Bradisson Rayburn's Revenge!

There is a lot to like about Bradisson Rayburn's Revenge. The premise is funny. You're on a game show. You can't win it, because the game is rigged against you for some reason (I never figured out why Rayburn hates me). That sets the stage (literally) for a great premise. You must use cunning and guile to cheat your way to victory, as any sane person would surely do! There are many humorous moments here. The writing is competent and feels appropriate for the setting.

Bradisson Rayburn's Revenge! was designed and published in a very short amount of time, showing how quickly a simple 30-to-60-minute game could be built in Inform 7. There are ways to see 'bad' endings but "UNDO" or just saving the game before each contest stage will solve that. The ending was sudden for me, I didn't expect it to happen that way, but it was pretty good. I would definitely revisit this game later if author Lance Cirone decides to expand it. I definitely hope that he will, or at least keep writing IF and perfecting the craft.

Overall, BRR is a good effort as a short diversion and worth taking a look. And BRR is definitely worth expanding into a bigger work, hopefully we see more or a sequel possibly.

Bradisson Rayburn’s Revenge! is a short parser where you play as a contestant in a show hosted by Bradisson Rayburn, with the hope of winning the show altogether. As you are a bit worried about it, you explore the studio, collecting along the way items you believe you can use to your advantage (among them, the return of the Sprinklepill). Ensue a series of trials, where your items end up being quite helpful!

I didn’t manage to get to the end the first time I played, not understanding why I couldn’t get to set no matter how long I waited. It wasn’t until I restarted the game and re-explored everything, trying to examine almost every noun on the screen and trying to take every single named items that I unlocked the next part (and finished the game).

The second section focuses on the actual show, and the different trials you must go through to win the game on set. The items helps you along to get to the top (the game actually will push you to use them, you can’t really play it “in good faith”), though I am unsure why we had to pick up certain things if we couldn’t really use them (was there maybe more trials to use the cup or the pot? or did I miss something?). Or why we couldn’t use them against other contestants (why not zap everyone and win by default :P)

I also still don’t get why Bradisson was targetting us like this with his trials, especially the last one being quite “something”, but hey, if you manage to piss him off enough, you get to win! Well, not so much as winning as more getting some self respect, I guess… :P. Will we ever know what beef Bradisson has with us?