Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW -- Aug. 3-9: This delay brought to you by work, the bane of all life.

Just a bit late this week. Since this was supposed to be done last week. But I had a big work project and didn't have time to do either this or any of the three reviews I need to be writing before I forget about the games involved.

Being what that my review got pushed to the next (ie: THIS) week, that leaves me with three regularly scheduled reviews plus one holdover by EmP. Which means he has two of the four, meaning that EmP will be the only entrant who has a non-placing review. I call that a win, bay-bee!!!!

THIRD PLACE

Pickhut's 60 Seconds! (PlayStation 4)

Nice review of a quirky little title. That you only got third place says a lot about the competition. I easily got into the comparison to Oregon Trail, which made a lot of the examples and stuff you gave throughout the review resonate nicely with me. I mean, if I'm the sort of person who, when playing an AD&D computer game, will re-roll characters until I have a strength of 18/75 or better or whatever, so I definitely dig the part about how the game's nature makes it so a person will reload the intro until they've gained a good stash of supplies in order to make things more doable for a while. I thought you did a good job of showing how this game's flaws make it too simplistic to be a good survival sim, but also a weaker version of Oregon Trail.

SECOND PLACE

Flobknocker's Alan Wake (PC)

I don't know that I've ever wanted to play Alan Wake, but I've always enjoyed reading other peoples' reviews of it and this is no exception. There's something about this game's vibe and mood that must bring out the good writing. I also liked some of the humor, like your crack the product placement as far as batteries go. I liked the writing here -- it started off looking like a praise review, but then you started pointing out flaws to the degree it became a review for a good, but really flawed game. About the only real concern is that you might want to consider shortening your paragraphs. A few of them did look like mini walls of text. Which is a problem I've probably had more than once, so I can't really destroy you over it. But it was something I noticed.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

EmP's Destroy All Humans (PC)

To start with your more recent review, I thought Rock of Ages got out to a great start, with the Python comparisons. And I thought the rest was solid, but I didn't get engaged with it. Maybe it's how tower defense is yet another of those genres you play that I find as exciting as, well, a Telltale game to delve into. Or maybe you just got stuck with a game like my Titan Quest, where it simply wasn't overly interesting enough to lend itself to great writing. Either way, I liked the review, but if it was all you had, you wouldn't be in this place.

Now, Destroy All Humans, on the other hand, feels to me like a template for how to review a remake. You have the history of the game pulled off reasonably concisely. You then go into the concept of this new version and what it sets out to do. And then go into all the nuts and bolts of things like the game's fundamentals and the joys of replaying stages to try new things, while also giving in bits of insight to what missions constitute and other integral features. Noting how many levels kind of bleed into each other serves both as a flaw in the game, while emphasizing the need to play this game in a way that uses all those weapons and abilities. In short, a really good review that said a lot without feeling like it was wearing out its welcome.

Hopefully my next one won't be 10 days late or whatever. But if it is, that's cool, too, because I'm really lenient with myself!

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

Glad you liked the review. While it wasn't necessarily a difficult review to write, it was tricky finding balance for a game that was basically straight-in-the-middle average. There's actually a sequel called 60 Parsecs! that takes place in space (not available on PS4), and I always wondered if there were any improvements. Maybe I'll find out one day.

But congrats to Flobknocker on that second placement and EmP for that RotW crown!

I head spaceshit noises.

I'm pleased enough about this topic that I'll only make vaguely condescending comments about how it takes you forever to do anything.

Thanks, though; I agree with the order. Rock of Ages has its following and it's a goofy little game, but Destroy All Humans was a game I ended up enjoying a lot more than I had expected. I've played more 'mainstream' games consecutively than I think I have since the XBOX360 prime days - perhaps it's an end to my pretentious indie days?

Props to Flob for the sites 265th Alan Wake review (and not a bad one yet) and Pick for showing up string under difficult conditions.

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