Reviews by MathBrush

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.

In this game, you are in a strict Catholic school, and you have to show how much you can rebel.

It's a sort of grungy, pimple-popping feel, sort of the way I've heard Odysseus and Catcher in the Rye described. The f*** word is sprinkled throughout, as well as a few other profanities, some teenage drinking, etc.

Basically, you have some punk friends, and you want to show everyone how punk you are by mouthing off, wearing crazy stuff, swiping things, etc.

I stopped playing partway through, because it's not my sort of thing.

This game has two parts. The first part is a smallish sci-fi area, with 2 sets of 4 rooms, each set arranged in a square, and a few simple machines.

There is then a fantasy type area, which has puzzles with multiple solutions, depending on the personality of the player.

Overall, the feel is simple but not trivial puzzles. The conversation system uses menus, and worked well for me. I didn't encounter any bugs or typos.

The game is not always innovative, but it's a solid addition to the canon. Recommended for fans of surreal games or of moral choices.

This game is a classic-style adventure game where you play as a cat. Your goal is to eat some soft food, after having had hard food for a while.

You explore your cabin and the surrounding woods, and everything is from the point of view of a feline. Cars, tv's, sofas, etc. are described from her point of view.

The game was nominated for an XYZZY for best NPC's. The NPC's include your Provider, your Rival, and a child.

Overall, recommended for fans of nonlinear exploration games with a score.

Jim Aikin is one of my favorite authors, so I was looking forward to this game. But it turned out to be a bit odd.

You play an american tourist trying to get some food at a Cafe in Paris. As you wander about the cafe, it is clear that there are some things you might try to get the waiter's attention. As you do them, the game progresses. However, the game increasingly has you do odd things that you wouldn't really think of in real life, without motivation.

The setting, a 2x3 rectangle in a cafe, is charming, with some fun NPC's (the game was nominated for an XYZZY for Best NPC's). It's really just an atmospheric game.

Recommended for fans of Paris or of restaurant games (like Gourmet or Dinner with Andre).