Ratings and Reviews by Andromache

This was a fairly easy game in which things worked realistically and smoothly. The pig was incredibly frustrating and I was stuck on how to catch it - not because the solution eluded me but because I'd missed a step. I eventually figured it out by myself with some experimentation. And that's a lot of how to get the answers. Playing with things, seeing how they work, and figuring out how to execute the obvious solutions. Thankfully, everything's well-clued. I got the full score on the first try, and I was pleased to see good behavior rewarded. I did use hints, but not for solutions. Just helpful nudges.

(Spoiler - click to show)I really liked the gnome. I didn't stay to chat about everything, but he was kind and made me smile with some of his comments. His speech is very polished and intelligent, so I was thinking at some parts that Grunk would not understand what he was saying, but I appreciated that the gnome didn't try to dumb down his words. It said something about the gnome's character to treat the clearly less academic Grunk as an equal. Some of the narration was funny, too. One of the ones I still remember is when you "x leaf" at the tunnel entrance. Grunk reasons the carving must be part of the stone because it's made of stone and vines are "made of vine." LOL Grunk's description of the pig is funny, too. "Tasty" is right.

I don't tend to make characters do crazy things, so my play of the game was fairly somber and straightforward. But with amusing and likable characters, fun toys to play with, and a lighthearted atmosphere, this is a wonderful story to lose oneself in for a little while. Highly recommend, and I think would be pretty easy for beginners because of the hints.

I was warned that this was the kind of game that you have to play through several times. This alone put me off. But I was slightly curious and figuring the game was tiny, I could try it out anyway.

Interaction is very minimal, which is a mercy for a game you have to replay but also means it's hard to get very invested in the story. I played through a few times and made different mistakes each time. But I'm not motivated to figure out the winning combination because to get hit with so many "random" tragedies just takes its toll.

Characters, setting, writing - I'd characterize everything as flat or bland. Everything has a kind of generic feel, there to serve a function that will inevitably turn on you. I couldn't even feel sorrow. If anything, the emotion I feel right now is frustration and even a little apathy. There's just no reason to care about the people and nothing particularly striking about the prose. I don't play games or read books for this kind of feeling. For tragedies to work, you have to get to know the people and like them, as well as caring about their plight. None of that here. Tragedy can be incredibly cathartic and beautiful, but it has to have heart, to speak to a person's emotion. There has to be just enough individuality in the character to make them real, as well as a plot with elements people have experience with. The subject matter was too narrow for me to relate to, and there was no other angle to view the plot from, no other sorrow that might have engendered pity or a sense of loss. This kind of game might have worked if the object was simply not to get killed, without trying to be sad, because the genre isn't served well by constant replays and short game length.

Okay, I confess. I needed the hints. I was on the right track, but math really isn't my forte. I see numbers and my brain gets confused and I become intimidated. But don't let that deter you, if you're like me. The game is not all about math.

This game was fun. Absolutely a joy. Learning the magical language was a snap, and most puzzles except the numerical one were totally intuitive. I spent a lot of the game not even worried about getting out - just trying things to see how far I could push conditions before I died. And you can die, but it's very easy to undo and carry on. Puzzles are so well-clued and I felt a real sense of accomplishment solving the ones I managed to do on my own. Well worth my time.

My predominant mood after finishing this game is one of contemplation. I am not getting where the horror or sorrow mentioned by others comes into play. But I found all the possible endings without much trouble, and each of them says something about the player character as a person. I found that the character was both believable and easily identified with. There is a dark side to her that I could appreciate, as well as a dutifulness that I could respect.

The writing is rather spare and minimalist. In fact, there aren't really many places to explore. But IF conventions are honored. You're told what you need to do, and cut scenes give relevant backstory but are vague enough to have the player wondering what's being alluded to. Even now, I'm unsure about a few points. Perhaps reading more about the game will bring some insight.

Really, though, the central point of this game is a moral choice, so emotional impact comes from the various endings.

There are no puzzles in this game. Everything you need to do is simply achieved, so that all focus goes to the story and setting. But setting falls down for me because not everything was implemented. (Spoiler - click to show)The reeds rustle, but you can't hear the river. No ability to touch things, either.

I think there are clear links between the tasks at the beginning of the game and the protagonist's backstory, as well as a juxtaposition, a mirroring, of reality and the character's internal monologue. This creates a pleasing symmetry.

Because of the sparse prose, which doesn't really do it for me aesthetically, I rated this game as average. But it has a good story and doesn't take any significant time. Everyone should play it at least once. Not much commitment and worth it for anyone who cares about the literary side of IF.

Edit: I upped the rating because the impact really hit me hours after finishing the game, when I realized I was still thinking about it. (Spoiler - click to show)The horrifying barbarism probably perpetrated on innocent children and unfortunate mothers.

This is not a proper review. Didn't finish the game and don't really intend to. Already having problems in the beginning of the game. It's possible to lose vital items or worse, unknowingly lock yourself into areas. At least, the author does give warning that the game is like this, so people who don't care for that kind of experience can turn back quickly. From what little I saw, puzzles seem logical but also arbitrary. It's like things are difficult just for the sake of being difficult. Even though some of the difficulty comes from the player character himself and his attitudes, it still feels not entirely justifiable. (Spoiler - click to show)PC doesn't like to get his hands dirty, or his clothing. Can't just eat anything. Needs a proper meal. In short, someone who seems all too ashamed of his peasant heritage and annoyingly stuck-up. Heck, there's not even a way to boil water that I found, 'cause the characters can't do it themselves. Oh no. They need slaves, even if those slaves are machines.

I'm wondering how anyone got far enough in the game to make a walkthrough, unless they used hints. What little I saw of the story seemed intriguing, but the puzzles make it so I'm stuck wandering around and whatever attraction the story holds gets lost in the frustration. I could play through with the walkthrough, but if I need it for most or all of the game, seems like what's the point of playing it? For me, getting stuck a few times in a game is normal. You can imagine my impatience for more than that. To play a game through with no hints is rare and means the game is super easy.

The one good thing that came out of trying this game was that I learned why I'm not a puzzler, and that there are degrees of difficulty in terms of puzzle solutions. It's great that the author incorporated the PC's characteristics into the game, but just made the atmosphere less enjoyable.

The puzzles in this game were sensible and fair. I got stuck twice, but after discovering the solutions, I didn't feel too badly about not being able to find them. There are some red herring items that obscured some puzzles for me, and I'm not really sure why they were there when they're not really useful. Specifically, it made no sense to be able to manipulate them. I realize the point of red herrings is essentially to be useless. Made one puzzle more frustrating than it needed to be. The endgame puzzle was a bit incredible, however. Well-clued but who would expect it would have the effect it does? Couldn't suspend disbelief enough.

The story was a bit confusing and characters were pretty flat. Gameplay was good, but this isn't really a game I'd recommend to friends. This is definitely more for puzzle solvers.

I can’t really comment on the story of this game because it’s clearly not meant to be taken seriously. I’ll say that some of the writing made me laugh aloud. Comments where the author directly talks to players, the inventive score system, and the sheer idiocy of the king were fun reading. The ending was actually quite enjoyable to play through and magical music was quite a clever device.

The puzzles were mostly fair, but I did get desperate enough to turn to the walkthrough at about mid-game. In hindsight, the solutions usually made sense, though my one quibble is the last one before the endgame. (Spoiler - click to show)It was getting the key to the door to the surface. Yes, it makes sense if you play with words, but it’s not something that I think really comes to mind, since the solution uses an object that you’re told you can’t really make sense of. Also, the pamphlet tells you one of the NPCs has the key, which he doesn’t. For reference, the other places that stumped me were the key to the safe and getting into Squiggy’s tower. Those solutions were fair, though you can make the game unwinnable by using the solution to the tower in a different way. In my opinion, the tower puzzle could be better clued. For example: "The cleft is too small to enter. Perhaps if you could widen it…" For some reason, it didn’t occur to me to try to get rid of it, thinking it had something to do with Squiggy’s demise. Though I didn’t test it to make sure, I think you can make the game unwinnable without realizing it, particularly because you need to destroy the object. Therefore, the loss of said object might not immediately tip you off that you’ve just broken the game.

I’d say the game is worth playing just for the laughs. My favorite puzzle was probably the maze, and that’s saying something. It was a maze that was satisfying to solve.

I finished the game with a near perfect score. Much of it was done without the hints. In fact, I didn't need them to actually win. I just used them for some checking to make sure I didn't miss anything. The puzzles were that intuitive. I only found one minor bug. (Spoiler - click to show)Since I managed to get the cube late in the game, after stunning Leela, she was out cold but was still able to point it out when I boarded the shuttle to leave. If I wanted to replay the game, I could probably get a perfect score, but since the endings weren't all that interesting, I'm not inclined to.

Technically, the game played very well. But story, setting, and characters all didn't work for me. I didn't care for the player character, didn't like Elysium, and especially didn't like the NPCs there. (Spoiler - click to show)Soolin and Andrew would have made a better couple, IMO. Because I didn't like Elysium, I couldn't feel all that bad about the tragedy that happened over two hundred years ago, for which the Elder still holds the Empire accountable. Yes, they did wrong, but no need to blame Andrew. And I knew Leela was hiding something when I found her camp. Besides, didn't the Elders kill Mark? This really wasn't a place or a role I enjoyed inhabiting, and because it was so distasteful, I can't be as kind as I know the game deserves. (Spoiler - click to show)But I like the idea of the drik. What a handy tool. I want one.

Being from Hawaii and having read Whale Rider, "Aotearoa" was on my watch list once I was made aware of its existence. It plays much like "Blue Lacuna" in terms of parsing, so I adapted to the keyword system pretty easily. I like it, and definitely appreciated all the scenery and background information implemented. I mean, even down to a guardrail.

This game was so easy I did not need to resort to hints. There was never a case where I wandered around wondering what I’d missed. I was also told explicitly what to do and why some solution or other wouldn’t work. I really appreciate those sorts of feedback responses, so I know at least I’m on the right track and just need to fix whatever the problem is.

Again, being from Hawaii, I am familiar with Maui and some of the stories about him. I also recognized some words, like "tapu" ("kapu" in Hawaiian), mana (same in Hawaiian), and "taro" ("kalo.") Also, "atua" ("akua.") I appreciated the history and backstory implemented into the menus. Helped to flesh out the game world. And naming the animals was lots of fun. (Spoiler - click to show)Riding the Notoceratops and the scene where we’re staring at each other for magical, spiritually connected moments is something I won’t soon forget. Such a mighty, magnificent creature - deadly but also friendly at the same time. I named mine Boga, because it kind of reminded me of Obi-Wan’s battle mount in Star Wars Episode III.

Characterization’s not that deep, but what’s there is very engaging. (Spoiler - click to show)I liked looking at Tim’s backpack and piecing together his backstory and getting to talk to the captain and Eruera about themselves. Speaking of Eruera, I really liked him. He was a great mentor for Tim and I could see him becoming an adopted dad, since he’s got his aunt. Having Tim be the one to help Eruera and having Eruera encourage Tim with stories and tidbits of Maori culture really helped me to bond with him and made me feel empowered. It was also comforting to have an adult there who was calm and practical. The nanakia was cute. I confess I was laughing at the poacher when the nanakia was getting the better of him, and the end sequence being chased by poachers is really well done. There’s not a move to waste, and a fair amount of ways to die. Adds to the urgency that there’s really no time to try to explore, but it’s not exactly a timed puzzle that requires a lot of trial and error. Was rather fun to plow into the jeep and kill the poachers inside. I hope that dinosaur got away and destroyed the place. I think it’s implied it did, but we don’t see it conclusively.

I highly recommend this game. Good writing, enjoyable characters, and I appreciate that while this is a game that reads like juvenile/young adult fiction, I don’t feel excluded or patronized. This sort of thing would probably make an entertaining cartoon. A great effort.

This is my second time playing "Worlds Apart" and it was an incredible, cathartic experience. It just pressed all the right buttons for me. Yes, I needed the Hints twice - once because I genuinely didn’t know what I was supposed to do, thinking I’d tried everything, and the second time was that I hadn’t realized one of the items was useable in a certain way. (Spoiler - click to show)Specifically, getting rid of the guardian and using the globe. But the rest of the puzzles were solvable pretty intuitively. That being said, the Hints system is one of the best I’ve seen. Context-sensitive, gives hints little by little, and it remembers where you left off if you call it up again. No need to go through all the hint revealing again.

There’s some disorientation because there’s no explanation about the game world. Player character knows more than the player and the game narration doesn’t really elaborate on setting, races, culture, etc. However, these things can be pieced together with character interactions and there’s more of a sense of being there because of the lack of initial exposition. Still, separate documentation about the basic races, continents, and social structure would be nice from the start, so that names and places aren’t confusing.

The game was completely accessible. The status actually had a command, which more games should implement. Some screen readers cannot access game status lines, and if compass directions are put there, it’s pretty useless for a blind player. Also, menus are number-based, which is the most useable for blind players. True menus do not work well with any Mac interpreter, that’s for sure. As a blind player, this aspect alone would make me rate it higher than I otherwise would. But even without these considerations, I still give it a perfect score. This is just icing on the cake.

Interestingly, the game map is tiny, yet the content is huge. It does help that the world changes often, so due to repeated exploration, it’s a good thing the map is small. Flashbacks are implemented well, and the tutorial for using unconventional abilities for the player character was cleverly done. There was an in-character reason to have it, so it felt seamless.

But I think the best aspects of this game were story and characterization. The people are definitely distinct, believable, and evoke strong emotions. (Spoiler - click to show)I had Lyesh sever ties with Yuri and found I didn’t feel all that bad. It was like, "You don’t need a coward for a friend." But I could also see it in Lyesh’s character to forgive him. Then I had Lyesh go and help Lia, since I reasoned she still cares for the girl. In fact, my thinking is she still cherished the memories of Yuri, but she was an adult now and it was better for her to just complete the separation that he started. My favorite character would have to be Saal, though. A warrior but not cruel; a lover of tricks but not dishonest; a predator but compassionate; someone with agendas but not to use people. It’s neat to be able to talk to the characters and ask them about things I’ve seen and heard and get a lot of information that way.

The story, though, had elements I adore. A close-knit mother/daughter, mentor/student relationship; special abilities; losing friends and making new ones; transitioning from codependence to independence and empowerment; bonds that last forever; and a bit of pain just to make things interesting. (Spoiler - click to show)There is even a winged serpent in the game, and I *love* that. I have a fascination with snakes and reptiles. And I tend to prefer dragons that are serpentine as opposed to lizard-like and fire-breathing. Truly, this game had everything I enjoy: integrated puzzles, a knapsack to satisfy my packrat tendencies (at least in IF), in-character puzzles, vivid and reasonable characters (not dysfunctional), and a story that left me feeling cleansed and comforted.