Reviews by MathBrush

In this game, you play a prisoner stuck in a jail cell with a minimum of furnishings and things to do. You periodically sleep, and dream, providing more things to do and try. In this sense, it is like a stripped down version of Howling Dogs.

The game is very short, and gives you a sense of claustrophobia. However, everything is resolved too quickly and in too tidy a manner.

I believe this game was entered in a speed comp, and as such, I recommend it for fans of speed comps.

The Unnkulia games were a series of popular games that filled the gap between the end of Infocom and the beginning of the IFComp/XYZZY Award era.

After Unnkulia 1 and 2, the developers made a prequel called Unnkulia Zero, and released this game as a sort of advertisement for the new game. It hints at events in Unnkulia 0 and sets up the events of the original game. It is short and easy.

Like all the games, this is juvenile. You carry a condom made of swiss Cheez, you let a little girl (Spoiler - click to show)drown due to foolish beliefs,

It's not very large, and fairly easy. You find four keys, then you find some treasure and put it back.

If you want to try out an Unnkulia game, this is the easiest and shortest of the bunch.

As a sequel to Unnkulia Underworld, this game is perhaps even more juvenile. Apparently women have been giving you their favors due to your fame, so you're trying to find something famous to do to keep up your popularity. There are two main areas, one on both sides of a river, two mazes, and a large underground complex.

Like the first game, you have ACME company making Cheez products, a monk that loves eggs, and so on. Your goal is the construction of an elaborate machine, like Leather Goddesses.

The game is well-made, but the main idea didn't appeal to me (of being a Kuul Duhd). It is large and a treat for adventurer fans in the right mindset.

This game can be played in less than a half hour. You play as a chinese farmer who discovers that his wife has been unfaithful to him. Through the aid of magic, he can escape her dangerous plans.

The game is tightly narrated, with new actions occurring frequently. The puzzles are very simple in general, with a couple of sticky points where it's hard to know what your abilities should be.

Recommended for fans of story-driven IF.

This is a story-driven game set in 3 parts, with a prelude, interludes, and a postlude.

The game is about two brothers who witness a new civilization come in contact with their own, the Incenders, a race of humanoid fiery beings. Over time, the brothers deal with a variety of forms of conflict.

The puzzles are a bit odd; the first big puzzle is serving drinks to a large group of people, and this can be tedious. It gets more exciting with dangerous exploration puzzles in parts 2 and 3.

A lot of world building has gone on here, similar to that on Worlds Apart, but on a smaller scale.

Recommended for fans of "hard sci-fi".

This game is generally well implemented and has smooth gameplay. You have a machine that lets you switch bodies, and you can switch with quite a few creatures in the game.

But the game is a bit weaker in the story department. You are trying to solve a mystery in a lab, and some people oppose you while some aid you. But as other reviewers noted, you can directly do crazy things around them without them noticing or caring, including setting things on fire, doing crazy and dangerous acrobatics, or even stealing important things as they watch you. Some of this is explained away later, but it is hard to stay motivated.

Otherwise, this is a nice science fiction game of moderate length.

In this short-to-mid length farm game, you are a young girl trying to help grandma and grandpa make up after a fight.

You explore a farm, learn about your family's history, and try to help the two of them out. The main puzzles of the game involve a battery used in three locations.

The writing was charming, the puzzles were mild, and the setting was fairly unusual for interactive fiction.

Good for fans of mildly puzzly slice of life.

In this game, you play a girl playing hide and seek at a party. The party is at Emma's house, and Emma's mom is the employer of your mom and some other people's mom. Emma is well-dressed and you other three are not. There is a poorer red haired girl you don't know, and Emma's croney Yvonne.

The game ends very quickly, but you can find a lot of endings. I found at least 5 or 6. The most satisfying ending to me ignores Emma and finds you a new friend.

The programming and NPCs are quite well done. It's a fun little take on girl's social structures.

This game was released in 1993. a year that saw several significant advances in interactive fiction. Perdition's Flames is one of the largest TADS games available, going up to 666 points in increments ranging from less than 10 points to 50.

You arrive in hell on a boat to discover that it's been improving it's image and applying for environmental disaster contracts to clean up hell so they can compete with heaven. But you don't like heaven or hell; you want adventure!

But adventure requires a series of magical protective amulets, the search for which occupies the bulk of the game.

This game is devilish, with some puzzles that are quite difficult. They are very inventive and fun, however. Perhaps the best sequence of the game is a detour to a haunted house (haunted by you!) where you have to get a silver ring that you can only barely nudge with your ghost fingers, all while being chased by a priest and the media.

This is just about as good as it gets for big, old-school puzzle tests, so if you're a fan of Zork, the Enchanter games, or Curses!, you should definitely check this out.

While not the first, this game was near the beginning of the wave of one room games. It was entered into IFCOMP the same year as Enlightenment, another popular one room game.

This game is just pure puzzle fest. Solve a puzzle and another pops out. There is a lights out type puzzle with pegs, a mathematical dart board, hidden objects, codes, etc. It's similar to the more recent Grandma Bethlindas puzzlebox.

Recommended for pure puzzle fans.