Going into this challenge I thought the game people used to take their character from would play a major role in deciding victory. You can write a good song about any game probably, but picking a game your audience was unfamiliar with wouldn't bring up all the nostalgic feelings that could help win votes. For instance picking Pac-Man is a pretty safe bet because everyone knows Pac-Man. If you decide to write about a character from Dues Ex...well it's a great game with a lot of story possibilities...but a lot of your audience will not have any experience with it. I expected most people to play it safe by picking characters like Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Mega Man, etc... There were a couple people who dared to be a little different, and I wonder if that hurt them at all.
Mitchell Adam Johnson - (In Another Castle) - I expected lots of Mario this round, but I guess everyone figured it was too obvious...everyone but Mitchell at least. Obvious or not, I really enjoyed the direction this took. Everyone knows how useless the Princess seems to be in the regular Mario series, and it's a bit of a joke how often she gets captured, so why not explain WHY this keeps happening? It's cute, funny, and light; but it's what is SHOULD be. Great work with the game sound effects.
Chris Cogott (In Bright Falls) - During the LP I mentioned that this reminded me of The Munsters. That's not a bad thing, I love that theme song. This is another game I had never played though, and after looking it up on good old Wikipedia it seems like a very dark game. The music behind this song while very cool & fun...don't seem to fit the mood of the story being told. I could be wrong...again I'm just going by what Wikipedia told me. Everything else about it is great, and I have no other complaints.
Zarni De Wet (The Bleeding Effect) - Beautiful song that has the best line of the entire round in it.
"If I gotta shed some blood to save someHow can that line not stand out? I had a little trouble with this song, mostly because I hadn't played the game before. (not Zarni's fault) I had heard of it...watched a trailer at one point, and I read the long summary that Zarni included on BandCamp. However that's just not a replacement for actually playing the game, and really learning about the character. This makes it really hard to judge compared to a game you may have experience with. I can't really complain about the song itself at all...it's beautiful, and if I had the money I'd buy the game. So well done.
Then I'll save some"
PS: It kinda sucks having the more than 60 seconds of dead air at the end of the song. But I know you sent in the wrong file, and the deadline past before you could send the correct one. I'll upload the updated file sometime tonight. I don't hold it against the song...one of my favorite Song Fu songs did the same thing. *looks at Denise*
Rebecca Brickley (Where I Am) - Interesting character choice. I know of the game & what it's about, even if I haven't played it. I think I've seen a few episodes of the cartoon as well, but I think you're the first person I know who liked the game. The song just seemed...rough to me. Sometimes the lyrics don't seem to flow, and a word was dropped that shouldn't have been. (fun) Maybe you meant to leave that off, but it bugged me. It's not a bad song, and
"So let’s play hard to getwas honestly VERY catchy. Just felt like it needed a bit more work.
Follow my silhouette
And catch me if you can"
Charlie McCarron (The Pac-Man Duet) - Short & sweet. Fails to meet the time requirement, but as I've said in the past, I don't care when it comes to shadows. The last line Charlie & Nicole seem to be out of sync, but the ending was pretty much perfect.
Mark Humble (I'm Q*Bert, Babe) - It's a shame you didn't sign up for SpinTunes from the start, because this is great. Very relating song, and the sound effects from the game were used extremely well. I played Q*Bert a little as a kid, but I didn't get the 'Shoe*bert' reference? Just wondering what that is?
Brian Gray (Hard To Get) - You made me look up Greek mythology...and a couple other references, but I forgive you. :p This is probably my favorite song of the round. The lyrics were clever, the song fun & bouncy, and I can't help but smile while listening. Definitely a new take on the DK & Mario relationship. Loved it.
Boffo Yux Dudes (Floating Away) - You did a nice job of putting the listener into that ship. The background vocals made me feel like I was floating out in the middle of nowhere, and I felt sort of helpless at times. This would have been hard for me to judge in competition because I think you did achieve what you wanted, but in the end it's not the type of song I typically listen to. Well done in terms of stuffing my fat ass into that tiny ship though.
JoAnn Abbott (Go For The Eyes) - This is another tough one for me to judge/review. I think it's the best vocal recording I've heard from JoAnn, and Caleb did a fine job helping out with the music. It's a really nice tune, but it's just words to me. I've never played the game, and after reading a quick wiki article about the game I'm still in the dark about MOST of this. So unless I go buy the game & sit & play it, it's not going to make much sense to me. That isn't going to happen, so this probably won't get played by me much in the future...as I said...it's just gibberish put to a pretty tune. I'm sure fans of the game will like it though.
Boffo Yux Dudes (One Level Down) - Like your previous shadow the music in this one does a great job of putting the listener in the game. The way the music continues to speed up throughout the song really makes me a bit frantic...much like how the game can. The music also gets louder as the song goes along, and that works to a degree. I think it's a great idea, but you start off so low that I can't pick up the first 2 lines. Bump it up a little to start, and it's fine though. It's another time requirement fail, but who cares.
David Ritter (Pitfall!) - This is a really pretty & sleepy tune. Strikes me a bit odd for a game about "Pitfall!". You describe a lot of exciting things, but the music isn't trying to get me excited. So like I said, the overall picture you give me is a bit odd.
Boffo Yux Dudes (Elf Shot The Food) - This is one of the games I always wanted to own, but never have. I rented the hell out of it though. At first listen during the LP, I didn't care for this song...but of course I don't really pay a lot of attention to the music at the LP. (one bad thing about running the LP) But when I could actually give it my full attention I laughed a lot. The characters talking in the background, the in game voice, and everything together just works. Like I know Chris Cogott has been doing...I find myself saying, "The Elf Shot The Food" a lot lately.
Caleb Hines (The Writing On The Wall) - Like JoAnn's shadow it's another game I've not played & I don't really 'get' it. (I've been hearing cake jokes forever & I still don't know why. :p ) That's just the problem with picking a more current game. They take longer to play, and less people will be able to be in on the story. Writing about a 25 cent game is the safe route, but it doesn't mean this is bad. Just means I can't understand it without a lot of research or buying the game. (Less helpful or informative review EVAR!)
Governing Dynamics (One Four One 'Roach') - This will give the previous review a run for the title... Yeah, it's another game I don't have experience with. The chorus wasn't all that catchy to me, but I liked the delivery of the curse word. :p (Don't know why I even bother reviewing some of these...sorry these reviews suck.)
Inverse T. Clown (I'm Tops) - I didn’t care for the vocal performance at all, but I know you recorded this without working headphones...so you get a pass. I loved the story, and the fact you went with a lesser known character from a game. The music is something I could see being on a classic game. There's some classic themes from the 8-16 bit era that I can listen to all day. This could slide right into that category had it been on a game. Very well done.
