Ratings and Reviews by Jeff Sonas
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Worth a couple of minutes..., September 1, 2010I don't regret the time I spent on it, the recurring joke was kind of funny for a while. But I'm afraid it was more of a relief than anything else when the game ended, and that was after playing it for about two minutes. I guess the game was the perfect length!
Exhilarating, wonderful game!, June 18, 2009For anyone who ever thought you could do better than the characters in your favorite science fiction novel, this is your chance. Part of the fun is realizing what lengths you have to go through, in order to solve what seems like a relatively simple problem, and I don't want to spoil one bit of that realization, so I won't go into any more details.
I will admit that due to an unfortunate coincidence near the start of the game, I drew a completely wrong inference that led me down a very non-optimal path. Normally this would have been frustrating because of how long it would take to unravel my error. Instead I got to play the game for five times longer than necessary, and I enjoyed every second of it! And it was still possible to win by going down my path, and very enjoyable to craft the solution.
This game is a masterful example of what IF is capable of, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It is uniquely suited to IF. I don't know if there is another game out there quite like it, but I certainly hope so!
Original but a little slow, June 18, 2009Please note that I played the English version, specifically the Dead Reckoning translation.
The game has a novel premise and it is interesting at first to explore the constraints you are faced with. However I thought the game was a little sparse; I would have appreciated a little more detail and support for a bigger vocabulary in order to make those constraints more enjoyable and less... well, constraining. For instance there was obviously support for a lot more words in Aisle, which made its constraints more of a puzzle and not as frustrating.
It seemed like there was a pre-determined path you had to follow, and there were no interesting detours off that path. And due to the special nature of the constraints, you can't really go back and review everything you've learned, as compared to going back to a complicated room and typing LOOK again to remind you of the details. Let's just say you really have to pay attention as you go, or it is hard to win.
It's not a game that takes too long to play and it was a good one to play on my Palm, since there was no need to write down anything. It made for an enjoyable half hour on a plane trip, although ultimately I gave up without winning and had to resort to hints - it was just getting too frustrating. I don't regret the time I spent playing it, but I'm also glad I gave up and read the hints so I could move on.
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