Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: Oct. 26 to Nov. 1 -- Someone has to get us back to being punctual and HERE I AM!

A busier week than I've had recently, with six new reviews to get through and one holdover by EmP. Also, there is one from me that gets to go to next week, so some lucky person (ie: Joe; ie: probably not all that lucky) gets to review my review of a Lego game. Anyway, three people place and three people get vague words from me about their stuff that may or may not actually make sense or even relate to their review.

EmP's Gears of War 2 review was a perfectly good bit of writing. I think a lot of us have done this before and know I have no room to be overly critical, but it can get a bit weird when I'm reading a positive-scored review that has a more negative tone. But I think you made it work pretty well, as you made it clear that you love the GoW gameplay and your issues were more with things like plot elements and stuff that is pure gaming tropes. that was inserted to what you describe as a very strong base.

zork86's Gabriel Knight review could use a little proofing. A few randomly capitalized words and punctuation errors and this was one of those reviews that just felt like ran a bit longer than necessary, with a lot of it feeling like a list where you were checking off one topic and then the next. It was an informative review, I just think it could have used a bit of proofing and tightening to get really good.

I really enjoyed vgc2000's review for Chakan. Having played it for a couple minutes and deciding it was crap based on that short amount of time, I was interested in this review from its positive tone about the game. I liked how you mentioned your complicated history with the game, where you liked it until becoming frustrated with its difficulty and then eventually decided to try again to see if you could overcome its challenges. You also had the same sort of sequential approach when describing the game, mentioning how the initial four stages work and then discussing the four harder versions of them you have to beat afterwards. Overall, a good read.

Brian's Amnesia review did a good job of winning me over because of how it approached this game, basically saying that a lot of the horror in the game comes from your perceptions in a smoke-and-mirrors game and then using the review to illustrate that. From mentioning how the early parts of game rely purely on atmosphere than enemies and then mentioning how, when enemies enter the fray, they can mostly be avoided. You also did good work with talking about the story and narrative, where you don't give too much information as far as spoilers go, but still are able to portray how the game might be too subtle for its own good.

THIRD PLACE

darketernal's Dead Head Fred (PSP)

If anything, you may have at least won obscurity points when it came time for you to pen a OctJOEber review. This was just a very solid review that describes the game, from its plot to its gameplay. You did a good job of describing how the Head mechanic works and how a proficient player with that mechanic can really make the game a lot easier. You made this game sound like it'd be pretty fun to play and when I was wondering why I'd never heard of it, you even concluded by discussing why it fell beneath the radar. One of those reviews where I feel like my comments were generic, but I liked it because it did everything it was supposed to do.

SECOND PLACE

Joe's Bendy and the Ink Machine (PC)

Of your OctJOEber reviews, I think I liked this one the best because the game gave you something a bit meatier than another discussion of why cheap-ass crappy Steam games don't really work as far as actual horror goes. And this game, at the least, does seem like it'd be fun to write about. Your description of its premise made it seem like something I'd be interested in at least experiencing. And even when you got to the the inevitable flaws, they felt more like annoyances than game-breakers. It might not be a perfect or even that great of a game, but the combination of its premise and your writing does make it sound like an intriguing one.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

EmP's Metal Gear Survive (PC)

With all the times you comment on my reviews rambling, I probably should eviscerate you for having a lengthy three-paragraph introduction that details your history with Metal Gear games, including a long paragraph gushing over a completely different game than the one you're reviewing. Fortunately for you, I'm the bigger man and have to concede that you did a really good job using that introduction to utterly bludgeon this game. After your history lesson, you entered "having fun with bash reviews" zone and entered it with gusto, basically alternating between bashing the more stupid elements of it and then simply stating that this game is boring --- a worse fate than merely being bad. I found this to be a really fun review to get through and, while it does hurt, I am giving it the win.


And now, I'll go back to wondering just why I decided to start both God of War II and Darksiders at the same time, since they're so similar, with the most notable gameplay difference being how Darksiders used Zelda as inspiration for its dungeons.

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

I appreciate the nod; I did not enjoy my time with Metal Gear Survive, but I continue to play these awful games so you don't have to. Not that anyone would have probably played this mess anyway. I wanted to talk about my time with the series to build up the heights it used to exist at. It worked incredibly hard to convert even its most venomous detractors, and then immediately threw all that away. It's a relief to know that worked, of a sort.

It was a strong week, as Octobers usually are, so props to Joe and less to DE. Congrats also to Rob, who did this entire topic on his own without needing to be prompted once!

For us. For them. For you.

Bahahahahar! Thank you for the placement. This game was really close to being just another ho-hum first-person horror stinker, but managed to impress me for the most part. I'm actually looking forward to its sequel.

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