Djibouti Dirigible Discombobulation

I'm not sure how you rate an intro speed IF; such games don't even attempt to be full games, and as Speed IF, they are typically chock-full of flaws that the designer just didn't have time to correct. Rating such games requires the reviewer to abandon applying a single metric to his reviews, if nothing else. What a five-star intro Speed IF game is, could in no way be a five-star finished, full game.

However, as Speed IF goes, 2007 seemed to be a good year; both this game (abbreviated D3) and Faett Tiw are much more polished, and hence, game-like, than the usual crop of Speed IF entries. D3 has no typos, and the descriptions are remarkably well-written. Most objects even have at least one non-default response. The puzzles are not well-clued, though, but you can only hope for so much.

D3 is a game told in high Victorian style with more than a nod towards steampunk, told with a humorous, almost over-the-top comedic flair. Objects are necessarily ornate with multiple adjectives. The science is necessarily a pinch shy of alchemy, especially once you factor in the restrictions of the contest. I'm quite fond of the atmosphere and would like to have seen this become a finished game, minus some of the ridiculous contest restrictions.