Reviews by george

I feel a little torn giving this three stars, but it's only because I think this is more of a diversion than a full-fledged work (indeed, it seems to be more of a bit of marketing for a separate work the author had a hand in). Nevertheless this is a funny and well-written piece that fits the medium very well.

Take the time to at least start each composer's story, since the author changes approach and to a certain extent the affordances with each one (there's an especially nice interactive bit in Schoenberg). Overall I enjoyed the journalistic style though I felt Berg's part was too clever for its own good.

It looked great on mobile (Android Chrome) as well. Let's hear it for Twine nonfiction!

I originally rated this a 3 but considering the sum of its parts I think the 4 is well deserved.

That old saw "not a game" applies for once; this is a short story with continue links. Unlike other works that use this kind of interactivity to good effect, here it's simply a paging mechanism, though the link titles do add some color. I thought the initial premise was interesting and the writing good but it devolved into a static situation with a lot of exposition and not much really going on.

If I had to categorize TPM, I would put it, like many one-move games I've played, into a class of interactive poetics, and like a poem TPM concentrates intently on its situation to produce an act of the imagination in the reader.

Despite being rough around the edges this game displays a genuine humor and verve that makes playing worthwhile.

What a great game. While I can imagine a straight fiction based on the same concept, this is a perfect example of a story that cries out to be interactive. The only reason it misses out on five stars in my book is that the endgame becomes slightly repetitious. However the game as a piece, as a whole, is IF born to be IF. Highly recommended.