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3 people found the following review helpful:
A beautiful and tragic game, a masterpiece of good experimentation., August 11, 2023You play an (older?) gentleman doing some late night groceries after a long day. Most of it is pretty mundane and uninteresting, until you see some fresh gnocchi in the pasta aisle. Your mind can only think of the last time you had those, in Rome. Around you, the shelves block your view to the other aisles, and a brunette woman stands a few meters away, filling her trolley with pots of sauce. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
One choice..., June 27, 2022 by jfred An interesting idea and some great endings. Some more disturbing than others, but maybe more disturbing that I tried then it was implemented. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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1 people found the following review helpful:
Short story about shopping for pasta, February 1, 2022by Cody Gaisser (Florence, Alabama, United States of America, North America, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Known Universe, ???) The premise of Aisle is simple: Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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3 people found the following review helpful:
Interesting to Explore, April 11, 2020by Josef (United States) As someone who *doesn't* play interactive fiction games, I enjoy this as a way to test out commands. It can be frustrating after a few minutes, but it is pleasant to just see how many endings you can get out of it. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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4 people found the following review helpful:
The beginning of the review. But not the only one..., June 18, 2019New as I am to interactive fiction, I had not heard of this game until recently, nor had I heard of the concept of its genre - you have only one turn in which to input a command, after which the story resets and you can start over, ad infinitum. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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2 people found the following review helpful:
Literally the game that introduced me to gnocchi, so four stars for that!, April 28, 2019by deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN) Perhaps the first serious game that would automatically end after one move. The premise is quite simple as you play an ordinary man in an ordinary supermarket who has stopped in the pasta aisle next to a woman who is also shopping. There are exactly 136 possible moves you can make that produce 136 separate endings. There is neither a puzzle nor a plot, and one would be hard pressed to say this is even a character study, as some of the endings’ portrayal of your character’s history contradict each other. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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1 people found the following review helpful:
Recommend To All, March 18, 2017by RottenSnail Related reviews: narrative, replay, pc, mystery-ish, one move, beginner, back-story, easy, short This is another game that is made to be replayed. And the player can choose how many times they want to replay, or how much of the story they want to uncover. I tagged it "mystery-ish" because, while it's not a puzzle game with a mystery and clues in the traditional sense, the player uses the previous play-throughs to know how else they can interact with the setting and, therefore, uncover more back-story and characterization. You put a small amount of effort into the game, and receive an increasingly rich back-story and characterization. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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3 people found the following review helpful:
A one-action game with over a hundred endings, February 3, 2016Aisle is a well-known game with a strange mechanic; you are inside a grocery aisle shopping for food, and you only get one action before the game ends. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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5 people found the following review helpful:
Interesting and short, but kinda boring, November 29, 2015by chairbender I didn't feel very invested in the characters. The behavior and insanity of the protagonist doesn't help with this. I don't feel like I can really figure anything out because the narrator is unreliable, and I don't really feel like the personal experience of the narrator has any relevance to me because I'm not insane. But, most of all, I found the absence of challenges to be the biggest reason for not enjoying this very much. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | View comments (2) - Add comment
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5 people found the following review helpful:
An Incredible Piece of Experimental Game Design, March 23, 2015by Mike Root Aisle is such a simple and well executed idea that absolutely everyone in the IF community must have been kicking themselves when it came out that they'd not have thought of it sooner. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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6 people found the following review helpful:
Curiously Enchanting, May 24, 2013by octofuzz (Trondheim, Norway) I am in the middle of a 'home exam' and fancied half an hour of IF. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | View comments (1) - Add comment
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12 people found the following review helpful:
Ricemans view, October 23, 2011When I saw this game many of the reviews made it out to be amazing though you only give one command.So I played it and I absolutely hated it. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | View comments (2) - Add comment
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6 people found the following review helpful:
A Neat Little Game, September 3, 2011This is a fun game that'll definitely be worth your time. You make one action. The story ends. And then you start again. Although I was a bit apprehensive when I heard about the premise, this was actually quite an entertaining game. Through different actions you slowly get a view of your past and your present. The author seems to have accommodated for almost anything you'd want to do. Like Plotkin's The Space Under the Window, you begin with very little information but learn more and build off of that knowledge. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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7 people found the following review helpful:
A Novel Approach, June 5, 2011by Adam D The only one-turn game i've seen so far and the approach is very novel! I love how every single action unravels part of the story and lets you learn just a bit more about the main character and the woman. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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8 people found the following review helpful:
We'll always have Rome..., November 10, 2010by The Year Is Yesterday (California) Gnocchi. A brunette (Clare?). Violence, remorse, longing. Or maybe plain old penne. The beauty of this game isn't in the story it tells. The beauty is in the story that exists between the lines. What happened in Rome, and why does it stir up such emotions? You have only an aisle, some pasta, a woman and a trolley, and one turn in which to do something. But, as the impressive breadth of unique responses indicates, there's an awful lot you can do in a single moment. Play with it for at least ten minutes before writing it off as a novelty. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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9 people found the following review helpful:
Wonderful Interactive. , November 2, 2010by tggdan3 (Michigan) So now I understand what the big deal was with phone booth and aisle. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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5 people found the following review helpful:
The definition of replayability, July 26, 2009by Dark-Star (Nebraska) An island of quality in a desert of its genre's mediocrity, this intriguing little game arouses one's curiosity in a unique manner - by giving the player but a single turn in which to act. While such a thing might seem shallow at first glance, the author has managed to weave enough detail into the myriad endings that you will soon find yourself trying all manner of actions just to see what the outcome might be. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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6 people found the following review helpful:
Great / not so great / moving, August 22, 2008Gotta give it a try, absolutely. It will take you just a few seconds. And then maybe some more seconds. And then more... Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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7 people found the following review helpful:
Good for newcomers, July 31, 2008by Tetsuo (Taipei, Taiwan) Having only just returned to IF after a brief and fruitless attempt at Zork a couple of years ago, Aisle is an excellent welcome. It's not as involved as many other games, but the writing and concept are great, and for a beginner like me it's an excellent counterpoint to the misperception that IF is all about "take sword" and "kill orc". The range of possible actions is also quite a surprise, and kudos to the author for that. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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29 people found the following review helpful:
Romantic Isolation, July 30, 2008by Jimmy Maher (Oslo, Norway) Most discussion of this work begins and ends with its central gimmick: that it plays out over a single turn, in which you are allowed to choose just one action that will determine how this little vignette concludes. For me, though, that's not the most important thing. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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5 people found the following review helpful:
Freedom and intensity, July 28, 2008by Beekeeper By turns funny, affecting, and disturbing, this one-move game hits hard with the help of great writing, intense themes and unparalleled freedom. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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12 people found the following review helpful:
Nothing Quite Like It, December 1, 2007What a wonderfully successful experimental piece. As has been well documented, the game ends after your first action, but the results are myriad and compelling. I played late into the evening, and it was some time before the true story hidden in the simple dynamic finally revealed itself (and after I'd already thought I'd figured it out). Beneath an illusory simplicity is a very funny, scary, and ultimately moving game -- if you're willing to try as many possibilities as you can. It's weirdly cathartic to be presented with a recurring moment in time in which you can try whatever action (within reason) is at hand. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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5 people found the following review helpful:
More than just a gimmick, November 9, 2007Aisle is rather unusual in that the game ends after a single command; the command you choose to type determines any or all of the story, the backstory, the other characters, and your own personality and motivation. I rather enjoyed it. It's certainly worth a go, since at minimum it demands only a few seconds of your time. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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16 people found the following review helpful:
Amusing as well as deep, October 22, 2007by robkun (London, UK) The BAF review almost says it all. The only thing I'd add is how funny it can be as well, and yet even in these wickedly surreal moments, there is still that depth that makes you realise how much thought has been put into the design. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
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