Ratings and Reviews by MattArnold

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1-9 of 9


69,105 Keys, by David Welbourn

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Clever and Quick, March 6, 2009
by MattArnold (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

This game is like a candy. The gimmick of depth at the expense of breadth is sufficient to justify what little of your time it will consume.

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The Dreamhold, by Andrew Plotkin
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Shrapnel, by Adam Cadre

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
The least flattering thing I can say is that it's good., December 14, 2007
by MattArnold (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Provided you understand that a book, movie, game, or other work is intentionally brutal, frightening, demoralizing, or has some other unpleasant effect on the psyche-- and provided you decide that you like that genre of horror-- then go ahead and read said book, watch said movie, play said game. But there's no point complaining if the work makes you want to take out your soul and wipe it on your pants: that's what it's for.

Even if you aren't into that, this game is really gripping. I'm no expert critic, but I liked it, and I don't normally like unpleasant elements.

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The Space Under the Window, by Andrew Plotkin
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Shade, by Andrew Plotkin
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Photopia, by Adam Cadre
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Metamorphoses, by Emily Short

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Perhaps a candidate for Lojban translation., November 24, 2007
by MattArnold (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Related reviews: mimesis

The experimental and physical nature of this game world makes me wonder if it would be an ideal candidate to translate into the artificial predicate-nominative language Lojban. The author has described the game as an experiment in "mimesis" (the representation of nature), and I suspect that the unambiguous root words of Lojban may be well-suited to expressing and interpreting mimesis. A physics model embodied in language seems to need something more object-oriented than English.

That is not to say that the game does not succeed in this already, merely that it revealed fascinating possibilities.

If you had told me that an interesting story could be set in a world of Platonic ideals, I would have wondered how it could be possible. But I feel like this is a world I would be interested in revisiting. It held my imagination. The multiple endings were a loving touch.

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Hunter, in Darkness, by Andrew Plotkin
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Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin
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1-9 of 9