Forums > Contributor Zone > Review of the Week Dec 10 - 16

This has been a helluva week. Don't I always say that? I've spent most of my free time, when I have it, either trying to advance in Gothic 3 or finish reading Summer Knight by Jim Butcher. Otherwise, I've been sick or working overtime. Now is the time that everyone tries to get in their surgeries before their insurance resets, which means added work for my department. Also, there must've been a lot of humping nine or so months ago, because we've dealt with a lot of birthing sets. That's enough shop talk...

Pickhut wrote about Arcade Archives: Mat Mania Exciting Hour, featuring such awesome names as Karate Fighter. This is a very snappy and well-paced piece. You nailed the part about this being a standard wrestling title, while giving anyone who's never played a wrestling game the info they might need to proper understand how the genre works. You then segued into history and didn't let that part of the review take over. It was a one paragraph and done deal, which is nice. The review almost felt like it ended abruptly, but then again do we really need to drag all of the info in the final paragraph out? Mat Mania's shortcomings are the same as with any old school wrestling game. They can be fun for nostalgia purposes, but with a vast genre full of way more advanced games, from WWE's yearly offerings to the Fire Pro franchise, why even bother with the older stuff?

CptRetroBlue wrote three reviews this week:

Fighting Masters: This review could use some fleshing out. It's pretty brief and sparse on details, and it feels like there's more you could say. How does the AI hold up? Is the difficulty fairly balanced? How is the control response, and how easy is it to pull off special moves? I feel like you have a lot of good information already present, and the latter half of the piece flows very well, but the review would benefit from more content.

Phantasy Star: The first couple of paragraphs could use some commas. There were also some repetitive points made, where you listed a game feature multiple times. It's a decent review, otherwise. It gives a lot of good detail, and is better fleshed out than your Fighting Masters review.

Toki: Your recommendation to rent Toki is a bit odd. Is there a place that still rents out NES titles? I know, nitpick. As with Fighting Masters, this review isa bit brief, like there's more you can say about the game, its mechaincs and quirks. Granted, it's a pretty simple game and this offering makes for a nice, snappy review, but more quality content (and not necessarily filler content) would be nice.

Masters reviewed Ys Chronicles on iOS. This review was missed twice, so it was shuffled into this week's rotation. As we can expect from Masters, this was a perfectly paced read that doesn't delve into needless detail or banter. You describe the game's simple mechanics very effectively, but the best part about this piece comes from something we all need to admit: mobile touchscreen gameplay has a place in the industry, and isn't just for shovelware. I'm glad someone said it.

Overdrive delivered a novel called Grand Theft Auto V for third place. The reviews length was mostly warranted. Even though there's a lot here to read, it's an engaging piece that gives us a veritable sampler platter of what GTAV offers. The segment with the story setup goes a little long, but it wasnisn'tt terribly written, per se; it's still engaging and keeps the piece flowing. You also touch on the issue with being able to switch characters terrifically, which seems like a great device, but doesn't always pan out the way it should. Ultimately, this is a solid piece.

Freeman returns with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and takes second place. My only complaint with the review revolves around some minor errors: missed comma, "fanserice," etc. Other than that, MY GOD, this is a riveting review. You really captured the game's fever dream-ish qualities, and did so with a marvelous flow and clever lines. History is seamlessly woven into criticism, and you don't see any dry descriptions of gameplay or mechanics; most of that is covered either throughout the review or in the piece regarding the game's beginning. This is a tricky game to cover, but you definitely pulled it off.

EmP took home with gold with a review of Rival Megagun. First thing: "...This intro will end soon" You self-aware bastard. You got the game's basics out of the way in short (and entertaining) order. Comparing the game to Bust-A-Move was a wise choice, because it helped me to understand how RM's competitive system works. This review's best feature, though, is that you intertwined gameplay details with a bit of story about your competition with Marc. My god that was great! Finally, the review touches on one thing that I think some people don't get about reviewing. Some games don't receive low/lower scores because they're particularly bad, but because they're limited. There's a definite difference between "bad" and "limited," and it's nice to see that crop up in the finale.

---

That's all I got.

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

Thank you for the placing and praise in this week of tough competitors! I'll get to re-proofreading for those mistakes, though; I was short on time this week, and my keyboard's V key broke, so I'm glad this still managed to be a compelling read. I'll end this year on a high note with it; I'm worn out and in need of more time to plan further writings. But, again, I'm very happy to hear that I managed to make a mostly thematic review engaging to read, and I hope to make them better and more accessible in the future.

Lots of good stuff last week and this current week; plenty of games covered that the reviews compel me to check out. And I agree with that sentiment about EmP's review; that "theme" he employed is very basic but nevertheless an appreciable part of the reading, for it gives something to easily recognize as not only as an aspect of this particular game, but as an abstract concept with which to judge other works.

Thanks for the kind words. When I saw how long the review had gotten, I cut out some stuff, but was thinking that this was NOT the game to write about in a "user review" situation where I wasn't getting the editing by Jason that I would with a staff review. So I'm glad that it was still engaging and fun to read. Figured EmP might have this week in the bag, regardless, as his review was fun as hell to read.

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

Thanks for doing the topic. Congrats, Emp - your lies served you well.

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

I could've sworn I posted in this topic...

Regardless, thanks for the comments on my wrestling review. Glad you enjoyed it, and I'm actually relieved the history aspect of the review wasn't a drag for you. I was concerned that might've derailed the flow a bit.

Congrats to EmP, taking RotW with an interesting-sounding game!

I head spaceshit noises.