Reviews by MathBrush

Grand Academy of Villains is a game I first played years ago. I found the writing funny and the class interesting, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending because I found it abrupt.

Now, after playing through essentially every Choicescript game, I realize how high-quality the first Grand Academy game is in general, with lots of valid choices and good writing. I still think the ending has some issues (with some stat checks that are too high, imo), but overall it's one of the better games.

This game builds on that, but in a way some people disliked. Grand Academy 1 had very different endings depending on your choices, but this game funnels all of those towards one 'main' choice.

I know several people were unhappy with this choice, but I saw the complaints before I played, and wasn't surprised or, really, disappointed, since this game is all about multiverses and changes in reality.

Anyway, this game was fun for me. There is a big competition all year between houses (Thriller, Horror, Sci-fi and Fantasy), overseen by an outside group. In addition, a powerful new student with destiny enters the school.

The writing in this series is exceptionally funny (if you're into parodies of both academia and writing tropes), and stats are generally clear. I do think, though, that the game suffers a bit from stat checks that become progressively more difficult, meaning that the chance of you failing during the finale is high.

Another small problem is that, due to numerous options, each option gets less time. At one point I had a choice to impress people with my grades despite never going to class and not having any grades (i.e. my grades were listed as 'unknown'). I had plenty of time to spend with my 'nemesis' (this game has both normal romances and nemesis similar to romance but with hatred, kind of like that homestuck thing), and my current romance. But everything else seemed fairly stretched or thin. Again, though, this was only due to the large variability in the game.

Some people have said in reviews that 'your choices don't matter' which isn't really true, the writing is extremely variable. However, there's an art to making it clear in writing that your choices aren't important, and I think that wasn't communicated properly here.

Overall, very glad to have played the series, and would rank it in the top 20 at least.

This game is the end of the Hero Project duology, which comes after the Heroes Rise trilogy (and has connections to (Spoiler - click to show)the author's Versus series).

I've really enjoyed Zachary's other games, but felt that the last game, Redemption season, was a bit more constrained. This game takes that further.

In this game, you take on the final episodes of the Hero Project reality show while dealing with a new independent city-state in the wilderness made up of former enemies trying to make a home for minority superheros.

I had an experience early on which really soured me on the game. In the previous game, (Spoiler - click to show)I followed Loa's instructions to the hilt, believing that she could save us. But she had said before that if I didn't win the Hero Project, the earth would be doomed. And the game also likes you to be consistent and to help your sister. So I had to choose between helping my sister and losing the project (thus dooming mankind). It felt pretty harsh. I tried to get some insights from reading the choice of game forums to see if there was a way to still win, but I couldn't find anything helpful.

Beyond that, though, (an issue which probably would have been just fine in the long run), this game feels like 80% reaction, 20% action. Over and over again, you're told what your hero does, and what other heroes do, then you're asked:
Did that make you feel:
-excited?
-scared?
-determined?

Or, someone will give a speech, and then the game will say:
In your heart, you think:
-All superheros should work together
-My type of superhero is persecuted, so we should stick together
-I don't care, as long as my sister is safe.

And these two interactions are what most of the game is. What drew me to Sergi's earlier games was the exact opposite: more action, more dramatic-feeling choices.

The high points of the game for me were seeing my old main character as a respected and powerful superhero, and the last chapter. I enjoy the character of your sister, Jelly Kelly, quite a bit, and your main character's power set is pretty cool.

Overall, I wouldn't have finished playing this one if it weren't connected to the overall Sergiverse. But it's one I wouldn't skip if you have played the other games, as it ties up a lot of loose ends.

This is a somewhat controversial game, but it was only able to achieve that controversy by being popular in the first place.

The author had an earlier 3-part series called Heroes Rise, that focuses on a superhero getting powers, beating their first enemy, going on a reality show, then becoming an influence on the whole nation.

This game is a side story with a new protagonist, a hero with a very clever power: you are an animal/human hybrid, but the animal you're mixed with changes every day.

The focus of this game is different from the earlier series. Your character is a representative of several persecuted minority groups (the animal hybrids, those with uncontrollable powers, and another one I can't remember). The main themes of the game revolve around the treatment of these minority groups. Also, your sister's powers are killing her, and a mysterious benefactor has offered to cure her in return for several unnamed favours, to be collected.

The focus on the minority groups has led to a lot of reviews and forum posts describing the game as having 'too much politics', which is usually a dogwhistle for alt-right people who don't like LGBT representation (which exists in this game; there are trans and non-binary main characters).

However, I feel like there are some issues here, but not with the content itself, rather how it's presented. The first Heroes Rise games were all about action, but this game is largely about reaction. Instead of picking what you do, frequently you're told what you or others do and then given the choice of how you feel about it. Quite frequently choices are forced on you, and you can go several pages without a choice, more often than the earlier games.

I believe that if the game had been rewritten to feature more action and choice that the number of negative reviews would have gone down a lot (except for virulently anti-LGBT people), because a well-written game can handle all sorts of diverse politics. For instance, the Heart of the House prominently features a nonbinary main NPC with non-standard pronouns, but you see a lot fewer negative comments about it.

The Sea Eternal had a similar issue, I believe, where you were frequently told what you were doing and what you thought, and I think that it just doesn't make for an enjoyable game experience. And I think it's possible to have games with strong pro-LGBT messages that give you freedom of action and feeling: Howling Dogs, Birdland, With Those We Love Alive, and Tally Ho come to mind.

Another thing that may have dinged this game's popularity (although it's still a very popular game, just not as much as the other games by this author) is having forced failures. There are situations in the game where you have to pick between 2 very bad outcomes, and Choicescript games that do that tend to suffer.

However, I've noticed that those same ingredients that are drawbacks as games (reduced interactivity and forced failures) can also help make your overall story better. It's no coincidence that the Nebula writing award nominated games tend to sell poorly: they all tend to have tight, railroaded stories with lots of failures to build up a big character arc.

Anyway, I did like the overall story of this game, I'm glad I played it, and I look forward to the next game and the eventual crossover with the author's other series.

This game highlights Sergi's unique approach to choicescript mechanics.

This is book 2 in a series. You are in an alien competition among the most powerful beings in the universe, and you have to pass three intense trials to see if you can join a powerful faction.

Unlike most successful choicescript games, there is definitely a right and wrong answer to every question (based on your past choices). But what Sergi does is constantly give you feedback about your stats so you are at all times aware of your strengths and of what your possible strategies are.

Each choicescript game is both story and game, and this feedback makes the game part significantly more engaging.

There is a lot of worldbuilding in this game, including literal worldbuilding. As the description states:
-Create a planet and culture in your own image

This is a big chunk of the game (at least 15-25%), and is pretty fun.

Another big chunk of the game is being sorted into different personality tests, essentially like horoscopes or Meyer-Briggs or Harry Potter houses, but with bigger consequences. There are at least 3 or 4 major sortings that happen. I found it pretty fun.

Overall, I look forward to the finale, but I enjoyed this game by itself.

I received a review copy of this game.

I've been going through the last of the Choicescript games by order of size from largest to smallest, and I'm near the end. Most of the smaller games don't have as much punch as the bigger ones.

But this game was actually pretty great. (spoilers for first chapter or two): (Spoiler - click to show)You're an alien from a planet where people can absorb others' abilities and memories. In the middle of a deadly war, you're taken to a gladiatorial planet.

The variety of characters is a big plus in this game. There are robots, gods, blob-things, etc. with one character being a superhero from Millenith, a planet where everyone is a superhero (a reference to Millenium City, the setting of the author's Heroes Rise trilogy).

The game is generally fast-paced. There was a giant chunk of world-building near the middle that was a bit hard to digest (and involved a lot of 'Next Page'), but besides that I found it very engaging.

Sergi's games often do the things that I find annoying in other games, but makes them work. His games tend to have pass/fail stat checks and some routes definitely 'win' more than others. However, he liberally sprinkles help and suggestions throughout, and offers an in-app purchase for hints. I'm not a fan of IAP's in general, but by having this one as an option and not getting it, it made me feel more motivated to try to 'win' fairly.

I look forward to playing the next one. I had heard for years that the third versus game has been more or less delayed, but I believe it's moving again. Either way, I don't think stories have to be complete to be enjoyable.

I received a review copy of this game.

This game is a spy thriller, just like the last Choice of Games entry I played, 'It's Killing Time'.

But in a way, they're kind of opposites. 'It's Killing Time' was a series of one blood bath after another with overwrought emotions.

By contrast, Undercover Agent is, at times, bland. You are an agent for a generic government agency, and you work undercover at a fairly generic company. Everything in this game is done competently, but it just didn't 'pop' for me.

The stats had some good variety, but most choices for stats were fairly simple. The big choices that you could make in the game were 'like your bosses and be nice to them' or not, and 'blackmmail people or not'.

In a lot of ways, this game reminds me of my own game I wrote for CoG, so I definitely don't think I could do better, personally. But, just like my game, I feel like this could have used a little bit more. I think that as of now, my favorite spy game from CoG is 180 Files: The Aegis Project.

This is pretty much as straightforward as you get with Choice of Games. You are a professional assassin. In this game, you kill people and watch people get killed. There is also some professional association with other assassins.

There are some plot twists, but the majority of the game is violent shooting and fighting scenes, in the vein of John Wick, Jason Bourne, or that Shooter movie.

That's never been my genre (I haven't seen John Wick, for instance), but even from a position of inexperience I felt like the big moments in the story didn't fully land. Frequently the game takes over for a few minutes to pilot you through some actions that you do.

Stats are straightforward but meager. My highest stat was 27/100 by the end of the game and you get an achievement for getting 30/100. Some checks have pretty high difficulty, and I failed several times.

The high points for me were the pace of the action and the several mysteries threaded through the game.

I received a review copy of this game.

This is definitely an unusual Choicescript game. You are a psychic that steals bodies, and you're caught in a war between two psionic organizations.

In a way, it contrasts with Jim Dattilo's A Wise Use of Time. Both are Choicescript games where you a human with an exceptional power (in that game, stopping time; in this game, possessing other people with your psionic powers).

The time stopping game worked really smoothly but had fairly dull uses of your power: taking a break before work, keeping a kid from scraping her knee.

This game shows off all sorts of psionic powers in amazing and creative ways, from the first chapter to the last. The aspects of having and using an awesome personal power really stick out.

Storywise, it worked very well for me, one of the stories I've most enjoyed in the game. And, having played a lot of Choicescript games with weird choice sets, I felt comfortable picking a path through much of the game.

However, I see this game down by mine near the bottom of the sales charts almost every week. Why?

I think a lot of it has to do with the inherent failures in the game. One thing I learned from playing and writing parser games is that no one will ever find a puzzle where you have to die to proceed, because dying is perceived as failure and people will UNDO to win.

But there is no UNDO in choicescript, and most games provide no saves. Every game is in hardcore mode. So when the game pulls things that feels like failures, you either have to accept that your whole run is ruined or restart. And if it happens more than once, you might as well give up.

There are several times in this game where you have to either go against some major principle you have or lose much of your skills. One major choice can completely reset one of your opposed stats. Often the game will tell you you messed up or did everything wrong.

I think that this 'fighting against all odds' improves the story, but it makes the gameplay pretty grim, and I believe that has contributed to the low sales of the game.

This game has faults, and I don't think I can recommend it for a pleasant experience, due to the above issues. Content-wise, it has strong profanity, moderate violence and optional sexual encounters. Despite these things, it satisfies all 5 points of my 5 point scale (being polished, descriptive, has good interactivity, emotional impact, and I would play again).

I received a review copy of this game.

This game is, I believe, by an author who has achieved some success in traditional publishing, and I think it shows.

This is a war game in a futuristic setting, and most of the game features tactical missions and decisions like advancing, retreating, calling in strikes, and broadening out to politics in general.

You are a brand-new commissioned officer sent to the planet Cerberus to deal with rebels and deal with a vaccine distribution that people are suspicious about (this was written pre-covid).

The stats are easy to understand at first glance, but become more muddled and confusing as the game goes on. For instance, 'diplomacy' and 'charisma' are especially difficult to distinguish, and there is a frequently-reoccurring set of choices that don't seem to correspond to any stats (essentially being cautious, being reckless, or being in the middle).

Especially confusing are options related to 'mission', 'honor', and 'leadership', as I thought I had those pegged at the beginning but they become increasingly obfuscated over time. I ended up with all less than 60% and no matter what I picked, the people I talked to laughed at me for my presumption at thinking I had honor or supported the mission.

As other reviewers have noted, there is failure baked into the game in ways that are indistinguishable from player failure, so even if you're doing everything right it feels like you're losing.

On the plus side, there are several romance options. For mine (the dropship operator), things progressed really quickly at first and then we were an established couple the rest of the game, having 4-5 more scenes together after becoming close. This felt like an unusually high amount in a good way.

Overall, the line-by-line writing was good, and I think any war buffs are definitely going to want to try this one out; it's near the top tier of CoG games for dealing with things like strategy and tactics.

I purchased this game with my own money.

I don't know much about drag culture, although I have friends and family members who are or have been drag performers. This game was a real eye opener for me, and I ended up learning a lot more about things like Drag Race, drag queens, faux queens, etc.

I went back and forth a lot on the rating here. I really don't like the first chapter. It's a huge bombardment of concepts, people, very stylized writing, that just felt like so much. I'm sure it'd be less overwhelming to someone already familiar with drag culture, but for me it felt like I was reading some fantasy book where the author spends the first chapter introducing all the kingdoms and using new words they made up ('and the hrothgus, or town constable, rode forth on his vytnrewr, an insect-like steed). Take that, and make it a sassy drag queen version.

It also ran into Poe's law a bit in that chapter, where I couldn't tell if was portraying drag accurately or mocking it/parodying it, it was just so over the top.

Fortunately, it calms down a lot in the later chapters, and becomes a story about people and what was for me an excellent, compelling mystery, one where, even having solved it, I'd love to go back around and dig in to find out more motives, more background, more viewpoints. The drag queen aspects themselves became more thoughtful, funny, and pointed. The characters were complex and rich.

Another reason I thought of knocking it down a peg is the humor. Not because it isn't funny; it has plenty of lines. But in this fictional world, these are top-tier meme makers, comedians and dramatists putting out their best efforts, and while the author is genuinely funny or dramatic, sometimes seeing the writing and having the audience (or the narrator) say 'this is the funniest thing I've ever had' just kind of falls flat.

But a point in its favor is that the game manages stats well. I always knew what each stat did, had plenty of chances at the beginning to increase them, and basically didn't fail any stat checks till near the end where my particular mix didn't hold up (smart, funny, confident).

Now, I know that makes it sound like the game is 'too easy', but the real game is in strategizing between cooperating vs going solo, investigating the mystery vs preparing for the competition, sabotaging people or helping them when they are potential rivals and potential future judges, and deciding what to do with the seemingly cult-like abbey.

At the end, I felt somewhat uncomfortable recommending this game to general audiences as it has some raunchy and sexual material (almost all in jokes and skits), as well as frequent opportunities for drug use or binge drinking (you are a recovering addict). But I can't deny the overall quality of the game, and I'm putting the mention of those things here so that you can get an idea before you play.

Edit: having played through it now, I can see why it doesn't have a ton of ratings on the omnibus app but has one of the highest ratings. The offputting first chapter may have kept people away, but the solid remaining portion of the game probably led to higher scores. Also, people went out of their way to rate it highly in opposition to a campaign by trolls against the game.