External Links


DrSourpussIsNotAChoiceBasedGame.zip
Contains index.html
Spring Thing 2016 version, at the IF Archive.
Play this game in your Web browser. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)

Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

Playlists and Wishlists

RSS Feeds

New member reviews
Updates to external links
All updates to this page

Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game

by P.B. Parjeter profile

Episode 1 of The France Trilogy
2016

(based on 9 ratings)
1 review

About the Story

I, Dr. Sourpuss, talking housecat and test administrator, regret to inform you that your multiple choice test has been misplaced. While I attempt to locate the missing SCANDRON marking machine, please occupy yourself with the fully immersive "101±98 Experiments with Citrus" science fair activities.


Game Details


Awards

Nominee, Best Individual NPC - 2016 XYZZY Awards

Entrant, Back Garden - Spring Thing 2016

Editorial Reviews

Astrobolism
Playing it is kind of like listening in on a very strange and oddly earnest conversation that you can’t entirely follow, with the constant understanding that there will be a test. It’s sort of like a nightmare in that respect. The visual design is very striking, making rather complicated conversations amongst three eccentric characters easy to follow by color-coding. The artwork is great too. I particularly like the image of Dr. Sourpuss himself, who looks like Garfield as drawn by Gary Larson. Oh, and the game itself? Hmm. It is about choices, and the reductive nature of answering questions via multiple choice… maybe? It’s kind of odd, but I definitely recommend checking it out, though probably you need to be in the mood for some downright peculiarity.
See the full review

Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling
Tonally, this is a political cartoon at large scale — as implied by the cover art — one in which every character is a stand-in for some comically objectionable stance. For me, a little of that kind of rhetoric goes a long way, but other people’s mileage may vary.

I do, however, have to respect a lot of things about this piece. It demonstrates a strong sense of visual design; it deploys its mechanics in interesting ways throughout; the art is good; and I can hardly disagree with the idea that standardized testing is a terrible way to manage education or the development of people as people.
See the full review

Versificator
This is one of those games where I am not sure what was going on, but I’m sure I enjoyed it. Dr Sourpuss is a talking, mortar-board wearing cat created by a genetic-engineering accident involving a lemon tree. He and a couple of other characters take the player on a winding story involving a sinister corporation that manufactures multiple-choice test marking machines, making good use of absurdity to smuggle a clever commentary on the effect of standardised, one-size-fits-all education on students. The puzzles are simple but clever: some objects, when they are mentioned in the story, appear in your inventory, and at any time you can go to a lab and choose two of them to combine into some new object that is the key to getting past each stage.
See the full review

Tags

- View the most common tags (What's a tag?)

(Log in to add your own tags)
Tags you added are shown below with checkmarks. To remove one of your tags, simply un-check it.

Enter new tags here (use commas to separate tags):

Member Reviews

5 star:
(1)
4 star:
(3)
3 star:
(2)
2 star:
(2)
1 star:
(1)
Average Rating:
Number of Reviews: 1
Write a review


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
An amusing and thoughtful long game that is (not?) a multiple choice game, April 7, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: Spring Thing 2016

Dr. Sourpuss is an orangecat that just hates multiple choice games. He works with a man and a woman for Scandron, a multiple choice test grading company.

You have to help find two missing things: the grading machine, and a student named Mark Passingrad.

Gameplay rolls out in three main ways: you are given a series of multiple choice quizzes. Before answering each question, you can click on boxed links to get more detail. Finally, there are three different 'tests' where you have to go to a lab to create new items.

The game is purposefully confusing, and it succeeded in creating this emotion. In the end, much of it is a long discussion about people who hate multiple choice and why. I chose to interpret this as part of the debate about weblink games such as Twine or Raconteur. The game talks about marginalized individuals and those who refuse to validate them or allow them to be part of their world. The game admits many interpretations, however.

I took off one star because the game is very tedious at times, trying to sort out a path through repetitive text. Overall, an interesting and thoughtful game.

Was this review helpful to you?   Yes   No   Remove vote  
More Options

 | Add a comment 

Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game on IFDB

Polls

The following polls include votes for Dr. Sourpuss Is Not A Choice-Based Game:

games about cats by beetlesack99
are there any

The most underrated game you've authored by Anya Johanna DeNiro
Interpret "under-rated" however that means to you. Perhaps it's one that's simply not played very much for whatever reason. Or it's a game you consider flawed but still worth playing, or an early effort that you are fond of.

For your consideration: XYZZY-eligible Writing of 2016 by MathBrush
This is for suggesting games released in 2016 which you think might be worth considering for Best Writing in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not mentioned here...

See all polls with votes for this game




This is version 9 of this page, edited by JTN on 21 March 2024 at 7:05pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page