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Forums > Contributor Zone > Multi-year RotW: Overdrive does Dec. 28, 2008 through Jan. 3, 2009.

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Author: overdrive (Mod)
Posted: January 06, 2009 (04:05 PM)
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Sorry for being a bit late. A friend of mine came down to hang out Saturday to play Fallout 3. We had fun. The original plan was for him to crash on my couch that night and then leave the next day. His car didn't start the next morning, so he was here an extra day. So, no RotW that day. I was utterly swamped yesterday with work (daytime) and the Buckeyes' game with Texas and all the required partying that goes along with Buckeye football games (night). Was a touch hung over today, so after getting my work done, I slept through the rest of the afternoon. But I'm here now!

Usual rules apply. No staff people allowed and Belisarios can't get both his reviews in the top three due to that little rule forbidding that sort of shenanigans.



THIRD PLACE: Shounen Ashibe (SNES) by BELISARIOS

I'd say your two reviews were the most humorously entertaining of the ones I read this week. This one gets the nod over the other because there's some good info about the game, too. One of my next reviews is for a children's game, so I was able to understand just what you meant how the game's simple platforming concept became a bit tiresome for you after a while. I could perfectly get you were saying that it might not be a game that everyone would want to play repeatedly, but that it's the sort that if someone picked it up for a little while, they'd have fun while playing it. You did a good job making that point throughout this review.

SECOND PLACE: Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) by johnny_cairo

Man, I must be a jinx on RotW. It was my week when Suskie's, "Screw you guys, I'm going home!" Fable review was posted and, according to what Cairo said on his now-deleted feedback thread, I might have got his, as well. Anyway, you know how I know this is a good review? After playing Fallout 3 extensively over this weekend, there's a part of me that wants to just rip some of his arguments apart, but the writing is so good and well-reasoned that most of those arguments really won't have the impact I'd want. Your familiarity with related materials (Oblivion and the first two Fallouts) really comes into play here, both for good and for bad. For good in that it really makes a lot of your complaints come off as more convincing (very important when taking a more negative stance on a very popular game....especially a "hot new thing"). As for the negative, it might be the reason this review came in second instead of first --- to me, it seemed like there was an assumption of that same familiarity in your readers. Take me for example: I just bought a 360 in mid-December and have a "mere" 40+ hours in Oblivion. The only other dialogue tree RPG I recall playing was that atrocious final Ultima game on the NES (Warriors of Destiny, I think). As a result, I didn't find the intro to be that condescending, nor do I understand why you'd prefer a game with "impossible situations" to one where, depending on how you make your character, you have multiple ways to handle situations. I do have complaints about this game (mainly how its big combat draw slows fighting down to a crawl), but at times, it seems yours are of a sort that only long-time fans of the series could relate to. Still, this was a very good, convincing review that does provide an effective counterpoint to the praise ones that I've read.

OVERDRIVE PLACE: Shadow Hearts: Covenant by psychopenguin

I think the biggest thing I liked about this review was the energetic tone, which made reading it very enjoyable. I work at a newspaper, where you're supposed to use a "just the facts" tone with most of your writing and I feel I have a lot of trouble getting as far out of that mindset as I'd like with my reviews. This was far different than that, as you definitely aren't shy about showing how you feel about this game, as you have a good conversational tone where you let readers know just how much you like the game, making the rating of 10 seem more than justified. It doesn't hurt that you've reviewed the first Shadow Hearts. You really seem to know what you're talking about and, while there's a ton of information here, that conversational tone keeps it from becoming tiresome to read. A very good review that might be one of the best, if not the best, from you that I've read over the years.



This was a very good week, as just about every review here received definite consideration for the top three spots. And with that, I'm out!


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

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Author: psychopenguin
Posted: January 07, 2009 (08:19 AM)
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Thanks so much! I really worked hard on it and edited it a lot.


http://backloggery.com/main.php?user=psycho_penguin

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