Tobal No. 1 (PlayStation)

[digitalpress]

Critique the critique!

Rate this review on a scale of 1-10. Please explain your score. Was the review entertaining? Informative? Well-written? All of these things should go toward your critique.

http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/contest/tobalno1.htm

[digitalpress]

Critique the critique!

Rate this review on a scale of 1-10. Please explain your score. Was the review entertaining? Informative? Well-written? All of these things should go toward your critique.

http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/contest/tobalno1.htm

[Flack]

8.

I started off with a 9, but I felt some areas had too much information and others didn't have enough. Overall I thought it was really good, and seemed to have been written in English instead of merely translated into it.

[Flack]

8.

I started off with a 9, but I felt some areas had too much information and others didn't have enough. Overall I thought it was really good, and seemed to have been written in English instead of merely translated into it.

[hamburgler]

9 of 10

This is a great mix of a fighting game and an Rpg game that's very fun to play. This game is definittly worth having and if you don't have it or really like playing a game that's an fighting game mixed together with a Rpg, I suggest you buy this game.

[hamburgler]

9 of 10

This is a great mix of a fighting game and an Rpg game that's very fun to play. This game is definittly worth having and if you don't have it or really like playing a game that's an fighting game mixed together with a Rpg, I suggest you buy this game.

[Flack]

Hamburgler, remember that you're reviewing the review itself and not the game. I couldn't tell if you knew that or not from your comments.

[Flack]

Hamburgler, remember that you're reviewing the review itself and not the game. I couldn't tell if you knew that or not from your comments.

[hamburgler]

Whoops. I thought it was about How you would review the game itself, not the review . Thank you Flack for reminding me about that.

[hamburgler]

Whoops. I thought it was about How you would review the game itself, not the review . Thank you Flack for reminding me about that.

[hamburgler]

8 of 10

Felt like the review was a little too long.

[hamburgler]

8 of 10

Felt like the review was a little too long.

[Ascending Wordsmith]

8/10

All aspects of the game were covered fairly well. The review is a nice, compact account of what the game looks like, how it flows, and how it sounds. I would've liked to know a little more about the game, but this is a pretty good account.

[Ascending Wordsmith]

8/10

All aspects of the game were covered fairly well. The review is a nice, compact account of what the game looks like, how it flows, and how it sounds. I would've liked to know a little more about the game, but this is a pretty good account.

[maxlords]

7/10 It brushes spots in the game that deserve more coverage, it's chopped up a bit oddly paragraph-wise, and I really just....don't get a feel for the game from it.

[maxlords]

7/10 It brushes spots in the game that deserve more coverage, it's chopped up a bit oddly paragraph-wise, and I really just....don't get a feel for the game from it.

[djbeatmongrel]

gotta luv my rush job...

[Gamereviewgod]

Dman you! Stop saying damn dammit! Anyway, not bad and even though I played it, I did find some stuff out I wasn't aware of. 7

[o2william]

I think this review has a lot of potential, so I'll try to weigh in with some extra constructive (I hope) criticism.

This started off great, but weakened toward the end. The first sentence is top-notch; it makes me want to keep reading to find out why the game made such an impression on the reviewer. The review flows pretty well, but some of the descriptions are too brief. For example, the quest segment -- the reviewer says it's one of the best parts of the game, but then doesn't really talk about it that much. I got the impression that the quest portion plays like a platformer, but I don't know for sure.

A few bullet points:

* Good historical background. A little brief, but it tells me what I need to know. Although I didn't really know who Dream Factory was until the very end.

* There's too much use of "damn." The author obviously has some writing skill, but phrases like "the coolest damn thing" detract from the piece.

* Good (if brief) description of the graphics. The audio portion isn't as informative.

* Why no screenshots?

* Although I can accept that the game is about fighting and not about characters, just telling me not to worry about the characters isn't enough. Why shouldn't I care? Aren't characters important? Are they badly designed or too generic? Not enough info here.

* I thought this review "flowed" better than most of the ones I've read in the contest so far.

* A couple of typos. This review makes the common mistake of a misplaced apostrophe. At the start of the 4th paragraph, "fighters" is plural, so to make it possessive the apostrophe should go outside the "s." (Nitpicky, I know...)

I give it a 7 (8 if it had screenshots).

[Ed Oscuro]

Great to see point totals! Also, a great choice of a game to review. For me, like nearly everybody else, this is a title that you just don't hear about that much.

Couple problems with the meat of the review bring it down a little, though.

0.) The ommision of fighter's bios or a description of the characters, settings, and specific moves is inexcusable. You just don't have a review without these. Ask yourself this question: If I'd never played the game before, would I have a feel for it if I leave all this stuff out? The answer is no. Instead we get a pile of text. Characters add names (and possibly faces) to your review. It's a cynical comment to make, but the reader isn't interested in your personal word that the game is good. What they are interested in is getting a feel for how the game plays. No matter how good the reviewer is (short of being a legendary writer: I would probably read a game review by Poul Anderson just for fun), this green earth has scant few game critics that I will read just for fun. Even though I enjoy reading Ben Turner (from GameSpy) and "Freelance Weasel" Mr. Meston, I wouldn't seek out a game review unless I was interested in the game itself.

1.) As has been said before, no pictures. I know, I know...it's a PlayStation title and those are hard to emulate. I assume that the technology barrier is the only thing preventing screenshots from showing up, as the point totals are there (usually if you do one you do both).

2.) Some of the sentences are a bit odd. For example:

Tobal was a sleeper hit that somehow fell deep into the cracks of gaming history, even with its astounding take on the fighter genre.

Who is making a comment about the fighter genre? People can have an "astounding take" on something or other. Game genres cannot. A better phrase would've been "even considering all the other great fighters out there."

The heart of the game is its fighting engine (duh!),

Not to be unfriendly, but who, exactly, is being "duh"-ed? Are you chastizing yourself (as you should) for throwing a weak and tired cliche at us, compounding the problem by utilizing it to make a terribly obvious statement, and finally doing so in a slightly insulting way? I'm not a fan of reviews that insult the reader (nevermind this is an answer to a question the reader never would've considered asking). I know this one was meant in a "fun" way, but it really doesn't come off well. If you feel a need to comment on how much the game's fighting engine is central to its success as a game, say so in a straightforward manner. Furthermore, "Duh" is not a word that belongs in a game review. Ever.

3. Not informative enough.

The quest mode is the coolest damn thing to be in a fighter. There are four levels to conquer.

The very first thing I thought after reading this was "anticlimatic!" Even with my limited knowledge of fighting games, I can point out that more than a few polygon based fighters have quest modes, and (this is a bit hard to explain) you want to start off with an aspect that is actually compelling. Four levels -- are they especially good levels, are they big, are there new characters, what's going on?

In order to do this, you have to run around the levels picking up various power-ups, fighting plenty of baddies, and dodging traps.

You're being unclear. What sort of "levels" are being talked about again? The reader is left unsure if your four levels are difficulty levels or whole new levels -- and the uncertainty is compounded by the use of "run around the levels [emphasis mine]." It's fairly human to expect these "levels" are actually normal game levels, and so we wonder if you aren't being inconsistent with your use of the word "levels."

It sounds like a formula for being monotonous and über-lame, but the quest mode is as equally fast paced and fulfilling as the regular fighting modes.

The only thing "über" about the end of this section is the fact that you used a special character. That doesn't solve the fact that we're left with a very hazy image of what this quest mode is like -- does it use a control scheme exactly the same as the game? I honestly can't imagine what the quests must be like, which is something I hoped this review would clue me into.

4. Not informative enough!

There aren't a lot of textures in Tobal, but it still looks great without them. Its simple polygon look gives off a great colorful, cartoony feel.

Cel-shading is out of the question, but what exactly is meant? This is where the lack of screenshots are really killing this review. I'm glad you chose this game, but between the lack of screenshots and the hazy description of the graphics we're unsure what to expect. Does the art style borrow from the original Dragonball series (...not Z) or does it look like H.R. Giger's work? I feel that a comparison to other polygonal fighters would've helped. [Note on that: I got lucky with the Dragonball comment. I skimmed through the opening and ignored that section the first time through. Comment still stands, though: you cannot assume the reader is familiar with Dragonball--worse yet, you might have to explain that there's a difference between the original Dragonball and Dragonball Z, owing to the DBZ fighters out there now]

It is really hard for me to say anything negative about Tobal.

Well, is there anything negative to say about Tobal, or is it perfect? Don't leave us with this uncertainty.

Finally...

Tobal No. 1 is essential for everyone who enjoys fighting games, or just likes the Final Fantasy series (referring to the bundled demo).

Second-to-last sentence leaves us with a confusing statement that references a wholly unrelated game from another genre and is the review's only indication (however indirect) that Tobal No. 1 is something different from plain old Tobal. Is Tobal No. 1 some sort of compilation? After all, Final Fantasy Origins is a bundle. You're hoping that the reader will remember your comment that Tobal has a Final Fantasy demo on-disc, mentioned much earlier and possibly forgotten by now. This isn't a very big issue, but the choice of sentence could've been much better, something like this:

If you grow weary of duking it out in Tobal's arenas, you can always check out the bundled Final Fantasy demo.

Final comment: Not enough information. Not enough description. The style is too personal and informal (even for daily speech, I'd say) and errors get in the way of understanding the game. In good conscience, I cannot give this game a higher score than a six, and that's pushing it.

6/10