Photopia

First off, is this the greatest piece of IF of all time as it was ranked so a few years ago? I don't know about that. Currently I'm only giving it 4 stars (though that may change with another play-through), and since I have at least one other game already rated as 5 stars I guess I don't consider it the best of all time. That said this is a truly great work and something that everyone should play-through at least once. There really aren't any game aspects to it, you are just walking yourself through a story. But the story is so immersive and the way the interactivity is used really draws you in. And there are a few magical moments that just wouldn't have been the same without the interactive part, that wouldn't have felt the same just reading it. It really did open up new possibilities in IF and really lives out its own classic line: "Let's tell a story together."

I'd recommend playing the Glulx version to allow the author's use of color to enhance the story.

I'm still working on finishing the game, but so far i felt there were a couple things to mention. The game is pretty fun, can be a little confusing at times though. The main thing i want to say here though, for the people struggling on the maze- and i know you are -the walk-through is wrong for that part. this isn't really a spoiler, but i'll hide it as a spoiler. it's more of a hint if you cant figure out the maze. (Spoiler - click to show) you cannot go up twice and down twice. I don't want to give a spoiler for the solution, but lets just say you don't actually WALK OUT of the maze. I like to think of it as more of a dream like moment- though i can't say if it is a dream or if it's something that's happening, i just prefer to think of it as a dream-like situation -Don't assume all you can do is walk out of the maze. what would you do if it was your dream? how would you get out? I hope that helps the people struggling with the maze. Besides that, I found the game intriguing and fun to piece together, though the ending was sort of bland and disappointing. It felt as if it should have had at least one or two more scenes, though i wont go into detail because i don't want to spoil the game.