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Film at Eleven

by Bowen Greenwood

2001
Humor
Inform 6

(based on 5 ratings)
1 review10 members have played this game. It's on 17 wishlists.

About the Story

"Welcome to a day in the life of Betty Byline! Two months out of journalism school you enter the workplace with big time dreams of network television news. Fame, fortune and glory, all writ large under the unrelenting gaze of the klieg lights. There are eight million stories in the Naked City, and it's your job to tell them, tell them best, and tell them first.

Unfortunately this isn't the Naked City. This is Pleasantville, USA, population 50,000. And you're not exactly working for the network news. You're working for local television station KTKO, the Knockout News Team -- a one camera, one reporter operation with a fat, balding old news director who smokes cheap cigars. Forget fortune and glory, for now your big career objective is not to have to give too many on-air endorsements of 'Kletus's Used Car and Farm Implement Emporium.' OK, so maybe you're not Dan Rather yet. Everybody has to start somewhere, and at least this is a start in front of a camera." [--blurb from Competition Aught-One]

Awards

Ratings and Reviews

5 star:
(1)
4 star:
(1)
3 star:
(1)
2 star:
(2)
1 star:
(0)
Average Rating: based on 5 ratings
Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
News reporter gets a tip about the mayor and an intern, April 17, 2016

In this game with a small map, you play a brand new reporter who caught a tip about the mayor and his intern stuffing ballot boxes.

The puzzles in this game have multiple solutions, and I felt like the game was more believable than usual.

Overall, a well written detective romp. However, the writing felt detached, and I don't feel like revisiting it in the future.

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2 Off-Site Reviews

SPAG
This game is apparently inspired by I-0, so the first time I played it I spent the whole time doing I-0 type things: I stripped off everywhere and waited to see how people would react. [...] The second time I played, however, I tried to appreciate Film at Eleven on its own terms, and I found it a lot more likeable. In fact I found the whole thing rather sweet and endearing. I liked the PC and her infectious enthusiasm, I liked the quirky small-town inhabitants, and I liked the friendly, gently chiding voice that was narrating.
-- Stephen Bond
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>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

Like a miniature version of Dangerous Curves, this game takes us into a town where trouble's brewing at City Hall, NPCs abound, and it'll take a little trickery to crack the case before time runs out. Of course, there are significant differences. Instead of a downtrodden private eye, the PC here is the rather incongruously named Betty Byline, a television reporter on her first big assignment. The character's name is strange, not just because television reporters don't really have bylines, but because it signals a sort of cartoony, Archie-comics wholesomeness that's notably missing from the rest of the game. It's not as if the mayor is named Vinnie Veto and the bartender Sammy Scotchensoda. Thus, Betty finds herself a silly-name character somewhat misplaced in a more realistic world...

Still, [various] quibbles aside, this was a solid game, and I enjoyed it very much. Betty Byline's adventures gave me a pleasant evening's diversion, and I felt a rush of vicarious triumph when I'd finally helped her reach that first big scoop of her career.


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Film at Eleven on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Film at Eleven appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Detective and mystery games by MathBrush
These are games where you play a detective or someone else investigating a mystery. Most of them are realistic games which I am splitting off of my realistic list. Some are more magical or science fi-ish.

TV, Film, Music and Theatre related games by MathBrush
This is a collection of games that are related to the film, tv, music or theatre industries, without regard to quality.

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