Ratings and 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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Zigamus: Zombies at Vigamus, by Marco Vallarino
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A zombie game leaning on video game tropes and history, May 6, 2017*

This game has an entertaining premise: zombies have attacked Vigamus, the video game museum, and you have to use video game powers to save the museum.

But it falls flat with missing synonyms, sexist humor, and an overly zany plot. Others have definitely enjoyed it (it has some great ratings on textadventures.co.uk) but it didn't suit me personally.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Ash, by Lee Grey
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A moving kinetic game about death, May 6, 2017*
Related reviews: 15-30 minutes

This game shows, like Stone Harbor, the power of a great story mixed with good physical and visual interaction. Both games are strongly linear, with fewer interactions, but with a great effect.

Ash tells the story of the death of the authors mom, a lingering death in the hospital. There are some interesting choices in the story with subtle effects later, but it's mostly linear. The beauty comes from the tight writing, the smooth visual effects, the appropriate font, and the way that the choices seem to reflect thought and intent more than actual decisions. You are choosing how to feel, not what to do. This worked well for me.

I finished both times with goosebumps all over my arm. This game is on the opposite end of the also great Cactus Blue Motel in terms of world model and interactivity, but both are great. Neither game resembles the super-branching wild stories that the lower-placing entries have. I love this game.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Fallen 落葉 Leaves, by Adam Bredenberg and Danial Mohammed Khan-Yousufzai
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Randomly generated abstract poetry, May 6, 2017*

I am a fan of poetry, but not generally of procedurally generated poetry, except for the Mary Jane of Tomorrow. This program generates random, disjointed ghazal-form poems based on some input.

I think more could have been, for instance with rhyming procedurally or otherwise using the stricter forms of Ghazal.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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Letters, by Madison Evans
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A series of hyperlinked letters about teenagers and friendship , May 6, 2017*

I'll admit, I was disappointed, because I thought this game actually had a series of secret coded messages that you had to decrypt, from hints in the text.

But this is actually a bunch die of letters from a girl to the player that talk about life and difficulties. The styling is great, and the game is polished and descriptive. There was some strong profanity.

Really polished, but relatively short and hard to piece together.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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The Skyscraper and the Scar, by Diego Freire, Ruber Eaglenest
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A mid length branching zombie game, May 5, 2017*

I beta tested this game. A single playthrough of this game takes you through a series of battles and explorations in a luxury apartment building after a zombie apocalypse.

The game is not too long, and there are some difficulties with the translation. However, on more playthroughs, it has more features: more branches, randomization, multiple languages.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
Note: this review is based on older version of the game.
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Theatre People, by Michael Kielstra
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A short game about getting a theatre production to work., May 5, 2017*

This game is actually exactly what a great short game looks like about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the writing process. There is a good storyline with side bits, the main walkthrough is implemented, there aren't that many bugs, but it isn't really all the way there: there are some descriptions that were written quickly and need revising, many objects are unimplemented, conversations need more topics, and all of the thousand little responses for standard actions and wrong attempts need to be added.

This game is mostly about fixing the curtain so the stage can go up. It does a good job of characterizing the different individuals involved.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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The God Device, by Andy Joel
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A strongly branching scifi story about a powerful device, May 5, 2017*

This is a very branching game, with, I assume, 10 endings (I've seen 4 or 5).

It has extensive styling of the words and background, which was a little grating but much better than the standard style.

This was a mostly branching game, meaning that most choices end up sending you on different paths. However, a lot of the paths are just quick bad endings, so there is one main correct path.

The story and writing were okay, I would say above average for unedited Internet stories. There was some profanity, but not a lot.

Overall, it could be a fun short sci fi game for a lunch break.

* This review was last edited on May 10, 2017
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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 2 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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