Ratings and Reviews by Andreas Teufel

OK 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.

I-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

Photopia. 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

Violet 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

There's something wrong with the part where you have to place doors or exits (can't remember, it's been a while since I "played" this. It just doesn't work at all, so the game is over right there. Obviously there is no explanation how to do it either.

Pure frustration -> 1/5