Reviews by Sorrel
View this member's profilePrevious | 11-20 of 29 | Next | Show All
Touching and magical. , July 17, 2010I wish every SpeedIF was constructed with this much care and attention to detail. This game was very surreal, very easy, and very touching. Actually, it may be the best SpeedIF I ever played. But, I'll try not to fawn over it too much and give an one objective opinion. The premise if very original: you're a star getting ready to leap from the moon (hence the title).
Since Leap Time is a SpeedIf, the puzzles are easy, but hardly anyone plays SpeedIF for the puzzles. It's very atmospheric and sweet. Once you get down to earth, you're faced with granting a certain wish to a little girl. There are two ways to do that and there are three endings in total. One ending is heart-wrenching, one is depressing, and one is "happy" (in quotation marks because I felt like there was something important the PC didn't get to do).
Leap Time isn't emotional in the sense that it will make you cry or laugh, but it touched me in that little "aw" kind of way. Play it for a few minutes for its magical sensation, but quit only once you have all three endings. I don't think it's possible to truly appreciate this game without completing it in all three ways. And to help you with the part I myself was most confused about: (Spoiler - click to show)To figure out how to grant the wish, look in the dumpsters or look at yourself.
Leap Time is magical, it's touching, and it just has that I-wish-I-believed-in-fairy tales vibe. As a SpeedIF, it gets a five in my book. I only wish it were a full-length game.
Solid combination of storyline and puzzles., July 16, 2010The Orion Agenda is one of those rare games that combines an engaging plot with varied puzzles and fascinating NPCs. The PC finds himself in a deep hole in the ground. From there, he begins to remembers that he is a rookie field agent sent to check on an outpost on a foreign planet where his colleagues are supposed to be observing the native culture. He is traveling with another field agent who is more experienced and also happens to be a beautiful woman. Of course, things don't go as planned once they arrive at Orion 3. The way the game is structured eliminates the need for ever saving your progress. If you happen to die (which you will do quite often), the PC just realizes that he is still alive in the hole, so that's not how things must have happened. While this is a great mechanism to ease game play, it also makes it very clear that there is only one predetermined ending. I normally prefer games with a lot of varying paths and conclusions.I'm also not someone who reads science fiction or enjoys playing sci-fy games. However, The Orion Agenda drew me in to the point that all be skepticism about the genre and the game construction melted away.
Even though the plot line isn't very original, it's crafted and written beautifully. The writing is well paced and spurs you on to finish the puzzles to progress the story. The puzzles themselves are of varying difficulty. If I had to rate the average difficulty of the puzzles on a 1-10 scale, I'd give The Orion Agenda a 5.5. While not as challenging as I might have liked it to be, The Orion Agenda compensates for its relative easiness with an engaging storyline and an interactive NPC.
That NPC is the PC's beautiful female partner, Rebecca. Unlike so many other sidekick NPCs in IF she actually has a mind of her own. She'll explore the area on her own, wandering away and returning to the PC at random. She also possesses knowledge that the PC does not, making her invaluable in certain situations. She never serves as a damsel in distress or as comic relief and always has a purpose.
The Orion Agenda is polished to a tee, with no bugs that I could find. The puzzles are well-clued and the environment expansive and engaging. Ideally, I would give The Orion Agenda 4.5 stars, but there was still something missing there for me. It's a solid game, but it didn't have that ah!-factor that I tend to look for. The Orion Agenda is well-balanced, highly enjoyable, and great for one play through.
Gleeful, entertaining, and simply delicious. , July 7, 2010Gossip feeds on the player's desire to learn more and more about the characters involved in an intricate web of rumors. The PC is a journalist for a gossip magazine, sent on various assignments - from snapping pictures from behind a hedge to mingling at a party to eavesdropping by someone's house. At some points during the game, I felt just a little guilty for getting the PC so deeply involved in other people's business. But any feeling of guilt don't matter here, because after all, Gossip is only a game. And it's a very fun game at that. The more you learn about the celebrities surrounding you, the more involved you become, and the more involved you become, the harder it is to quit.
Gossip was written for the IntroComp of 2009 and to my knowledge, it remains only an intro. But it's a sufficiently long intro with enough game play to keep you occupied for a while. The puzzles are light and well-clued, giving the game an effortless feel. Just settle yourself comfortably in a journalist's shoes and it'll be smooth sailing from there.
As far as the writing goes, I played the English translation which isn't all that smooth. The prose feels a little choppy at times, but that's to be expected. Good writing is one of the first things I look for in a good IF, but it could be easily overlooked here. The prose is sufficiently well-written to set the stage and create the appropriate atmosphere.
Gossip is a solid, polished piece of work that will have you smiling gleefully (until the very last scene, that is).
A Comedy of Errors, July 5, 2010The premise isn’t a bad one and has potential for a quick, light game. You're on a quest for a costume to wear to a protest against the dredging of a river. Unfortunately, the premise gets lost in a host of parser errors and bad writing. Reading over the text a few times or having a beta read over it might have helped the author iron out those mistakes. There are also attempts at humor that I found either a little patronizing or plainly unfunny. Instead of trying to immerse the player in the game, the author breaks the “fourth wall”, constantly reminding us that this is all actually a game. That might be funny in certain circumstances and if done correctly, but here it was just plain annoying. A car is referred to as “the only car in the game” and when attempting to wade into the sea, we get the response of “This is a GAME. You can’t swim.” Really? Because there are plenty of IF games where swimming is very possible and even encouraged.
It’s that slightly patronizing, off-hand parser tone that ultimately drove me to dislike this game. It’s as if the author wasn’t serious about it when he was writing the game. And in my opinion, even a good joke game needs a small amount of care and serious work to be put into it.
The puzzles are easy, but come complete with a lot of glitches. For example: (Spoiler - click to show)When the PC successfully puts something into the panpipes and examines them on the next turn, we get the response of “Panpipes is empty.” Never mind the poor grammar. Apparently, there is a black-hole within the panpipes that eats up everything you put inside them and then magically teleports the items back to your inventory. This would have been very easy to correct, had the author taken the time to have this properly playtested.
Some plot devices seem contrived and some just don’ make sense. (Spoiler - click to show)If Shelly traded in the key for drugs, it must have some value. Why would the shady man under the fig tree just give it to the PC for free? After completing a task for a character and going to talk to him afterward, there is no change in his responses or actions, even though his problem has been solved. He just keeps saying the same thing over and over again.
Perhaps I’m being too hard on this, since Along the River does have a few moments of genuinely good humor and writing. I think that if a second version were to be released with some improvements, Along the River could become a really good, fun piece of IF.
Thought-provoking, July 5, 2010Internal Vigilance is an extremely thought-provoking game – one where every action and its possible impact should be thought through twice. It starts out routinely enough: You are an agent for The Agency, which serves The Union, which apparently restricts the people’s freedom in exchange for keeping them protected. You are tasked with interrogating a terrorist suspect. At first I was intrigued with the many conversation possibilities for this interrogation. However, that’s the one part of the game that left me disappointed. The suspect appears to be well-characterized in the beginning, but some of his actions become a little perplexing when he breaks very abruptly. From the initial impression I got of this NPC, I expected the interrogation scene to be a bit lengthier. It seemed as if the author was trying to move the story along faster than it would move naturally in favor of the events that are waiting for the player in the next few chapters of the game.
That speeding up of the first scene turned out to be at least partially justified, because the events after it are indeed worth exploring in more detail. In the beginning of the next scene, I got the impression that Internal Vigilance was trying to give itself a surreal feel, where none was necessary. Fortunately, I was mistaken. What I mistook for a surreal, little gimmick is actually a clever metaphor and plot device. In fact, at the conclusion of the game you will learn just how much your choices during this part affect the outcome. Throughout Internal Vigilance, there are many choices that will drastically affect your ending and there were times where I stared at the screen for a few minutes before making one of those choices.
Unfortunately, there are some implementation errors in Internal Vigilance. They don’t take away from the general enjoyment of the game, but they did annoy me a bit in the beginning.
>Take papers
The desk it too heavy for that.
Little errors like that made me think that the author didn’t care enough to iron out the game before publishing it. In fact, there are even some minor grammar mistakes and typos that could have been fixed with a thorough read-through. But all of those mistakes can be forgiven, because the premise of the game serves as a brilliant, thought-provoking experiment into concepts like freedom, government stability, and patriotism. There are nine endings in total and each ending is affected by the little choices the PC makes as a solitary agent. And those little choices sometimes affect the entire structure of the world around the PC.
Internal Vigilance made me think – really think deeply before each step in the game. Going through the story didn’t feel effortless or instinctive. Every action was deliberate and laced with a small amount of bitterness for all the doors that closed when one opened. This isn’t a game for a lunch break or a relaxing afternoon. This one has a high replay value and you might find yourself going back and back and back and frantically trying to change your responses to change the final outcome.
But no one outcome feels completely victorious. There is always that one grain of doubt in every ending that makes you want to go back and change things for the better. And I loved that about Internal Vigilance.
Under implemented but with an interesting premise , July 4, 2010I tend to be wary of ADRIFT games, because of the many parser imperfections and glitches that often come with them. But once in a while there comes an ADRIFT game that turns the stereotypes associated with ADRIFT games on their heads. This is not that game.
We are coming to get you! has a host of parser confusion and crudely implemented actions that take a lot of the enjoyment out of being a germ bent on infecting an unsuspecting human. And that’s a pity, because I actually liked this premise and I think that there is a lot of potential here for a great game. It’s a neat, original idea that just happened to be under implemented. The puzzles are all extremely linear, but great for IF beginners. If said beginners can get past the sparse environment, We are coming to get you! can become a good learning tool for those new to IF.
Some of the descriptions are just a little nauseating, but one would expect that since the PC is a germ. I didn’t mind playing through this game (which should take you no longer than three minutes) and I would like to see more from the author.
A perfect example of a great conversation-based game., July 2, 2010Shadows on the mirror is a great example of a story-based conversation game, with a few little puzzles thrown in. This game does require a bit of fiddling with before you can work out how to break away from that "point A to point B' pattern. However, I found that fiddling to be very enjoyable. The prose isn't anything special, but it gets the job done in a nice, simplistic way with some humor thrown in. Some of the endings are also written quite beautifully and give the game a very surreal feel.
The PC is well-characterized and once you come in tune with her personality, figuring out he next step becomes a lot easier. As for Galen, I found him to be a rather interesting personage. He has that unapproachable-macho-but-really-sweet-inside vibe about him. Shadows on the mirror is a game with a dash of romance in it, so you should treat it as such. Flirt with Galen and act the way the PC would act if she liked a young man. If you really get stuck, you can always take a peek at the topics list provided in-game. Also, (Spoiler - click to show)examine everything, ask Galen about everything, and tell him about everything. Sometimes, very nonessential things turn out to be the key to the next step. Do things that you would no normally do in an IF. You can touch Galen, steal Galen's possessions, and if you get the timing right, even kiss him.
Once you get Galen on your side, you'll find that there is a wide array of endings to the game - some more romantic than others - outside the linear story progression. And if you really, really want to know how to get Galen on your side: (Spoiler - click to show)Take off that pesky necklace from around his neck. Things should develop a lot easier after that.
I love conversation games and I found this one to be a real treat. The atmosphere is perfect, the NPC is lovable, the PC is believable, and the storyline is interesting enough to keep you reading for more.
A haunting piece of humanity, April 24, 2010This is one of those games that you either love or hate. Personally, I loved every word of it. The PC is a doctor euthanizing patients in a hospital amid a widespread outbreak of smallpox. The atmosphere is colorless and numb – a fitting metaphor for the numbness one feels after being injected with antibiotics. The game moves at a perfect pace, allowing the player to mull about the hospital and take everything in before continuing on.
Mercy makes you think about death, humanity, life and yes…even love. The prose really pulls on the heart strings and combined with the subject matter, it makes the game almost too painful to play. I know that this may sound terribly sentimental, but at one point I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. There are so many directions this game can go and I wouldn’t say that there is really a “winning” ending. There are several endings which I would consider a better outcome for the PC than others, but ultimately it’s interesting to try out every branch of the story and read every ending.
There are moments of Mercy that are truly haunting – presenting death in a way that is beyond a corpse or an illness. Mercy deals with the death of the soul – a complete lack of feeling in the PC that becomes quite alarming toward the middle of the game.
Puzzle-wise, Mercy is nothing special. There are no puzzles, per-say – only choices. The game progresses at a set pace, giving the player the option of making certain choices in the process. The thing is – those choices actually matter. Every little choice you make will impact the ending you get in some way.
I strongly recommend that you play through Mercy several times to really get the full experience. The imagery sets the scene perfectly, but to get the full story, it’s best to visit all the locations and examine everything available. You won’t be able to do that all in one play-though.
But be warned: the theme of death is a very prominent one in the game and you should not play it unless you can handle the emotional impact. And believe me, there is an impact.
Short 'n sweet, April 20, 2010Couch of Doom is short, sweet, and simple. The aim of the game is to get yourself off the couch – seriously, it’s that simple. Except it’s really not. Turns out taking the first step away from a life of laziness is harder than it looks.
There are two main puzzles which are relatively easy and don’t require too much ingenuity to solve. Take things at face value in this game. If you want to get something done, don’t think of a series of actions to accomplish it – chances are one verb will do the trick. That’s one of the downsides of Couch of Doom. The puzzles are so straight-forward and easy, that they take away from the overall feel of the game.
The writing is light-hearted and the excuses the PC gives for not standing up are amusing (and at times sad) to read. This game will take you no longer than ten minutes to complete and you’ll get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you do. In short, Couch of Doom is by no means a great work of IF. It is, however, a great introduction for those new to the genre.
An emotional shred of philosophy, April 20, 2010There is something surreal about this game – something that kept me reading (and sometimes rereading) every line of text. I will say right away that this game is not for those looking for a puzzle or an adventure. In The End doesn’t have a sophisticated conversation system, a complicated puzzle, or deeply interactive NPCs. What it does have, however, is a deep philosophical edge that will really get you thinking.
In The End starts out at the funeral of your friend, as you think upon death and life and where you fit into it all. From there, you must simply do what feels right. The endings which you can reach vary only slightly on the surface, but the feeling you get from them are vastly different. Proceeding through the game is easy and at some point, becomes instinctive.
In The End creates the illusion of a greater world beyond the parameters of the game. When in reality, there is very little depth to the actual environment and few descriptions for examinable objects.
One other thing that I found really interesting: Upon trying to save the game or undo a move, I was presented with “Life doesn’t work that way.” That single phrase adds to the realism of the PC’s situation. He is caught in a moment of life where walking away from the computer screen isn’t an option.
If I was rating this game purely on its emotional impact and philosophical spin, I would give it the full five stars. Rating it as a regular IF game, I would give it three. But, keeping in mind that In The End is really not quite one, nor the other, I will settle for a four.
So, if you have five minutes to play a short, meaningful game, then open up In The End.
Previous | 11-20 of 29 | Next | Show All