Reviews by Andreas Teufel
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The only way to win is not to play this!, April 20, 2010(Warning: This review might contain spoilers. Click to show the full review.)While not even close to being the worst game of all time (All roads is cemented in this honorable position for all eternity), Shade will for me always be a beacon of hatred for all that is so wrong with the Interactive Fiction scene, what is so obviously stinking to high heaven but accepted and hailed by the majority.
Short description of the "plot" (it's offensive to the English language itself to use this word in relation to this "game"!): Man (devoid of character, naturally) needs to sort through the bedlam of his apartment in order to find his plane tickets and other junk needed for a vacation trip to the desert.
So far, so good. 5 minutes of "fun" with the room description.
Everything literally falls apart once you have found the (then completely unimportant) tickets. Literally.
Everything turns to, of all things, SAND. Because there is sand in the desert! And that's where nameless nobody #1 wanted to go!
Smart thinking on Plotkin's side, ain't it? Surely needed a lot of research... I mean it's so CLEVER it hurts my brain...
Even though there is no variation in the ever-annoying sand transformation NO JUTSU, it's yet extremely hard to advance at some points. Which includes bugs and unlogical syntax, needless to say. Just look at things often enough and the game will advance eventually... if you're lucky.
So what is the main flaw of this shaggy dog joke that is a complete and utter waste of time: It means NOTHING.
Sand! goddamn it, it could be cotton candy and nothing would be different in any way!
In fact the whole purpose of this game is stated by the author in the sarcastic and pretentious as hell "The only way to win is not to play!" quote. I will draw a lesson from this, and never play another Andrew Plotkin game again.
I encourage everybody with half a brain in his head to do the same.
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vote NO, I could honestly not care any less. the fools liking this turd are all brain-dead slaves to meaninglessness anyway
Achingly pointless, April 19, 2010(Warning: This review might contain spoilers. Click to show the full review.)no need to waste any more time on this stinker, boring setting, lame-ass characters, non-story, inadequately explored fantasy elements (which is enough for a 1 in my book most of the time, yet a staple for some reason), people SHOOTING you for NO REASON (I mean he's a sith, ahem sikh, he's SUPPOSED to have a dagger at all times), no deeper meaning, but that's a staple as well, I barely need to mention that
pass this one, for your own sake
Boo-hoo!, April 19, 2010+) the plot twist caught me off guard
+) the game is daring, which can really not be said for most IF
-) your moral options are still limited
-) the first 2 conversations in the game have no significance to the plot, the third only indirectly - only the very last is critical
-) some things just MAKE NO SENSE, e.g. what's with the dragon? the motif never reappears! we eventually get he's not a knight, so this dangles in mid air; some things later fall into place, e.g. the diary, but many just lead nowhere and that's a big flaw in such a symbolistic game
-) next time please get some beta testers
-) I deduct 0.5 points for the pathetic WHINING in the readme file: "Give me a low rating rather than playing my game, it's so disturbing!!11
BOO HOO
ever heard of a thing called REAL LIFE?! fiction can never rival actual human cruelty, not even close - just have a look at e.g. the religious crimes commited in our very modern world DAY BY DAY
overall: play it! the standards of Interactive Fiction are so LOW, every game that treats you with half a meaning or new idea is justified to be played!
Mixed bag, April 19, 2010+) it's huge
-) but it's not deep
+) lots of potientially interesting characters (Charlotte, anyone?)
-) that aren't developed properly
+) lots of conversation topics
-) but no actual physical interaction with the "dummys" (and I mean none whatsoever! not even with yourself! oh the missed opportunities!)
+) interesting premise
-) but horrible retro-future-medieval Italy setting (THAT genre again! NO make it stop already! please! the horror!)
+) lots of funny moments
-) that take you right out of the illusion of a believable world since they very often violate the continuity of the setting
+) interesting ambivalent main character
-) we learn nothing about afterwards (where is his personal life! oh the missed opportunities!)
+) detailed world, in which
-) the puzzles MAKE NO SENSE, without a solution this is impossible to finish (e.g. the crack in the compass rose - I did find it by myself but to deduce that this detail of thousands is plot-critical is IMPOSSIBLE)
-) generally clever and I think researched writing
-) but sometimes the writing drops significantly for inadequately explored reasons, certain moments take you right out of the game - e.g. that guards would shoot you for offending them, I mean gee you're only the 5th most important man in the state, that means nothing?! or the feminist whore (sic!!!) *epic facepalm*
this also includes extreme mood swings in the tone of the game - compare Charlotte's saddening backstory with the entrance guard antics for an example
generally speaking, exploring the world is great fun! talking to characters is sometimes, but once you're done with that better whip out the solution and finish it quickly, cause you will discover nothing more interesting afterwards
the actual story is very thin, that you potentially have to replay it multiple times while there is no variation whatsoever doesn't really make it more interesting
the single worst part of Varicella is the epilogue, I deduct one half point for this complete and utter nonsense that seems to have been written by Andrew Plotkin since it's so totally opposed to anything that happens in the game in tone and content
overall, go play it, it has its moments that make it worthwile, but it's no Photopia or I-0, and it's no masterpiece by any standards
Great!, April 19, 2010-) very funny
-) captures the spirit of the tv show excellently
-) the game riffed is really bad
the only criticism I have for this game is that it's too short, other than that it's pure gold!
4/5
Pissed off, December 26, 2009Confused nonsense about a shadowdancer/assassin in some parallel universe Italy (best setting EVAR!!!11), a story that repeats over and over in some utterly senseless way, a protagonist who is uninteresting in the worst way since he has no personality at all and WE KNOW NOT A FUCKING THING ABOUT HIM.
yeah, it's game of the year (!) material all right!
I am beyond words.
Extremely overrated, December 26, 2009OK I've decided I don't care whether any of the haters vote no, I give only my honest opinion, and I don't run with the pack (or rather flock)
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Vespers
Name of the Rose all over again? It is impossible to deny the influence (right to the end (or rather one of them)).
Good points
- while this is an Anchorhead-like game in that you have to walk around and see what room description has changed, in contrast to the aforementioned game it's generally not too hard to advance the plot, I was able to guess most things the game expected me to do
- puzzles are solveable and logical (very big plus)
- style is ok
- technically good
Neutral points
- multiple endings, but I don't have the slightest desire to see them
Bad points
- there is little logic in the plot or characters, e.g. why should you (Spoiler - click to show)pray to a woman! In the end, everything goes to hell, also literally.
- the world never comes alive (big minus point), descriptions are too minimalistic, interactivity is severely limited, rooms generally feel very bare
- little fun stuff (stuff that is not needed to complete the game), I don't think you (Spoiler - click to show)find a single item you don't need to complete the game other than the notes
- syntax isn't really flawless, there are bad responses and I think even some typos
- the game is never actually interesting or gripping, nor deep, it could as well be set on the moon, what were you reviewers playing!!!
best NPC nominee?! Twice?! I cannot jot down how angry that makes me!!!
game of the year?! with every mediocre or bad award-winning game I play the artistical level of interactive fiction seems lower and lower to me
where is the Planescape: Torment of IF?! there MUST be one... I will continue searching.
Vote no. I command you to.
Peerless in terms of content, December 20, 2009I-0
Story: teenage girl gets stranded with a broken car on a highway and must travel home
Since this is a classic Adam Cadre game, the main character is very likeable. It's that easy.
Structure & Puzzles: a certain flaw is that it's quite hard to get to the real end, the obvious solution is not always the right and sometimes you have to look for miniscule details, I had to "cheat" to win this game (there's no hint system if I remember correctly), and some things appear rather fragmentary and unfinished, I'm all for an extended "director's cut" edition of this game!
Content: the things this game lets you do! one of the funniest games I've ever played; my favourite moment is when you finally are in your room :-)
Replayability: high, because of the many branches, there is enough interesting stuff to be tried out to give this game many spins
Interactivity: could still be upped slightly I think
So overall, there are some problems, but the daring content and humour makes up for all of those. a must-play
5/5
The pinnacle of interactive fiction, December 20, 2009Photopia. Real name, no gimmicks.
Story: absolutely entrancing all the time, while the real life segments are better than the story ones; there's some classic Adam Cadre humour ("maybe when you're older" :-)), shame he lost that later, but the main focus is on emotionality, and it totally works! after the end I was like WOW!, and that happened only one other time with an IF game (I-0)
Some other authors who think this is "manipulative" should have a good look in order to learn how to create interesting and likeable characters! It isn't wrong to DREAM, is it...?
Structure: now this is where the game shines
It took me some time to figure out certain things (even though it's mentioned right in the beginning ("let's tell a story together")) - when I finally realized why the complicated words are explained - magic moment!
Interactivity: rather basic, but it's worth looking for every possible response from the game
Replayability: also rather basic, the first time you play it is obviously the best
so what makes this game one of the best of all times: the emotional involvement, the revolutionary structure, and the content that is great all the time, there is some magic in it that cannot be explained with words
groundbreaking
5/5
Really good (most of the time), December 20, 2009Violet is the story of a man or woman (for me it works only with a female PC) who has to write 1000 words for some kind of university paper in order to keep his girlfriend from leaving, but is constantly distraced by his surroundings. (happy now Peter Pears!?)
Story & Setting: cute, works very good actually, there's a lot of humour which is a very good thing in this kind of story, it's fun to explore the world, the style is great (except for the annoying Aussie slang)
Interactivity: pretty good
Puzzles: mostly solvable, one or two things don't make sense but still far above average, the very good hint system clears up all possible "stuckabilities"
(Spoiler - click to show)
I really liked that you have to regretfully destroy all of Violet's gifts in order to progress
Replayability: very linear, so it can be played 2-3 times at the most, but there's lots of fun stuff to try out
what didn't work: the end
the end felt rushed and was not up to par with the rest of the game, I just expected more, (Spoiler - click to show)
maybe even a sad ending, the revelation that Violet was watching all the time is just pure nonsense
game of the year? probably not, but I haven't played any other from this year, so I wouldn't know
4/5
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