I-0

I appreciate the work required to create a non-linear adventure game, and I think I-0 could be a really great game with some more effort, but "sophomoric" is the best way I can describe it.

Probably the game's greatest asset is the humorous nature of its prose, written in an irreverent tone that somehow fits the bratty 17.99-year-old protagonist quite well.

The core mechanic is fairly innovative, in that the player has many potential ways to move to their final destination. But the overall game design is very poor.

After messing around with the game for a while, all of the routes to the destination seem to require hitching a ride and getting assaulted by a rapist/murderer. I agree with other reviewers that this is one of those things you might want to disclose to players in advance.

However, the player can hop into the bed of a seemingly random pickup truck, which turns out to be driven by her cousin and takes her directly to victory -- a total deus ex machina, which feels cheap.

Many visible objects cannot be interacted with; IMO, this is the cardinal sin of most "bad" IF.

On the other hand, there are many unnecessary annoyances and complexities, like having to unbuckle your seat belt and open the door manually before getting out of your car, or having to look both ways before crossing a highway, or having to wait for many turns before a vehicle randomly shows up, or a simple taco restaurant parking lot involving a confusing array of separate locations.

I feel that the core mechanic could be the basis for a much more amazing game in the hands of a writer willing to put in the effort to make it more immersive and less cheap.