Heed the Call.

So I posted up a review of a favorite online game of mine, Asheron's Call, as I stumbled upon its section here on the site, and was dismayed that it was empty.

It was interesting to be with it for so long, and see all of the changes take place firsthand, all the good and all of the bad. Mostly bad on a technical level, but more the good on how the original player community offered a great place to role play.

It was a lame mistake on the part of Turbine to allow third party software integration (Decal), because it did indeed, lead to the demise of an otherwise promising, growing fantasy world that had done so, so much to set itself apart from the pack of cliches, that have somehow managed to emerge victorious today.

Hope remains in my heart, though, that someone, somewhere will take an important lesson away from the game's divine intent, to provide wanting appetites with a fresh meal, maybe in the near future, inspiring developers to try as hard as they can to bring something marvelously unique to the table.

Which goes to show you that, in my mind, a low score doesn't always equal abysmal. At least not all around.

Comments 4

honestgamer Staff Apr 8, 2007

Though it's important to be careful when giving a game a score, the more important part of a review is of course the text's body. A lot of people forget that and go only by the score. It's the writer's responsibility to not only settle on the right score, but to make sure that the text justifies the score (however high or low it may be) perfectly.

carcinogen_crush Blogger Apr 8, 2007

How would you say I handled the situation?

honestgamer Staff Apr 9, 2007

Well, it's a pretty meaty review and my brain is rather fried just now from spending the whole day at the computer doing mind-numbing work with spreadsheets and e-mail. I'll have to hold off an opinion until I have a rest, as my brain kind of ran away screaming by the time I got to your fourth paragraph (though, a note on that: you've got some complex sentences that aren't grammatically sound and tend to distract tired readers like myself). I do think you could maybe start with a more focused opener, though. Maybe state right away what you're going to prove--your thesis, if you will--and then prove it in an engaging fashion. If someone else hasn't read and commented on it soon, remind me to look at it later.

carcinogen_crush Blogger Apr 30, 2007

Yeah, you were right. That review blew.

And not in the good, "Hey, I'd make a copy of that!" kinda way. In the, just plain sucks kind of way.