Reviews by jakomo

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View this member's reviews by tag: 2021 Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2022 Text Adventure Literacy Jam Balderstone series ectocomp2020 ectocomp2021 ectocomp2022 ectocomp2024 Horror in the Darkness Little Match Girl series parsercomp2021 punyjam1 springthing2022 springthing2025
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Escape from the Man-Sized Cabinet, by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
The pen is mightier than the sword, if you shoot that pen out of a gun, April 28, 2016

This is brilliant! Classic Colbert-ian humour wrapped up in a ridiculous Narnia-styled fantasy choose-your-own-adventure. The player character is Stephen Colbert himself - "Your are Stephen Colbert! Congratulations!" is the opening line - and all the locations and possible actions are described in that deliciously hilarious style.

Obviously, there is no political humour here, as its a send-up of the adventure game genre (and Colbert has stopped doing that character for a while now) so republicans can play too, safe in the knowledge that their worldview will not be subverted! ;)

It's a quick ten minute romp that nails the Stephen Colbert style dead-on. If you're a fan, it's a must-play, if you're not, it may even convert you.

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Draculaland, by Robin Johnson
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Fangs for the memories, April 5, 2016

Superterse descriptions, minimal plot or characterization, semi-nonsensical puzzles: all the hallmarks of a classic Scott Adams text adventure (even the title seems to be a reference to Adventureland).

No graphics, but playing on the web gives a cool 2-window point-and-click experience that works very nicely - I hope to see this form used in future parser-based games.

The game is very well-written, with tongue firmly in cheek (i dug the card-shark skeleton), and just enough background to keep you invested. Sure, the puzzles can be pretty obscure, but good, detailed "Invisiclues"-style hints are provided.

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The Horrible Pyramid, by Ryan Veeder
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Mummy's girl, March 30, 2016

Starts off like Infidel: you're an archaeologist investigating an ancient Egyptian pyramid, scooping up treasures wherever you find them. BUT things go in a different direction very quickly. And it has to be very quickly, as the game is over in around 10 minutes. But it compresses a lot of fun and quirkiness into that bite-size framework. Good writing, simple puzzles (and one poorly implemented one involving a door - acknowledged as poorly implemented in the source code), and a rather predictable (but well-done nevertheless) twist.

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Superluminal Vagrant Twin, by C.E.J. Pacian
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Space is the Place, March 30, 2016

First impressions are of a text-based Elite, but it's only a superficial resemblance. Sure, you're travelling from planet to planet buying and selling, but there is no economy to speak of, only fetch quests - which is perfectly fitting, given the text adventure format, fetch quests being the atomic unit of adventure game puzzles.

Money is used as a gating mechanism, your limited resources only granting access to a few planets and low-paid activities at first, you will need to use your ingenuity and wits to gain the big bucks - opening up more and more untold vistas for your delectation.

The writing is ultra-sparse but extremely evocative. A whole galaxy of strangeness. There is humour, creepiness, sadness, awe, sometimes all at once. It touches on themes of humanism and racism whilst delivering a rollicking science-fantasy adventure. Brilliant stuff. I recommend the hell out of this game.

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