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![]() by Jim Kaplan (Jim Kaplan has a room called the location. The location of Jim Kaplan is variable.) Related reviews: dan schmidt Play it if: you're in the mood for a short, light, memorable story which follows intuitive, dreamlike connections rather than logic-based ones. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
Comments on this reviewPrevious | << 1 >> | Next Danielle, June 8, 2013 - Reply I've always found FOR A CHANGE to be one of the most memorable IF games. Its use of language in building the surreal really plays to the strengths of IF, making a world that just couldn't be expressed graphically. Jim Kaplan, June 8, 2013 - Reply Yeah, I can really see this sticking with me. Peter Pears wrote about how the minimalist descriptions were actually one of the things that made Zork I effective and captivating as a game, and I see a similar process here. What I find interesting is that my consistent visualization of the world resembled Teletubby-land: big, simple shapes, bold, prominent colors, alien technologies and intelligent but unspeaking entities fusing elements of the living and non-living. In fact, playing this game made me think about how we (viewers of the show) rationalized the setting whereas it is in fact deeply bizarre and alien. Creatures with television screens grafted onto their bodies live in a world with a living sun? Er, what? Others might visualize it entirely differently. That's actually another interesting thing about the world. The Baron evokes German Expressionist film a la Ingmar Bergman; Counterfeit Monkey draws on Monkey Island-style anachronisms and realities; Spider and Web feels like a Cold War setting. But I don't think For a Change deliberately creates that kind of specific impression. The world iss described in such general terms that you could interpret it as having any sort of visual style. I saw it as Teletubby-like primary colors, but you could also interpret it as Tim Burton-esque high-contrast lushness or something else entirely. That's certainly a fascinating use of IF, to describe an environment in some detail while being able to create entirely different visual impressions in different minds. Danielle, June 8, 2013 - Reply I remember my version of this world had kind of "Neverhood" vibe to it--warm color palette, empty black sky and this tension going on between the innate spookiness of an empty world and the charming descriptions of the objects encountered, making it fun-surreal. Fascinating piece. |