Forums > Contributor Zone > RotW // 21st September – 27th September // The [Still] On Time Edition

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THIRD - Fallout [PC] Brian

I genuinely feel a little bad giving this the week’s lowest spot because it’s brilliantly written and it was a well argued piece about how the original Fallout probably isn’t as grand an adventure as many might recall. A lot of this is indisputable, like how you talk about the stat allocation and how some fields are plain useless. You present this point well, explaining it in such a way that people who have never put time into the Fallout series can grasp or, at least, figure out in context. I think the one big falling point of this review is that a lot of the other points made so heavily rely on series knowledge to the point where, at times, the review seems to be talking to people who have already played the game. Sometimes, it stops being a review and becomes a debate on whether that game you’ve already played is as good as you remember. And, as that, it’s very, very good, but people should read it with that in mind.

SECOND - Moero Crystal H [SWH] Jason

2020’s been a hell of a thing. Global pandemics, raging wildfires, killer hornets and endless rioting. Still, the weirdest bit for me has been Nintendo’s 180 on anime tropes. I mean, it wasn;t that long ago that I was digging into the bottomless pit of mocking that was their in-house localization team’s translation of Fire Emblem where patting someone on the head was deemed too extreme for delicate Westerners and their fragile sensibilities. And now we have a monster girl dungeon crawler where girls are corrupted by evil underwear who you cure by virtual groping. Madness!

Jason does not get bogged down in the weirdness, patiently picking through the game’s oddities like it was par for course. In doing so, he’s able to instead talk up the game’s worth as a game rather than get carried away with being horny on main. I think where this review loses ground is that the discussion about how the game is against you being a completionist is framed as a negative, though I suspect that wasn’t what Jason was going for. But, with the review openly talking about how you’ll probably be bored of the main mechanics before the final credits roll, it then comes as a shock to see near full marks awarded. You do make it sound like a fun game and one we should feel thankful made its way to our shores eventually, but I don’t think it’s been talked up to quite that extent.

WINNER - Daydreamer: Awakened Edition [PS4] Pickhut

Pick’s not hanging around today, and I appreciate him getting right to the point for a review where a lot of us would choose to ramble a bit. He has a mediocre game full of cool imagery that would have been better appreciated in a better game, but drowns that out early with a simple and well made point. Daydreamer’s first level sets a pace the rest of the game is unable to maintain, giving you everything too early. I really like that you’ve decided to make that point very early on, then use the rest of the review to back the point up. In another review the “also you can” paragraph would have come across as a lazy list, but under this structure it’s the hammering home of nails into the game’s coffin. It’s a short, direct review that still manages to communicate how this game is a well presented idea with merit after ensuring you already know why it doesn’t really work. An excellent example of concise reviewing.

TAGLINE OF THE WEEK
Brian says: "An RPG Where You Aren’t S.P.E.C.I.A.L."

For us. For them. For you.

Thanks for the RotW!

The flow of this one wasn't something I would usually do, but I felt strongly about not mentioning the game's unique visuals right away, since everything following it would basically be negatives. So I flipped it: talk about the flawed gameplay right away and end somewhat positively with talk of the art style.

Also yeah, immediately diving into talk of gameplay and its positives/negatives is something I would like to do more often, but usually hold back in concern of writing a really short review. It's a tricky thing to pull off, because sometimes it works, and other times I'm worried I might mention too many things in passing that should have been talked about in-depth. Really comes down to the type of game, I guess.

Thanks to Venter and Brian for definitely submitting interesting reviews this week, too!

I head spaceshit noises.