Common Ground

In this game, you play the same scene as several different characters. After my first play through, I enjoyed the story but was disappointed that there were no puzzles to speak of. (I'm a puzzlephile!) However, I did play the game back through a few more times to see if I could substantially change events. Except for the choice at the end of the story, I found that I couldn't really change the arc of the story. I tried leaving important objects behind, showing objects to people, and engaging in all sorts of ill-mannered behavior. All of this was thwarted.

(Spoiler - click to show)Even having Frank choose a coke instead of a bud didn't seem to alter the events of the story. I attempted to get Frank drunk, but could only manage to get one beer out of the fridge. Even though he drank the entire thing, the game insisted that he still had a beer to drink every time I tried to snag another. I also tried to have Frank catch Jeanie taking money, but that didn't seem to work either.

With a game that lets the story happen from multiple viewpoints, it would be fun to have more control over the events. However, I did enjoy the fact that the different characters remembered the conversation in slightly different ways and noticed different objects. And the story was a good one, worthy of the title of 'interactive fiction'.