Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week, July 3-9 - East vs West

I was handed nine reviews by six authors this week. As I am slightly less stressed and sick than I have been as of late, this wasn't too punishing of a load (thanks, Jerec, for absorbing that deluge a few weeks ago).

The lineup this week was mostly composed of American story-based adventure games and JRPGs, and I realized something... Reviews of JRPGs tend to be on the duller side. Why is this? I’m not sure. Maybe this is because the games themselves tend to be rather dull and rote. These reviews filtered down the rankings even though they were penned by competent authors who did a great job of describing how they worked. Perhaps this is because, aside from describing game mechanics and the various skill systems available to the characters – and describing how these systems differ very slightly from games that came before them – there isn’t all that much else to talk about? JRPGs have been recycling the same design principles and story tropes forever, after all. Food for discussion, perhaps?

Anyway, here are the winners:


Third place: Rob’s Symphony of the Origin review (Android)

This was the only Japanese thingy to make it onto the list this week. The Earl of Robbertsford did an admirable job of keeping the focus on his experience with the game instead of going through the motions and penning a review that read like a summary of features. He also earned points for writing a Kemco review that feels fresh, despite the fact that he’s written dozens of these things by now. I still feel that the rant about the poorly implemented difficulty levels would have worked better at the end of the article, but that’s a small gripe at best.


Second place: Joe’s A Story About My Uncle review (PC)

It was a hard call to bump this one to second place. It was certainly one of the most entertaining entries this week, and it kept my interest all the way through. However, my eyes crossed a bit at the point where Joe described, in detail, some of the finicky and ridiculous feats of grapple-ry required to get through the latter stages of this unremarkable indie title. Despite this, it was a very solid review throughout. In another week this one would have made first place without hesitation.


First place: EmP’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series – Under Pressure review (PC) (Held over from last week)

EmP had two qualifying reviews this week. While I felt that his Perception review was more entertaining overall, his Guardians review was simply air-tight and... Well, flawless. It was quite short, but that was a good thing in this case. Telltale games contain nothing but story, and giving away too much would inevitably delve into spoiler land. Instead, he gave us tantalizing hints of what to expect without ruining what we would discover on our own if we were to pick up this title. And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what reviews are for?



That’s it for this week. No photoshop gags this time. Outlook hazy, try again later. Unless I get around to it when I get home tonight.

Thank you for getting this topic out quickly. Also, thanks for the placement!

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

Appreciate the win! I probably preferred the Perception review myself, but that might have just been my internal gratitude of getting that game and corresponding review off my in pile. I know there's more Guardians to come. Groan.

Congrats to the rest, and thanks for the topic.

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