Reviews by MathBrush

This game is a shortish parser game about a trial run of an automatic typo corrector. The majority of the game is spent trying to fix a bizarre machine.

This game had several implementation issues, including fatally crashing the game when looking up various topics in the manual.

The puzzles in this game are fiddly. I have a distaste for machinery puzzles, but those who enjoy them will like this game.

The writing is descriptive, and though the first part was bland, I loved the ending, so I'm giving this 2 stars.

This is a short game with multiple paths to getting through each puzzle. You are trying to get coffee to stay buzzed at work.

Many of the puzzles are unintuitive, like (Spoiler - click to show)looking in a book to get an apron for a different store. However, at least there are multiple routes for each puzzle. The implementation is spotty (TAKE ALL let's you take a door). Overall, I recommend it only for fans of the office genre.

John Evans is know for large, complex games that are often unfinished or broken. This game is the most polished of his that I have played. It is complete, and free of typos.

However, the plot and puzzles are confusing. You are wandering around a cave with colored crystals and rooms corresponding to elements. There are tons of interactions that just make no sense, and some guess the verb

Recommended, with hints, only for fans of big puzzles games.

This longish game is a text port of the graphical game Return to Zork. This text port was entered in IFCOMP.

Porting this game was a big task, and many parts of it were rushed. Typos abound, and some implementation is spotty.

Overall, though, I enjoyed playing this as an alternative to downloading the graphical game. I've played most Infocom games so this was a nice way to continue onward.

In the game you have to return to the areas of Zork I and Zork II to investigate disappearances.

In this game, you visit a small village and learn a terrible secret.

This game begins with a very unrealistic but mercifully short sex scene. As others have noted, the game accepts only one command in each scene to advance the plot.

The writing is vivid and descriptive, but the plot zigzags. The main path is implemented well. Overall, an interesting storyline with some potholes and weaker implementation.

I've always enjoyed Lovecraftian interactive fiction games. This one hits up a lot of the good elements: a cult, unspeakable horrors, creative monsters.

You explore a mansion, trying to rescue the father of a little girl from an untrustable friend.

Unfortunately, the game is marred by both bugs (like room text appearing in incorrect rooms) and questionable puzzle design (like having 20 hiding places to search to find 2 or 3 items).

Also, there is a lot of goofy humor interspersed throughout the game, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

This game placed in the middle of ifcomp the year it came out.

You play an office workers who is excited for a date after work, but has been asked to stay late to finish some stuff up.

You go around a small, 5-room office, negotiating, searching, etc.

Some of the puzzles are clever, but others are pretty opaque. I felt like I had to really lean on the walkthrough.

The setting was portrayed fairly accurately. There was one unfortunate part with a pin-up calendar, but the game is completely tame otherwise.

This game started off with some guess-the-verb puzzles and some rough edges in room descriptions, but once the game started picking up, the storyline became very enjoyable.

You play a pizza delivery boy who has to run a pizza to a courthouse. As the game progresses, you experience ruins with the mafia, natural disasters, and essentially the collapse of society in your town. The last scene in the game is truly awesome.

Hard without the walkthrough due to a lack of synonyms

This game received very low ratings in the 2014 ifcomp. I feel like most of those votes are in error.

First, the game starts with a series of multiple choice answers filled with semi-gibberish. Many people likely saw the first few questions and quit.

Second, after the intake form, you go through 4 rooms, and the second room purposefully contains Twine code, revealing what would have been various choices and reveals. Many assumed this was a mistake.

B-minus has a style that is part impressionistic and part Dada. The gibberish evokes a variety of feelings in a primeval way, and the 'hacked' parts of the game completely change the way you interact with the world.

Overall, a technically brilliant game. However, it was not a joy to play or replay, but more of a crazy experience where once was enough for me.

This Twine game was written by 3 community college students working together. It is about valkyries, spirits that aid the residents of Valhalla. Early on, the game splits into three very different branches, the first two being relatively short, the last having a few huge pages of text.

The stories generally are about a non-Valkyrie helping retrieve a necklace that Freya made and Loki stole. Two of the stories mention the ability to see when people die.

Overall, there are many typos and formatting issues, and the story swerves wildly. However, there are many options in the game, so you feel in control.