Reviews by Audiart

Right away I thought, this game is for me. The bookstore, the proprieter, the cat. I felt like I was really the protagonist. Yes, a nice big, juicy, literary game. I walked all over the store getting ready to dive into something big, exploring everything, looking for stuff to pick up, petting the cat, trying to read books, or anticipate the direction the game would take.

However, none of this yielded any result (except petting the cat.) It turns out that almost none of the locations or objects in the game are necessary. I got tired walking through the unimplemented rooms, and felt frustrated by the feeling of constantly following a red herring. All that the player must do is following directions given you by an NPC (go upstairs and look for this, go downstairs and bring me that.)

Conclusion: Great setting, no puzzles. For a game called Bibliophile, there is astonishingly little to do with anything literary. On the contrary, as another reviewer mentioned, I was truly thrown off by the bad language of the librarian - not only unwelcome but contextually inappropriate. For me this game was exhausting but not rewarding. As it turns out, the best part happened in the first two minutes: naming the cat.

I enjoyed the humorous yet mature writing style, and the titular character much more than the game itself. The only real puzzle is figuring out the solution to the crime, by interviewing all of the suspects. Ultimately the main character is so likable and funny that going through every dialogue option was buckets of fun. You will find yourself going "back" to check all of the options.

The character of Bell Park is one of the most well-developed teen characters I've ever seen in IF. Although in general I despise twine games, I think the format really worked for this game. It would have probably been less interesting as a short story, for example, because part of the fun was going through all of the different dialogue options.

I would recommend this game to people who don't like Twine format in general, because "Bell Park, Youth Detective" really plays more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book than the typical moody avant-gardism infesting the genre.

I found this game a lot denser than other Ned Yompus games. It is almost a sequel to Shuffling Around in format and gameplay. The main sequence is exploring the environment to figure out what the wordplay is, then adapting your command to that scene.

Ultimately I found the solutions increasingly illogical and farfetched and ended up resorting to the walkthrough constantly. Even while following the author's walkthrough directly, the solutions just stopped making any sense to me pretty early into the game.

Since Buck the Past has essentially no plot or character development, everything boils down to whether or not the wordplay makes sense and is funny. In most cases, the solutions are so unintuitive that it is hard to enjoy the more clever moments.

I enjoyed Shuffling Around quite a bit, but Buck the Past, while based with a good premise, was ultimately too untamed and illogical for me to complete.

This game was not for me. I found the intro monotonous and the second part of the game was incredibly frustrating to interact with. I liked where the philosophy was heading but I was fighting the "controls" too hard to enjoy it. However the uniqueness of the game and the surprise element make it worth going over to see it's your bag.

Bobby and Bonnie was more challenging than I expected, but never frustrating. You play a rabbit in a magical setting which although sparsely implemented more than made up for it in imagination. An intersting narration device: the narrator is your sibling, so they speak in the second person, like most parser games, but they are also right there next to you.

This game would be great for older kids but they might need some help with a few of the puzzles. The built in hints but they are not that helpful. There are a few stumper moments but the solutions are logical and can be derived from experimentation and exploration. Also required is some familiarity with Peter Paul and Mary.

Not only is Detective virtually unplayable on its own, but the commentary so annoying that it actually detracted from the original game, making it even more unplayable than it already is. The intro is so tedious and unfunny as to be truly unbearable. The in-game jokes and asides are so obvious that they do not need to be said, and like much humour, it is much funnier to leave the obvious unsaid.

The original game is worth playing just for its infuriating unplayability, and at least has the excuse that it was made by a kid who put a minimal amount of work into this under-implemented and poorly constructed game. MST3k:Detective, on the other hand, is made by competent adults with obvious coding experience, so there is no excuse for it being as awful as it is.

If you feel like getting a kick out of playing Detective, just play the original and shake your head in wonder at its badness while inserting your own frustrated exclamations in the necessary places. You will have a much better laugh if you experience Detective firsthand and run the commentary in your own mind.

Admiral Jota delivers again in what is easily the best game in this set of SpeedIF. While remaining true to the theme of the comp, 2604 is in no way lacking for having been made under a time constraint.

2604 has a lot of replay value and indeed encourages you to do so, as there are some nice subtleties in the timed events that clue you into what is really going on. The replay is painless and allows one to watch the timed events more closely. In fact, I would recommend NOT reading the theme before playing (as I did) because it is much more fun to figure out what is going on by yourself.

The solution is simple but satisfying and echoes the old-school method of trying to get at an obvious solution by puzzling out sparse rooms and a few well-hidden objects.

It is almost a pity that 2604 is associated with the otherwise pretty rotten collection of SpeedIF games in this theme, because it stands so brilliantly on its own. A must-play quickie.

The quality of the writing is what elevates this game to another tier among 'quickie' games. Even without comparing it to other SpeedIF (which is not known for its prose) Three More Visitors is quite solid and enjoyable. It is just the right length and not too difficult, nor too simple. The premise of the story itself makes for a perfect IF scenario: to review an unpleasant future and then go back to the present to prevent it. Three More Visitors is really impressive for its beauty, simplicity, and the ability to connect the player empathetically to the plot and characters so quickly.

Certainly the best entry in a contest of only five games revolving around the the theme of removing ones pants and finding ones sock (in Seattle.) Other entries were either too idiotic to be fun, or too logical to be funny. Admiral Jota's game remains zany despite its logical solution. The humor is elevated to a level beyond the absurd and is actually quite funny at times.

One of the more coherent in a series of Pantsless in Seattle in-joke games, this game delivers its punchline while also allowing you to intuitively solve a simple yet corny puzzle. This game is more playable, yet somehow duller due to its logical nature, than the other entries.

Atmospheric, entertaining game with a high re-play value. I recommend playing both versions just to experience the different endings (I prefer the original release.) The puzzles are simple, but not too easy. Despite some repetitve commands and a linear plot there is still some legroom in Snowquest's simple yet picturesque landscape. (Other games fall short in this regard, such as also-ran Condemned and the notorious Photopia.)

The first release is less artful in its use of language, less subtle in its metaphor (which is saying a lot!). However, the revised ending (Spoiler - click to show)involving time travel is less realistic in the context of the game world. The beginning of the game has the almost magical mood of a fantasy; the original ending balances this out with a down-to-earth scenario that is equally believable.

Critics are howling about the (Spoiler - click to show)three "realities" in this game. I did not find this confusing, but rather I thought it was implemented nicely! My straightforward interpretation is (Spoiler - click to show)the first and last realities are parallel. The middle scenario (apprentice finds the pilot) is an alternate reality for either the first or the last reality. The author made this clear and the subtlety adds to the game.

Based on reviews I really wanted to like this game, and gave it a fair try. But it was just one text-dump after another from the beginning. I thought this would abate after the introduction, but it didn't. It was such a chore to try to plow through this rather dry writing that I felt totally unmotivated to explore or solve the puzzles. I was also instantly repelled by the different text colors, and I had no attachment to the characters.

As a fan of golden age science fiction, animal oriented games, humorous games, and metaphysics, I came into Rover's Day Out hoping for a lot. Unfortunately, all I got an uninteresting amateur novel that I had to tap my way through with canned responses.

Truth is definitely a joke game, but unlike most, it is well implemented and bug-free, as well as being much more clever. The premise and the puzzles are simple: expose the lies surrounding you. The scenario is realistic and thus provides a humorous commentary on the everyday lies we endure in the man-made world.

The real puzzle of Truth is finding ALL of the lies, not any single lie. For the most part they are found in the places you would expect: advertising, politics, the Internet. But some are subtle and require a lot of attention to detail. As the world is rather small, this can be a little tedious, and I am ashamed to admit that after extensive puzzling I could only uncover 19 of the 21 lies, and thus was driven mad.

I recommend this game as a short and well-written diversion that will definitely put a satirical smile on your face and even occasionally make you laugh out loud.

Although I did not enjoy playing Fail-Safe, I had to give it a good rating for its very effective and innovative narrative voice. Jon Ingold is really a master of this and it shines brightly in this early game. In fact I think the brevity of the game really accentuated the tantalizing and creepy atmospheric effect of the narrative.

It would be a shame to elaborate further on the nature of this narrative voice, for it would ruin the experience of playing the game, and as the puzzles and plot are fairly unmentionable, this would seriously detract from the merits of the game.

However: Fail-Safe, by so exquisitely rendering its eerie atmosphere, produces a distinctly uncomfortable feeling; there is blood, you are trapped, it is an emergency. I would not recommend this game to anyone who is not fond of such scenarios, because the game is, from its first line to its last, so instantly and totally immersive.

In this way, its greatest strength can be its own shortcoming (for some players) -- the narrative method is so effective that I sincerely disliked the feeling of being immersed in the world of Fail-Safe, as it felt so very real and urgent and disturbing.

Aptly summarised in the quote above, CHAOS is a weak attempt at surrealism which succeeds only in being abstract. The distinct and immediately noticeable lack of any plot, objective, or character depth make this game little more than an exercise in futility. While CHAOS is busy trying to channel Kafka, Fellini, or Dali, the player is left to wander aimlessly with no inventory, no personality, and no clue.

(Spoiler - click to show)The 'object' of the game is simply to escape one room and continue on to the next in your meaningless quest through a featureless landscape. Ironically the 'vulcher' is "flapping his wings ... with a plot in his mind." Don't get your hopes up. I was expecting the 'puzzle' to be, figuring out what was going on. Then I realised nothing is going on at all.

No technical problems, though copious grammatical errors (and the glaring misspelling of "vulture" in the first room) make the otherwise capable prose a chore to read. Each room is a disconnected vignette, sparsely-furnished with a cluttered description. Much of the writing in CHAOS is so absurd as to be paradoxical and ultimately, "full of nothing."

"In each direction you can see hazy beginnings"... perhaps this is more of a warning to the player than a description of the desert. Unwrapping the mystery of CHAOS' environment would add much-needed dimension to the handful of memorable rooms in the game. Given a plot, some of these hazy beginnings could become remarkable with a little flesh on the bones.

Brace yourself for adventure, absurdity, and pumpkins.

Mentula Macanus is an absurdist epic that requires extensive mapping and saving, can be frustrating and sparsely implemented at times, but ultimately never fails to delight your inner highbrow with the ridiculous and paradoxical.

Puzzles and story are somewhat linear; the real meat is in its brilliant black humor and totally unexpected moments of profundity. The most rewarding moments leave you truly flabbergasted by obscure references that you didn't think anyone else could possibly understand. Not many games have made me laugh out loud, but this one did.

Play this for its humor, not its puzzles; take your time with it and allow it to exercise your patience; and above all don't take it seriously - you will be richly rewarded.

Like all exploration games by Ryan Veeder, I only wish it were longer.

The atmosphere of Wrenlaw immediately drew me in. It felt uncannily autobiographical; I've been there, this very place, done these very things. Wandering, seeking purpose, imbuing what I find with a meaning drawn from memory.

Wrenlaw opens more questions than it answers. There are no traditional puzzles, just wandering through your environment and your memories. But what are you searching for? Did you find it? Can that which we are seeking ever be really objectified?

Guilded Youth looks and feels great, but unfortunately lacks in its puzzles and a real sense of satisfaction upon completion. The interface is a very convincing and well-implemented reminder of my gaming youth and is the only really memorable part of the game.

At first I was drawn in by the story (which I could relate to) and the thrill of exploration. However, the repetition and somewhat jarring moments of returning to "reality" interrupted this otherwise quite pleasant nostalgic experience.

I never felt much connection with the characters so the more emotional scenes had little impact. Repetition of the main scene quickly became tedious and the puzzles, while not difficult, were frustrating to execute. Ultimately I would not have pressed on with the game were it not for the charming interface.

This game is nice to look at but not as nice to actually play. In some ways maybe the 80s were really like that, but I wanted to re-experience my memories of that time period, not to be reminded of the dissonance.

Self-indulgent purple prose with very little plot and punctuation. I suspect there is a very good reason the author did not write their name on this game. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour with Ovid instead.

Amazingly similar to Nord & Bert, this game is in some ways better than that Infocom classic. It is much funnier, but far less polished. Some of the anagrams and palindromes are genuinely brilliant and laugh-out-loud hilarious - though much of the humour is more groan- than chuckle-inducing.

Much like Nord & Bert and Ad Verbum, Manor has different areas to pass through with different types of wordplay, some of which are amazing, some of which are a real bore. Admittedly, it's hard to make a coherent game based solely on wordplay, and given that consideration, the narrative is pretty solid. Naturally, it tends towards the surreal as objects are manipulated by your punnery.

Unlike Nord & Bert, Manor is a continuous narrative and is not subdivided into sections. In some ways this works to its advantage, giving the game a goofy & surreal, yet cohesive feel. However, since you cannot skip around to different sections at will; I found myself trying to get through some parts of Manor as quickly as possible just to get that section over with.

Ultimately, the real gems in this game got lost in the overwhelming heap of mediocre puns and sophmoric humor. It would have been better to shorten this game, to pick out the real winners and help them stand out.

In short, if you liked Nord & Bert you'll like this. But if you're expecting Counterfeit Monkey, you'll be disappointed.

This fairly linear game is expansive enough to make the extensive exploration rewarding while at the same time not taking itself too seriously. Nothing novel here in the way of puzzle solutions; no character or plot development to speak of, just an old-fashioned crawl through a medieval setting.

I really enjoyed drawing the map, and solving the puzzles was simple yet satisfying. The multiple endings made me groan, however, as it requires a certain action at the very beginning of the game. Let it be said that this game really has little to no replay value. (I just read the transcript to see the different ending.)

While not particularly memorable, Castle Adventure is a solid game that won't drive you crazy and is well worth a play. I think this game would be great for a beginner.

I was disappointed that this game was so short. Most of the objects and space are not interactive or usable. In fact it could have been a one-room game and been pretty much the same. At first I was enchanted by all of the rooms and exhibits to explore. But alas, these are for naught.

The most notable thing about this game is the combat system, which was easy to use but didn't add much to the game for me. If you are familiar with Veeder's other rat games you will want to play this as a light snack, but don't expect an epic.

Obviously this game was intended to be short and simple, so in that sense it delivers. There are no bugs and everything was fully implemented. The most redeeming feature was the point of view of the rat when examining our (human) culture. The game is peppered with little bits of typical Veeder wit and humor.

I wish that this game had been drawn out into a real puzzler explore-fest like some of the longer Veeder games. The setting and characters have a lot of potential. I would love to play a longer version of this game if the author chooses to develop it.

Sparkle is very replayable and small enough that the constant walking back and forth is not too tedious. The gameplay revolves around transforming objects, which is taken to the depth expected for so short a game, but really leaves me wanting more. A list of "achievements" keeps you coming back to try new ways to approach the puzzles.

The puzzles are difficult enough to produce a satisfying "eureka" feeling upon solving them, and I believe true failure is impossible. There are not a lot of suggestions in the game to lead you towards the solutions, but fortunately the answers are very intuitive and quite down-to-earth for a puzzle with a fantasy theme at its core.

Sparkle reminded me in some ways of classic Emily Short puzzles - albeit in a much condensed form. I would very much like to see the transformation mechanic and spiritual theme turned into a larger game with more emotional depth.

Theatre People does not have bugs or typos. It has a clear goal with straightforward solutions and good character development. The puzzles are intuitive but not too easy. The writing is not too wordy, nor too sparse. It should be a solid game but... there's just something missing. I just never felt motivated to care about the protagonist, or the theatre. The game felt tedious at every turn and wandering about the theatre felt like walking miles even though it's only a few rooms. It's hard to describe but although technically nothing is wrong with it, I just didn't enjoy this game.

While technically IF, "Lifeform" is more like an online teen survey ("What is Your Inner Spirit Animal?" "Which Gilligan's Island Character Are You?") than anything else. Except that, unlike a teen survey, it is funny, well written, and not a complete waste of time. Although it's a hypertext game, it is not tedious like the Twine genre and is ultimately an enjoyable, quick, puzzle-less diversion worth playing once or twice if you feel like something light. Or you could fill out a Meyers Briggs Test. The results may be remarkably the same.

Chlorophyll is a well designed game reminiscent of Stationfall (shorter, fewer balloon animals) in which the protagonist explores an abandoned space station in an attempt to restore power (Spoiler - click to show)and save your mom. There is a "food" requirement (significantly less annoying than in Stationfall) and Floyd has been replaced by a robot plant, but the eerie-wonderful feeling of wandering through an empty building doesn't fail to deliver.

However this game's true strength lies in the subtle revelation of the intricacies of the plant folk and the amusing parallels to our own world. No expository text dumps; you learn about the world room by room in the description of items, books left lying around, and the thoughts of the protagonist. The puzzles are not difficult and are mostly vehicles for delivering details about the clever parallel world of sentient mobile plantfolk.

Where Stationfall suffered greatly from "guess-the-verb" and "find this tool to put in this slot" the puzzles in Chlorophyll are a joy to perform. They are generally easy to figure out but not lacking in the pleasure of a subtle Eureka moment. The basic premise of returning power to the station is not a series of grumbling repetitive chores, but rather a series of playful experiments, especially (Spoiler - click to show)seeing how many illegal activities you can perform.

There are a few red herrings that are simply for your own amusement, (such as (Spoiler - click to show)going to the barber shop) but the plot elements are so seamlessly and naturally resting amongst the idle amusements of the mall that you cannot right away tell which are for fun and which are for the solution. As a result, it's all fun. You are encouraged to play with everything, explore, and basically, be a kid wandering through an abandoned mall.

Chlorophyll is just the right length, not long enough to draw a map (like Stationfall) but long enough to satisfy. Very well written with a great background story, and a likable protagonist, with intuitive, easy yet satisfying puzzles reminiscent of Infocom (without all the diabolical stuff.) Lots of fun, good for a beginner or someone who wants to recall the Infocom style without spending a week on a game.