Reviews by MathBrush

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View this member's reviews by tag: 15-30 minutes 2-10 hours about 1 hour about 2 hours IF Comp 2015 Infocom less than 15 minutes more than 10 hours Spring Thing 2016
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Steam and Sacrilege, by Phil McGrail
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A sketchily implemented steam punk story set in a city, May 5, 2017*

This game has a big setting, with around 132 rooms, most of which are empty hotel rooms you don't need to visit.

There is a steampunk hotel with automated bellhop and clockwork mechanisms that you glimpse briefly, before a future setting in a regular house. As many have stated, this is pretty skimpily implemented. Playing it with the walkthrough reminds me a lot of Deadline Enchanter, but in that game, the sketchiness was intentional, and a walkthrough was included.

If you're into steampunk, play this with a walkthrough.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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A Time of Tungsten, by Devin Raposo
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A very long sci-fi/psychological Twine with music and some text effects, May 5, 2017*

I was a beta-tester for this game. This is one of the longest Twine games available. It's about a character who is trapped, and is having flashbacks to how they got there.

It's a sci fi Gane, with much of it aboard a Star Trek-Esqye vessel (although a small one). It deals with the characters relationship with the crew members.

There is an overall framing story as well involving recorded memory. As part of the framing story, the early text is purposely stilted and formal.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
Note: this review is based on older version of the game.
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Evermore, by Adam Whybray and Edgar Allan Poe
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A wildly branching Twine pastiche of all of Poems works, May 5, 2017*

This game seems like the author took everyone one of Poe's stories, drew a picture of the ending of it, summarized it in a humorous way, and then built a branching tree of decisions where each branch ends at a different picture/parody.

This was pretty entertaining, but it's tedious to look for more than a half dozen endings. Best for fans of Poe, pastiche, or old fashioned CYOA books.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Eight characters, a number, and a happy ending, by K.G. Orphanides
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A space game on a small map with heavy background, May 4, 2017*

In this game, you play as a character waking out of a deep sleep before interacting with an alien species.

This game relies a lot on heavy front-loading of information, most of which is not actually necessary for the game, because it generally teaches commands and the most common commands are listed in the Quest interpreter as drop-down boxes.

After the front-loading, there are a few actions you need to take that are more fast-paced.

The storyline is interesting, but I feel like the different parts of the game could have been incorporated more smoothly, perhaps with the manuals spread out more. However, the game is implemented well, and doesn't seem to have any bugs as far as I can see.

Recommended for fans of hard sci-fi looking for a short parser game.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Aether Apeiron: The Zephyra Chronicles, by Hippodamus & Company
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A mythology-dense twine work with labrythine structure, May 2, 2017*

This game consists of 7 chapters in a scifi setting with heavy Greek mythology references.

This game is very dense with invented words and phrases. It reminds me of To Burn in Memory from 2015; both games have text that makes subconscious sense but whose meaning is hard to grasp.

I think the issue is that none of the setting or mythology matters; the game might as well be about someone getting dressed for the morning. This is because you never need to use your knowledge about the setting to progress. Almost all links return to the previous page, and there are no opportunities for 'missed chances'. If the game made you make some tough, clearly marked irreversible choices, with delayed consequences, or used the knowledge it dispenses it dispenses.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Stuff and Nonsense, by Felicity Banks
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A quick Twine game about magical metals and Queen Victoria , May 2, 2017*

This author has written several very good games in the past, but I feel that this one doesn't live up to their reputation.

You pick to be one of several magic using Australians in the 1800s during a heist. The game is very similar in style to choicescript, and overall feels like an opening chapter from a choicescript game.

I think overall, this game and another game from this comp (the Eight Characters game) spent a great deal of time on front loaded back story, which involves a lot of reading that does not translate into gameplay. This isn't bad in itself, but the rest of both of these games focus on quick-action gameplay, so it conflicts with the earlier play style.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Thaxted Havershill And the Golden Wombat, by Andrew Brown
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A short-to-mid length goofy twine game about adventure, May 1, 2017*

This is an entry in the 'I'm so wacky!' class of games. The text is a garish yellow, and the plot is disjointed and wild. It lasts for a respectable number of turns, and has some basic puzzles.

The author is completely committed to their writing, though, and they did a good job conveying the emotion that they wanted. This game is not really a bad little 'snack' if you're just looking for something quick and mildly amusing during a lunch break.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Quest for the Traitor Saint, by Owlor
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A my-little-pony inspired game about a dangerous island and a hidden saint, May 1, 2017*

I helped to beta-test this my little pony inspired game.

This game is accompanied by many hand-drawn illustrations of various bizarre creatures and locations. You walk around an island, exploring with your pony companion, and try to discover a patron saint of diplomacy to help your quest.

The illustrations add a lot to the game, and the writing is inventive and descriptive.

The game was fun, but didn't draw me in with an emotional connection. It is fairly long, but ends seemingly mid-story.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Cinnamon Tea, by Daffs O'Dill
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A short, minimally branching twine game about dreams and violent events, May 1, 2017*

In this game, you choose one of three options, then click through a few links in a row.

The game uses the standard twine style without customization, although each of the branches ends in a picture.

The stories are about bizarre and violent dreams. One of the branches had an explicit sexual encounter, at which point I stopped playing.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Slicker City, by Andrew Schultz
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A shortish game based on items with a certain kind of wordplay, May 1, 2017*

This game is a sequel to The Problems Compound. It is not one of my favorite Andrew Schultz games. Schultz has made some brilliant games, like Threediopolis and Shuffling Around, that are based on wordplay and puzzles, where the player has to use wordplay tricks to come up with commands.

This game and its predecessor have some small elements like that, but are mostly big set-pieces there to show off silly word reversals. These word reversals, while clever, are difficult to understand at times, and lead to a disjointed game world. This game was polished, but shorter than Problems Compound.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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