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(comp03) Reviews 3 of 3: the top third

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Daphne Brinkerhoff

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Nov 16, 2003, 1:09:54 AM11/16/03
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And these are the best of the best.

Baluthar--Finally, a game that told a story! That had an evocative
setting! That wasn't full of bugs! Oh yes, a game with a heart! I
rejoice. I also admit that it wasn't perfect, that the setting was
a little cliched, that I was disappointed in my son and the game
didn't really address that. But still a worthy game. (7)

No Room--I'm just pleased as punch because I could solve this game
without hints. Yay for me. Also because the standard default
responses were replaced, and that shows attention to detail which
is important in a game this small (in any game, really, but it
shows up more when a game can't fall back on its brilliant puzzles
or huge map or complex plot). It was too short for a ten, so. (7)

Atomic Heart--Talk about arbitrary! I played through a few times
and gave up in disgust. But there was something about the
language... and I remembered Stefan Blixt's last game, "Purple",
which had some really great imagery and a detailed setup, in spite
of some awkward language and bugginess. So I went back and
started to work straight from the walkthrough, having no patience
with any puzzles. And this game also has some great imagery and
a detailed setup, in spite of... You get the point. But there was
less awkward language and bugginess here, and by the end, I
had an emotional investment in the action I had to take. Good
artistic decision to bring the kid along. (7)

Cerulean Stowaway--I never ran into the game-killing bug; I had to
download the newest interpreter anyway, for the Tads 3 game, so
maybe that's why. Anyhow, I liked the first half of the game,
until it devolved into something a little more predictable. Not
that I would give up the "quarters" scene. I loved how the guy
actually had it labelled on the control panel; he must have
*really* enjoyed watching it repeatedly. I guess I found the
resource management no fun, and the tear-jerker ending didn't have
the emotional effect that, say, Atomic Heart did. I felt like
there must have been another way. (8)

Gourmet--Hats off! A comedy! Yay for comedy! An almost
cinematic game. It did end too abruptly--I wanted to go through
more courses--and there were some implausibilities in how the
patrons reacted (or failed to react) to what was going on. If
a chef repeatedly comes out and stands in a closet, and is
observed carrying first aid kits around, I think people will
know what's going on. On the other hand, so what? Most people
have worked in a kitchen at some point, and disasters happen. I
don't think I'd hold it against anyone. But I don't know the
snobby food business. (8)

Recruit--The first couple of colors I went right through. Then
it got way hard, very abruptly. That's okay. I also got a more
ominous feel in the beginning... I thought there might be more to
the plot than just "here's some puzzles, solve them". Still,
this was very professionally done, very bug-free, and it had that
addictive thing, wherein I couldn't stop until I'd won. (8)

Episode in the Life of an Artist--Man, I *love* this game. The
widgets, the evil overlord a.k.a. your boss... I love the slightly
unreliable narrator. I love everything until I got into the
cellar, because then things just sort of stopped, and alluded to
Lovecraftian revelations, or X-Files is more accurate... But it
didn't come home to the guy I was playing. He didn't get a full
sense of it, and so neither did I. But hey, the outtakes are
a complete scream. Way to go, author, please write more. (9)

Risorgimento Represso--It's hard to say why I enjoyed this game
so much. Definitely full points for professionalism. I was
thinking about it, and alchemy in the precise sense of the term
is not frequently found in IF. You get the magical alchemy, but
not the very real chemistry. That happens in this game, so that's
a plus. Also, lazy Renaissance versus lazy medieval is just
unusual enough to please me. (9)

I've never felt more certain about my ten. As of this writing, I
have not seen the results, but I will be completely shocked if the
winner is not...

Slouching Towards Bedlam--Seriously, in September I was randomly
thinking, "Whatever happened to Daniel Ravipinto?" I still don't
know, but it doesn't matter. This game has a creepy drippy dark
twisted steampunk worldview. I got emotionally involved. I was
frantically trying to think of a way to get out of the cesspool of
a life that my protagonist is involved in. But I can't do it,
and it doesn't feel like the author is arbitrarily preventing me
(the way that, for example, Cerulean Stowaway feels). It feels
like that's the way life is. Some of the endings seem hopeful,
though, and that was a relief to me, almost as though the game
was saying "Do your best, and even though you fail, something is
salvageable." But I haven't seen all five endings yet. Someone,
please post a way to get to them all! (10)


Overall thoughts: In spite of my four 1's, I feel pleased with
this comp. Nine years in, there's still plenty of experimentation,
plenty of old-fashioned puzzlefests, plenty of IF that focuses
on the story, plenty of variety. And the top third, particularly,
were a pleasure. That's a high percentage.

I couldn't give a fair review to Scavenger since I helped play-
test it, so I'll be interested to see what people think of it.

I see that others have begun posting reviews already... Can't
wait for the results.
--
Daphne


Eytan Zweig

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Nov 16, 2003, 1:36:18 AM11/16/03
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SPOILER WARNING -

Daphne Brinkerhoff asked for someone to post the endings to this great
game, and since I was lax and forgot to actually vote in time, I decided
to do so as a small community service penance. But I really don't
recommend looking below until you find at least one, if not two, of the
endings yourself -


SPOILER SPACE


SPOILER SPACE

Appendix A - Kill yourself before ever leaving the first room.
Appendix B - Infect at least one person, then kill yourself (or get
killed), with at least one infected person still alive.
Appendix C - Free the logos on magnetophone.
Appendix D - Infect at least one person, then kill everyone you infected,
and kill yourself.
Appendix E - Infect at least one person, then kill everyone you infected,
and wait.

Eytan


Daphne Brinkerhoff

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Nov 16, 2003, 1:54:12 AM11/16/03
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"Eytan Zweig" <eyt...@oook.cz> wrote in message
news:bp75sp$1l4ig7$1...@ID-101183.news.uni-berlin.de...

> SPOILER WARNING -
>
> Daphne Brinkerhoff asked for someone to post the endings to this great
> game, and since I was lax and forgot to actually vote in time, I decided
> to do so as a small community service penance. But I really don't
> recommend looking below until you find at least one, if not two, of the
> endings yourself -

(endings snipped)

Thanks, Eytan. I had thought of the thing for Appendix A, but I couldn't
figure out how, until after you posted.

--
Daphne


Aaron Kashtan

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Nov 17, 2003, 2:49:38 PM11/17/03
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SPOILER WARNING


I can't think of any other way to kill myself besides using the
gallows. How else can I kill myself?

Aaron Kashtan

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Nov 17, 2003, 2:56:03 PM11/17/03
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SPOILER SPACE


Never mind, I figured it out. I was deceived by the fact that the
window wasn't openable.

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