E-Vac Station: games

May 20, 2015

BulletPoints - How to Three-Way Podcast

Today on BulletPoints I’m going to outline the rules I try to follow when picking news blurbs for our podcast. Please note that I’m not the only one who suggests stories for the podcast, as Nicole does as well. Likewise, any member of the team is welcome to suggest stories if they like. Longer members obviously have more say than newer members on what can stay in the podcast and what can’t. And more priority is given to topics related to topics discussed in the podcast already (such as holiday-related podcasts or big events like Avengers or the death of Monty Oum). That being said, let’s get started.

Feb 26, 2015

Highlights - XCOM

Lately I’ve been playing a hell of a lot of XCOM: Enemy Within. And I’ve noticed I didn’t have content planned for most of this week partly because of that. So for today’s Highlights, let’s talk about the planetary defense turn-based strategy game known as XCOM and why we love it so much.

Feb 6, 2015

Jan 7, 2015

BulletPoints: Big Shoes to Review

This was going to be the week I posted all of my Legend of Korra stuff. But due to a massive work-load this past weekend, I’m still working on that stuff. Do expect a podcast and a video-based Majestic Twelve for next week that’s all about Legend of Korra along with our normal posts. The change in format for those particular posts are my way of apologizing for delay (and I wanted to do them as videos anyway, so it works out).

Jan 2, 2015

Majestic Twelve: Looking at Games of 2015

Looking back at 2014... we had a lot of delays in games. We had a few good titles come out, but 2015 stole all of our big titles this year. What the hell 2015? What did we do to force you to a live of thievery? We can overlook this injustice if you don't lose your big titles to 2016. Otherwise I'm sure some of us will get rather upset. As fun as 2014 was, 2015 looks to have some interesting stuff lined up... and here is our list of games for 2015 we'll be watching closely.

Nov 28, 2014

E-Vac Station Handy Review Guide

As you may have seen in our recent, we’re implementing a new system with our reviews to add “scores” of sorts to them. I didn’t like the idea of traditional numbers and I felt like stars weren’t all that eye-catching. But I thought of a system that kind of takes elements of both and made something a little new.

I thought of the ranking system within various games like Sonic, Bayonetta, and several other (mostly Japanese) games as well as the PSN trophies and how they’re ranked. Below you’ll see our system with high ranks like Platinum, Gold, Silver, etc. I borrowed graphics from Minecraft due to a lack of my own artistic abilities and because I felt they were clean enough images where most would get the idea of what I’m talking about by simply looking at the image. You’ll see these images at the bottom of all our reviews for games, films, shows, etc from now on and each one represents a different level of quality.

So below I’ve included the rankings. Each one will have a brief description on what kind of aspects a title of that rank would have and (when I could think of one) I have also provided an example of sorts. Please enjoy and I hope you look forward to our review system in future posts.

Platinum is the highest rank available when ranking any experience one could enjoy. It is the highest ranking medal in various Platinum Studios games and is the equivalent to S-Rank in any games with such a grading scale. While perfection is impossible to truly achieve, anything ranked “Platinum” is an experience that could be deemed almost flawless. Anything here is exemplary of its genre or style and nothing else could possibly receive higher recommendation. Examples include games like Portal, Metroid Prime, or even Bayonetta. Examples of film include the likes of Toy Story 3, D’Jango Unchained, and Schindler’s List.

Gold is the next rank on our list. Most consider gold to be first place, and that really is unchanged here. Platinum represents titles that have a rare level of high quality you don’t see anywhere. But gold is a much more standard first-place title that, even if not perfect, still deserve praise and does quite a bit fight. Anything ranked “Gold” is a great experience that most audience will find enjoyment in regardless of the minor flaws that exist. Any blemishes in quality can be easily overlooked due to all the good parts working well. Examples include games like Sonic Generations, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Bioshock Infinite. And film examples would include titles like Jurassic Park, Captain America Winter Soldier, or Wreck-It Ralph.

Silver takes our third highest spot on the list. Silver games are still very fine games, but here is where notable dips in quality can occur. These are games or films that have a few mistakes that, while not ruining your day, may not sit well with all audiences. Anything ranked “Silver” is a good experience that the right audience will be able to enjoy. It may be unpolished and/or not the most jawdropping title of its kind, but it has some interesting moments still worth a look. Examples of these games would be Custom Robo, Assassin’s Creed, or Sonic Lost World. And some films that fit the bill are Thor The Dark World, Big Hero 6, or Harry Potter (4, 5, 7, and 8).

Bronze titles our up next and, again, like “silver” are still alright. But these are titles that generally “middle of the road”. They don’t offend and are generally just “solid” works at best. That being said, they also don’t take any major risks or do anything too out there to make things all that interesting either. Some might enjoy these, but a fair number of us will be left wanting more from the experience. Games that get this mark would include Sonic Heroes (Sonic titles are easy to rank), Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, or Gears of War. Looking at films, we have Incredible Hulk, Avatar, or Harry Potter (1, 2, and 6).

Stone is next. This is taken from the idea that poor rankings in games like Bayonetta would leave you with a Stone-Statue (ranking). Likewise, games that use the A-E rankings have the lower rankings looking like they’re made from cheap materials. Thus, we have stone. These are titles that may have potential or a good moment worth a look, but there are a lot of problems that can’t be overlooked so easily and “Stone” ranked titles get a tentative recommendation from us at best. Such recommendations can be ignored by fans who are likely to enjoy it anyway. Games here include: Sonic Unleashed or Metroid Other M. Films here include: Harry Potter 3 or Hunger Games.

Dirt is next and was originally planned to be the lowest rank until a better idea came along. That being said, things ranted on the “dirt” level are not recommended by us. These are titles that have too many issues to ignore and make the experience just bad overall. There may have been potential at one point for these titles, but all of that is overshadowed by the problems left in the final product. Obvious examples to include would be titles like Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 or Resident Evil 6 for games while films would be Jurassic Park 3 or Amazing Spideman.

Bedrock became our final and lowest rank to enter the list. Since bedrock (in Minecraft) is the lowest point in the game world (highest if in the Nether), we figured the lowest rank in our system should be the lowest point in the entire world. So experienced ranked at “Bedrock” level aren’t just bad. These are OFFENSIVELY to a point where not only say we “don’t recommend” whatever it is we’re ranking… but we say to actively avoid it. There are no experience that I can recall that would earn a space on this rank YET aside from M. Night Shaymalan’s The Last Airbender, but I’m sure we’ll find something to fill this space sooner or later.

Those are the current rankings for reviews. These MAY be subject to change somewhere down the line, but don’t count on it anytime soon as I want to let this system get some mileage in it first before we do try any overhauls. As for WHY we're even instituting a ranking policy, it's fairly simple. Ranking helps sum up an article for those unwilling or unable to read the entire piece to determine if I think something is good or not. On top of that, companies looking for critics to provide review copies or showings of a game or film generally only seek the people giving our scores or rankings. If we want E-Vac Station to EVER be something that could make money and grow into something more, some compromises have to be made and this is one of them.

If you have suggestions, questions, or comments concerning this system or reviews moving forward, please leave a comment below or email us at evacstation@gmail.com.

E-Vac Station

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Jun 4, 2015

Freak Out Silent Hill (Part 16)

May 22, 2015

Three-Way Podcast #51 - This S is for Hope

May 20, 2015

BulletPoints - How to Three-Way Podcast

May 8, 2015

Three-Way Podcast #49 Speshul Avengers Stuff

May 1, 2015

Three-Way Podcast #48 - Nobody Thinks of Norman Reedus