Photopia

I admit, I read the reviews first. I walked into this knowing that there would be little in the way of interactivity.

I've seen few IF games that are more IF, and less GAME. This is one, and it was done very well. Even switching amongst several POVs, the game ties it up nicely. Unfortunately, I figured out what was going on early, and tried to "defy fate", and found it was impossible.

The subject matter itself was varied. I found myself really interested in the space-travelling character, and found myself laughting at the things I took for granted about the character, only to discover that (Spoiler - click to show) she was an angel, not a human . The "other side" concerning Abbey, I found myself upset about, as the author clearly intended. It is a story that is told time and time again (Spoiler - click to show), the warning against drunk driving , but this one told it so well.

There are no puzzles in this game. The conversation is menu based and pretty straightforward. You can't NOT get through it, since it's more reading and less doing. Still, this is a wonderful attempt to use the medium of IF for storytelling, evolving it past the kleptomaniac adventurer puzzle solving that I see it in so much.

Definately worth a play, I mean read, I mean, definately worth looking at.

Photopia. Real name, no gimmicks.

Story: absolutely entrancing all the time, while the real life segments are better than the story ones; there's some classic Adam Cadre humour ("maybe when you're older" :-)), shame he lost that later, but the main focus is on emotionality, and it totally works! after the end I was like WOW!, and that happened only one other time with an IF game (I-0)

Some other authors who think this is "manipulative" should have a good look in order to learn how to create interesting and likeable characters! It isn't wrong to DREAM, is it...?

Structure: now this is where the game shines

It took me some time to figure out certain things (even though it's mentioned right in the beginning ("let's tell a story together")) - when I finally realized why the complicated words are explained - magic moment!

Interactivity: rather basic, but it's worth looking for every possible response from the game

Replayability: also rather basic, the first time you play it is obviously the best

so what makes this game one of the best of all times: the emotional involvement, the revolutionary structure, and the content that is great all the time, there is some magic in it that cannot be explained with words

groundbreaking

5/5