Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)
Authors, please take any negative comment as an encouragement to write
a better game, not as a suggestion to stop writing. And don't take
anything personal. This year's competition was very good: no game was
so bad that I could have been able to write it myself.
Due to time constraints, I had to let out The Big Scoop, Mingsheng and
(gasp) Luminous Horizon. I roughly sorted the games by final vote. In
general, the "Red Light" category contains the games that I rated up
to around 5, and the "Yellow Light" category contains the games that I
rated from there up to around 7.
Red Light (not overly striking)
===============================
- Ninja v1.30 (finished)
Short BASIC game about a ninja who must do something to someone, but
ends up moving between two or three underdescribed locations and
winning the game for no apparent reason. Probably contains less words
than this review. Extremely buggy.
- PTBAD 3 (didn't even come close to finish it)
The author's note: "Don't understand the point that this game is
getting at? Thats ok, I don't either, and I wrote it!". Yeah, it's one
of those. You're "in someone else's mind", wandering around without a
clue nor a walkthrough.
- Getting Back To Sleep (finished with walkthrough)
"Astronaut in peril" plots were all the fashion this year. This one is
another point against home-brewed parsers. The real-time technology
never really comes through, while the bugs and parser limitations do.
The prose and puzzles don't really help.
- Ruined Robots (finished with walkthrough)
Sci-fi with neither the sci nor most of the fi. Some robots, some
uninspiring locations, a generally sloppy feeling. The author's hints
are as subtle as a slap in your face, but the puzzles felt too
difficult anyway.
- Zero One (finished with walkthrough)
Short, underimplemented game about a guy escaping from somewhere. It's
sci-fi, but it could be just about anything. Pointless and juvenile in
its approach to story and character.
- A Light's Tale (finished with walkthrough)
Zany fantasy game where the author jumps here and there trying to make
it all feel part of a theme. Some of the long monologues are so bad,
they deserve cult status. Everything, including the "light" theme, is
all over the place.
- Who Created That Monster? (finished with walkthrough)
A satirical game about the current Iraqi war. Pointless puzzles,
confusing map and very peculiar humour. Wait a minute... That *is*
humour, isn't it?
- Order (finished, with walkthrough)
An interesting "create" command lures you into fantasy B-games hell.
Missing item desciptions and increasingly random story elements make
this one involutarily humorous. It can be completed by using ESP or a
walkthrough.
- A Day In The Life Of A Super Hero (not finished)
Superhero parody involving a talking parrot and lots of comedic
characters. Let down by quirky parsing, overly sparse implementation
and verbose prose. The humour didn't quite work for me.
- Murder at the Aero Club (finished)
A short and very bland whodunit, where you don't really care about who
did it. It feels like a series of in-jokes between the author and her
acquaintances. The setting, a small private airport, is original, and
it kept me playing.
- Stack Overflow (finished with walkthrough)
A messy alien abduction story with a bunch of puzzles that range from
the interesting to the totally pointless. Nothing to write home about.
- Blue Chairs (didn't finish it)
Average geek takes drugs and dreams his way through a confusing game.
Pretentious tone, as if the game wanted to teach you something very
profound. The competent implementation and writing is not enough to
make it less irritating.
- Redeye (finished)
An earnest attempt at a mistery/action story. Very rough around the
edges, with lots of edges. The "unexpected twist" in the end can be
seen approaching from miles ahead.
- Blue Sky (finished)
A curious short story about a tourist lost in Santa Fe and looking for
his group. Simple, with retro style puzzles. Ultimately too
insubstantial to be satisfying. At least it doesn't make promises that
it can't keep.
- Kurusu City (didn't finish it)
Japanese schoolgirls against the robot dictators. The English prose
feels strange, but maybe it's just me. Many situations feel a bit
random, and the game has hints but lacks a walkthrough. The B-movie
robot descriptions are funny, though.
- Zero (stuck)
A fantasy story on the side of goblins. I wanted to play this a tad
more, but the lack of a walkthrough and an hunger-sleep puzzle
convinced me to quit. If I'm about to die from lack of sleep, why
can't I use the beds?
- Square Circle (finished with walkthrough)
A Kafkian story about a man imprisoned for unknown reasons. It becomes
less and less interesting as it goes, but the philosophic undertones
are clever and sometimes funny. Largely based on a difficult puzzle
that doesn't really fit in IF format.
- The Great Xavio (finished with walkthrough)
A comedic mistery with a well characterized NPC and not much more.
Clumsy, uncertain use of the medium. The puzzles are decent at best,
but the two protagonists save it from being quickly forgotten.
Yellow Light (OK to very good)
==============================
- Chronicle Play Torn (not finished, probably never will)
Ye Olde Puzzle-Fest, with decent implementation spotted by some
obvious bugs. From the generic fantasy-starting-in-a-house setting
onwards, everything feels a bit oh-hum. Never actively bad, though.
- Identity (finished)
Hopelessly cliched "astronaut with amnesia" stuff. Interesting enough
at first, but it dries up after the first half. The lost identity
theme adds nothing to anything, and that last puzzle could have used
some trimming.
- Magocracy (didn't finish it)
An interesting MUD simulation mixed with traditional IF. The exciting
premise is let down by repetitive gameplay, and the "undo" command
makes it all a bit pointless. Refreshingly different, but seriously
flawed.
- Goose, Egg, Badger (finished with walkthrough)
A girl must deal with the daily grind of her own private zoo. Very
confusing. It's actually a clever joke, but I couldn't get it until I
read the walkthrough. Native English speakers will probably appreciate
it.
- Typo (finished)
A single large one-room puzzle about a very complicated machine, with
some impressive parser tricks. Too focused on implementation and
technology and not enough on being actually fun. Amusing ending
sequence.
- The Orion Agenda (stuck)
A sci-fi story about meeting an alien culture. It can't seem to decide
wether it's partly serious or not. It feature a sidekick with its own
emotional reactions. I missed a essential item, and I was stuck
without a walkthrough.
- I Must Play (finished)
A number of funny and pretty smooth mini-games tied by a loose
narrative about an arcade game loving kid. Geeky humour transpires
throughout.
- The Realm (finished)
A short, light-hearted fantasy adventure about a squire on a mission
to kill a dragon. The humour is not always spot-on, but a couple of
clever puzzles make up for it. One of the puzzles is a bit
guess-the-nounish, though.
- Trading Punches (didn't finish it - I will, probably with a
walkthrough)
A very well-crafted Sci-Fi narrative implemented with maniacal
attention to details. Professional if verbose writing, clean graphics
and an involving and deeply human story almost push it up to the upper
levels. But sorry, I couldn't stand the puzzles.
Green Light (the cream of the crop)
===================================
- Blink (finished multiple times)
A short, nearly puzzleless, anti-war familiar drama. Very competent
use of the medium and an interesting story. Too rethorical and
deliberate to be genuinely moving, but it gets close. It deserves to
be played multiple times.
- Splashdown (not finished yet)
Back to this year's theme: austronauts awaking from cryogenic sleep.
This one is really good, though. It's a funny take on Infocom's
classics, with the same gentle humour and fiendish puzzles of its
inspirators. Great sidekick.
- All Things Devours (finished with sub-optimal ending)
A clever and funny time-travel puzzle game where you are a scientist
trying to save the world from her own invention. A coherent setting, a
genuine sense of urgency, but a bit confusing at times. I'll get back
to it, just to look for the optimal ending.
- Sting of the Wasp (looking forward to finish it)
Well-written social satire with Gourmet-style "lateral thinking"
puzzles. The cheesy opening scene gives way to a very solid, enjoyable
game. Intelligent writing, strong characters. The humour is
hit-and-miss.
- Bellclap (finished multiple times)
A fascinating mess-up of some IF conventions, this (very short)
experiment is only partly successful. But somehow, the game manages to
keep the thrust of its catchy opening line. Pleasantly subdued humour,
decent puzzles.
- Gamlet (not finished yet, but I will)
Prepuberal Prince of Denmark wannabe peels the deep implementation
layers of its parents' home. Unrivaled atmosphere, fluorishing prose
and dark, dark humour. Deeply unsettling and funny at the same time.
And that's all for this year. All in all, a great competition.
Nusco
Authors, please take any negative comment as an encouragement to write
a better game, not as a suggestion to stop writing. And don't take
anything personal. This year's competition was very good: no game was
so bad that I could have been able to write it myself.
Due to time constraints, I had to let out The Big Scoop, Mingsheng and
(gasp) Luminous Horizon. I roughly sorted the games by final vote. In
general, the "Red Light" category contains the games that I rated up
to around 5, and the "Yellow Light" category contains the games that I
rated from there up to around 7.
Red Light (not overly striking)
===============================
- Ninja v1.30 (finished)
Short BASIC game about a ninja who must do something to someone, but
ends up moving between two or three underdescribed locations and
winning the game for no apparent reason. Probably contains less words
than this review. Extremely buggy.
- PTBAD 3 (didn't even come close to finish it)
The author's note: "Don't understand the point that this game is
getting at? Thats ok, I don't either, and I wrote it!". Yeah, it's one
of those. You're "in someone else's mind", wandering around without a
clue nor a walkthrough.
- Getting Back To Sleep (finished with walkthrough)
"Astronaut in peril" plots were all the fashion this year. This one is
another point against home-brewed parsers. The real-time technology
never really comes through, while the bugs and parser limitations do.
The prose and puzzles don't really help.
- Ruined Robots (finished with walkthrough)
Sci-fi with neither the sci nor most of the fi. Some robots, some
uninspiring locations, a generally sloppy feeling. The author's hints
are as subtle as a slap in your face, but the puzzles felt too
difficult anyway.
- Zero One (finished with walkthrough)
Short, underimplemented game about a guy escaping from somewhere. It's
sci-fi, but it could be just about anything. Pointless and juvenile in
its approach to story and character.
- A Light's Tale (finished with walkthrough)
Zany fantasy game where the author jumps here and there trying to make
it all feel part of a theme. Some of the long monologues are so bad,
they deserve cult status. Everything, including the "light" theme, is
all over the place.
- Who Created That Monster? (finished with walkthrough)
A satirical game about the current Iraqi war. Pointless puzzles,
confusing map and very peculiar humour. Wait a minute... That *is*
humour, isn't it?
- Order (finished, with walkthrough)
An interesting "create" command lures you into fantasy B-games hell.
Missing item desciptions and increasingly random story elements make
this one involutarily humorous. It can be completed by using ESP or a
walkthrough.
- A Day In The Life Of A Super Hero (not finished)
Superhero parody involving a talking parrot and lots of comedic
characters. Let down by quirky parsing, overly sparse implementation
and verbose prose. The humour didn't quite work for me.
- Murder at the Aero Club (finished)
A short and very bland whodunit, where you don't really care about who
did it. It feels like a series of in-jokes between the author and her
acquaintances. The setting, a small private airport, is original, and
it kept me playing.
- Stack Overflow (finished with walkthrough)
A messy alien abduction story with a bunch of puzzles that range from
the interesting to the totally pointless. Nothing to write home about.
- Blue Chairs (didn't finish it)
Average geek takes drugs and dreams his way through a confusing game.
Pretentious tone, as if the game wanted to teach you something very
profound. The competent implementation and writing is not enough to
make it less irritating.
- Redeye (finished)
An earnest attempt at a mistery/action story. Very rough around the
edges, with lots of edges. The "unexpected twist" in the end can be
seen approaching from miles ahead.
- Blue Sky (finished)
A curious short story about a tourist lost in Santa Fe and looking for
his group. Simple, with retro style puzzles. Ultimately too
insubstantial to be satisfying. At least it doesn't make promises that
it can't keep.
- Kurusu City (didn't finish it)
Japanese schoolgirls against the robot dictators. The English prose
feels strange, but maybe it's just me. Many situations feel a bit
random, and the game has hints but lacks a walkthrough. The B-movie
robot descriptions are funny, though.
- Zero (stuck)
A fantasy story on the side of goblins. I wanted to play this a tad
more, but the lack of a walkthrough and an hunger-sleep puzzle
convinced me to quit. If I'm about to die from lack of sleep, why
can't I use the beds?
- Square Circle (finished with walkthrough)
A Kafkian story about a man imprisoned for unknown reasons. It becomes
less and less interesting as it goes, but the philosophic undertones
are clever and sometimes funny. Largely based on a difficult puzzle
that doesn't really fit in IF format.
- The Great Xavio (finished with walkthrough)
A comedic mistery with a well characterized NPC and not much more.
Clumsy, uncertain use of the medium. The puzzles are decent at best,
but the two protagonists save it from being quickly forgotten.
Yellow Light (OK to very good)
==============================
- Chronicle Play Torn (not finished, probably never will)
Ye Olde Puzzle-Fest, with decent implementation spotted by some
obvious bugs. From the generic fantasy-starting-in-a-house setting
onwards, everything feels a bit oh-hum. Never actively bad, though.
- Identity (finished)
Hopelessly cliched "astronaut with amnesia" stuff. Interesting enough
at first, but it dries up after the first half. The lost identity
theme adds nothing to anything, and that last puzzle could have used
some trimming.
- Magocracy (didn't finish it)
An interesting MUD simulation mixed with traditional IF. The exciting
premise is let down by repetitive gameplay, and the "undo" command
makes it all a bit pointless. Refreshingly different, but seriously
flawed.
- Goose, Egg, Badger (finished with walkthrough)
A girl must deal with the daily grind of her own private zoo. Very
confusing. It's actually a clever joke, but I couldn't get it until I
read the walkthrough. Native English speakers will probably appreciate
it.
- Typo (finished)
A single large one-room puzzle about a very complicated machine, with
some impressive parser tricks. Too focused on implementation and
technology and not enough on being actually fun. Amusing ending
sequence.
- The Orion Agenda (stuck)
A sci-fi story about meeting an alien culture. It can't seem to decide
wether it's partly serious or not. It feature a sidekick with its own
emotional reactions. I missed a essential item, and I was stuck
without a walkthrough.
- I Must Play (finished)
A number of funny and pretty smooth mini-games tied by a loose
narrative about an arcade game loving kid. Geeky humour transpires
throughout.
- The Realm (finished)
A short, light-hearted fantasy adventure about a squire on a mission
to kill a dragon. The humour is not always spot-on, but a couple of
clever puzzles make up for it. One of the puzzles is a bit
guess-the-nounish, though.
- Trading Punches (didn't finish it - I will, probably with a
walkthrough)
A very well-crafted Sci-Fi narrative implemented with maniacal
attention to details. Professional if verbose writing, clean graphics
and an involving and deeply human story almost push it up to the upper
levels. But sorry, I couldn't stand the puzzles.
Green Light (the cream of the crop)
===================================
- Blink (finished multiple times)
A short, nearly puzzleless, anti-war familiar drama. Very competent
use of the medium and an interesting story. Too rethorical and
deliberate to be genuinely moving, but it gets close. It deserves to
be played multiple times.
- Splashdown (not finished yet)
Back to this year's theme: austronauts awaking from cryogenic sleep.
This one is really good, though. It's a funny take on Infocom's
classics, with the same gentle humour and fiendish puzzles of its
inspirators. Great sidekick.
- All Things Devours (finished with sub-optimal ending)
A clever and funny time-travel puzzle game where you are a scientist
trying to save the world from her own invention. A coherent setting, a
genuine sense of urgency, but a bit confusing at times. I'll get back
to it, just to look for the optimal ending.
- Sting of the Wasp (looking forward to finish it)
Well-written social satire with Gourmet-style "lateral thinking"
puzzles. The cheesy opening scene gives way to a very solid, enjoyable
game. Intelligent writing, strong characters. The humour is
hit-and-miss.
- Bellclap (finished multiple times)
A fascinating mess-up of some IF conventions, this (very short)
experiment is only partly successful. But somehow, the game manages to
keep the thrust of its catchy opening line. Pleasantly subdued humour,
decent puzzles.
- Gamlet (not finished yet, but I will)
Prepuberal Prince of Denmark wannabe peels the deep implementation
layers of its parents' home. Unrivaled atmosphere, fluorishing prose
and dark, dark humour. Deeply unsettling and funny at the same time.
And that's all for this year. All in all, a great competition.
Nusco
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