Ratings and Reviews by streever

I wasn't sure what I was doing or why. Ostensibly, I'm on my way to work, but my limited understanding of where I need to go and what train routes get me where left me feeling mostly frustrated.

Perhaps this game would work better with a map as a companion piece--perhaps not, because there doesn't seem to be any reason to go to any specific place. Essentially you wander the subway in a fashion similar to the classic Zork maze--there are areas and people to look at, but none of them advance you or get you anywhere.

I can't tell you why I switched lines, or why I swapped trains--as my protagonist said sometimes, "Or I could change to the Charing Cross branch. I could do that. There is nothing stopping me."

I found reading my protagonists stream-of-consciousness to be infectious. His sense of ennui and boredom made me wonder what I was doing and why I was bothering. I suspect this was the intention--but I found it frustrating. I prefer it when the emotions aren't told to me, but rather things I experience through good writing and plotting.

Finally, a twist occurs, but it is quite late in the narrative, and I had a hard time understanding what it was trying to tell me. It seems to be a meta-commentary, but I'm not sure on what--the nature of games, or a psychological statement? Ultimately, I was left wondering why my protagonist didn't just go into work, or get on a different train and go home to sleep off his hangover.

The blurb really nailed this one; this is a cute CYOA that might be a fun read for young people.

I think the text is a little long for young people, and I think it could use some editing and paring down to make it more readable, especially for the target audience of children reading on the web.

The game has a strong message, but was ultimately a bit frustrating--the narrative needs some tweaking and improvements to really convey the story and immerse us in the character.

I suspect that English may not be the authors first language, based on some of the typos and grammar issues I found, so I'd encourage the author to reach out to the IF community and get some help polishing the storyline.

An interesting game, from an interesting perspective, which is held back primarily by issues with the writing.

It is short, puzzle-less, and largely linear--while you have choices, they don't feel particularly fulfilling, largely because you're playing from the perspective of a character with very little agency and freedom in her life. A frustrating but worthwhile experience.

This was a fun game, but some of the puzzles could use some re-working or better cluing to help avoid frustration. One of the earliest puzzles had a very complex solution, which required the player to infer something in another room which was invisible--it was very frustrating! The red herrings in this section were doubly frustrating considering how secret the puzzle solution was.

I'm looking forward to seeing this game in a second version--it has some promise, but isn't particularly kind to a player. Something as simple as post-mortem hints would really improve the experience from a player's perspective I suspect.

The protagonist has run afoul of his new citizens after taking the throne in Shuffling Around. There are (very minor) tweaks to the gameplay, but this is still largely an anagrammers delight as you transform words into other words.

The story is still quite thin, which may disappoint more character-driven players, but the mechanics and prose are fun and engaging.

My main complaint about the first game--the ambiguity between the extra hint & the regular hint, and the inability to swap them mid-game--is reconciled in this version. You have a device which can switch at will between cheat/no-cheat mode.

In general, I found this game harder and less forgiving than the first; I didn't ever have to view help files for the first game, but sometimes had to consult them to complete Roiling Original.

I'd highly recommend this game to fans of the original and of anagrams. Have fun!

Short on character and story, this game is almost entirely a collection of word puzzles, specifically of the anagramming sort. If you like word puzzles, you'll like this.

The in-game help system is first-rate and should allow any wordsmith to complete the game without a walkthrough.

The writing is good, at times slightly over-verbose, but never unnecessary.

I was slightly confused by the intro: it took me a little more time to puzzle out the difference between the gadget and the slider, and why I'd take one and not the other. I think it could use a little more exposition earlier on. It may be a minor spoiler, but I think the game would be improved if the player knew early on that (Spoiler - click to show)the gadget is easy mode--the slider is hard mode. You can probably complete the game with either, or neither, if you're adept at anagrams, but it'd be nice to be able to swap between them mid-game, so you could start with the slider & switch to the gadget when under extreme duress.

If you can't wait for the Sunday Puzzle by Will Shortz on NPR each week, this is a game for you. If you're more interested in character/narrative driven story experiences, you'll probably be less enthusiastic about this game.

I love the word-puzzle aspect, and am glad that I discovered Schultz work via InfoComp2013 and 3diopolis.