Hobbiton Recall

The title of this review is a quote from the author-supplied blurb for Hobbiton Recall. It is, unfortunately, accurate.

It's not clear why the author chose to involve either The Hobbit or Total Recall in this game. Although elements from those two sources appear within, the motivation for choosing that pair specifically is in no way apparent. Neither particularly relates to the main plot of the game, which seems to revolve around toothpaste, nor do the elements selected from each interact in a meaningful or synergistic way. It seems like the pair of ostensible inspirations could just have easily been E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Minority Report, or Aquaman and Top Gun -- really any two intellectual properties with good name recognition and no obvious resonance, since the main purpose seems to be to provoke a curiosity about what the author has come up with to justify the juxtaposition.

Regrettably, most of what the author has come up with is AI-generated pixel art and jokes rooted in misogyny.

The original release included a game-breaking bug that prevented going beyond the first third or so of the game. If one finds oneself stuck (Spoiler - click to show)at a hospital with a bus ticket, that bug is the reason. This may have been corrected in a September 8 update. Since Gruescript is interpreted, its source is inspectable and can be modified, so it was possible to fix this bug and proceed before any official correction.

Since in general this game does function, I'd like to say something positive. However, I'm having trouble coming up with anything beyond the fact that the author seems to have put a large amount of work into it.

On the whole, this feels primarily like the product of the author's efforts to learn Gruescript. Clearly, quite a bit was learned. There's a noticeable progression of complexity in the coding as one moves steadily toward the end.

There are still lessons to learn regarding interaction design, e.g. being consistent in the patterns of action expected from players. I noticed, for example, that in some cases special actions are attached to the indirect object, in others the direct object. Also, in some cases the necessary item must be "held," i.e. selected, instead of just in inventory. Also, the implementation of the hedge maze was novel in my experience, but definitely unappreciated: (Spoiler - click to show)Per the code, just moving randomly is the key. There is no actual geography, one just gets shunted to the goal location about 10% of the time when moving in the single maze room.

In a couple of places it appears that the game can reach a "dead end" state in which it can no longer be finished, though I'm guessing that this is unintentional. If you are trying to reach the end of this lengthy game, I strongly suggest making use of the save game function on a regular basis.

I guess the fact that I tried my first Gruescript game and even learned a little bit about Gruescript code is also to this game's credit. Someone learning that platform might want to review the source code of this game for some example solutions to typical problems. As entertainment, however, I can't recommend it.

This is a Gruescript game mixing Total Recall with The Hobbit. It uses ai-generated pixel art.

It's quite long. It's listed as 1.5 hours, but I spent about that long on just the prelude. Altogether I think I spent 3 or 4 hours, with the last hour entirely spent peeking at the code to speed me along.

You play as a gross jerk of a human who hates and is cruel to his wife, doesn't care about sabotaging her medical care and avoids talking to women he deems ugly. This isn't plot relevant and so I guess it's supposed to be either funny or realistic, but I neither laughed nor saw a reflection of truth in it.

The first part of the game has you going to work at the toothpaste factory and scrounging up some money to go to Rekall, a location that allows you to get memories you want implanted. Like the original story of Total Recall, doing so prompts some memories that you have that are true, but buried.

The rest of the game is a parody of The Hobbit where gold has been replaced by toothpaste, the misty mountains are now a ski resort, the dwarves have disappeared, and the main badguy is toothpaste entrepreneur Tom Fallows.

Most non-Robin Johnson gruescript games I've played have been pretty buggy or poorly implemented (with a couple notable great exceptions, and now that I'm searching I'm surprised to see only 10 have only ever been released. And Dialog only has 22; wow)

There are parts of this game that I like and parts I dislike. I'm going to talk about both, and try to frame the dislikes (like the being a jerk to your wife part) as my reaction to something and not as an innate quality of the thing itself.

I like some of the imaginative puzzles. There's a lot of tricks going on with things like moving turnips to strategic locations, figuring out how to use the lemonade, timing, and the troll bag puzzle.

I didn't like getting stuck because I forget to look and grab an item a hundred turns ago. Fortunately I saved a lot! Also the random timers felt off a bit. The maze randomness I saw in the code wasn't something that I experienced joy from, nor waiting for the trolls to go to bed or the cat to wander into the kitchen.

Story-wise, I experienced the most happiness at the innate difficulty in establishing what's reality and what's the effect of Rekall, something I also enjoyed in total recall.

I didn't like the Tolkien elements as much, it felt kind of like it just took the summary story of the hobbit and tried to make an encounter matching each one without really caring about parodying the deeper themes. To be fair, that's a totally fine way to parody things; I parodided Chandler Groover's games in Grooverland with entirely surface-level references, so I can't complain. Maybe what I really would have liked is a more unified parody theme. Sometimes things have been updated to modern times, while other times the scenes play out almost exactly like the original. It could have been fun to have something tying it all together more.

The AI art was hit or miss. A couple of times I thought, "Okay, this looks cool," but then I realized, for instance, that our bedroom that looks like a hobbit house with first-floor window overlooking a forest is actually not the hobbit part of the game but our 2nd floor bedroom in the middle of a city. Similarly, styles change from room to room and so do seasons and so on. Just like the parody, without a consistent theme, it's not much more helpful to the game than just imagining each scene ourselves.

If I were the author, I'd be proud of assembling a very long gruescript game, perhaps the longest I've played (Detectiveland might be longer). All told it has few errors, a rarity for such a long game, and there were multiple places I found enjoyable.

The Hobbit… and Total Recall. Combined. I wonder why the author picked these two works out of countless other options.

As the title suggests, Hobbiton Recall is a sci-fi/fantasy mashup featuring elements from both The Hobbit and Total Recall. It’s an ambitious work with a mix of strengths and flaws.

Also, I have been unable to finish it, so I’m going to wait on assigning it a rating.

We are David Crow. The game begins with David having a nightmare about being a hobbit on a quest in a place called Hobbiton. He wakes up. It’s time for work.

NOTE: The game flip-flops between Hobbiton and Hobbington. I’m not sure if this is a misspelling or if there are two separate places, so I’ll default to Hobbiton in this review.

Story
I’m going to break from my usual review structure and discuss the story first.

Story (as I understand it)
This is about the story I encountered up until I stopped playing.

The story kicks off at Fallows Toothpaste Industries where David works with his friend, Mike. Mike reveals that he spent the weekend in VR at a place called Rekall and recommends the experience to David. After a lengthy puzzle about (Spoiler - click to show)delivering a urine sample, we go to Rekall’s sleek facility and end up in a VR chair.

Thoughts on story
The Hobbit and Total Recall. Still grappling with that pairing…

Unlike Total Recall, I only have a faint understanding of The Hobbit (I’m a sci-fi fan). It seems that the plot follows that of Total Recall while the content (characters, locations, etc.) borrows from The Hobbit.

Despite my familiarity with Total Recall, I had to revisit it to refresh my memory before I could pinpoint how it’s featured in Hobbiton Recall. Some parts were obvious.

I was hoping for more sci-fi elements. The closest we get is when we visit Rekall’s shiny skyscraper for a VR experience. That, and a vaguely cyberpunk scene in a nightclub. Of course, I haven’t finished the game, though I have a feeling that it’s only going to be more hobbit stuff.

In other words, Hobbiton Recall captures the storyline of Total Recall but not its essence. Its focus on hobbits, elves, (Spoiler - click to show)Randalf, and a (Spoiler - click to show)toothpaste dragon only makes it more confusing.

Gameplay
Overview
Hobbiton Recall is made with Gruescipt, a system that has been described as a parser-choice hybrid or pseudo-parser. You don’t use a keyboard, only clicking, but the commands are ones that you would input in a parser game.

In this case, the player makes gameplay choices by clicking on pink tab-like buttons. The screen lists the characters, objects, and scenery that you can interact with. Beneath is a section for your inventory.

You're holding:
A can of Insect-Be-Gone (empty) [spray] [drop]

You're wearing:
clothes [remove]

Clicking on an item in the inventory lists the possible actions you can take with it, including combining it with another item in your possession.

There are some rough patches. (Spoiler - click to show)You can retrieve the plate of sausages from the table in Norbit’s cabin repeatedly even after you eat them. Similarly, if you remove the gold pen from Tom’s desk and then revisit the desk, the pen is teleported from your inventory and back into the desk. Chests, containers, and other structures are listed as being closed when the player had already opened them (and vice versa).

I don’t mean to be ungrateful or dismissive, but it frustrates me when authors half-commit to their hint guides, as is the case with Hobbiton Recall. To be clear, I don’t expect hints to necessarily cover every bit of content. I do expect them to at least aid you to finish the game in some form. Especially with a lengthy game like Hobbiton Recall.

Currently, the provided hints are merely for the first itty-bitty sliver of gameplay. It’s not like “once you get past the dog, you’re halfway there.” Oh no. You’re in for hours of gameplay with no guidance. It was almost as if the inclusion of a walkthrough on the game’s IFComp entry was meant more to dash my hopes of completing the game than guiding me. Plus, hints would be helpful because it’s possible to reach unwinnable states.

For example, I caused an unwinnable state because I failed to acquire an object before its location was made inaccessible. I neglected (Spoiler - click to show)to take the rizla paper at the tobacco store when the shopkeeper turned his back. When I set him up with the elf from the cattery, he leaves and closes the shop. As a result, I had no way of making the spliff to get the protestors to leave.

Fortunately, I saved regularly as I played. I knew (hopefully) what I missed and where to restore a previous save.

My experience
As I mentioned at the start of this review, I have been unable to finish the game. After 4+ hours, I figured, what the heck, time to proceed with the review.

In case anyone is curious, this is as far as I went with my quest:

I think I would be interested in revisiting, given enough directions.

Characters
David Crowe is a difficult protagonist to root for. It sucks that he gets (Spoiler - click to show)betrayed by his wife and friend, but he was a bit of a misogynistic jerk to begin with. He shows little compassion for his wife and mocks women in general.

You are in the shed. This is where Mavis comes to have a little cry when she's having one of her 'episodes'.

Heck, he gets annoyed when his tired wife yawns. At least he’s not Gobbo.

> shoot gobbo
Without hesitation, you squeeze the trigger. Gobbo’s tiny body is ripped apart by a hail of bullets.

He slams into the rockface with a sickening *splut*, then slowly slides down, leaving a long, wet, red smear.

I don’t have time for Gobbo’s riddles. No one calls me a sexy hobbit.

Anyway, I have yet to see David undergo any character development, but he’s going to have to make major changes if he wants any fans from players. As for the NPCs, some are more memorable than others. None of them stand out as spectacular but they inject humor into the gameplay.

Also, I can’t believe the game allows you to (Spoiler - click to show)kill Norbit. What an awful thing to do. At least he doesn’t have to worry about his back anymore.

Visuals
Hobbiton Recall features art for most of its locations, and it’s all A.I.-generated. Overall, the graphics are serviceable but forgettable. They illustrate scenes in a generic way. I never felt that they pulled me into the story’s world although I don't think they detract from the game, either. The stylization reminds me of an Adventuron game.

The beginning of the game starts with an animated starfield which was cool.

Final thoughts
How do I feel about this game? Like skateboarding down a smooth road with potholes. It’s an enjoyable ride until you fall and scrape your knee and wonder if it’s worth continuing. And you’re likely to continue, but those potholes really put a dent in the experience.

Taking Total Recall and swapping out its characters and locations for magical alternatives does not work as well as the author may have hoped. At minimum, the delivery needs work.

And while the puzzles are decent, it becomes increasingly difficult to foresee when you might render the game unwinnable, taking away from the player’s enjoyment of the story. More thorough hints would be appreciated. That said, I liked the feeling of going down a rabbit hole and the notion of peeling back a protagonist’s reality only to realize it’s concealing the truth.

And I can’t deny the game’s wittiness. The literal red herring in the fridge was clever. I also found it somewhat amusing how examining the portable bathroom outside the hotel gives us three full paragraphs of description as if copied from a product manual.

…a self-contained, temporary sanitation unit typically found on construction sites and at outdoor events. Constructed from lightweight, durable polyethylene… etc.

The more you know.

To conclude, give Hobbiton Recall a try because it has its fun parts. But don’t feel too bad if you can’t finish it.