[Comp 2000] Some quick notes
Gunther Schmidl
METAMORPHOSES - This game deserves to win. I've described it as a mix of So
Far and For A Change. Now, this doesn't mean it's a rip-off of either of the
games, but the atmosphere it evokes, and the beauty of the descriptions,
would earn this game a straight 10 from me. Since I suck at solving puzzles,
I played this with the walkthrough, and naturally missed all the alternative
endings. Yay TXD. My favourite end is, btw, to drown myself in the river.
Why? I don't know.
RAMESES - Finally, more people who don't write "clean" IF. The
PC-doesn't-do-what-the-player-wants parts were clever and enjoyable. Another
10.
BEING ANDREW PLOTKIN - I cracked up at the ifMUD transcript. The rest was
really funny, too. Probably a 9 or 10. Way to go, "Celie".
SHADE - I didn't play this during the comp, because I picked out only games
that looked interesting from the start. As soon as I found out that Zarf
wrote it, I sat down and played it straight through. Note: Pseudonyms aren't
always a good idea. The "What do I turn to sand next?" part was a big "guess
the object" (that's new) section; but it reminded me of a similar scene in
THE DARK EYE, which still creeps me out when I think about it (for those in
the know: the scene in BERENICE where everything starts grinning madly at
you). I didn't get the end. I know, it's deliberate. 9. (The more I think
about it, the more I like this game. It would have made a brilliant OUTER
LIMITS episode. I would have voted it into Miss Congeniality. My sincere
apologies to Zarf.)
KAGED - As I've come to expect from Ian Finley's games, this one is really
good. An excellent example of what a HTML-TADS game should be, much like
last years' Six Stories. 9.
A CRIMSON SPRING - Robb, it's entirely your fault I had to wait for the comp
games until I could get a PC in the University library that had a CD-RW
drive and high-speed internet connection. It's paid off though. Great story,
but completely wacky puzzles. I couldn't figure out a SINGLE one. Since I
prefer storytelling IF to puzzle IF anyway, I didn't care. 9.
AD VERBUM - Wow. An english wordplay game I could actually solve. I did run
into a bug at the very end, but overall it was very enjoyable. 8 or 9.
YAGWAD - Very funny, and excellent ASCII art to top. I can see Adam Thornton
crying somewhere. 8.
THREADING THE LABYRINTH - Right up my alley. I like strange games pushing
the boundaries of IF, and especially clever ones. 8.
NEVERMORE - Excellent story, but completely unplayable without a
walkthrough. Again, I didn't care. 8.
AT WIT'S END - I enjoyed the first part a lot. Then, it turned into a
puzzle-fest. I did want to see how it ended, though, so I fought my way
through. I wasn't disappointed, though I hope I may say here the game needed
a hell of a lot more betatesting (and the author agrees). 7.
-----
STUPID KITTENS: Probably the worst game ever to be entered into the
Competition.
COMP00TER GAME: Funnier than Stupid Kittens, but that's about it. Can you
deliberately not win? I thought so.
MAROONED and WRECKED: Sigh. I expected this. Also, the runner doesn't work
properly in Windows 2000, complaining about "incompatible types" when I
start it up.
FUTZ MUTZ: The Competition is not the place to take your hostile feelings
against other authors or authoring systems. Nor do I like the derogatory
portrayal of the black woman. No, this is not politically correct bullshit
I'm spewing here.
DJINNI: Huh? It was flawless in both programming and writing, but WTF? I
haven't the SLIGHTEST clue what this is about.
-----
Favourite moments:
JAROD'S JOURNEY: "There is an angel here who is slightly glowing!" (I just
fell over and died. I will probably rot in hell for this. Nah.)
The fake ifMUD transcript from BAP. Simply brilliant. And it catches the
various peoples' writing styles precisely, down to the lack of punctuation
or capitalization.
The point in SHADE where I saved before opening the door because I was
creeped out of my skin.
Most of the object descriptions in METAMORPHOSES.
-- Gunther
Alexander Deubelbeiss
Gunther Schmidl schrieb in Nachricht <8v0q2l$6vc$2...@news6.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>SHADE - I didn't play this during the comp, because I picked out only games
>that looked interesting from the start. As soon as I found out that Zarf
>wrote it, I sat down and played it straight through. Note: Pseudonyms
aren't
>always a good idea. The "What do I turn to sand next?" part was a big
"guess
>the object" (that's new) section
What?!? You have the To Do List, don't you? (I loved that, btw)
Craxton
games
> that looked interesting from the start. As soon as I found out that Zarf
> wrote it, I sat down and played it straight through. Note: Pseudonyms
aren't
> always a good idea.
Actually, I think that paragraph demonstrates why they ARE...
-Craxton