I hate to be a wet blanket, but I didn't like that review. Normally, I'd keep my mouth shut, but I do have a question:

Why pick Actraiser as a game to make fun of? What did that game do to deserve it?

I didn't think the humor was funny at all, but, even worse, it seems out of place. I get the feeling that you wanted to write a funny review, and Actraiser was up for reviewing, so you forced a humorous review on Actraiser.

It's possible to work humor into a review, usually in the form of observations that are so true. All your "funny lines" hit the serious paragraphs at complete right angles, though.

Worst of all, the "humor" sort of detracts from the credibility of the review. If it seems to me that you're forcing a review to be humorous, it seems like you are generally not representing the game accurately. Another problem with this is guilt by association. The sad truth is that most reviews that try to be funny are horribly inaccurate. Consider SomethingAwful's horrible Bayou Billy review. After reading so, so many reviews like that, that entire style of reviewing has become untrustworthy.

Speaking of style, this style of humor almost seems like you're imitating someother stupid reviews you've read rather than using your own style. The humor in your Castlevania 4 review was more natural, and felt more like it was *yours*. It also didn't hurt the credibility, and was actually funny.

I mean, lines like "I, Minotauros, will knock you all down!!" or "And the 12,000,B.C. Grammy for best use of the hard, solid material goes to... Grok, for ‘pip pow bip bop’! don't even make sense. Yes, I know the first was a reference to Final Fantasy's Garland, and Minotauros was a boss in Actraiser, but for people who don't already know that (and you shouldn't assume the reader will know that, considering you're reviewing Actraiser) the line makes no sense whatsoever. I spotted the references, and I still have no idea why you put that line in there. And your concluding line doesn't make much sense either (and, yes, I know you were trying to use Act Raiser's name in the joke, or whatever, but it still doesn't work)


Don't think I'm trying to pick on you. When I tried out Puss N Boots on an emulator, I thought it would be a good subject for a funny review. I later got the real game and finished it, then banged out a stupid review, posted it, and went to bed. When I woke up the next day and read it, I hated it. Puss N Boots is kind of bad, yes, but making fun of it still didn't represent the game accurately. Even Puss N Boots didn't deserve that kind of treatment. I eventually had to rewrite the whole review.