Reviews by OtisTDog

I'm having a hard time expressing what I liked about this piece.

You direct the actions of a good-natured, young, domestic everyman, nearly fresh out of college and getting established in the world alongside the "Honey" that has become the center of his universe. Well, maybe "center of the universe" is strong, but certainly she's the bed along which his stream of consciousness runs.

Since Honey's parents (his future in-laws?) are coming to dinner, he has a minor errand to run -- pick up some photos that she wants to show them. Easy enough, right? Only this is IF, so certainly something will stand in the way.

The author stuck to genre here, in that the challenges you face are the very believable everyday challenges of existence.(Spoiler - click to show) There are plugged toilets, lost keys, escape-oriented pets, and the like. Although this sounds like it would be tremendously boring to simulate, it's not, thanks to the continuous characterization of the narrator as he grins his way through these obstacles.

As some of the other reviews I found online mention, the "puzzle" structure is fairly straightforward, with much of the delay resulting from the choice to reveal context-relevant things only as you need them. This was an interesting twist, emulating the way that so much of everyday existence lies beneath your notice, but I agree that it was a bit irksome because of the way it forced you to revisit the all of the rooms again every time you change context. On the other hand, perhaps this device was necessary to accommodate the author's method of characterization, which is grafting context-relevant information on the descriptions of everything.

The hunt for new items was certainly not too burdensome to endure, especially when you recall that you can navigate to any room by name(Spoiler - click to show), and there are only about 10 locations total. It's a technique worth looking at, and there are ways to cut down the irk level when using it.(Spoiler - click to show) (For example, when the narrator realizes his keys are missing, he recalls where he last saw them, eliminating the full apartment search for this item.)

As a first work, it is very well-done -- especially the major NPC, your adorable/terrible cat, Azrael, who is light-weight in coding but has a definite personality. The most noticeable errors I spotted were some lingering action contexts in descriptions and a few glitches in the NPC's idle behavior (doing two different, incompatible things on the same turn).

In the end, I think it was the narrator himself that I liked best about this piece. You'll notice that my description above switches back and forth between the treating the narrator as a third person and the player. This is an artifact of the author's use of the first-person in describing game actions, which creates a strange sensation of both being and not-being the narrator as you direct him through his world. On reflection, what it seems to do most is force you to consider the narrator as a separate person instead of a role you are trying to fulfill, giving it the feel of "hanging out" instead of "let's pretend".

The game experience was just long enough to feel like I'd hung out with him for a while, amiably killing time on a lazy long-weekend morning. It feels like three stars, but I give it two for the coding errors and the lack of puzzle "meat." Still, it's better than average, especially for a first-timer, and anyone considering an in-your-apartment work should review this one to see how the author manages to hold the player's interest in a potentially banal setting.

Since I hadn't heard of this piece before, it wasn't immediately apparent to me that it was released as an April Fool's joke. Although the Quake setting is portrayed in a tongue-in-cheek manner, the use of "special effects" in the opening sequence does a fairly good job of setting the right mood for anyone who remembers playing the original.

A little map-connection legerdemain ensures that any of the multiplicity of apparent options will quickly funnel you towards either a generic dead-end or to the main path of progress. You'll soon find yourself happily blasting away with a virtual shotgun, much as you would when playing the real game.

The randomized combat means there is a decent chance you will die before reaching the end, but it only took me twice to run the gauntlet and reach the ending sequence, where a mysterious figure lets you in on the joke and ends the game.

It's not much of a game, but I congratulate the author for the effort it took to put together the opening sequence, and the work as a whole is actually not too shabby for a first attempt. It's worth the time if you've ever played the first-person shooter it's based on, just for the novelty of having the experience translated to IF.

In this micro-work, you are a dinosaur of unspecified type, standing in a featureless plain you can't leave. A few turns from the start, you will be killed as a result of a massive asteroid impact nearby.

As near as I can tell after several "playthroughs", this is all that happens -- all that can happen. It would probably take about as long to recreate this game in Inform 7 as it did to write this review.

Although it might be interesting to try to depict this scene in a realistic way, this piece make no attempt to do so. Skip it.

How about: 'What was the chicken thinking as it crossed the road?'

This short piece can't seem to decide if it's an 'interpreter abuse' type of game implementing Freeway(Spoiler - click to show) -- at which it fails since you can only go one direction -- or an actual attempt at humor. It does a better job of the latter than the former, but not enough to make it actually funny, though I might qualify it as mildly amusing.

It is competently put together as a program; I encountered no bugs. Based on the 'bad' version of the ending, it seems that the author was aware of the work's artistic shortcomings, but decided to release it anyway.

Given the number of other titles by this author with better ratings, I think it's safe to skip this one. As a warning to anyone else who wants to try it out: Gargoyle is not the best client, since the game expects a fixed-width font. You'll either have to download a different interpreter, get Gargoyle to use a different font, or (as I did), copy-and-paste the descriptions to a text editor to see the intended representation.

[edit: I've upped the rating to two stars because the major problem I had (text rendering in Gargoyle) was a function of my interpreter, not the work.]

You have to use the bathroom. Eventually, you do.

That's pretty much the whole story of this piece, which, although it didn't center around potty humor as I had feared, offers little in the way of interesting gameplay.

This work is probably best considered as a companion piece for Michael J. Coyne's list of "First-Timer Foibles." It handily illustrates many of them, including synonym sickness, aberrant articles, oral offenses, shocking spelling and grisly grammar, laconic locations, and action abortion.

As a program, this piece is mostly functional, but is close to broken at several points. I encountered a number of apparent bugs, one of which mercifully allowed advancement of the "plot" without what I would assume was intended to be a critical item(Spoiler - click to show), unless, of course, boiling water in a rusty pot is supposed to magically make glue.

Upon reflection, it is clear that the author was actually trying here; you can sense his struggle to learn Inform 6 in the design of the puzzles, such as they are. Presumably, the end result was the best he could do at the time. According to IFDB, it's been ten years since this piece was released, so there's a very good chance that the author's skill as a writer and programmer have substantially increased.

New voices are always welcome in IF, so, if you're still out there, Mr. Gaertner, why not give it another try?

This cooperative creation by two apparently new IF authors carries many of the hallmarks of the newcomer, but it also shows some surprising hints of both depth and capability.

As someone who never appreciated The Lurking Horror, I approached this piece with some skepticism. Horror is a difficult genre to write; it takes a very subtle skill to craft prose that will possess the reader enough to generate real discomfort. With interactive fiction, the challenge is sharply increased, as the pacing -- so important to managing the reader experience -- is subject to the flailing and detours of the player.

The authors seem to have an intuitive grasp of how to manage the pace through a series of gently-railroaded sequences. The illusion of player freedom is fairly good. It wasn't until I was finished that I realized how expertly I had been swept along. Within each sequence, the story world evolves through changes in the protagonist's mental state even if your actions fail to make the desired changes to the world's physical state. There was only one place where I stalled out for a bit.(Spoiler - click to show) It was at the ranch entrance, where, after discovering I couldn't walk to the house, I was at a loss about what to do next. It would probably be in keeping with the overall pacing to have the protagonist spontaneously notice the broken lock piece after 10 turns or so, instead of forcing multiple examinations of the gate.

The first time this game impressed me was in the opening sequence.(Spoiler - click to show) Though the introduction is somewhat confusing, and the transition to the first move felt somewhat forced, I was quite fascinated by the touch of "cinematography" (for lack of a better word) as the color scheme changed on the words "Your child is waiting." It was a very effective way, in conjunction with the change in punctuation, of emulating a cinematic match cut, and very clever use of the medium.

The writing quality is patchy. It needs some proofreading to weed out misused homonyms, run-on sentences, and the like. In addition, there are certain discrepancies in tone that disrupt the experience -- some out-of-place jokes that work against the mood-building, some points where the anger and violence of the protagonist are so over-the-top that it strains suspension of disbelief. However, the writing at its best shows flashes of real talent, as evidenced by the feeling of creepiness stealing over me in those places that seemed to have the most polish.

The overall implementation quality is quite good. The authors make excellent use of changing descriptions to keep you focused on the important part of the story. The biggest gaps I noticed are certain unimplemented details(Spoiler - click to show) (e.g. you can look at the house but not the stables from the entrance to the ranch) and the lack of hinting on the correct conversation model ("talk to", not "ask/tell").

Written for the 2009 IntroComp (where it placed first of three), it is by definition an unfinished work. As a result, I gave it an extra star for the potential that I sensed this work could have as a cleaned-up, full-length story.

The true test of an intro is whether you would be interested in continuing, and, in my case, the answer is a definite yes.

This extremely short work is an entry to "The Great IF Toaster Contest". See http://www.ministryofpeace.com/if/toaster-comp/ for details.

As the site explains:

"The rules are very simple: Make a toaster. The toaster should have a lever on it (to push down the bread) and a slide or dial to set the toastedness to. See how much of a game you can make out of it -- let your imagination run wild, as they say."

This piece seems to interpret the instructions as one might an assignment for a programming course. There is a toaster, and the author's imagination does seem to have run a little wild.

While it would get at least a passing grade in the imagined course, it is completely lacking in any of the things that would qualify it as interactive fiction. It is an interactive coding exercise, and nothing more.

It seems safe to assume that the author, Duncan Cross, was new to writing IF at the time this piece was created. I see that there are several other works by the same author available on IFDB, and I would certainly not shy away from trying out another one in the hopes that his talents have matured.

As I started playing the third (and final?) entry in the Frenetic Five series, I found myself immersed and smiling almost immediately.

Once again, you take the role of Improv, MacGyver-disciple and leader of the City's most available group of superhero temp workers. This game opens with you at the tail end of a party, playing "Battle Cry" with some other local crime fighters after indulging yourself a bit too much. I knew I was already hooked when I immediately replayed the prelude to get another crack at this game-within-a-game. I was extremely disappointed to discover that the catchphrase "Able to carry wood furniture up a flight of stairs in a single bound!" was not for a superhero called The Prime Mover.

Author Neil deMause really seems to have been getting the hang of writing IF by the time this piece was created. As before, the story universe seems alive, with the action for many scripted scenes and exchanges taking place over several turns. There is little temptation to keep entering "wait" to see them play out, however, for two reasons: First, there is a lot to keep you occupied in the game environment. Second, the way they are written doesn't necessarily tip you off that they will continue from turn to turn.

This method is an extremely effective way of creating a convincing social atmosphere; the interaction amongst the NPCs gives them a sense of independent life (in stark contrast with the stage puppets that many IF NPCs resemble), while at the same time feeding you a steady drip of characterization, backstory, and hints. The technique's potency won the work an XYZZY award for "Best NPC" -- the second for the series.

The work required by the author to create this mirage is significant, and there are limits to how long it can be sustained. Spend too long in an area without moving the plot forward, and your companions will become oddly silent, an after-effect of the compelling illusion provided when they are "on".

Long-time players will recognize the site of your team's mission as the setting for Zork. Perhaps that is why this episode feels like it has some meat to it, and that it will take some real effort to reach the end. This is just another trick, however -- the total length is typical for a modern, non-commercial piece.

The implementation quality is much improved when compared to previous entries in the series. I did encounter a few small bugs, but nothing significant to gameplay.

As with previous episodes, the highlight of this piece is the author's sense of humor. It starts funny, it stays funny, and then... (Spoiler - click to show)well, then there's the ending.

To call the ending unsatisfying is an understatement. I was powerfully reminded of the movie The French Connection, for the strange and sudden severing of the viewer from the plot thread, leaving the story to end not with a bang but a whimper. (Well, figuratively, at least.)

Frankly, I couldn't believe that the ending I saw was the only one available. I scoured the internet for hints and walkthroughs, finding only a single walkthrough that delivered the same ending. A few more iterations of the climax scene offered no other options, so I took the unusual step of decompiling the game file to look for other possible variations. There were none.

Why you would go through the effort of creating a work of this scale to deliver such a disjointed, downer ending is beyond me, but doing so is the author's privilege. Mr. deMause seems to have a penchant for challenging player expectations of the medium, and this certainly qualifies.

Assuming you don't want to read the spoiler above, all I can say is that the ending is different from what you might expect of this genre or this series.(Spoiler - click to show) The only takeaway seems to be: Friends Don't Let Friends Fight Crime Drunk.

In addition to being mostly enjoyable as entertainment, this is an excellent piece for study of technique -- both writing and coding. Even with the spare object and verb implementation, the world is vibrant and animated in a way that few works of IF manage to be. I gladly recommend it to anyone looking for some laughs, which are delivered at their usual "frenetic" pace.

I found myself with a few free minutes this evening and thought I'd try the latest on IFDB. I ended up spending at least an hour with this game, which was surprisingly engaging.

The genre claimed for this work is "fantasy", but it's more comedy than anything else. It has a chattery, bantering tone that did a lot to endear this game to me, and did so quickly -- which is important because I very nearly quit after the first move. (Let's just say the command "read sign" did not produce a very promising result.) The text is frequently silly, but it only crosses the line into *too* silly once or twice. It made me chuckle on a few occasions.

The game proclaims itself as geared for a novice, and it mostly lives up to the promise. Puzzles are not difficult in terms of a thinking challenge; they are immediately recognizable as the "insert tab A into slot B" type of artificial roadblocks that litter both IF and other role-playing games. This is frequently reinforced by the fact that, in many cases, uses for objects are strongly suggested in their descriptions, often with comic effect.

Some puzzles were difficult, however, in terms of implementation choices. Object implementation is fairly rich -- perhaps too rich in some places.(Spoiler - click to show)At least one critical object is only discoverable after examining a seemingly-already-adequately-described scenery object in the first room... and then examining something mentioned in that object's description. This seemed like an artifact of the programmer having some fun, and it was not in keeping with the description style of the rest of the game. On the other hand, conversations were implemented so sparsely that they barely existed. If you don't hit on certain keywords, the NPCs issue only unmodified default responses.(Spoiler - click to show)This was particularly frustrating in dealing with the first NPCs I encountered, outside the mines. They did not react to keywords based on the nouns in the area, and for several minutes talking to the foreman gnome got nothing but "no response" results. I eventually went back and read what he first says and found that keywords there get real replies. After that, conversations went more smoothly.

Fortunately, the author includes a walkthrough, but, unfortunately, it is in the form of a series of commands to win the game a certain way. A better hint system would have been nice, since I did find myself consulting the walkthrough at one point (see first spoiler above), and in doing so, I inadvertently saw the solution for another.

All in all, I liked this game, but I think it needs significantly more polish before it can be considered complete as an introductory piece of IF. A real novice would probably have been confused and frustrated by the numerous small bugs and issues I encountered, and anyone turning to the walkthrough for help would have a lot of potential fun ruined.

Keep an eye out for future work from this author. There's definitely potential here.

Having enjoyed my good time playing the first Frenetic Five adventure, and having been left "hungry for more", I chose the sequel (The Frenetic Five vs. Mr. Redundancy Man) as my next game to review. Let's just say: It made an impression, and I won't forget it.

Neil deMause, the author, seems to have profited from the feedback he received for Sturm and Drang. As Baf's guide notes, this is "smaller and tighter than the original". Geared for the IF Comp, this piece railroads you to the enemy hideout almost immediately, avoiding the meandering feel of the midgame of the original. This is an improvement, and totally appropriate as part of the lightweight style of this series.

Also gone is the dependency on having random items to solve puzzles. Everything you need to solve the game's puzzles are either in the immediate vicinity or provided by a teammate. The focus is getting you to think like the PC you are playing: Improv, whose superpower is coming up with improbably effective plans a la "MacGyver". Again, an improvement.

One thing that's consistent is Mr. deMause's wit and sense of verbal humor, which shines through this piece as much as it did the first. For the second time, I found myself laughing out loud, which doesn't happen very often unless I'm reading something by Douglas Adams.

Unfortunately, another thing that seems consistent is the quality of implementation. I found myself running into strange bugs, finding aspects of the game revealed to me by bad parser guesses, and even a straight-up TADS error of some sort. Once more, I found the technical issues interfering enough with the content to slip into two-star territory on my rating system -- even though they did not prevent (and sometimes even helped!) my progress.

Perhaps Mr. Redundancy Man was another rush job (as I assumed with Sturm and Drang), or perhaps Mr. deMause's talents as a writer far exceeded his talents as a programmer when this was written. If the former, I fervently hope the day comes that we see a fully-matured work from him. If the latter (and if coding is still a challenge for him), perhaps collaboration is what's called for; there are certainly plenty of people involved in the IF community with the converse problem of being better coders than writers.

That said, I urge the reader to note that my rating system is unusually harsh, with a tendency to underscore decent games so that the four- and five-stars stand out. I would gladly recommend this piece to anyone who enjoyed the first "episode" in the series, and I would gladly recommend both to someone who hasn't played either of them yet.

One final note that may indirectly be a spoiler so I'll tag it as such: (Spoiler - click to show)Aaron Mumaw's review of Undo, also by deMause, made me think of the members of the Frenetic Five in a different way. It occurs to me that the superpowers of the team members are related to the common frustrations and foibles of interactive fiction. Lexicon could be the counter to "guess-the-verb" puzzles, Clapper eliminates "Fedex quests", Newsboy embodies the device of sudden revealing obscure-but-necessary information to solve puzzles, and Pastiche represents the need to guess what the author has made it possible to actually do in work if it's not well-hinted. (Either that, or she's a counterweight to the inexplicable dearth of frequent pop song references.) All this works well in keeping the action flowing and centered on Improv (i.e. you), whose talent is the sideways thinking any puzzle-based IF calls for, but it seems only a few critical puzzles require your help, with most of the rest easily solved by asking teammates for help.

It's been a long time since deMause produced a Frenetic Five piece, and he may never do so again, but it occurs to me that this character setup is ideal for enabling multi-solution puzzles as in Wishbringer. It would be an excellent device for providing a graduated point system (so far missing from each game) that rewards players who solve more without the help of teammates, and would provide some replay value without throwing up roadblocks for those who just want to see the story.