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About the Story
"In this game you actually play two people - one is the real you, sitting in the dark in a movie theatre, and the other is the hero of the film that you are watching.
Originally conceived for Adam Cadre's infamous Chicken-Comp of June 1998 (spot the chicken-crossing-the-road)."
[--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue]
Awards
10th Place - 4th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (1998)
Ratings and Reviews
| Average Rating:   Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 2 |
Although Downtown Tokyo, Present Day is most likely to be mentioned for its bipartite player character - you play the parts of both the hero in a monster B-movie and a cinema-goer in the audience - this game must surely be equally notable for demonstrating how a small set of commands can create a game that is diverse, malleable and above all fun.
All you need to do is fly your helicopter in compass directions, go up and down, and push the button that deploys its grabber - and in this fashion you explore the game's city, picking things up and dropping them experimentally, triggering various humorous responses from the parser, and doing all you can to save a nondescript love-interest from the clutches of a giant mutant chicken. There should be more IF games like this.
This game has an interesting opening; you are in a movie theatre, watching a giant monster movie. The game is in third person, with the main character's actions being narrated by the observer in the audience.
The actual action has a brief intro, followed by the actual puzzle. You move in 3d on a map with a ton of fake locations and some (labelled) real locations. This puzzle seemed really hard, but it turns out that there are 4 different solutions.
This is the only giant monster attack game I have played, and it was really fun in its sphere.
3 Off-Site Reviews
Baf's Guide
B-movie big monster spoof: defend Tokyo, and rescue lovely reporter, from the ravages of a colossal chicken. Very small, but with opportunity for irrelevant actions (like dropping live alligators onto ships from a helicopter). Satisfyingly satirical, with an interesting double perspective (the player controls both the hero of the movie and a member of the audience). Title sequence contains character graphics. Has a hint menu.
-- Carl Muckenhoupt
SPAG
The plot is minimal, and it's to the game's credit that the whole thing is rather casual about the story--plenty of room for even time-sensitive actions, and the story essentially stops in the middle so that you can wander around and have fun. This is the sort of thing I'd disapprove in most IF but which works just fine here, since B-movies don't exactly set a high realism standard and it's so much fun to play with the toys you're given. Indeed, this middle section (if you can call it that in such a tiny game) is the best thing about Downtown Tokyo; the beginning and end come off more as quotations, homages, than as parodies, and the parody is much more fun.
-- Duncan Stevens a.k.a. Second April
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>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction
Tokyo does a great many things well, and is one of the better short-short games I've played. Again, it's a bit disappointing when a game this enjoyable ends so soon -- I think this concept had quite a bit more mileage in it than was used by the author. Still, I enjoyed it while it lasted -- it won't entertain you as long as the average summer blockbuster movie, but it will probably entertain you more.
See the full review
Tags
Game Details
Current Version: Release 2
License: Freeware
Development System: Inform 6
Baf's Guide ID: 258
| IFIDs: | ZCODE-1-980930-8A6D |
| ZCODE-2-000615-7CC5 |
Downtown Tokyo, Present Day on IFDB
Recommended Lists
Downtown Tokyo, Present Day appears in the following Recommended Lists:TV, Film, Music and Theatre related games by MathBrush
This is a collection of games that are related to the film, tv, music or theatre industries, without regard to quality.
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Polls
The following polls include votes for Downtown Tokyo, Present Day:Lost Treasures of the IF Comp by Molly
It seems that for every Comp game that's still talked about today (e.g., Slouching Towards Bedlam, Shade, Photopia, etc.), there's ten or so that have been almost completely forgotten; some of them even placed in the top ten or higher....
Birds in IF by Wendymoon
What games can you think of with birds in them? What's the bird? Is it important to the game?
No map necessary by Divide
Pieces which can be fully enjoyed without drawing map, ideally without taking any notes whatsoever. Ones which you could play on a bus, on a break, laying on bed, etc. with nothing but a portable player. Games for which you don't need...
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