Zip! Speedster of Valiant City

The superhero genre isn’t really my thing, yet for some reason, I decided to try out this short superhero story.

I was definitely surprised, and impressed. The writing is the game’s definite strong point, with plenty of color and character. Scenes carry a good mix of humor and action, and it was definitely entertaining to read.

The story is also pretty solid, even if largely standard for the superhero genre, as you work your way to take out the big bad, while dealing with a bunch of lesser villains along the way. There is your love interest, your sidekick and plenty of the usual tropes. Still the strong writing is able to carry all these elements here and make them interesting to read.

The stat system is pretty standard, except that here, you have a consumable stat, juice, which you can use whenever your regular stats aren’t up to the task. Juice was handy in saving me a few times when I was confronted with some skill checks I would likely have failed, so I did like the system. I managed to beat most of the checks in the game, and used juice to save the day whenever my stats weren’t up to the task.

At 50k words, a long play time is certainly one thing this game can’t offer. Nevertheless, it was a very fun game for what it was, despite the short length.

I enjoyed playing the Heroes Rise trilogy by Eric Moser before [edit: it's been pointed out to me that Zachary Sergi, not Eric Moser, is the author of Heroes Rise; I would never have noticed without someone pointing it out!], so I was interested in seeing this game. I knew ahead of time that it's a 'mini' game, free on the omnibus apps. designed to be a bonus to whoever downloads those apps (together with another 'mini' story, Sky Pirates of Arctorus by Kyle Marquis).

Overall, I think this game is quick-paced, charming and fun. You play a super-fast hero who is getting old (sadly, their 'old age' is pretty much the age I am now) against an enemy called 'The Sloth'. You're married, but to a person who cheated on you, and there is another romantic option (but not one you are required to pursue). The other main things you can do are getting a shoe sponsor deal, running for mayor, or training your sidekick.

This game was good, but it felt like a regular 100K-200K story that had parts removed instead of being built for a smaller game. For instance, it has well-defined, clear stats and clever use of resources, but the opportunities to build and use those stats are limited, and there are quite a few (I think 6 major skills). Contrast this to the even-smaller Choice of the Dragon, with 2 major stats (although Choice of the Broadsides has 12, so it's not hard and fast).

Another 'big game made small' feature is the numerous story threads that aren't given much treatment: your relationships with spouse, sidekick, romantic option/rival, and the CEO of a company; your background with the Sloth; handling the outbreak of other minor villains; etc. I feel like if each theme got twice the screen time it could have been stronger.

I don't have any suggestions on how to write shorter games (I know a lot of great authors have tried it over the years to varying success). This game wasn't bad, and is free with the app, so if you're thinking of getting into Choicescript games, it's one of the better free options on the omnibus app.