I've got a retro review at Noncon's Site
 

And I'm actually quite proud of it. Most of my DMR-based reviews usually just end up being typical blog ranting but this one I feel has some of the better structure and form of a review.

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Anyone have thoughts?

Well firstly, and this is sort of a pet peeve, but if you want to continue game reviewin' as a serious thing (which, why not, as you're already a published author and NPF is lousy with game reviewers now) don't ever cop out and go (Your Favorite [x]). Just grow some balls and say what your favorite band is, because then you're guaranteed to at least get two comments ("That band is awesome, good taste!" and "Your taste in music is worse than a dog's vomit's vomit!") and I don't have to pause in the middle of a sentence and think about who my favorite band actually is at this moment. That peeve is a little irrelevant anyways since the analogy you use is sort of weird (so it's something underrated that came after CT but you're comparing it to something sucky that comes before something great...).

For the actual review, I came away having a really vague image of what kind of game it might be, since you offer very little in the way of concrete details. Hell, aside from the forced tone of "I like this game" there's not even that much that tells me how it made you feel while playing it (which is the only reason I'd read a review instead of looking at gameplay footage). Sure you damn near cried, but that's just wishy-washy for "It has sad parts", I think. And then the parts where you do try to insert some authorial-tone in the midst of the press releaseness just come off as forced, like the pedophile bit or the I'm your father mention.

Also, is the number score really necessary? I thought they'd reached a point where they've been so mocked and devalued as to become meaningless splotches dumped at the bottom of the page.

NonCon's site does the number/maximum thing, so I went with it. I usually don't even provide a score though I do think that a numbering system does have it's uses.

Um, what? I don't even understand what you're talking about. I specifically mention repeatedly that it's an RPG during the SNES era, and that it combines RPG with puzzle-solving and tools like Zelda. Plus the point of the review was to focus on what the game does better than most other RPGs of it's time, because it's pointless to explain Attack, Magic, Item, Run.
...again, what? 'Wishy-washy'?

I use number scores for two reasons.

One is that they don't hurt the review. It's the same review, just with a number score at the end.

Second, number scores can be useful for giving people a quick idea of the quality on a scale. The reason a lot of people seem to hate on number scores is because 10 is always considered "perfect." I've only used 10/10 once, but that wasn't because the game was perfect. I had the figurative bar set to a certain standard, and it reached and surpassed that point.

EDIT: About the Chrono Trigger thing. It made perfect sense to me. Chrono Trigger had better graphics, was made by Square, and had a more original story on the whole. Lufia II didn't get the fanbase it deserved because people were expecting every game to live up to that and Final Fantasy VI. It would be like if you were a comedian going on stage, and people expected you to be as good as George Carlin.

Maybe I should have used this analogy, but yes, NonCon has it right - Chrono Trigger was made by a group of guys now called the 'Dream Team', who worked at Squaresoft, had gorgeous graphics, and an incredibly original story.

I mean I could have sat there and explained that, but come on.

Unless Mirai has any complaints, I'll go ahead and use this to post news of whenever there is a new review or some such.

Mother 3 Review

I think it's my best review so far. Also, if anyone wants a review on the site, go ahead and send it to me and if I like it it'll be on the site... eventually.

Lufia 2 review - Very true. Especially about the bits about the ending *sniff* Although, I think one thing that Lumenskir was talking about was while you did talk about it, a lot of the points seemed a bit vague before they went into a tangent or a different topic. Still a good review, but maybe in the futre, places such as the "But Lufia II wins all those back by having some of the most memorable moments. I remember damn near crying at the end of Lufia II." could be further expanded with other memorable moments (any funny, sad, or just inspirational moments). Not really to spoil anything, but just to expand on that thought a bit before sliding into the graphics critique. But that's my tiny little critique. Very nice review though. It made me want to play Lufia 2 again. Also, just as a curious question, you said that Mother "made on-screen foes before Lufia was concept art". Are you talking about Mother 2/Earthbound only? Because from my memory, the battles in the first Mother were all random encounters. Just to clarify.

Mother 3 Review - Very good one too. Just one nitpicky: the totally-not-going-to-spoil-let-you-figure-it-out-yourself bit about the final boss isn't so totally-not-going-to-spoil-ish. I mean, anyone who has played or knows anything about Earthbound would be able to figure it out very easily from what you said about the final boss. It just seemed kind of weird to be like "For those who don't know who it is already, I'll let you figure it out" to be followed with the most bluntly obvious clues as to who the final boss is.

Just sayin'


Good job though guys.

And random thought on scoring systems:
As far as scoring goes, I always have been a fan of scoring different aspects differently and then making a final score. Like "Graphics: 5/5, Story: 5/5" if only just to more easily organize the review into "music/graphics/story/gameplay" sections, which, at least for me, makes the review a lot more easy to read and informative. (edit: Which I now note is how it seems to be done in the game review part of the site)

Keep up the good work!


EDIT: Other random question: What's the difference between the game reviews and the retro corner?

What you said about my review is true, and I'll probably go back and fix it in a bit. Thanks for the input.

As for the scoring system, I tried it that way for Left 4 Dead, and am still figuring out how exactly I want to go about reviewing. As such I might still hop around and update reviews as my style changes.

Lastly, difference between Retro and Reviews is that Reviews basically includes everything this gen and PS2, since a few good games are still coming out for PS2. I'd also consider Arcade or other downloadable games current gen. Retro is old games, and I'll probably move Mother 3 to Reviews at a later date.

Ah I see. That's what I though it might be, but Mother 3 threw me off since it was significantly not as old as the other ones.


Also, browsing around the website I come across this: "NonCon is a Mother fanboy. Mac is a Chrono Trigger fanboy. The only reason they're both still alive is they can't afford the plane tickets." What? I'm... totally missing something that connects point A and B. Maybe I'm supposed to not get it, but it's bugging me. XD

I was worried it might be a little unclear. Sorry. :P Basically the joke is that we'd kill eachother for our fanboyness, but we can't afford to get where the other is at. I'll change that as well to something funnier and less confusing.