[Comp97] A Lurker's Reviews
Dennis Matheson
Well, I was hoping to add my reviews here (just to give the views of
an average lurker as opposed to the "inner circle" here) but haven't had
time to write them all up yet. Here are my initial rankings and my top
5/bottom 5 reviews.
5: VirtuaTech (vtech.gam)
4: The Tempest (tempest.z5)
8: Sunset Over Savannah (savannah.gam)
7: Friday Afternoon (friday.z5)
8: Glowgrass (glow.gam)
4: Sins Against Mimesis (mimesis.z5)
__: Pintown (pintown.z5)
__: The Family Legacy (legacy.z5)
9: Babel (babel.gam)
3: A Good Breakfast (agb.z5)
4: CASK (cask.z5)
1: Coming Home (home.z5)
9: She's Got a Thing for a Spring (spring.z5)
2: Symetry (reflect.z5)
6: Temple of the Orc Mage (temple.gam)
3: Aunt Nancy's House (house.z5)
8: Travels in the Land of Erden (erden.z5)
7: The Edifice (edifice.z5)
5: The Frenetic Five vs. Sturm und Drang (frenfive.gam)
4: Phred Phontious and the Quest for Pizza (pizza.z5)
8: Poor Zefron's Almanac (almanac.gam)
4: Sylenius Mysterium (sylenius.z5)
5: Zombie! (zombie.gam)
5: The Lost Spellmaker (lost.z5)
3: Congratulations! (congrats.z5)
__: Madame L'Estrange and the Trouble Spirit (lest.z5)
6: Zero Sum Game (zero.gam)
6: The Obscene Quest of Dr. Aardvarkbarf (aardvark.gam)
6: A New Day (newday.z5)
__: The Town Dragon (tdragon.z5)
__: A Bear's Night Out (bear.z5)
Note: Pintown and Madame L'Estrange repeatedly crashed the
interpreters I was using, so I did not rate them. Family Legacy was
withdrawn by the author. I never made it to Town Dragon or Bear's Night
Out (sorry).
My primary consideration on rating the games was how well I enjoyed
them. If I thought the game was fun I gave it a high rating. If I
didn't care much for it, it got a mediocre rating, and games that I had
to force myself to keep playing got low ratings. Yes, its subjective.
I played the games from early October until the end of December, with
the last 10 or so being played in the last week. (OK, I kept putting it
off). I have reviewed them here in the order they were assigned by
Comp97. Some games were played out of order since I have Frotz on my
palmtop but not TADS, which gave me a wider range of opportunities to
play the Inform games.
In general, I would try to play the game without hints for about the
first hour. When I had about 15 minutes left, I would switch over to
using the walkthru in order to see as much of the game as possible.
I used WinTADS V1.1.0, WinFrotz V2.32 R5.1 and FrotzCE V1.2b. I
played the games as found in evryting.zip as of 10/10/97 when I
downloaded it.
Warning: Some of these reviews may contain spoilers, especially when
discussing a puzzle I liked (or disliked).
**********
The Best
**********
Babel
You wake up in a deserted laboratory in the artic with no memory of
who you are or what has happened.
The single best game in the competition and one of the most memorable
pieces of IF I have ever played. The mood was perfect; wandering around
in the abandoned laboratory with the power failing, the cold creeping
in, and the sense of what has happened slowly coming clear all combined
to create a perfect atmosphere. The player's ability was well integrated
with the story as was the character development (told through flashbacks
using the player's telerginic ability). The impact of the ending is
incredible.
The puzzles were well integrated with the story and quite reasonable.
I couldn't figure out how to open the cabinet, but the correct solution
was reasonable (I just missed it). I did miss one flashback (and thus
one point) because I never went back to the locker room after I got the
radiation suit and so never got the flashback after my abilities were
enhanced.
The one nagging gripe I had was that I couldn't find anything about
the Jabberwocky virus in the computer. Yes, I know it's a nit, but it
did bug me.
In retrospect, I probably should have given this one a 10. An
excellent game.
My score - 9 (should have been a 10)
**********
She's Got a Thing for a Spring
While on a camping trip, you try to find your way to a hot spring for
a romantic rendezvous.
This game clearly shows that you don't need to look to fantasy or
science fiction or mystery or horror to have a satisfying adventure.
Spring is set on a wilderness camping trip in the real world. As a
backpacker myself, I was impressed by the author's descriptions and
obvious love of the outdoors.
Everthing felt real, and I spent a lot of time just exploring the
area before I even started trying to solve the game. (Is the game set in
a real place? Where is it? I want to go there!) There is a lot of
detail and a lot going on.
Spring also includes what has to be one of the most complete NPCs I
have ever seen. Bob goes about his business, has a response for almost
any question, and even asks the player for help now and then (but
continues without the help if it isn't given). Very impressive.
Also impressive is the guidebook which the player has which provides
detailed information about the flora and fauna which you encounter, and
which also provides hints about some of the puzzles you face.
The puzzles for the most part involve interacting with the creatures
and landscape and most are quite logical and realistic. I did have a
few problems with some of them. How was I supposed to know what to do
with the egg? (And it did bother me that I had to disturb the nest in
order to do it; my hiker ethic showing.) There is one point where I had
to SEARCH in order to find an exit. It also bothered me that I had to
essentially steal from Bob in order to solve some puzzles (a common IF
occurance, made harder by the realism of the NPC) and that I have to
destroy a trail sign at one point (that hiker ethic again.)
I also hit one amusing bug in which I would pick a berry only to have
it teleport back to the bush every time I entered the location. (A
found_in problem?)
My score - 9
**********
Sunset Over Savannah
You struggle over an important decision while on the last day of your
vacation.
This game really impressed me. To me it had a dreamlike quality
about it with a hint of a Twilight Zone feel. It has a fairly small map
but one with a lot of richness and detail. The sand sculpture dragon,
the sand castle, the "fire-ants", the pier itself... it all merged to
set an almost perfect mood. The environment is also delightfully
interactive; almost anything reasonable (or unreasonable) that I tried
produced an appropriate response.
There were a few nagging problems. I kept trying to get one of the
ants to put it in the bottle, and had to consult the walkthru before I
realized that I could put it in the bottle without picking it up. (Maybe
it was obvious to others, but not me.) Also, one action I had to take
seemed obscure and suicidal. Also, do I *have* to kill the crab?
An excellent game.
My score - 8
**********
Glowgrass
A xeno-archaeologist starship crashes en route to an archaeological
site, forcing you to explore the site in order to escape.
Another excellent game. I found myself absorbed in the story; not so
much that of exploring the site, but the background story that is slowly
revealed as you explore. I wanted to keep exploring to find out more of
what happened, which to me is one of the signs of a good game. I also
liked the "ending" (if you can call it that; it seems this was just the
introduction to a larger game). The ending had a certain Twilight Zone
twist that left me with a certain sense of the creeps; another sign of a
good game.
There are only a few puzzles, most of them of the "put the square peg
in the square hole" variety. There is one point where I had to wait for
several turns for something to happen. Unfortunately, when I played, I
didn't wait quite long enough and wandered around a while longer looking
for something to do before I returned and discovered that something
*had* happened.
A few other points bugged me... The house seemed too small. I think
there should have been another bedroom (the parent's room) somewhere.
It wasn't needed for the plot, but it bothered me that it wasn't there.
Also, is there no way to steer the car when you don't have an AI
construct running it?
Maybe I'm being too picky, but I discovered that the more I liked a
game, the more the little things bothered me. At any rate, an excellent
game.
My score - 8
**********
Poor Zefron's Almanac
You are an apprentice wizard. Your master has disappeared and a
dragon is attacking the town.
This one was fun. Nothing is quite what it seems at the start. The
plot borders on the absurd without degenerating into silliness. The
space drive is a piece of genius worthy of Douglas Adams, and the
identity of the King had me laughing out loud.
Favorite line... "I think I set it to 11."
Mention has to be made of the Almanac of the title, a combination
spellbook, diary, information source, in-game hint system, walkthru and
general source of wierdness. BROWSEing it provides a lot of humor.
I had a little trouble getting started and didn't quite know what to
do with the dragon when I first encountered it, but after over the
initial hump (with the aid of the walkthru)I found it fairly
straightforward. Yes, it's a basic easter egg hunt, but well implemented
with humor. There are multiple endings (with *two* "correct"
endings(!)).
Thank you... Thank you very much...
My score - 8
**********
and, the Worst
**********
A Good Breakfast
You wake up after a wild party night and must find something to eat
before you starve.
OK, this one had a strike against it from the beginning for me. I
never liked games where you have to eat periodically or starve to death,
and this game makes that the whole point! You can get the cornflakes
early on, but need the bowl, spoon and milk before the game will let you
eat them. (Personally, I think if it was a choice of dry cornflakes or
starving, I think I could eat my cornflakes dry...)
The game suffers from several points. You have to play a game with a
robot to get the spoon. There is apparently some pattern to getting back
in the house past the lawn gnomes, but I just used brute force (try
every combination until one works). The game has a last lousy point
which you can apparently only get by playing an adventure game on the
computer in the game.
Then, there is the bug. I got the cornflakes, clean bowl, spoon and
milk. Then, whenever I tried to put the cornflakes (or milk) in the
bowl, I was told "That isn't the place for cornflakes" (or milk). I
tried the game using the walkthru and got the same error, so I assume it
is unwinnable.
While it did have some amusing points, it left me hungry for
something else...
My score - 3
**********
Aunt Nancy's House
You wander around exploring your Aunt Nancy's house.
That's really all there is to it. This isn't a game, just an
environment. You start in the attic where the environment is fairly well
detailed, but it slowly falls down as you explore further into the
house. For example, by the time you reach the kitchen, you can open the
refrigerator, but the game doesn't recognize the oven or the dishwasher,
or the cereal boxes on top of the refrigerator. I think there is a
better way to handle multiple faucets than faucet 1 and faucet 2. I also
hit a place where I got the question "Which do you mean, the box, the
plastic box, or the box?" with no way to separate them further.
There is no way to win, or even to leave the house. I did like the
implementation of the baseball game on the tv, but that was about it. At
least it didn't crash.
My score - 3
**********
Congratulations
Congratulations! You've had a baby!
There isn't much to this game. It is supposed to be about you having
to learn how to interact with your new baby. Here is the entire list of
puzzles and their solutions: Baby cries, feed it. Baby cries, change
its diaper. Baby cries, put it to bed. Take a nap. That's it. That's
the entire game. Everything is completely obvious to anyone who has had
one, or even anyone who knows anything about babies.
The only non-essential object in the game is a blender (I refuse to
go there.) and a book with nothing in it. The game goes out of its way
to mention other objects (like a stain in the bathroom sink), but any
attempt to examine them gives a standard "I don't see that here"
message.
Maybe this one should have been sent to bed too.
My score - 3
**********
Symetry
A new mirror brings danger to its owner.
I assume the title is spelled the way the author intended, but the
word I think he wanted is "symmetry". You have bought a new mirror
which, apparently, contains a demon which tries to posess you. It's a
little hard to tell.
The entire game consists of getting into bed, waiting quite a few
turns, then stabbing yourself. That's right, you have to stab yourself.
The only clue I could find in the game that this is the correct solution
was that you scratch youself on the chest at one point and, realizing
that the demon is a mirror image of you, you stab yourself so that it
will stab itself in the heart. Maybe...
There is an odd bug (I think) in the game. GET IN BED and ENTER BED
produce two completely different results. You can turn off the lamp from
in the bed, but not from outside of it (or maybe that was the other way
around... I can't remember). You can't read the letter you start the
game with. And you can't interact with anything else in the room.
I think the author was trying for a Lovecraftian feel here. It didn't
work. I say put an elder sign on it and go on...
My score - 2
**********
Coming Home
You come home to visit your parents and wind up having to rob them.
This was the only game from the competition that I found actually
unpleasant to play.
You start off outside your house. You can't get in and no one answers
the door, so you wander around outside. Eventually you run into "Ken"
who answers any question with "Go pick up Allison at the station" and
won't let you pick up any item in whatever room he is in. Eventually you
get the crowbar to open the garage door to drive the car (without
getting in it) to pick up Allison who can unlock the door and let you
in. This is a puzzle?
The game is just bad. Items such as a fence post and a barbeque are
carefully mentioned in the room description but not recognized the game.
Doors close and lock for no readily apparent reason. You have to eat and
drink every twenty turns or so or die, and once you do you have to go to
the bathroom about twenty turns later or die. The problem is that you
can't open the refrigerator door yourself and have to ask mom to do it.
Also, the bathroom tends to be covered in "feces and urine". You have to
ask mom to clean it before you use it. Even when you do, it tends to get
dirty again, and only mom can clean it. Eventually, all the food in the
refrigerator is gone and you starve to death.
I was only able to finish the game because the author had included
the source code and I was able to determine the proper sequence of
actions from it. Seems you have to steal some jewelry and give it to Ken
so he can sell it an use the money to buy drugs. Great.
*I* deserve an award for playing all the through this thing.
My score - 1 (only because there was nothing lower available)
--
"You can't run away forever, but there's nothing wrong with
getting a good head start" --- Jim Steinman
Dennis Matheson --- Dennis....@transquest.com
--- http://home.earthlink.net/~tanstaafl
Brent VanFossen
On Mon, 05 Jan 1998 15:15:21 -0500, Dennis Matheson
<"Dennis..Matheson@"@transquest..com> wrote:
>She's Got a Thing for a Spring
>
> This game clearly shows that you don't need to look to fantasy or
>science fiction or mystery or horror to have a satisfying adventure.
>Spring is set on a wilderness camping trip in the real world. As a
>backpacker myself, I was impressed by the author's descriptions and
>obvious love of the outdoors.
> Everthing felt real, and I spent a lot of time just exploring the
>area before I even started trying to solve the game. (Is the game set in
>a real place? Where is it? I want to go there!)
Thanks for the review, Dennis. You're right, I love the outdoors.
There is no single place like the one in Spring. It's a composite of
my favorite places from all over North America. For favorite hot
springs, try Liard Hot Springs in northern British Columbia, where the
ferns hang over the edges of the pools, and a hanging tufa garden
nearby. Or visit Ainsworth Hot Springs, also in British Columbia,
where a watery tunnel was blasted into the cliff back in the 20's or
30's. The minerals in the water have started to create the limestone
formations we all know from natural caves.
Jasper National Park in Alberta and Rocky Mountain National Park in
Colorado are both great places to find elk and pikas. For pikas, also
try the Mount Baker area in Washington state.
The cabin is one of any number of log cabins from the turn of the
century all across the country. Try Petit Jean State Park in
Arkansas, or the Hume Ranch area of Olympic National Park in
Washington state.
>How was I supposed to know what to do
>with the egg? (And it did bother me that I had to disturb the nest in
>order to do it; my hiker ethic showing.)
Okay, I admit it. *I* don't even understand the egg thing, and it
will be gone in the next release. That puzzle was left over from the
first playable version of the game when it was more of a fantasy. I'm
just sorry I didn't take it out before the competition.
> I also hit one amusing bug in which I would pick a berry only to have
>it teleport back to the bush every time I entered the location. (A
>found_in problem?)
Well, I learned something about found_in. NEVER use found_in for
anything other than scenery or static objects. This bug is a clear
reason why. That 11th hour addition to the game wasn't (obviously)
tested, and I never considered the potential problems of floating
objects. But then, the competition is about learning.
All I can really say is thank you to all who took the time to play or
review my game, either publicly or in private. And if anyone else
would like to email bug reports, I welcome them, and should be able to
respond personally.
> My score - 9
Thanks, again! I'm glad you liked it.
Brent VanFossen
Stu042
In article <68reej$1l...@gcs.delta-air.com>, Dennis Matheson
<"Dennis..Matheson@"@transquest..com> writes:
>A Good Breakfast
>
> You wake up after a wild party night and must find something to eat
>before you starve.
>
> OK, this one had a strike against it from the beginning for me. I
>never liked games where you have to eat periodically or starve to death,
>and this game makes that the whole point!
I don't like 'em either. Oh, the irony, etc. :)
Stuart
Andrew Plotkin
Brent VanFossen (vanf...@compuserve.com) wrote:
> Okay, I admit it. *I* don't even understand the egg thing
Heh. That's kind of a relief. :-)
> and it
> will be gone in the next release. That puzzle was left over from the
> first playable version of the game when it was more of a fantasy.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
Dennis of Iniquity
On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Dennis Matheson wrote:
>Symetry
> I assume the title is spelled the way the author intended, but the
>word I think he wanted is "symmetry". You have bought a new mirror
>which, apparently, contains a demon which tries to posess you.
------
If this isn't deliberate then it should have been. Very funny!
--
Den
Dennis Matheson
In article <Pine.SGI.3.95L.98010...@ebor.york.ac.uk>,
Dennis of Iniquity <dms...@york.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Dennis Matheson wrote:
>
> >Symetry
> >word I think he wanted is "symmetry". You have bought a new mirror
> >which, apparently, contains a demon which tries to posess you.
> If this isn't deliberate then it should have been. Very funny!
>
> --
> Den
Guilty as charged... karma strikes again! OK, from now on I will
refrain from commenting on other people's spelling.
I think I'll go hide in embarrassment now...
--
(Posting via Deja News while my news server is down)
"You can't run away forever, but there's nothing wrong
with getting a good head start." -- Jim Steinman
Dennis Matheson -- Dennis....@transquest.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~tanstaafl
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