[IntroComp] post reviews now
Neil deMause
reviews.
In fact, I think I shall let loose with my own now:
http://www.demause.net/introcomp/reviews2002.html
Neil
Adam Thornton
Well, here are mine. (Oh, and to reply to Neil: dude, _FotR_ isn't
meant to evoke 1986--*_Trinity_* is 1986. Try 1981.)
I was kinda grumpy when I wrote them, though, and they're very terse.
And, um, of course I'm a little biased. I gave them scores as if I were
really voting, although as an author, I of course could not.
Fellowship of the Ring: of course I want to play more...I wrote it. So
I'd better not vote. But if I did, 10/10!
Genie: man, what a waste of Glulx. This is like that comp game, only
not good. Poorly spelled, and really dumb. I mean, if I'm a
genie, surely there are cooler ways to fulfil this slob's wish
than stealing the $20 from under his mattress and going down
to the liquor store. He doesn't need a genie, he needs a
roommate. 3/10.
Artifiction: Filenames in spaces are evil, and having to rename it
because Unix is case-sensitive while Windows isn't also pisses
me off. "Piss" and "shit" are recognized, but "poop" and
"pee" aren't. OK, "dance" is cute....and "gnaw" is
implemented. There's definitely some promise here. Neither
"opening" nor "square" are recognized. I can't use the rock
to open the door. Is this the end of the intro? Lots of cute
responses, e.g. to "eat." I'd probably try the game. 5/10.
At Wit's End Again: [TADS-1020: list value required]
Still, well-written prose, looks exciting, maybe I'll try it
under Windows. Right now, though, 2/10. So, it works under
Windows TADS. And it's kind of fun, but I didn't care for _At
Wit's End_ in the first place, so, uh, 4/10.
Virus: Uh, you're missing a space there, dude, in VirusAn. And I've
never been able to voluntarily control my stomach noises. "A
mound of smoothed bedrock, like a large rock"? Harrumph. Oh,
and "fewer", damn it, not "less animals." "Its," not "it's".
Honestly, doesn't anyone proofread anymore? Shit, you got it
RIGHT in the next sentence. "Mark" works, but not "mark with
rika." Ah, I see. I have the disease the ox had. Ah...and it
was a cut scene. I see, this is going to be like BSE or some
such. Well, the author needs an editor, but this looks like
fun. 6/10.
The Waterhouse Women: Nice hint system. But, uh, a little cheesy. Sort
of like Galatea so far, and hey, I'm a sucker for that sort of
thing. I can lick a whole bunch of stuff. Whee. Awwww, man,
I don't get to talk to the mermaid. And she's a hottie. I'm
not quite sure what the *point* of the game will be or why
it's better than going to http://www.jwwaterhouse.com,
especially since Sophronia is downright obstructionist. But
hey, I dig pre-Raphaelite redheads. 6/10.
Private Cyborg: Hey, this does a pretty good job of making me want to
play more. I know that I'm the brain-implant of a tough-guy
private dick who's just been killed by a Bug. And that brings
up a bunch of questions. Yeah, sure, it is cheesy and
cliched, but it looks like fun. 7/10.
Time Trap: Nice way to give a sense of urgency. Puzzles are pretty darn
cheesy and cliched though. 5/10; competent, but not very
exciting.
Hey, Jingo!: Fun, fun fun. Like Private Cyborg, brings up questions wo
which I want some answers. Well-written, cleverly done.
Comic obsession a nice touch, and decaying colonialism is
nice. Sort of post-Flashman Flashman. 8/10.
Maintenance Man: another Philip Dearmore joint with the same caveats as
Private Cyborg. Maybe it's the tadsr terp that's eating
spaces and stuff. Anyway, I can't seem to leave. I would
think that after I've got people stuck in the elevator, the
water fountain is producing sludge, and the radio's gone off
the air because the city has been nuked, I'd feel comfortable
ignoring the damn phone. Which I can't unplug, break, turn
off, or anything. 4/10.
Death By Monkey: OK, it doesn't play on either Opera or Netscape, and
requires me to kill -9 Netscape to regain control. Forget it.
0/10. Netscape on Windows fails too. And IE 5.0 wants me to
install some more crap. Lovely. Let's try IE 5.5 over on
another machine. I see. "Runs on IE 5.5 or later." COULD
HAVE MENTIONED IT. The parser sucks, and it looks like Rocky
Horror, except that I don't have a new bride. Amazing. I've
suffered through all of this to play the game to its end, and
I *still* give it 0/10. OK, so I have to give it 1/10.
From the Files: ADRIFT. Don't care enough about it to bother installing
ADRIFT on a Windows box. No vote. Title's cute though...
And then, like a moron, I go and install it. Of course, JUST
the runner doesn't work. Must install the whole thinkg. Then
I notice it dumps a new riched32.dll and a whole bunch of
other shit in my system32 directory. Let's see if it loses
its mind because it's on NT, not Win9x. All right. Finally
playing the game. Of course, I'm horribly pissed off. And
having LOOK repeat the WHOLE FRIGGING SCENE...what is this,
AGT? Hmmm. Number disagreement with the cufflinks. Cute but
quickly tiresome "I don't understand that." Sort of cut-rate
Hunter S. Thompson as psychotherapist. And over very quickly.
Not impressed. 3/10 purely on gameplay. 2/10 because it
PISSED ME OFF TOO MUCH.
Madrigal: Sigh. I was hoping for so much. I even went out of my way to
reinstall a Hugo terp on my laptop. And yet, it's a slight
game. Looks like it might be kinda fun, but I just can't get
excited over it. 5/10.