Ratings and Reviews by jakomo

... this is actually a classic puzzle-based text adventure with a great sense of humour. You play a prehistoric man on a Quest For Bark... slowly making profound realizations about the world around him. It reminded me of the book "The Evolution Man, Or How I Ate My Father" by Roy Lewis, both in terms of tone and content.

It's a Ryan Veeder joint, so of course the writing is funny as hell. If you haven't played Taco Fiction, The Horrible Pyramid, or Captain Verdeterre's Plunder yet, why not? Go do it, then come back. Some of the descriptions are side-splitting: the first time you examine the cave wall, for example, is perfect comedy. There is only one real "puzzle", but the solution is totally logical and makes perfect sense. Its very satisfying.

It's too short though - the ending is hyper-abrupt (in fact, I'm not even sure if I got the definitive "win"), and there are some mysterious loose ends: does (Spoiler - click to show)the river changing its direction of flow mean something, or is it just a gag about you (Spoiler - click to show)turning around and not understanding what that means? Also, why are there (Spoiler - click to show)tyrannosaurs living alongside humans? They were millions of years apart!

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.

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.

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.