Forums > Contributor Zone > TOURNEY - win a copy of Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

Hey, check it out; it’s a hyperbolic intro paragraph to a proposed tourney!

Thanks in equal parts to the generosity of the fine folks at Daedalic, and what I’m sure is an on-going campaign against my sanity led by Jason Venter, we hold in our grubby little hands a probably valid almost completely virus free Steam redemption code for the mostly fantastic graphic horror game, Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today that I recently reviewed by throwing words at a screen. You can read that review by clicking on the picture below this very text.



But what to do with this code? My initial plans to sell it on EBay were… depressingly valid. Dear god, do you see how much Steam codes go for on there? But ethics, I guess. Obviously I’d just use it for myself if I didn’t already own the game which leaves me to flirt with generosity. I guess all that’s left is to throw a tourney up and hold it aloft as a secondary prize. The primary is that I shall be forced to acknowledge and talk about your review.

Because this is one of those pesky review writing comps – but what to get you to write about? My initial thought was to make this horror themed but I do that more or less all the time in an attempt to trick you lot into unearthing hidden horror gems I’ve not yet played. My second thought was to make it Indie themed, but I don’t want you lot muscling in on my turf. Stuff that starts with D? I’m worried I’d have to read a D review. Let’s go with this: review anything you like. Even one of those dumb iOS things if you so desire.

Deadline is MAY 22ND and the judging panel thus far consists of me and anyone else if anyone else wants to. I may add further things to the prize lot, but I reserve the right to not do that at all. So, yeah, that’s this thing running then. Write for material gain; write for glory; write because you secretly love the idea of giving me more bloody work to do.

For us. For them. For you.

I could throw my hat into the ring as an additional judge. As I need another game to work on like I need another hole in my head (tune in later as I complain about my giant backlog after binge-purchasing 5+ games like I do all the time when I complain about my giant backlog).

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

I'll probably toss in a review.

Soon...

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

Oh, cool. Glad I caught this. Wasn't sure when it would be announced, and it looks like it came out a couple weeks ago. I must've just missed it in the forum list somehow. Anyway, gives me an excuse to finish that Resistance review I'd managed to halfway finish for the last tourney I couldn't show up for.

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Here's my entry: http://www.honestgamers.com/12558/playstation-3/zuma/review.html

I've been picking at this... I hope to be done tomorrow. Don't remember when writing a review became so hard... Seems like I used to be able to do this in a day or two. Now it's hard to find the words for a whole sentence, let alone a whole page. Haha. Maybe I've become overly critical of myself again, but geez.

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Well, I've submitted my entry. I'll link it when it gets posted.

And here it is *Shrug*

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Idon'thavemuchofanythingtocontributesohere

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

I always appreciate it when people take a stab at reviewing genres like puzzle games where the subject material isn’t exactly the most exciting thing to write about. That’s really the only complaint I can have about this review; it’s well written, gets the facts across well and is without errors. It also devolves a little into being a list of things you’ve not managed to fit into the main body of the review when you get to the end. The music is, the extras are -- maybe try and watch out for things like that. We all do it from time to time when we realise that we’re near the end of the review and have forgotten to mention something we feel should have been included, but there’s almost always a smoother way to drop that information in.

WQ’s been threatening to write a Resistance review since forever, so well done for finally getting it done. I’ll overlook the fact that you slid screens in post-deadline; I’m cool like that. If I was one to argue (and I am; I’m well into that) I would suggest that the opening paragraph doesn’t really pack the punch I suspect you were aiming for as it sounds like it could apply to every first person shooter ever made ever. It’s only when you start talking about how the Chimera in the second paragraph that the review starts giving the game a sense of its own independence. From there on though, you do a good job of describing the game’s stand-out instances (though it should be RPG launcher in the weapons run down unless the game has you hurl these by hand). I’m also not sure about the last line; I’m not convinced begrudges is the right word for it -- but conclusions are hard!

The dream is dead; I’d always hoped I’d not have to read iOS shovelware reviews, and Joe has collapsed that dream, even if he has taken a stab and shovelware drama king, Flappy Bird. There’s a bit of disconnect in there talking about one second how the game is addictive enough to make you late from work then immediately saying that the game’s actually a bit rubbish. Maybe that was the point, but it read to me like there was a paragraph missing in there. Otherwise, I think the review is handled very well; it’s important, I think, that origins are sometimes explored in games that have been the subject of high drama and the end of Flappy Bird certainly deserved the brief explanation offered here while, at the same time, it avoids dominating the review. Also good.

Three good reviews covering very different titles in a very different way. Joe’s offers a cautionary tale about a game that (I assume) is no longer available, Attack tackles a difficult subject matter competently while WQ covers perhaps the easiest target of the three reviews with a bit more poise. It’s a harder choice than I anticipated because all three have things going for them that their competitors do not

I’m going to give it to WQ. After a pretty flaccid start, I think she covers the rest of the title really well without resorting to listing (though the weapons run down does start straying into that). Congrats to lazy, lazy WQ (who will find a Steam code in her HG mail NOW), and many thanks to Joe and Attack for their fine efforts.

For us. For them. For you.

Curses! Beaten again! Aye, congrats to you, Wolf!

Thank you for the crit. I was making the point that addictive =/= good, actually. In fact, I'm not the first to say that here. I believe Zigfried beat me to it. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I hyperlinked to said Zig review within my Flappy Bird piece.

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

Haha. Thanks for the feedback, and the game. You would be right; I thought the intro would have been more interesting than you found it to be, but maybe I just haven't played enough FPSes. In any case, I'll keep that in mind for the future. I'll fix the RPG issue shortly.

Sincei t was so hard to write this thing, I'm glad it turned out somewhat better than expected, so I appreciate your insight.

[Eating EmP's brain] probably isn't a good idea. I mean... He's British, which means his brain's wired for PAL and your eyes are NTSC. - Will

Congrats, and thanks for the feedback