Ratings and Reviews by OtisTDog

Mr. Wheeler seems to be a man of extremes. His works, which are often submitted under a pseudonym, have scored both low and high in various competitions, and they include 'Being Andrew Plotkin', aka 'BAP'. While 'BAP' is an in-joke laden spoof that is most popular among the authors and IFMUDders at the core of the modern IF community, 'The Tale of the Kissing Bandit' is at the other end of the accessibility extreme -- a complete novice to IF should have no trouble playing this story through to the end while appreciating every word along the way.

The game was apparently written for a target audience of one (Wheeler's significant other), and anyone who's tried their hand at writing IF can sense the Herculean lengths the author went through to ensure a smooth playing experience. You won't be "guessing the verb" in this one... indeed, I suspect the game could teach you a few synonyms if you inspected the source code.

Some might say that this game is 'for girls', but this should not be an issue for anyone who's gotten past the 'girls are icky' stage of growing up. Though the final ending is perhaps a bit too personal to satisfy everyone, the story leading up to it is like a good G-rated movie: fun for the whole family. It is cute, original, and violence-free, and the player character is so memorable that it's easy to see why it won the 2001 XYZZY award for Best Individual PC.

'The Tale of the Kissing Bandit' should be a fun diversion for any player who wants a light-hearted break from their busy day, and an instructive example for any author who wants to see the impact of a gold-standard grammar implementation on playability. Take the time to try it out; you won't regret it.

'Risorgimento Represso' placed second behind 'Slouching Towards Bedlam' in the 2003 IF Comp, and, if you ask me, Mr. Coyne deserved the top spot.

You start this game in a boring college classroom. Then, you discover an interdimensional vortex under the seats. Why is it there? Because it is.

The lack of finesse in this opening is almost comical. What seems at first like bad writing instead ends up being a signal that this is an "old school" game. You go through the vortex for the same reason you break into the white house in 'Zork' -- because it's your gateway to the quest that awaits. How else were you going to get there?

With this opening, 'Risorgimento Represso' proudly proclaims that it is a classic text adventure, through and through. If you don't like those, you can't say you weren't warned. If you do like them, you're in for a treat.

This game emulates the archetypal Infocom aesthetic: a blend of witty writing, solid puzzles, and fun (if stereotypical) NPCs. It eschews the modern "cruelty vs. kindness" debate and reminds you why the save and restore commands were implemented in the first place.

What most impressed me about this game was the way that it managed to retain its own voice while being so obviously inspired by the best of what came before. Sure, it has magic. It has monsters. It has heroes and villains. But it also has great flair for memorable moments -- like your grudge match with a very determined bird and your introduction to tyromancy. If the fantasy adventure genre is a choir, 'Risorgimento Represso' clearly adds its own notes instead of simply following along with the tune.

My congratulations to Mr. Coyne for introducing us to a compelling new universe. I understand he's working on a sequel, and I can't wait to play it.

"Planetfall" is undoubtedly one of the finest games in the history of interactive fiction; it may be my favorite Infocom game, to boot.

If you ask someone who played "Planetfall" back in the 80s, it is certainly Floyd, the player's bubbly omnipresent robot sidekick, that will be mentioned first. Floyd was, quite simply, a quantum leap in the category of NPCs, presenting an unforgettable comic personality that played perfect counterpoint to the otherwise dark and foreboding tone.

Beyond Floyd, the game is built on a well-constructed story, having taken enough care in the creation of the game universe to be solidly convincing, and offering as its premise a steadily mounting series of challenges that intertwine the player's fate with that of a seemingly-abandoned planet in a natural and game-appropriate way. As the plot moves from survival to exploration to the intense climax, the reader can't help but be impressed every step of the way.

As a side note, this is the only work of IF I've ever played where eating, drinking, and sleeping are implemented in a manner that not only avoids being annoying, but which is ultimately essential to driving the plot. You must reach the end before your supplies run out, and some of your dreams are hints for solving the tougher puzzles.

If "Planetfall" lacks anything, it is the literary quality that marks the finest works from the new school of IF-writing. I can't hold that against it, since nothing like that existed when this game was released. Indeed, this game may be among the first steps in that direction -- if the prose was a little more flowery, there would be no doubt.

"Planetfall" remains a landmark achievement that is in many ways unequaled today. If you can find a copy, don't give in to the impulse to look at hints. This one should be savored over days or weeks as the rare treat it is.

(I should preface this review with a note that a three-star rating from me means it is a good game; I reserve four stars for something special, and five stars for something truly amazing.)

Light-hearted in tone, traditional in style, "Uncle Zebulon's Will" finds that elusive balance between implied scope and actual delivery that many winning Comp entries miss. In short, it doesn't bite off more than it can chew in two hours of playtime, so it doesn't leave you disappointed when you reach the end.

I particularly admire the way in which the author provided descriptions and responses that are just enough to convince you of the reality of the game world. At no point was I disappointed by the lack of a particular programmed response: Even the game's bored and disinterested NPC was believably (and appropriately) bored and disinterested.

This economy of writing is one of the hallmarks of classic IF, and so perhaps it should not be a surprise that Activision included this entry in a 1996 re-release of classic Infocom titles. Other than the abbreviated length and the copyright date, you might never realize it isn't from the "Golden Age" of IF.

This game made a huge splash in the IF community when it was released, handily taking first place in the 2003 IF Comp and performing the equivalent of an Oscar sweep in that year's XYZZY awards. Why, then, do I give it a mere three stars?

First, the positives: The introduction is a superb piece of writing. The reader is immediately gripped by the mystery presented, and that mystery is fully explored in the multiple possible endings. The premise is unique; the atmosphere is memorable. Overall, "Slouching Towards Bedlam" practically shines with the kind of originality that is so highly-prized in the IF community, and this probably is the best explanation for its record-breaking high score in the Comp.

But, then, there are the negatives: The world implementation is a little spare. The NPCs are a little flat. Certain promising points of interest turn out to be either red herrings or truncated plot elements. To be honest, this game strikes me as half-finished in some ways -- the overall tone of the implementation has an unevenness that can be surprising.

Once again, I have to point to the IF Comp guidelines that say an entry should be designed to be solvable within two hours of gameplay. The authors clearly had more to give here, and the half-finished feel to some parts of the game could be nothing more than the result of their having reached the target play time and calling it quits. My suspicion is that they may have run a bit short on development time, however; some improvements in editing would have easily scored an extra star from me.

"Slouching Towards Bedlam" is a decent game made from a terrific story. My slight dissatisfaction stems from my sense that, with more work, it could be an excellent game made from a terrific story. It is definitely worth your time to explore, even if I don't count it among the greats.

"Splashdown" is the first completed work of IF made by a veteran of the video game industry. According to Wikipedia, Paul Furio currently works for Microsoft, and that may explain why this game ended up with only 3 stars in my book. The story premise is interesting, the code is solid, but, like a lot of Microsoft software, it seems to be derivative of something better without bringing anything new to the table.

Strongly reminiscent of the Infocom titles "Planetfall" and "Suspended", "Splashdown" left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied at its end, perhaps because the evocation of those classics set my expectations too high.

Then again, maybe it's just because, as an IF Comp entry, this game is designed to be solved in about two hours. This piece is definitely in the "text adventure" category, and there's a limit to how much a puzzle game can achieve in the framework of an IF Comp entry's proscribed length. "Splashdown" hits that limit and leaves me wanting more.

Overall, this game was enjoyable, with many moments of discovery and interest. If it were expanded to a "feature-length" game, I would definitely revisit it.

As seen in Baf's guide, "Stupid, but in a good way." is probably the best way to describe this unexpectedly fun mini-game. What should be a 1-star bad joke in IF form turns into a 3-star good joke in IF form as you find yourself actually putting some effort into figuring out how to get Conan to kill everything.

At least one line involving the spider made me laugh out loud. I look forward to trying more serious efforts from this author.

There are competing schools of thought in IF. Many in the new school believe the story is paramount, and that puzzles and other game-like qualities are sometimes nothing more than unwanted throwbacks to the primitive days of mere "text adventures". "All Roads" is the first piece I encountered that made me think the new-schoolers might be on to something.

It's been a couple of years since I played this piece, and I don't really recall any puzzles at all. They were there, but they seemed so easily solved that it was clear their main purpose was to keep the reader involved, and not to delay completion of the story. What I do recall is the very intriguing plot, which, like a dense film along the lines of "Memento", kept me both enthralled and slightly disoriented until the very end. As with "Memento", I still can't say I fully understand "All Roads", but I don't hesitate to recommend it.