Reviews by MathBrush

Fear is one of those games I tried a long time ago, tried to play without hints, got stuck, tried again, and quit. So I walked through it just now with the hints, and it was interesting to see what the game was like.

You navigate a small house, but your fears don't let you do anything you want to do. Three objects in the game will give you flashbacks, like the game Photograph. Each of these flashbacks contains a difficult puzzle, all of which require lateral thinking.

Overall, an interesting game, but much too hard in my opinion, and not entirely compelling outside of the puzzles. However, if you do like puzzles a lot, this game is pretty fun.

This game is cute, and intricate, and illustrated with whimsically primitive but talented drawings. It is the story of two friends in a magical world who go on a quest to save the world.

Like the PDF game Trapped in Time or the Twine game You Will Select a Decision, Witch's Girl uses page numbers and 'Turn to page ...'. About a fourth or a fifth of pages have an illustration.

The game is quite intricate; it has an inventory system and a time travel system, and much of the game consists of using time travel to obtain various items and revisit different areas. I would budget a significant amount of time to play it (1-3 hours).

Excellent game.

This game is short and absurd. It appears at first to be a difficult logic puzzle, where you have to decide who sits where at dinner. It then becomes increasingly absurd.

This is from the Apollo 18 Tribute Album, which apparently was a collection of games which were based on the lyrics of songs on the so-named album by They Might Be Giants, and which included other great games like Dinner Bell.

All in all, it's just a fun descent into madness. No drugs involved, as far as I can see.

As a believer in Christ, it's nice to see a game based on the Bible that isn't satire, isn't preachy, and is very well done. In this game, you are a guest at the famous wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine.

The author has made a good slice-of-life game here that is enjoyable. The focus is on what people are really like.

The game has numerous NPCs, tight implementation, and a good progressiev hint menu.

Basically, the wine is gone and you have to find it. You encounter a variety of characters, including Jesus, multiple Marys, Martha, Lazarus, John, Zechariah, etc. The story also incorporates the parable of the ten virgins, as well as an epilogue from another part of the scriptures.

The author has done a great job here. Recommended for everyone.

In this mid-length parser game written entirely in Java, you are a petulant British man whose rich aunt is visiting, and you have to take a large number of actions to get her wealth. These include some pretty horrible actions, including killing off numerous people, but it's all presented as comedy.

The parser seemed pretty good. The writing was based a bit on Wodehouse's writing. The puzzles are a mixed bag, with a lot of guessing what the author was thinking; however, each area is so small so that you can just try everything and eventually get it right. The last half of the game involves visiting 8 time periods to obtain enough articles of clothing to enter a certain building.

The game is notable for a mysterious butler figure that attends you and acts at first as an automatic warning system, and then as a summonable help system. He is dry and witty. He was nominated for Best Individual NPC in the XYZZY's, and the game was nominated for Best NPC's.

This game might be a great game for people new to interactive fiction, and is a fun change for experienced players.

It's a game with 4 little puzzles to solve. You are a hungry bulldog who is trying to get your owner to make you some food. Like the much bigger and more difficult A Day for Soft Food (about a cat with the same goal), you have to wander around, influencing your owner in an order to get the food you need.

I beat it in 15 minutes without hints. The writing is from the dog's perspective, with a dog's description of a sofa, a toilet, a fridge, etc.

Recommended for it's short, fun nature.

In this game, you play a tall, slim, handsome man (who is truly a fairy), hanging out with other attractive men and women adventurers with the attempt to keep them from your treasure.

The game is vast, and only the things the author thought up themselves are implemented (i.e. if you don't do exactly what they want, then nothing happens). You can 'summon' or 'create' just about anything, and shapechange.

There are a lot of NPCs, and extensive conversations/textdumps, but the game is buggy.

Fun to play around with, but not fun to try to beat.

This game didn't really grab me. You are a cat who is a detective with a ferret partner (everyone else seems to be human). You drive around a geographically accurate (I assume) San Francisco, trying to solve a crime.

The game is bizarre and zany, making some puzzles completely out there. It's like a cartoon; lost your car? don't worry, some film character falling out of the sky will help you 5 scenes later.

It's main interesting feature is your partner, whom you can take and drop and throw, and who has good dialog.

This game has some strong sexual content early on, which forms the theme of the rest of the game. You are a WASP (a White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant) who is cheating on their husband in the country club closet, and someone photographs you. You need to keep it secret to save your marriage.

There is a cast of characters you have to deal with. After playing similar games like Varicella and Broken Legs, I decided to go with the walkthrough first, then play through a bit again afterwards to see what is going on.

Unlike those first two games, where you have a collection of rivals that must be eliminated in parallel, there is really only one or two people you are out to get here: those behind the picture. Everyone else who falls by your hand is just a pawn you move, usually to obtain access to new areas or information.

The game roots for the protagonist, but they are rather despicable. Like Varicella, Broken Legs, and the author's Vespers, the only reason anyone roots for you is that everyone else is horrible too.

I don't plan on playing again. It is well-crafted, and polished.

This is one of those games where winning is just one goal. A minimal walkthrough is fairly boring. A thorough playthrough is intriguing and fun.

You are in a car, handcuffed to a mysterious man in black. The vast majority of this one-room game is talking to the one NPC, using ASK (or A) and TELL (or T).

The one puzzle in this game is a bit unfair, as it depends on knowing what your character is capable of doing.

What this game does is sketch out a sense of a vast and frightening/interesting world.

I recommend it.