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Review
In summary: This game isn't trying to be great. But its modest ambitions are marred by mediocre craftsmanship. At its core (and what's best about the game) are a few neat but simple puzzles. Unfortunately only one really rewards thought; the others are either simple or random. There are some nice touches of humour, and the conceit of setting this as a radio drama is nice, especially with the (all to frequently seen) death or loss messages, which are well done.
But
(1) It's very linear. Not just in the sense that one scene must precede another (which is fair enough given the structure) -- but in the sense that each scene is linear, too. A succession of tasks to be accomplished in order. The game is full of devices designed to insist that you do things in the order the author intended. Interact ... but on my terms.
(2) Given that in the end it's only puzzles and light humour, both of them need to be great. And they really aren't. Some puzzles are poorly clued. Some are just UN-clued, being more a case of "Do X. Die. Undo. Don't do X again." There's a bunch of learning by dying. Others, by contrast, are very obvious. Of the various scenes, only two are really fully realised puzzles; it feels like the rest were skimped.
(3) The writing is so-so. Telling me that an apartment looks expensive and luxurious is not the same thing as describing an expensive apartment. I was also jarred by the mixture of specifically New-Yorky-names ("lower east side") and non-New-Yorky things (5th and Main anyone ... and a 5th Avenue apartment building with 4 apartments and no doorman?). This jarred, and it's lazy. Either set your story in New York, or in some imaginary city. (The same goes for the game's logic. If it's so late the lift-man's gone home, how come all the tenants are up and awake?)
(4) The implementation is really patchy. Some parts of it are impressively thorough. But in other cases I was unable to do things that should have been possible, including one case where the messages were positively misleading. In at least one other case, I was able to do something completely ridiculous, and I encountered what seemed to be one definite bug. Quite often the code obviously understood what I wanted to do but insisted on telling me to use a different verb. Beta testers are credited; but more testing was needed.
So what's good? Well, it's obvious that considerable care has been taken to accommodate many reasonable or unreasonable actions. The hints are well done, and thorough. The game (and this is definitely a game) will provide an hour or so of mild amusement, which is probably all it was intended for. But with a more self-critical polishing, this could be much better.
Comments on this review
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While I respect the reviewer's right to an opinion I do feel that two stars is perhaps a little harsh. I would also like to point out that this reviewer seems to have created an account for the sole purpose of reviewing my game. I guess I should feel flattered but I'd love to have some other reviews from this person to add some context and I would hope that those reading this review would take that into account and not pass judgment before giving the game a chance.
I don't pretend that this game is a masterpiece. Like most of the authors here, I'm an amateur and I put this together during what little spare time I could find simply for the fun of doing it. I personally would reserve a two star review for a game that was truly awful and I don't think that applies here but of course your opinion may vary and I respect that.
Would I call this a five star game? No. I don't pretend it is. I posted it with the hope that someone might enjoy it and I enjoyed making it. If you enjoy it, then great. If not, then I'm sorry if you feel that I've wasted your time.
For what it's worth, here are just a few specific objections that I have with this review:
The game deliberately takes place in a generic east coast city. The "New-Yorky" names the reviewer mentions could apply to many cities (including the one that I live in on the WEST coast). Call it lazy if you like but it was a conscious decision and I stand by it. The actual city was unimportant to the story. As for the tenants being awake: you woke them up by ringing the buzzer. Is that so hard to imagine? Some of them even complain about it. Furthermore, apartments with no doorman are quite common in the United States although I'll grant you they would have been less common in the 40s. Not including a doorman was a convenience for the sake of the game. If you want to call that lazy then so be it.
I had several beta testers whose help was very valuable but obviously neither they nor I are going to catch everything. If you've found a bug, please tell me about it so I can have the opportunity to fix it. You made no mention in your review of what it might have been. I would have loved to have had more beta testers but, let's face it, this is a pretty small community and I considered myself lucky to have found even the ones I did.
