Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: May 23-29, 2016 -- Thrills, Chills and...I need a drink...

Here we go with another ROTW filled to the brim with excitement. For added pleasure, imagine me reciting that line in the most dull monotone imaginable. And there we are for this fine week. I mean, not that I'm complaining about the quality of reviews or anything, but in Ohio, we suddenly turned from this cool, rainy crap into sunshine, blue skies and glorious heat, which makes being stuck in the office really annoying. Speaking of annoying, in my small town, we got an honest-to-god record store, with all sorts of vinyl I was planning to look through…but it's not open today, so I have to wait until tomorrow. Life: It's full of disappointment. Except for three of you, who will place.

Doesn't look like I did anything last week, so EmP doesn't have to worry about carrying anything of mine forward, like I had to remember to do with Joe's Kraven Manor. HOWEVER, our favorite everything-hating Brit will have Kemco RPG Review #359384 of mine to force himself through, thanks to me posting it this week! Everyone wins!

THIRD PLACE

Nightfire's Traders: The Intergalactic Trading Game (PC)

At least the second straight RotW where you score by doing a strong review of a PC strategy-type game I wasn't familiar with due to me not doing much PC gaming during that whole 90s period. And what I was doing tended to revolve around those infernal old-school Might & Magic games, with the occasional burst of Civilization or Warlords (ie: Civilization stripped down to fighting and taking over territory). I'd heard of M.U.L.E., but not this game and I'm kind of sad I never did hear of it back then, as it seems like a fun game. I mean, I don't know that "trading simulator" is the sort of thing I'd really have any actual interest in, but you make this game seen entertaining with its far-out, whimsical premise. There's just something about a game with serious mechanics (do things correctly, or your evil landlord will shut you down), but a light-hearted approach, that's appealing. And you do a good job of bringing that out in your review.

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SECOND PLACE

holdthephone's Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS)

You know, I played the first USA-released Fire Emblem on the GBA and, while you could position units to get the same sort of relationship improvements, I hardly got any throughout the entire game and didn't realize how many different dialogue branches there were between all the game's characters. That made this review very interesting to me, as you put a lot of focus on that. Cool stuff, as it caused me to look at a game I liked playing in a whole new way. Sort of the "I played it, but did I really 'play' it?" kind of thinking. You also did a good job explaining the core FE stuff, with good use of brevity, as nothing felt tired or labored, but that was the highlight of this one for me, especially since your issues with that sort of mirrored your issues with the actual playing of the game, where everything was serviceable, but just didn't seem to reach the level of memorable.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Joe's Kraven Manor (PC)

So, I bet you're happy EmP came up with the idea that so us judges can have our stuff count even when published during our weeks, they get bumped up to the next judge's week, aren't you? I generally just liked the tone of this review. You've done a hell of a lot of these short survival horror games over the past however long and there's generally just been this theme either of "This game sucks" or "This game might have had potential, but feels unfinished." Every damn time to where I wonder just why you keep playing them, unless you have the same "resigned to mediocrity" masochism, such as me with Kemco games.

And then you play this game and write this review and it all works out great for everyone. You, because you finally found a good one. Me, because I liked the review. Everyone else, because I said so. The best part of this is how the checklist works. It made me think you're starting up another "ho-hum, were they even trying?" review and then you threw me for a loop with all this strange positivity stuff. It was just great tone, as I could essentially feel the boredom and tedium wash off you to be replaced by dread and excitement. Oh yeah, you also explain the game well and do a good job describing just how it all works, in particular, the tension of having to solve puzzles while also focusing on THE MURDER-STATUE. Any time a game is able to get you to the point where you're essentially staring at the screen for minutes on end, wondering just how you're going to get out of a predicament without getting horribly butchered, it's doing something right.

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And that's that. Congrats to the winners and congrats to me for doing this in a reasonably timely manner (ie: not waiting until the end of the week).

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

Woot! Thanks for the nomination. :)

I agree that Joe's Kraven Manor review was great. As I said on the Steam Community page, his review would have sold the game for me if not for the fact that I'm not really into horror games anymore.

Either way, it's good to know that some quality indie stuff is being produced in that genre because there's just so much crap out there.

placid like acid

Woohoo! Thank you for the v, and congrats to Nightfire and htp on placing.

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