Download


kurusu.gam
Requires a TADS interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.

Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

Playlists and Wishlists

RSS Feeds

New member reviews
Updates to downloadable files
All updates to this page

Kurusu City

by Kevin Venzke

Science Fiction
2004

(based on 10 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

An IFComp 2004 Entry


Game Details

Language: English (en)
Current Version: 1
License: Freeware
Development System: TADS 2
Baf's Guide ID: 2395
IFID: TADS2-100F5182443838F106BCB0E0384D9F74
TUID: chvxrtobwv7ciy9o

Awards

20th Place - 10th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2004)

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


If there still were authoring systems' divisions in the IF Competition, Kurusu City would have won the one for TADS 2 games easily (the fact that the rivals were unusually weak in 2004 is a different thing, and certainly not the fault of the reviewed work). As Miki Maeda, a teenage girl, you bid defiance to the robots governing your home city. The overall light-hearted atmosphere of the game resembles that of the well-known Interstate Zero by Adam Cadre, and the town is inhabited by lots of young female NPCs. You're going to encounter enough good puzzles, although the game is somewhat disbalanced in this respect - in particular, the final puzzle provides for an anti-culmination. Besides, Kurusu City is a good deal longer than two hours, which shouldn't stop you from giving it a try outside the Comp.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

I seem to have spent most of my review commenting on how strange and/or incomplete Kurusu City felt to me, so let me finish up by pointing out some well-done parts. There's a nice feature in the game's inventory code which prints out the results of an X ME before printing the inventory on the first time it's used. Subsequently, it just prints the inventory. I thought this worked so well that I'd like to see it become an IF standard. Also, there's a game-within-a-game that serves as an entertaining satire of the medium itself. There's a nice multi-stage puzzle involving gaining a credential, and I found the story interesting enough that I felt sorry when time ran out. Mostly, though, my reaction to Kurusu City was a puzzled shrug.
See the full review

Tags

- View the most common tags (What's a tag?)

(Log in to add your own tags)

Member Reviews

5 star:
(0)
4 star:
(3)
3 star:
(4)
2 star:
(4)
1 star:
(1)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 2
Write a review


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
An immensely cruel but otherwise great game about overthrowing robots, June 23, 2019
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

This is that rare game that is very cruel on the Zarfian scale but otherwise fair. Expect to restart, undo, or restore this game dozens of times. I gave up around 5 or 6 points and after decompiling, but I know at least a few people succeeded.

You play a japanese girl who wants to destroy robots, so you explore a city to undertake various actions (that must be done in a very precise order) to obtain various items, in order to stop the robots.

I'd love to see someone do a full walkthrough of this!


0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Not a must-play by any means, October 31, 2007
by Nusco (Bologna, Italy)
Related reviews: IF Competition 2004

Japanese schoolgirls against the robot dictators. The English prose feels strange, but maybe it's just me. Many situations feel a bit random, and the game has hints but lacks a walkthrough. The B-movie robot descriptions are funny, though.


If you enjoyed Kurusu City...

Related Games

People who like Kurusu City also gave high ratings to these games:

NOLA Is Burning, by Claudia Starling
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Your boss, The Bull, the most dangerous gangster in New Orleans, has a job for you. Rescue your kidnapped lover--officially The Bull’s lover, but unofficially yours--before dawn. Slaughter everyone who stands in your way, including other...

Rogue of the Multiverse, by C.E.J. Pacian
Average member rating: (72 ratings)
Congratulations, convict 76954! You have been selected for scientific experimentation! You will be matter-transmitted to exotic non-Treaty worlds - where opportunities abound to take in fantastic sights and mingle with colourful locals!

Stand Down, by verityvirtue
Average member rating: (2 ratings)
A low-interactivity, linear reflection. This reflection was inspired by: Bruno Dias's The World Turned Upside Down mathbrush's Untie (as Alex Ellis) Emily Short's TinyHillside Cover photo by Zhen Hu on Unsplash.

Suggest a game

Recommended Lists

Kurusu City appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Individual teen PCs by Kinetic Mouse Car
This list is not for games that are simply about teens. It is for games starring an individual teen PC (you know, 13-19). I made this list because it is interesting to interact with a story through the perspective of teenagers,...

Polls

The following polls include votes for Kurusu City:

Games That No-one Has Ever Knowingly Finished by Canalboy
I mean games that have no posted solutions. I realise that a lot of these could be buggy and therefore unfinishable but some will be just too difficult. I guess only the authors would know for sure.

Games with a city setting by JonathanCR
I'm interested in games that are set in cities - historical, modern, fantasy, or science-fiction. In particular, games that make you feel that you are in a real, functioning, busy city where life is being lived all around you. Which...




This is version 4 of this page, edited by Paul O'Brian on 9 May 2022 at 1:06am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item