Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW - 24-30 October

I know I’m late on this – OD late, no less, but that’s because I’ve been organising a review every single day over the month of October, meaning that looking at another review was likley to make my head explode. And it’s just as well I did; a combination of user review apathy and Jason holding every staff review written this week hostage in the production room means that the only reviews I have to read through are the ones I’ve already read. And edited. Several times. Yay.

Let’s try and shake off this burnout and get on with this. From here, I shall provide a list of the best three reviews submitted during this week.


Homesick [PC] jamie

There’s something quite clever about how vague this review is. It’s kind of intriguing in a way, even if it’s put in place for equal parts of plot protection and lack of game depth. Still, it does a good job of filling in the outlines and letting the reader decide if they feel it worthwhile to check the game out based on just that. The biggest drawback is that it does come away feeling a littole lacking in content. Much like this paragraph of feedback!


Reveal in the Deep [PC] Brian

Brian’s task is a tricky one; he’s covering a dollar budget title he thinks is okay. Not a lot there to really talk about, but he manages to pull through with a very commendable review. That does manage to make the game sound intriguing for someone with a couple of hours to spare and not a lot of funds in the bank. There are a few weird bits though; you suggest the game takes cues from The Swapper, but work heavily on the assumption that the reader already knows both that game and he mechanics you’re talking about. I, for one, belong to neither group. All the weirder because, not a sentence before this you compare the game to Glare, but with added context that means familiarity with the game is not a prerequisite.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs [PC] Zork

Project Horror MVP, Zork, proves a point I made a while ago. When some antsy Canadian complained that my Silent Hill Downpour review never ended, I told him that true disappointment needs words. Zork confirms this be declaring his love for the good Amnesia early on, then takes A Machine for Pigs apart meticulously. It’s an encyclopaedic labour of anti-love, if you will, exploring everything the first game did right and then explaining how this one messed it all up in often spectacular fashion.

However, as it often the case with the long, rambling reviews, there’s point within where you repeat yourself or make points that don’t seem necessary. A good example of that you dedicated a couple of lines near the end to putting the boot into Mass Effect 3 almost randomly. There’s little section like that littered through that, if they can be removed or tidied up a bit, might not make you review feels so overwhelming.

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