Ratings and Reviews by Metz77

As has been said before, this was plainly written to help the creator learn Inform. Why it had to be released is a bit of a mystery, especially given the apparent, although not actual, impossibility of winning. This is because of one of several unlisted exits in the game: if you (Spoiler - click to show)go north in the bedroom it will take you to a room from which it is easy to complete the game.

Some of the oddest coding mistakes involves being able to accidentally pick up both of the men you meet over the course of the game, which becomes hilarious when Eric the Jailer tries to stop you from escaping while also residing safely in your inventory.

Overall, not really worth playing, but also short enough to not be much of a waste of time.

Granade has put together a wonderful pastiche that crosses elements of an Ed Wood film and a young boy's English class writing assignment. Two ridiculous aliens (made of modeling clay in the game's illustrations) land their spaceship (two pie plates taped together) in your backyard. They decide that you, an eight-year-old child, are Earth's ambassador. From there, you explore a crudely (but appealingly) crayon-illustrated world in your attempts to thwart their invasion while seeming to meet their demands.

As long as you're careful to explore everywhere, the puzzles are mostly fairly easy, befitting a game with a child protagonist. There is one puzzle that requires a bit of save-and-restore trial-and-error to time correctly, but in his afterword Granade cops to its unfairness, so props for that.

The game is well-coded in HTML TADS and uses the system's capabilities to good effect, with frequently-appearing graphics and occasional midi tunes composed by Granade himself. Many objects are given interactions with verbs one wouldn't expect, to delightful effect.

One thing that irked me -- and this may simply be a problem with the system, not the game -- is that the world stops entirely with the wait command. It is possible to listen in on several background conversations between the aliens, and not being able to just hit "z" to listen in broke my immersion a little bit.

All in all, though, Arrival is a terrific little romp that shouldn't be missed.

A brilliant satire of one-move games? An incisive commentary on uncreative IF writers? Or is it something more: a narrative condemning the mindless masses who would rather play single-button casual phone games for all of eternity rather than more complex fare, endlessly reducing your point total parallel with the loss of discernment such games cause?

None of the above, actually. More an experiment in comedy which simply falls flat and has no ending. Pass this one over.