Bronze

by Emily Short profile

Part of fractured fairy tales
Fantasy
2006

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Number of Ratings: 285
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A more mature fairy tale, December 23, 2012
by Andromache (Hawaii)

I'm revisiting this game after a hiatus from interactive fiction and it is still a good story. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, so when I saw this was inspired by it, I had to play it. The first screen drew me in and gave me a clue right away that this heroine, while just as determined and sensible as the Beauty of the fairy tale, was not necessarily pining for her family or even that devoted to them. Much like Metamorphoses, there are multiple endings which allow for roleplay of the protagonist in some very unconventional ways.

As the story unfolds, one begins to see that none of the characters are true to the source material, but they do retain their roles. That is, what they do is the same; their personalities are not. It's a study in contradiction, where there's a jaded, flawed, and yet somehow likeable Beast and a Beauty that's caring but also a tad vengeful. This newest version of the game sees more polish to the vignettes of their backstories, with some downright hilarious lines and touching moments. (Spoiler - click to show)Like how the Beast says not all the women who died before they were married were his victims. Quite amusing in context. And when Beauty and Beast meet again after their week apart and you can tell the Beast is truly moved and honestly hadn't expected to ever see her again. Or his thoughts about Beauty later in the game, and her own affection for him.

In terms of mechanics, the travel system is awesome. I wish all games had it. Puzzles were well-clued and felt natural. The room counter in the status line was handy. And the system of magic and servitude was explained clearly and worked for me.

What I like about both Bronze and Metamorphoses is the obvious attention to detail in world-building, characterization, and background. I get the sense that these characters are real to the author and while there's a nagging sense of only scratching the surface, what players do see still manages to have a strong impact emotionally. These people have distinct voices in the narrative and because no one is purely good or evil, there's a satisfying depth to them not found in the conventional fairy tale.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
In the best traditions of the adventure game genre., November 30, 2012

The story of Bronze is a twist on the well-known fairy tale of Beauty & the Beast. You are "Beauty" and have returned to the castle. But all is not well.
There's a castle of 54 rooms to explore, and by examining rooms, objects and consulting books you slowly piece together the story of what's happened to the Beast, and figure out what to do about it.
It really captured the feeling of exploration which makes the genre so great. Ms.Short's writing is really top notch, and the puzzles are logical and well-thought out.

Bronze is especially recommended for beginners: a special GO TO command let's you instantly walk to any room you've been before, there's a novice mode, and the built-in hint system is very helpful: it reminds you what your goal is and what items are of interest at the moment. You can THINK ABOUT an item to get a clue about what you can do with it, however, if there's something else you need to do first it doesn't give you the clue (yet). A lot better than a blunt walkthrough.

About the only negative thing I can say about it is that it did crash a lot while using Windows Frotz 1.07. I recommend using Gargoyle to play it.

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- Lingling (Perth, WA), November 20, 2012

- RedHatter (Vista, California), November 13, 2012

- Sillyjuliaann, September 30, 2012

- ikv, September 16, 2012

- platy, September 11, 2012

- Catalina, August 7, 2012

- Inarcadia Jones, August 2, 2012

- kala (Finland), May 26, 2012

- amciek (Opole), May 12, 2012

- Cobangrrl, May 9, 2012

- CharlietheSpiffy, May 6, 2012

- zylla, May 2, 2012

- danyadsmith, April 21, 2012

- Rymbeld (Greensboro, NC), April 8, 2012

- Quillbell, March 30, 2012

- Audiart (Davis, CA), March 19, 2012

- Relle Veyér, March 1, 2012

- Greenspun (Grande Priarie, Alberta), February 29, 2012

- tjax, February 27, 2012

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
EXCELLENT, February 27, 2012

this is by far one of the best games I have ever played. It made me think, and re-evaluate what I knew of this classic fairy tale. I spent a lot of time going back and forth (which is so easy in this one!) trying to solve all of the puzzles, searching for clues, it's genius! I simply couldn't put it down.

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- Levi Boyles, February 22, 2012

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
An excellent piece of work.... but somehow unsatisfying., January 4, 2012

After hearing so much about Bronze, I was expecting a very satisfying and pleasurable experience. This was not the case for me. I played the game through over the course of an afternoon and, although I did enjoy exploring the map and working through the puzzles, I found myself disappointed at the end. I came away feeling like the entire experience was rather hollow and somewhat forced. The game is user-friendly enough, and it's definitely a great beginner's game in many ways. But the execution of the plot feels a little rushed and the meta-puzzle felt anticlimactic. It was as if, even as I did my own exploring, I was being spoon-fed the story without getting to discover it on my own.

Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful love story, but in this version of the tale, I felt that the protagonist's relationship with the Beast lacked very much warmth or deep love. (I do realize this is a "fractured" fairy tale, but generally this refers to a certain amount of humor, whereas this game felt merely jaded to me). I found myself annoyed with the Beast and his continual "voice" in the PC's head, reminding her of his lecherous past and interjecting comments about her current locations. This was especially irritating since (Spoiler - click to show)he was unconscious and, therefore, unavailable for any actual conversation through basically the entire game.

I'm certain many will disagree with my review, but this was my personal experience. Maybe my expectations were too high. Now, with all that said, I want to state in all technical aspects this game is quite exceptional. Emily Short's writing is WONDERFUL (If she ever becomes a novelist, I'll be the first in line!), the map is easy to navigate, and the game is very forgiving and offers many hints.


P.S.
A word to the wise: beware of red herrings. (Spoiler - click to show)I wasted tons of time exploring the possibilities of the items on the shelf in the Black Gallery, only to find out there was only one useful item in the entire batch. ARRGH!

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- Nereare (São Paulo, Brazil), December 10, 2011


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