Beta Tester

Beta Tester is good for a couple laughs here and there. The hamster in the first room is probably worth the download. But once you're past the first room, the game falls apart.

I had a hard time figuring out what the objectives were in the second room--in one case, I found the solution to a puzzle in another room without being aware that a puzzle existed, while in another area, an objective is present, but I can't figure out any way to accomplish it. The funny writing helps delay the sting, but can't eliminate it altogether.

I eventually gave up. When objectives are so ill-defined that I can't figure out what to do, it's time to move on to a work that's had, (say it with me, now!) better beta-testing.

‘Objectively’ the game is nothing but a series of easy puzzles set in a silly nonsense environment: you play a beta tester of a virtual reality world called “the Toybox”.

The whole thing lives solely (and well) off it sense of humour and its central gimmick, viz. the long—sometimes very long—and funny descriptions of items and certain actions (spoon)fed to you by your hitting any key after having read so far. This allows a kind of timing of jokes and punchlines that the author uses to very good effect.

However—there’s a first and a second part to this game. The first part is great fun (if you like silly fun) thanks to the witty writing. After solving the 1st puzzle though, things become more buggy and less implemented. Actually, the game seems simply unfinished—at least in the version entered in IF Comp ’09. Suffice it to say that I really do look forward to a final version where Game Dame Hellaine and her Fun&Games-room is anything like implemented and where I can’t put Jorry the famous stand-up comedian in my backpack.

This game has you trying out various products in a puzzly environment. It has a snarky parser that jokes about a corporate environment, uses text pauses extensively, and has you assemble a complicated system.

It's actually pretty interesting, but the implementation has increasingly greater issues, making the latter half impossible to complete.