Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW: Aug. 23-29, 2021 -- Where I learn about three games, two of which I'd never heard of before.

Another week with only three reviews. It means all of you who submitted will place and EmP's best pal Vacant gets snubbed again.

More movies, of course: Small Night of Glass Dolls was a fun giallo-mystery. Slow, but atmospheric for much of its 90-some minutes and then batshit insane down the stretch with a great and suspenseful ending. Kill Baby Kill by Mario Bava was a lot of fun with a kind of meh ending. Graduation Day was an entertaining early 80s slasher with the interesting oddity of Vanna White (pre-Wheel of Fortune letter-turning days) in a small role. Sadly, she kept her clothes on -- but that's probably why Linnea Quigley was in it. Demons 2 was the same sort of great fun that Demons was. Very derivative, but they did a few things even better, such as having a complete movie-spanning subplot concerning the attempts of the gym manager (played by the same guy who played the pimp in the original) and a bunch of residents trying to escape and then fight off the demons. Five Dolls for an August Moon was a very solid giallo following the theme of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, although its ending also could have been better. Seemed to be one of those "twist ending for the sake of a twist ending" deals.

Return of the Blind Dead was like its predecessor, Tombs of the Blind Dead, but with more of a focus on action. I also watched Tombs of the Blind Dead. It might be Spanish, but it has the same "logic" that Italian movies use. The plot kicked off because a woman was jealous that her male friend and female friend who used to be more than friends seemed to be getting close on a train ride, so she just jumped off the train. StageFright: Aquarius was a really fun Italian slasher and Eyeball was a very entertaining bit of giallo insanity by Umberto Lenzi. Every single character was used as a red herring at some point, I think. Raiders of the Living Dead easily hit the "so bad, it's fun as hell" mark as a bizarre and lame, but still endearing zombie flick. Garden of the Dead was just "so bad it sucks". Short, boring and really tame. Flower With the Deadly Sting was a decent giallo mainly notable for how much of a dick the main character was. While The Case of the Bloody Iris was a gloriously insane giallo and also starred my gal Edwige Fenech (she was also in Five Dolls, but was a minor character, albeit a fanservice-providing one). Another "everyone is a red herring and that's that!" film.

And now, the reviews.

THIRD PLACE

Joe's Shotgun Legend (PC)

Everything was really good this week. This was a very competently-written look at an indie game based on Zelda, but with its own whimsical hook with the hero being a redneck transported into a fantasy land. Either the game didn't really do much to have fun with that concept or you really went for a by-the-books, professional tone instead of playing around with the concept. Or it might have just illustrated how uninspiring a game like this can be to write about, as it sounds like this game does gradually wear out its welcome, since it's little more than a nostalgia trip with only a couple things to differentiate it from any other random Zelda-wannabe game. Which I can understand. I remember playing XBox Indie game Shipwreck, which was basically a small, lame Zelda game and, man, it was tough to be overly motivated to write about it because I could basically review it in about one sentence. "It's an inferior take on Zelda that doesn't really add anything to the formula, but at least it's short enough to be over with before you get too bored."

SECOND PLACE

Dagoss' Overcooked! All You Can Eat (Switch)

I liked how this review had kind of an anecdote style where you start out with mentioning your wife bought the game and then segue into your experiences playing it cooperatively with both her and your daughter. While doing a good job of explaining how this game works and how important the cooperative elements are, as well as how loading screen are the bane of this game's existence. This was a fun and breezy review to read through and if I was forced to levy any complaints, it'd just be to say that the conclusion was kind of abrupt, simply stating what all is included in this game.

REVIEW OF THE WEEK (aka: Overdrive Place)

Mariner's Banner of the Maid (Switch)

While I don't know if I'm a fan of starting a review by responding to a question posed in the tagline, that's about the only issue I might have with this review. That first paragraph is pretty great and does a fine job of setting the stage for this game's premise. You also do a good job of explaining the game's system and how it's a tough strategy game that is lacking in aesthetic bells and whistles. I also really liked your descriptions of how battles can be tough and you can set yourself up for a fall by being too aggressive when a chapter looks like it might be easy. Fun review to read.

End of one week, beginning of other weeks. And such is the something something of life.

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

Congratulations to mariner for their excellent review. I didn't understand the absurdity of that game until I read the line "Chinese developed, anime inspired, alternate French history Fire Emblem clone". What a time we live in!

I also thought my review just ended abruptly. I couldn't think of how to end it, but I also didn't care about Overcooked enough to keep trying. My wife still plays it and often wants to play it at night. I don't really like it, but still go along with it.

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Thanks for the win and comments. I'm just glad I found a blatant indie clone that's as good as the original, something that it appears Joe did not end up with this week...

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