Reviews by Tristano

"Inside Woman" has really caught my attention for its originality. I've found it different from many IF works, in subtle ways. It's a rather long game, the map is not huge and the author devised it in a way that moving around is quite simple.

First, I want to point out that the game can be really tough to get through, and I don't think I'd have managed to get on with it without resorting to hints. Unfortunately, the hints file is not mentioned here, so I'll add a link to it:

http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/solutions/WomanHints.txt

I think the author should have put a hint system into the game because some puzzles can get quite frustrating, forcing the player to quit playing. Even after peeping the solution in the hint file I've realized that some puzzles I simply wouldn't have solved them.

Yet, it was worth playing it (even with frequent hints lookup). The story opening is quite unusual: movement in space is strictly linked to puzzles and plot, meaning that to move forward you have to solve some puzzles, and since they relate to plot the experience is that of moving rapidly into the story one-step-at-the-time. This is something that I liked quite a lot because it forced me to focus a lot on every description from the inset, and it gave me a good story immersion experience.

Then, at at certain point the game takes on a more classical approach: you can move and explore and are faced with multiple puzzles that need to be solved in order to carry on with the story. Overall, the story is quite linear in that most of the puzzles must be solved in a specific order--although, I have to admit that guessing their order is not always easy, and as the story goes on it's easy to lose track of the objectives.

A strong advice: have a notebook of some sort to jot down notes from the beginning because backward references are a recurrent issue in this game. Also, writing down objective is a good way of keeping focused on the various missions and achievements.

Mechanics aside, I liked the futuristic setting and I appreciated the author's prose -- not only it's very polished, but it's also well balanced. There aren't many superfluous descriptions, and the author has managed to be concise but rich, and overall the story emerges quite powerfully. Some puzzles are really hard, but there is enough encouragement to go on because each solution adds some beats to the story and prevents the pace from dying out.

Also, this is a game in which words are carefully weighed and crafted, and they carry more meaning than one might think at first glance--indeed, you soon learn that every sentence contains important clues and is hinting toward the solution of the puzzle it refers to. I can't recall another work in which the text was so masterfully woven so as to embed in each sentence clues to playing, while at the same time establishing setting, plot, and pace all at once and in such a concise manner. Andy Philips is a good writer, beside being a good coder and game designer.

So, extreme attention has to payed to the game's text--but this has a downside also: you'll soon realize that previous description are crucial to solving some puzzles. So it's strongly advisable to use the transcript function in order to be able to read and sift-through past texts. This annoyed me a bit because in the midst of the game I couldn't recover some text from the buffer since I had saved and restored the game across sessions. The author should have put a warning regarding the need of transcripts or, even better, he could have implemented some sort of note-book or other way of recording important texts and events. Or, as mentioned above, just take notes on paper.

Some mechanics here and there could have been polished a bit more, but it's definitely an IF work of high quality--I don't recall stumbling in many typos.

I hope the author might one day take this work on once more and add to it a hint and note-taking system and refine some puzzles that, being too hard to solve, might prevent many from completing it. Also, there are some places where the player has to repeat a sequence of actions over and over again ... those parts should be revised with an implicit-actions system (else it's just cumbersome).

I really enjoyed this short work of IF. The story is set in a very small world, yet the narrative manages to build-up into the player's mind as he explores the environment. Usually I find frustrating IF games horrible to play, but in this specific case frustration and challenge go hand in hand.
After a few moves you realize that you've explored all there is to explore in the story game, and you realize that there are few items to interact with. At all times you know that the solution is right in front of you, but you just can't work out how to unravel the puzzle.
There is a beauty to its prose, it manages to be simple but evocative, and the player straight away realizes that clues are hidden in plain sight as far as descriptions go.
It'a a kind of all-or-nothing situation--you either solved the puzzle or you are still stuck with it. The solution naturally builds in the player's mind as he keeps attempting various actions and starts to tune-in with the story and it's peculiar use of language.
Well worth playing it, and not giving up to it! Avarage player should solve it within half an hour. Keep re-reading descriptions and weigh every word in the text. Nothing is marginal.

«Taco Fiction» is a well implemented adventure that can be won in about an hour. The setting has strong emphasis on suburban poverty, desperation, crime and corruption. And there is plot to it, with interesting twists.
The player starts with a clear objective presented by the game itself, but as the game procedes you come to realize that things are not quite like you were lead to belief. Choices are to be made, and the plot takes sudden and unexpected twists that ... well, let's say you'll be taken into a shadowy world of power conspirancy.
There are multiple endings, worth trying them all. Gameplay is fun, prose is good and balanced, game mechanics are well implemented and not frustrating at all. Puzzles are good and intriguing.

Surely it is a speedy IF — took about 3 minutes (40 odd turns) to complete.

But fun? Not at all. There is no story, just a bunch of poorly described rooms of abstract nature. Can't even say there are puzzles in the game: you just move around, examine the very few items you stumble upon and then, by chance (ie: if you carry out in the right place one of the very few actions you can actually accomplish) the solution presents itself to you — out of the blue.

It isn't clear to me what was the intention behind this game — all I can think of is a mere exercise in code. And even now, after having «won» I'm left asking myself: what have I won? There was no challenge in the game, nor was the prose stimulating in any way.

I really enjoyed playing «Guilded Youth». It’s not the usual IF adventure for in some ways the plot tends to be guided by the game itself thus offering a smooth interactive story-like experience more than a brain-teasing guessing the next move experience. Yet, the experience of immersion into the story is very strong.

The game creates right from its start a strong setting, it has a fast pace and the player flows with story without bumbs and doubts. Accativating graphics and sound contribute to the successful worldbuilding of «Guilded Youth».

I strongly advice playing this game both to IF veterans as well as newbyes — newbyes will profit from a non-frustrating game experience, and veterans will enjoy a neatly build story which is fun and easy to play.
It took me overall about half hour to complete the game. It was fun and challenging (not in a "guess the verb" way but rather in a "what's next" way).

Well done Jim Munroe

This game is one of my all-times favourites. The plot is simple, the atmosphere relaxed, the prose capturing. It's quite a long game, but since it's packed with puzzles there are no dead times in the game.

If you like big maps, Return to Ditch Day offers a generous environment. And, if you are a puzzles lover, you'll find planty of puzzles in this game — some minor, others more intricate.

Surely, it's more puzzle oriented than plot-oriented, yet the well polished prose and mechanics grab the player's attention, fix the plot in the mind and keep the game pace alive.

A game that won't let down lovers of classic IF.

This if game is really worth 4 stars. It's fun, it's intriguing and keeps you going.

The story unfolds itself in a balanced manner, each important move unravels something more about the plot — soon you'll find yourself immersed in a true horror tale.

The map is not too big as to be tyring, yet not too small as to be claustrophobic. The author cleverly managed to create an environment which changes as the story progresses. Also, there aren't too many objects to handle, yet each object requires deep thinking about its possibile uses and applications.

Also, the story hints play a fundamental role in guiding the player toward a correct understanding of the way to move about, the goals to achieve, and the significance of the various items he/she comes across.

There aren't any really frustrating bits in the game, though some puzzle solutions are not easy to guess. I've managed to solve it in an afternoon, but I admit I had to peek at the walkthrough twice because I couldn't come up with any more ideas — yet, if I had payed more attention to the hints hydden in the descriptions, I could have worked it out myself.

Some hints are deceiving, the author plays on the player's hopes and fears and lets him/her derived conclusion which, later on in the game, will contribute to the plot twists.

The narrative atmosphere is great, it start soberly and quickly builds up. The worldbuilding is rather fantastic, unusual, rich.

The game has more than one ending, not all of them being the best one.

The game mechanics could have been slightly more polished here and there (some pareser responses are confusing, evidently due to unpolished responses controls) yet they don't interfere with the actual gameplay. Also, some synonims are not well implemented, and overall the player as to stick to items names as presented. I often experienced switches in the referred object, ie: I examine an object but further commands then refer to the previous object handled, which did cause some misunderstanding in some rooms.

Still, the game was original, entertaining and fun all along, what more can you ask?

Nothing But Mazes is a strange piece of IF: there are parts of the story in which the player doesn't really play but reads along, screen after screen. So it's part fiction, part interactive fiction.

Both the game and its language are simple but polished, so it suits also kids. The author has put a great deal of fantasy in the story and I've found it really interesting. As a game, I have to admit that the puzles are quite simple, but I enjoyed them.

The game has sound and hand-drawn graphics (very nice indeed) which add atmosphere to it.

I got to the end of Nothing But Mazes: it's "to be continued". So I hope that Greg Boettcher will bring it to completion because it's worth it.

I rated 5 this game because I found it to be an excellent piece of playable-IF to solve. A mind-bending puzzle that captures the player without a sense of frustration. Overall, it shouldn't take too long to complete it.

Since the very beginning of play you "sense" that something is strange ... that sensation kept me going ahead without frustration even though I moved around in circles for quite a while, but I knew that somehow I was on the right track. Then ... it "clicked" to me and everything was clear. Nevertheless, once the core of the puzzle is grasped it still takes some strategic moves to actually solve it.

No distractions, just a polished and well presented puzzle with all its elements in plain sight. Nice atmosphere.

Surely one of its own kind -- I don't recall coming across any similar puzzles.

I downloaded and installed version 2.2 of Beyond Exile and ... it doesn't work. After game begins, and a first room (which has a single possible action to carry out: going north) I get to a place with 3 characters: 2 people and a dog. The only thing I can do is looking at the dog (which then leaves), all the other (few) available click-comands either display blank text or some short description.

Basically I'm stuck in the second room.

By visiting the game's Website, I've seen a screenshot of the second room I got stuck in, and there is some text-reply to a command I used which does not show up in my actual play.

I've tried it with XP SP3, and it looks like it incurred in a bug.

I personally don't like the Quest QDK interface, nor the few options offered by the click-menu of the game interface. Still ... I was curious about the story but seem like I can't get to play it.