Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: 12th -18th OCT

The less said about my record-breakingly late RotW the better, methinks.

Ten reviews here. Ten! That's a lot by this site's standards. I've not done proper critiques for each, because that's a lot of work, and no one seems to want or appreciate them anyway. Instead, I've kept things brief in writing, but in spite of that, rest assured I did put time and thought into my selections, so here we go.

THE JOE THE DESTROYER INVITATIONAL

Joe submitted four reviews, mainly because he hates me. It's Joe, so naturally all of them are good, but his Neutopia II, I found to be the best, by far. I like the the 'searching for a clone' angle and having played the game in question, I can corroborate his very astute analysis.

I would give his Spooky Ghosts Dot Com the Joe runner up prize as it flowed well and was an enjoyable read. Ys Origins felt like a more generic effort, and I had a hard time getting into The Interview despite its awesome tagline.

GARY'S CORNER

Gary submitted two reviews, neither of them very good: Alpha Polaris, and Sunless Skies -- the latter of which he has been writing for the last 17 years and finally got around to submitting. (I understand he started writing that review at around the time this RotW was due.)

We'll start with Alpha Polaris. Terrible pun in the tagline aside, this is a nearly idea review. Very well organized, reasoned and written. It probably helps Gary that I love the subject matter, but I doubt it was necessary to claim the spot I would award him.

Sunless Skies, the culmination of some 45,000 hours of writing, some of the finest writing I've seen on this site in some time. Truly, the review reads like a closing passage in a good sci-fi-horror page-turner... but that's also my issue with it. We used to have more discussions like these in the old days, when folks were more apt to try out new things. Sunless Skies reads like one of those 'experimental' efforts. It's phenomenal for what it is, sure, but strictly as a review, not as much. It's the best writing of the week, but not the best review.

PICKHUT, ROB, VGC2000 and AbsoluteDEICIDE TO DROP IN

Pickhut led the charge of the party crashers to the Joe and Gary show with his review of Deep Sleep Trilogy. He writes a good review of a point-and-click collection of small horror games, but honestly, hasn't much to work with.

Rob's Mars: War Logs is an uneven gem. The introduction and conclusion are fantastic, setting up and tying together the threads of his thesis rather well, but the rundown of the game's flaws bogs down a bit.

VGC2000 gave us an enthusiastic and well written, if formulaic, review of The Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

AbsoluteDeicide is a reviewer whose work I'd never read before this week's The Beast Inside, but I'll have to pay attention now: this review is brilliant. It's short but tells you everything you need to know with authority and style. (It's fraught with "it's" that should be "its," though, its only weakness.)

THE PODIUM

THIRD PLACE
The Beast Inside by AbsoluteDeicide

SECOND PLACE
Neutopia II by Joe

REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Alpha Polaris by Emp

That's it for now.

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

I've mentioned in a few places already but, sadly, the team behind Alpha Polaris folded and rather than pull the game, it's now free on Steam. People should at least pick it up. It's worth the price.

Thanks for the kind words on my stuff, but thanks more for ploughing through a tough week eventually. Joe routinely smashes October and I always look forward to AbsoluteDeicide's annual review (check out his Agony review if you find the time). I was aware what I was doing for Sunless, but I did the same thing for the previous game and regret nothing. If I wanted to stick to the same formula forever, I'd just keep writing shooter reviews!

Great work, all.

For us. For them. For you.

Thank you very much! I will admit to feeling bad for whoever handles ROTW in October.

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