Reviews by MathBrush

I'm from Utah and I love the desert, so this IFComp 2015 Twine game intrigued me.

It's a long-form Twine game about surviving after an accident in the desert. In real life, the Utah desert is very dangerous to be lost in, and that's reflected in the game.

The main idea is that you have water supplies, food supplies, and tools. You constantly make decisions about where to look for water, where to sleep for the night, whether to risk a boat trip, etc. Each option carries an associated cost in terms of water and stamina, which you don't know ahead of time.

Overall, it ends up being a bit like Oregon Trail. There are two main ways of surviving. I came close to finishing both trails, but I died at the very end each time, which, as I said, isn't too far off from reality.

This game is well-written. I wasn't a huge fan of the visual layout, but overall, it was pretty good. I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't died right at the end a few times, but I've heard the authors are thinking of making the ending a bit easier.

This game was the longest game entered in IFComp 2015, and I enjoyed it. It is complex and long, and well-detailed.

The game is centered around the tedium of immortality. You find yourself a brand new immortal, in a sort of retirement home or country club for immortals. Each has immersed themselves into some sort of activity, whether artistic endeavors, sports, art, or insanity.

The game has a very ancient and purposely static feeling. It implements a 'zz' command that lets you wait for a very long time. It has a few puzzles requiring long patience, and repetitive actions.

This all meshes very well with the story, and when things finally start changing, it makes it more exciting.

Overall, the feeling of this game was similar to the Myst series, but with more people. I recommend it.

Suspect is an Infocom mystery game. It resembles Deadline more than Witness or Ballyhoo. You are at a party with a large crowd of people, and you are set up for the murder of the hostess.

This game features a large number of NPCs with independent actions. You have to figure out who committed the murder, and we, and who helped them.

Overall, it seemed difficult, but I just used a walkthrough after playing around a bit. I don't enjoy replaying long games over and over, (except for Adventure and Zork I, where you really just need to optimize your lantern use). The story was fun, and I enjoyed the feelies.

The game does give you clues on the actions you need to perform, usually by seeing something happen and saying to yourself "Oh! If I had done such and such EARLIER, I would have been fine!"

This game is a murder mystery with a twist. The game is written in third person, with the protagonist being Madame L'Estrange, spiritualist detective.

The focus here is the story, and it's what got the game nominated for a '97 XYZZY Best Story award. You travel to various locations and get big text dumps spinning a marvelous tale of murder, Australian animals, and the occult.

The rest of the game is a bit spotty. There are numerous typos and spotty implementation. Sometimes you talk to people automatically when you see them; you almost always have to 'ask about' something even if you want to tell, except for one spot in the game where you have to 'tell' several things. A lot of guess-the-verb, but you can do most of the game on your own before using the walkthrough (you don't get any points at all until you're about 3/4 of the way through the game). Even the inventory has a typo with a misplaced colon.

Overall, a great game if you're into a good story, which I am.

In the Friend Zone is an allegory like Gulliver's Travels or Alice in Wonderland, but centered around the plight of the Nice Guys who get stuck in the Friend Zone by women.

Although the love interest and PC can have their gender chosen, it seems to be centered around men; after all, the entire world seems to be (Spoiler - click to show)a woman, where you explore her arm, eye, mouth, anus, and vagina, getting progressively more disturbing.

Gameplay is linear at first, turning into exploration later on. The game directs towards different 'questions', which you hunt through to find. I enjoyed this part of the game, as well as parts of the openings.

The overall theme is something I don't quite identify with, and as a prudish person, there are more sexual references than I would like. The general feel seems to be that women are torturing men by placing them in the Friend Zone, but the subtext is that the men are torturing themselves. Nowhere, though, does it suggest open dialogue or communication as ways of developing relationships.

So I had mixed feelings about it. I loved the execution and writing, and I'd be very happy to see more from this author.

This game reminds me of Photopia in many ways. You have a photograph and a variety of other items in your house. As you CONSIDER (or C) each of them, you receive a flashback to your past.

Between your interactions in the past, you move around a bit in real life.

The game is very gentle; if you go the wrong way, the game will tell you to come back. All flashbacks can be revisited repeatedly. If you do nothing for a long time, the game will give you a hint.

I complete 90% of games with a walkthrough, but I didn't need one here (although I did know a bit of what to do in one flashback because I had skimmed through the ClubFloyd Transcript earlier).

I liked this game; it was reflective and contemplative.

This was one of the most-played IFComp 2015 games, most likely due to its intriguing premise (a machine that can do anything!) and its shortness.

What happens is that you pick one of a few different openings that affects the flavor text of the game, and get a semi-random ending. In between is the real meat of the game: a visually beautiful form of sorts where you place different attributes (like quantity or sound) into 2-3 slots and combine them to something new.

Many combinations don't work, but there's a manual that helps. After tinkering around a bit, you should look at the walkthrough and see just how much WAS implemented.

Overall, short but fun for a moment.

This IFComp 2015 entry was made from scratch by the author. It is a rebelling of the story Godfather Death by the Brothers Grimm. In the original story, a father chose one of three godfathers for their child: God, Satan, or Death. He chose Death.

This game lets you choose God or Satan as well. While it is interesting to see how it plays out, each branch is fairly short, and the graphics are somewhat lacking compared to other graphics in the comp.

Fans of fairy tales may like it, though.

Gotomomi was one of the better long games of the 2015 IFComp. The author spent four years making this game.

You play a young woman who is need of cash in a Tokyo train station. A fairly compact map with a few hidden exits allows you to explore carefully and get to no the culture and economy.

The game is all about money. You buy and sell a lot, negotiating everything. Some jobs or ways of making money require several prerequisites. It's important to examine background objects on a regular basis.

The atmosphere is grungy, sad and dangerous. I really enjoyed this game, but it takes more time than a typical IFComp game.

This minimalist parser game feels like it learned a lot from the success of Twine games, and responded by making a stripped-down straightforward puzzle box. I really liked it.

The box has different moving parts you have to interact with (using the single command U for USE or UNDERTAKE TO INTERACT WITH, according to the author). As you do, more and more pieces show up. You are taught how to use some pieces that you have to remember later; other puzzles require leaps of intuition or timing. I finished without hints, which is very unusual for me.