First look at Review Crew bookmarks
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Nov 05, 2024 at 11:31:11 AM
Thanks again for your support of this campaign and Electronic Gaming Monthly. You, and all of our backers, have already made this an experience we'll never forget, and thanks to you we will properly honor the legacy of EGM.
You may remember that on the first day of the campaign we unlocked the Review Crew Bookmark stretch goal. At the time, we promised we'd have a preview to share with you soon. Soon has arrived!
The full set of Review Crew Bookmarks will go out to anyone who backed the campaign at a tier that includes physical rewards. They're based on the multi-person reviews that ran in EGM for eight of the most iconic and well-reviewed games. We tried to mix it up to include a variety of eras and platforms, in the hopes that at least one of the eight will scratch your personal nostalgia itch.
Here's the full list:
- Street Fighter II - SNES
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Genesis
- Metal Gear Solid - PlayStation
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nintendo 64
- Soulcalibur - Dreamcast
- Halo: Combat Evolved - Xbox
- Metroid Prime - GameCube
- Grand Theft Auto III - PlayStation 2
So how do we turn a review in a bookmark, and what does that look like?
Let's take a look at one example, Ocarina of Time. Here's the original review column, as it appeared in EGM #115:
As you can see, it's a bit on the tall and narrow side to be a substantial bookmark. Even beyond that, just cropping and printing a magazine scan onto a bookmark wouldn't be ideal. You'd be able to tell. So instead, our designer recreated the layout from scratch, trying to capture as much of the original spirit as possible at new dimensions. (In this case, we also decided to abridge the lead review, using an excerpt that keeps the spirit intact, to save space and make the boxes more balanced.)
There's one more issue, though: The screenshot. Again, reprinting a scan is going to be a little rougher than we'd like. And that's especially true if it's an image from the age before publishers sent out high-quality image files to use in coverage. Keep in mind, some of the images in earlier issues of EGM are literally photographs of a TV.
So if we really want these bookmarks to look good, there's only one thing to do: Boot up the game ourselves and try to recreate the screenshot as closely as possible. For Ocarina of Time, we had to match Link's position on the map, the correct frame in his run cycle , his equipment, his current level of health, and number of arrows. If you look closely, you can probably spot some minor differences. But we hope it's a close enough match to at least feel like it's ripped straight from the original review.
Take a look at what we captured, side by side with a blown-up version of the original:
So after all that hard work, we're ready to show you an early preview of the Ocarina of Time bookmark (with all the necessary caveats that the design is not final and may change):
Pretty neat, huh?
We also have a small surprise we'd like to share with our backers: We are planning to add a special ninth bookmark to the collection, based on a game the entire community selects! After the campaign ends, we'll send you a form that will let you vote for the game that you want to have included in the bookmark set. This is just a small way for us to once again thank everyone who has participated and let you know how much we appreciate your faith in us and love for EGM.
We can't wait to get you the full set of (now nine) bookmarks along with your copy of The EGM Compendium.
Thanks again for your support, and we'll be back in touch with more updates in the days ahead.