Reviews by aaronius
cambodia
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Halfway to excellent, March 20, 2010The horror genre often uses its tropes to hide from the very real horrors in the world we live in. This game reminds us that horror can come from disease, from poverty, from prostitution and from nihilism. The political and social themes presented here are not often tackled in IF, making this a unique if seriously flawed endeavor.
The game is also rare for being centered almost exclusively around conversation, yet still having a forward narrative that progresses across a series of scenes. It's lovely to play a game where the conversation is more thoroughly implemented than the environment. The characters in the protagonist's life, mostly disillusioned ex-patriates living in contemporary Cambodia, are each distinct and solid. Whittington nicely creates scenes of creepy foreboding and disturbing content that mostly take place in public and in broad daylight.
Where the game fails is in its refusal to leave its pre-programmed rail, and in the sudden derailment that happens at the end of the story. Though several times the game appears to offer you a choice, in no case that I could discover on three playthroughs is your choice actually honored: the same thing happens no matter what you do, even to the point of breaking internal consistency (Why are you going on a date with one girl when earlier you said you would take out a second? (Spoiler - click to show)Why does the game hint that I should have taken the fish with me, when, in fact, I did?) It's not clear whether these are bugs, failed aspirations, or some sort of point about the nature of free will. The story claims to have only one ending, although seeming to hint that you did something wrong and a better one is available. I couldn't find it, if it exists: the one I kept getting seemed arbitrary and not particularly satisfying.
I really wanted to like this more, but interactivity can't be just a shell game. If you really want to give players meaningful choices, you have to follow through with that promise. Otherwise you should write a short story instead.
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