Ratings and Reviews by Karl Ove Hufthammer

After an intriguing intro text, we find Alex where we would expect him to be, given the ending of the previous game in the series. And once again, he needs to save his husband, Paul.

I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but can divulge that we get to experience the world from some very different perspectives. We also get a glimpse into Alex’s childhood, and see (and play) some scenes that have shaped his life and personality. Both from a gameplay and story perspective, this is one of the more original games in the series so far.

It’s also the funniest one. There’s a lot of humour in both the room and object descriptions, in the situations and NPCs encountered (my favourite one, from The Day I stabbed Stalin, returns!) and from comments from the parser. There are also many references to earlier games in the series, so you really need to have played them to get the most enjoyment out of this one.

But like in the rest of the games, there are implementation issues. Most of the objects named in the room descriptions are not implemented. And there are a few cases where more synonyms (for both verbs and nouns) would have been welcome. In general, some more polish would be nice.

But all in all, this is one of the better Alex and Paul games – and it’s my favourite so far.

This sixth game in the Alex and Paul series continues where the last one left off. You’re (still!) trying to rescue Paul, now imprisoned on a secret base on the planet Mercury.

It’s not necessary to have played the earlier games in the series before attempting this one, but I recommend doing so, as there are a number of references to things which have happened in the prequels.

Unfortunately, like in the prequels, implementation issues are rife. As is customary for the series, we have the usual ‘guess the verb’ situations, but, in addition, we now also have plainly buggy behaviour. And I believe it’s possible to unwittingly put the game into an unwinnable state (which logically shouldn’t be unwinnable).

There are several actions which you really need to read the author’s mind to figure out (one of which basically requires you to have played a different, and completely unrelated, game (Spoiler - click to show)Kerkerkruip – though this is hinted at in the object description).

But it’s not all bad! This is a longer game, with a number of puzzles (some of them timed), and several of which make sense – though they are made more difficult by implementation issues. It also takes place in a new (if not wholly original) setting, and, luckily, there are fewer spelling mistakes than in the earlier games. I also very much liked the surprise ending, and look forward to playing the next game(s) in the series.

‘The Day I hugged Ghandi’ ended with an explicit sequel hook, and here’s the sequel. We follow Alex and Paul on their continuing adventures, this time on Voodoo Island. Paul gets kidnapped, and it’s up to you to rescue him.

As is usual for this series (and for Speed-IFs in general), this game is severely under-implemented. Almost none of the objects mentioned in the location descriptions are actually implemented (‘x object’ typically returns ‘You can’t see any such thing’), and there are lots of ‘guess the verb’ situations. One might have an idea about what to do, but the game only accepts one specific verb/syntax – and typically not the most obvious one. Some synonyms would have made the gameplay much smoother.

Luckily, there are less spelling and grammar mistakes than in the prequels. But still, the text could have used some more proof-reading. For example, at one point it mixes up the two main characters!

Along with The Day I stabbed Stalin, this is one of the weaker games in the serious so far. The puzzles aren’t very clever, too much action takes place in info dumps, and while the humour is still there, the game just isn’t as funny as the previous ones. And some of the humour is based on breaking the fourth wall, which IMHO distracts from the story.

Still, I sort of like the Alex and Paul series. And if you’ve played the previous games, you almost have to play this one too – if only because the previous game ended on such a cliffhanger. And this one too ends with a ‘To be continued…’.

This is the fourth instalment in the series of short games about Alex and Paul. Once again, it’s New Year's Eve, but this time we’re not at a party at Paul’s house, but on a yacht off the coast of Florida – next to Voodoo Island …

The good parts first: The humour of the previous games is still present. The new setting is refreshing, and the puzzles make sense and are nicely motivated (but implementation issues make them moderately hard to solve). And it’s just fun to follow the continuing adventures of the (now married) Alex and Paul!

The bad parts: Technically, the game is similar to first three games. That is, there are lots of unimplemented objects, ‘guess the verb’ situations, spelling mistakes and bad grammar and punctuation. It really isn’t a good game (and it would need a lot of QA work to become one).

Even so, I actually had fun playing The Day I hugged Ghandi. But I think you’ll probably appreciate this game the most if you’re familiar with the story and the writing style of the three previous The Day I … games. And if you liked them, you’re probably going to enjoy this one too!

This game was written for a Speed-IF competition, i.e., in a very limited amount of time, yet manages to have several puzzles and a coherent, if somewhat strange, story. But although the objectives of the puzzles are very clear, their solutions are not. The game usually left me feeling clueless about how to achieve the objectives, and finding the objects (and even locations) needed frequently happened by accident. I was stuck a few times, but found the ClubFloyd transcript very useful.

I played the first part of the original competition release, and then finished the second release of the game. The second release has a few more implemented objects (i.e., ‘examine [object]’ is more likely to give a response), but the game still feels extremely underimplemented, with lots of unimplemented verbs and nouns, and plenty of stock responses (even for ‘examine me’). Both versions have their share of grammar mistakes.

Although this is not a good game, it is not all bad. It does have three real puzzles, which is more than one would expect from a Speed-IF. And the game is quite humorous, with much of the humour coming from the absurdity of the various situations. You will probably find it more entertaining reading a transcript from a successful playthrough than trying to solve the puzzles yourself, though.