculously fun retro revivals -- that’s got to be considered harder than floating your own IP with all the ravenous fanbases out there -- but I take your point, even if I think it’s out of place. Now go finish the other review you owe, slacker.

TAGLINE OF THE WEEK
Flobknocker says: "Prescription Painkiller Boogaloo."

For us. For them. For you.

I'm happy to see Retro back contributing, and to see Flob on the podium again. Thanks for the win. I knew the Lizardcube bit was going to seem crazy, and I don't blame you for finding fault with it. Also, good job getting the topic up so damn fast! You're the anti-Masters.

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

Thanks for the commentary and typo catch! One thing: There is a menu showing all those bonus modes and what level you have to be in order to unlock each of them, so I did get to read the brief synopsis for them, so it wasn't just me guessing they're all variations of the base game. I did know what I was talking about on that front (in theory)!

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