Ratings and Reviews by MathBrush

This Ectocomp game (which had to be written in two hours) feels like the author ran out of time. It is set in a dark and brooding office of a physiognomist who is not present. It puts off a real abandoned hospital sort of vibe, like Mariel or One Eye Open.

Nothing much happens, though. There is just about one puzzle, and that puzzle is escaping. Once you do, the game is over. There were no NPCs as far as I can tell.

In a normal game, this would be off-putting, but SpeedIF is different. Taking your 2 hours to build a compelling setting is not a bad thing.

In this Ectocomp 2015 game, you have to get out of a haunted ship to make it to freedom.

As a speedIF, it is ambitious, and I enjoyed it. You have to escape a series of locked rooms or gauntlets, and often the wrong choices will kill you.

Like most puzzle SpeedIF, the puzzles are underclued, but the game is small enough to allow you to experiment with it.

Fun for SpeedIF fans.

This game was entered in EctoComp 2015. It was written in two hours or less. The author is good at writing a lot of text quickly, and so this is quite a large game.

It is written in Choicescript, with many choices per turn, but I believe the story plays out roughly the same whatever you do.

The story is set in Australia, and is a goofy game about a girl who gets a variety of new roommates, one of which has left a bizarre and nasty experiment in the refrigerator.

References a lot of wildlife, like axolotls,kangaroos, maggots, etc.

This was my favorite game of Ectocomp 2015, a SpeedIF competition where games were written in 2 hours or less. You play a tiny little ninja wandering around a small landscape with big pumpkins and friendly creatures.

The game just has a cute atmosphere. The puzzles are easy, and I solved them within 10 minutes.

Recommended as a good introduction to SpeedIf.

Andrew Schultz is known for his wordplay games, and has managed to make quite a good SpeedIF game puzzle here. Watch out for Full Nelson and Half Nelson as they chase you for your candy!

The game centers on a large graphical display representing various words. The goal of the puzzle is to figure out how to defeat your enemies based on information you gain in the chase.

It's just one puzzle, but it's a pretty good one. Recommended for puzzle fans.

This is a well-put together Speed IF about a mummy waking up in a modern laboratory after centuries of slumber. With your mummified cat friend, you need to pull a Wizard of Oz and get a heart, a brain, a stomach, etc.

The game is fairly descriptive for a speed-IF, but the puzzles are undervalued, most likely due to time constraints (it was written in 2 hours!).

The ending has a twist that introduces a very different tone into the piece that some found effective and some found off-putting.

Recommended for Speed-IF fans.

This game was entered in EctoComp 2015, the annual Halloween Speed IF, where it took first place.

The game is class Chandler Groover; a constrained set of interactions, non-standard parser directions, and a style that is rich like Devil's food cake.

The story is fairly gory, but in a surreal way. It is surreal and allegorical; Groover likes readers to develop their own interpretations, and their are many you can make here. The game is linear, running from start to end, with many surprises.

This game was nominated for an XYZZY for Best Setting. In it, you play an individual who is seeking enlightenment, and for a path between strength and wisdom.

The game map is relatively small, with descriptions reminiscent of The Moonlit Tower. The puzzles are fairly standard fair; a lot of searching will generally be rewarded, and a combat lesson tells you how to win battles.

Most of the game is about quiet contemplation, and the game is related to some legends about the development of TaiChi.

In this game, you play the leader of a platoon of Marines during WWII. In the pacific theatre, you are commanded to attack the island of Espirtu Santu, and you must decide how to do so.

The game focuses on both strategy and tactics. What weapon do you pick? Do you ambush or charge in? When do you stop? When do you go?

I played through to one ending, trying to play conservatively to reduce losses.

I felt this was an effective Choicescript game. It seems to be well-researched.

Recommended for Choicescript fans and military history buffs.

Star City has a nice, evocative beginning. It's no wonder it was nominated for an XYZZY for Best Setting. You end up exploring a vast, cylindrical space station, like a simplified version of the Starcross spaceship. Its origins and your means of getting there are highly, intensely original and fun.

The gameplay is a bit uneven, and the scoring as well. Some events are worth 5 points; one is worth 50; and you reach 100 before the hardest part of the game!

That hard part is a flight simulator. It requires some guesswork, some examination, and some knowledge of how airplanes work. Surprisingly difficult, given the rest of the game,

It might be worth it more to play just up until the simulator, then use the walkthrough.