Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, 2018 -- As the horror deluge ends, the Switch deluge begins!

This is one weird-ass week. I have 20 reviews to go through, but only by 6 different writers. Mainly because Venter broke free from his really busy schedule to unleash eight in one week. CptRetroBlue added four and Joe had three, while both Hasty and Marc had two each. EmP, being a pitiful slacker only had one (and didn't even seem to have a holdover for me to have to read, as well).

So, at least I don't have to mention a ton of non-placing writers this week. And as for those of you, you'll get what you get! I have two reviews I could be writing now, but noooo, here I am writing this and reading all afternoon because those of you who participated (except for EmP) REALLY participated!

In brief: CptRetroBlue had four fairly short to short reviews about various games. All were relatively sound at giving the fundamentals of each game, if not always polished (I've read a lot of reviews today, so I'm a bit lacking on particular points, but I remember a few typos or misused words or stuff along that sort in your Disgaea one in particular). The sort of thing where a bit more description might be useful to really sell your opinion on how good or bad a particular game is.

Hastypixels has two reviews and I dug the one for the Mega Man X collection. It gives me stuff to think about, since one of those reviews I could be writing now is for Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the PS2. I also own that system's MM X Collection, so I liked how you put a bit more emphasis on X7 and X8, which aren't on that collection. I also liked your discussion of why they went with the SNES X3 instead of the PS port. While I understand why you didn't feel like giving a game-by-game rundown, it might have been useful to at least discuss which ones are most worth playing. You did throw in a line about how the first four were better than the second four (or how the first X collection containing the first four was better than the second X collection containing the second four, to be precise), but to me, you could have gone a bit further, as I know gamers who're fans of Mega Man definitely have strong opinions about which games in each MM series have the most value.

That review and EmP's for Montague's Mount were the closest to breaking the top 3 that didn't do so. I thought EmP's review did a good job of tackling the atmosphere of that game, but other than possessing a lot of atmosphere, having tedious backtracking-loaded puzzles made even worse by a slow pace and an annoying checkpoint system, I really know nothing about this game. Is it like Myst? Is it a walking simulator with puzzles? Are there enemies/monsters/whatever to avoid. I know there ARE generators, though! Or it might not be a case of you not telling enough, but a case of a game with little to it besides "atmosphere + puzzles" so I was looking for something that you didn't write about because there wasn't anything of that nature to write about and you were just doing the best you could with a game that doesn't have much to write about other than "atmosphere + puzzles". Regardless, I liked the writing, but struggled to be interested in the review. If that makes sense.


THIRD PLACE

Venter's Gunbird 2 for Nintendo Switch (GUESS!!!)

First off, does your Switch know you cheated on it? Eight reviews and ONE was for a computer game. If you come home one day and see your Switch is turned on and your computer is scrap now, you'll know not to disrespect it by playing stuff on other mediums!!! As one might expect from a week in which a person contributes eight reviews, a lot of them kind of blended together, especially since they tended to be for short disposable downloadable titles in your quest to make sure every single Switch game gets covered somehow. Yay, a match-3 title with a twist! And don't ask me which review that describes; I don't remember…

Three of yours stood out a bit, though. The two bash reviews were fun reads, especially the PETA Tries To Make A Game With Predictable Hilarity Ensuing one. And this one, which I liked a lot for one specific reason. We get lots of shooter reviews on this site, most of which exude that "shooter veteran who's played a gazillion of these games" vibe that Marc is really good at and I can channel here and there myself. You don't even bother with that "I'm a pro at this stuff" stuff, immediately saying that you're not that good at these games and then going into just why you still really dig this particular game. Would the lack of an online leaderboard turn off shmup pros? Possibly, but it didn't bother your "not so good" self and it's still mentioned so that if a person looks at that as a deal-breaker, they know about it. You also include all sorts of amateur-friendly tidbits, such as the gameplay settings, so you can have nine lives and unlimited continues. In short, a really good review that tackles a game of this sort from a different angle that those of us who play these games more regularly tend to utilize. Which is a good thing, as not everyone who picks up a shmup is a person who's played a half-dozen games in every single series in the genre. And you did good enough with that tactic that I didn't even bust you down to non-placement for having the audacity to promote Subway's food in a review I'm judging!

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SECOND PLACE

Joe's Evil (PC)

Most weeks in October, it'd be Joe with eight reviews, but since this week was only partially October, he only had three. I liked his Castlevania one simply because I had once thought about getting that game with my 3DS, but was a bit leery and he told me that I WAS RIGHT!!! VALIDATION!!!! But this one was my favorite of his. I liked Venter's two bash reviews, but this was the best pure bash of the week. You start out asking the ever-timely question of whether the game is sexualizing a kid or making an adult act childish. I remember having that vibe playing the more cartoonish JRPG Atelier Iris 3, where one of your allies is a young woman with an impossible body and a very childish mentality. Weird shit… Anyway, the abrupt deaths due to getting ghost'd regularly, the horrible translation or the nonsensically-arranged house provided a lot of fodder for you to have fun with and you made the most of all the crap this game made you endure in order to provide us with this review! It definitely sounds like a 1/10 (or .5/5, I guess) and you did a good job of showing all the ways it earned that designation.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Marc's Call of Cthulhu (PC)

And here's first place. Like Marc, I'm a fan of Lovecraft (read all his fiction, regardless of how poor or "problematic" some of it either is or at least is perceived AND have seen a number of movies with his name attached, even if the film has nothing to do with anything he's done or, at best, has only the most meager attachment -- looking at you Cthulhu Manor!). Would his typical glacial pace where most stuff happens off screen and we're left tantalized with references to impossible angles and things which should be left unseen or unread translate to modern entertainment? Well, this game isn't the best endorsement of that happening. Superficially it is, as Marc points out. The lighting and architecture look great, while the game also does fine with its "mind done got broke" system. However, the story simply seems to plod towards its destination with your choices appearing to funnel you to the same end-point. The RPG add-ons are meaningless, as you can simply work around every problem your stats don't let you immediately do. And the stealth sucks. Looks like we have a good world here, but a bad game around it. And you brought that out very well with this review.
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Whew, that was a lot of work! Someone's drinking tonight! And, yes, that is the same way I concluded the last RotW I did, but the message still fits and I'm still drinking tonight.

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

20 reviews! That's nuts. This has gotta be pretty much unprecedented volume we've been having of late. Between the Halloween contributions coordinated by Emp, Joe's usual October run, Hasty's return, Captain's output, and this recent Venter outburst, it's been pretty crazy.

Anyway, thanks for the nod, especially in a busy week. I'm glad to see Venter get some shine, to be honest, and I always like his refreshingly honest "I'm not great at these games" approach to shooters.

I don't have to prove I'm refined - that's what makes me refined!

Thanks for promptly judging the fullest week I think we've had in something like a decade, Overdrive, and thanks for a place in the top three. Have a good one!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

If I was going to go in-depth with each of the titles, I would have broken down the review into one for each respective collection, though I know I certainly could do that. It is something to consider.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

Look, the only time I'm not wrong is when I'm right, so...