I-0

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Well implemented, but..., March 26, 2020

Everyone talks about the "sexual content" in this game in a sort of "ooh, naughty", laughing behind the hand kind of way. I really wish that someone had mentioned that some of that content can involve the player getting (Spoiler - click to show)raped and murdered. That kind of killed the fun atmosphere it was going for, at least for me. I don't mind the sexy content otherwise, even if it is, as others have mentioned, pretty juvenile, but that was jarring and unpleasant. It's unfortunate-the game is well implemented, and I like that it gives you multiple ways to solve things. But it left a sour taste in my mouth.

A fun start, February 25, 2020

First IO and the reviews don't lie--takes a bit to get started but its a fun sotry.

Interesting, but frustrating game, June 27, 2019

After all I'd heard about this game it ended up not being anything like I was expecting. It is true that you play a 17-year-old girl who can take her clothes off any time she wants, but that doesn't affect game play nearly as much as I expected. In fact, if you completely ignored this option (which I would recommend on your first several playthroughs) then the game hardly plays any differently and only a few of the branches are closed off to you.

This game isn't really a story-based game (there's almost no plot arch) and it isn't really a puzzle game (unless trying to figure out how to accomplish certain task with the parser is considered a puzzle). It is just a trying-a-bunch-of-stuff game, but that can be fun too.

I did have a few frustrations with it, however:
(Spoiler - click to show)
I think the parser's response to certain phrases could have been more robust. There were at least two instances when I typed something (for example: "get out from under car") and the game responded by telling me I had to do what I had just asked to do first (the response was literally "You have to get out from under the car first"). Also, I asked the server to use the phone, got a reply of "sure, whatever" but then couldn't use a phone.

I also hated how much waiting the game required at certain points. Typing "wait" over and over again doesn't make for fun game play.


Overall, fun for 3-4 playthroughs (each only takes 15 minutes or so) to try to figure out how to get home, but not much depth past that.

A short, easy game as a teenager with car trouble. , February 3, 2016

I-0 is most famous for its adult content, and I put off playing through it. However, Cadres claimed that all adult content could be avoided, and he is right.

This game is easy and short. It has many distinct branches, none of which require adult actions. You try to make your way back home, encountering cops, taco shop employees, creepy and dangerous men, etc.

The NPCs can be fairly static, most notably the Junta girl. Overall, if the game didn't have juvenile sexual content, I would recommend it as a quick fun game. But I don't. However, I do recommend Narcolepsy, a game set in the same setting and also featuring Tracy. It also branches, and if you call your sister before doing anything else, you can avoid any sexual content and have a great game.

Mediocre, but fun, September 18, 2015

If you read about the game before you try it, you know that you play as an attractive female college freshman who has not yet turned 18, and is stranded in the desert due to car trouble. That alone implies that playing the game will be a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Sure enough, it is. It's not very well-written, but it's not all that bad either. Although the game progresses linearly along one of two major paths, it leaves the player free to experiment in a lot of different ways. There is a time limit, but it's a very generous one, once you've handled the immediate emergency of finding shade before high noon.

What I like about the game is that most of the "inventory objects" are not necessary to complete the game, so you do not have to be a pac-rat and collect everything you can get your hands on. In many cases, more than one solution will solve a problem, and in some cases, the objects have no use whatsoever. Another thing is that body parts as objects were implemented very well here, and the game had received honorable mentions for that aspect.

There is some IF "inside humor" as well, which you will either enjoy or groan at. For one thing, try (Spoiler - click to show)opening the trunk of your car and counting the dirty laundry - you might recognize that number. The usual easter egg commands are recognized as well.

What I don't like about the game is that some scenarios don't seem to fit with the character. Crossing the road without looking both ways first will sometimes cause you to get hit by a car. For one thing, a young woman who has made in into college should instinctively know to look both ways first. Plus, you're out in the middle of the desert, where you can hear an oncoming vehicle from half a mile away. At some point, you might try (Spoiler - click to show)touching yourself, which results in a canned message with a slang phrase. Do it multiple times and it will cycle through a list of slang phrases with the same canned message wrapped around it.

The game is not difficult to complete at all, although a few solutions were obtuse, like getting the tow truck to re-appear at the service station. Because you often will wait to let time pass by, you can enter a number with the usual "wait" command to wait for a given number of turns, knowing that two turns equals one minute. I did uncover an interesting bug, which I'm sure will never get fixed. (Spoiler - click to show)Try attacking the driver of the gray pickup after you enter the pickup bed, before it pulls off.

In summary, this game goes down in IF history, in neither a good nor a bad way. The author went on to write some of the most memorable IF to date, so this can be seen as a sort of humble beginning, all the more so if you view the source code.

To Mr. Anonymous Author: Please put your real name in the author field, June 22, 2015

This game rocks and you should be proud of it.

pretty fun, a few shortcomings, February 5, 2014

I enjoyed the non-linear play. Not much of a puzzle game. The solutions are either obvious or just random (like having to walk in a direction not listed in the description to advance from a certain area). Being able to strip and see the different character's reaction is entertaining, I didn't find it offensive like some other reviewers. Most of the objects you pick up are useless, and you have a limited carrying capacity, so this was a little annoying. All and all, a solid game.

Harmless teenage fun, September 22, 2011

This game is funny and there are a lot of endings so the replay value is high. I recommend saving early so you can choose different paths without having to start completely over. You can die fairly easily and take off your clothes most anywhere. Enough said.

Immature in more ways than the most obvious, September 18, 2011

It surprises me a little that Adam Cadre's first game won the 1997 XYZZY Award for Best Game. While I-0 certainly isn't bad, and may have broken some new ground, it is a bit too immature to be counted among the greats.

The immaturity is clearest, of course, in the game's depiction of sex and sexuality. I-0 is famous for the fact that its protagonist, who is just one day shy of being 18 years old, can undress everywhere and can attempt to perform sexual acts with every NPC (not always successfully). Cadre doesn't take sexuality seriously enough to say something substantial about it; but he doesn't take it lightly enough to turn it into matter-of-course actions either, as Adam Thornton would do in Mentula Macanus. Nor does Cadre go for straight pornography or erotic romance. Rather, it feels as if the narrator (I will not judge the writer) is fascinated by sex while being too ashamed by this fascination to truly admit it. He flirts with being transgressive, but generally pulls back at the last moment.

An obvious example of this can be found in the final scene, where (Spoiler - click to show)the command "rub clit" leads to the following response:

You don’t get very far before Trevor pounds on the wall. “Hey, keep it down!” he shouts. “Some of us are trying to sleep! Can’t you at least go use the tub faucet like usual?”

That is the narrator being 'knowledgeable' about female masturbation and therefore 'cool', without having the guts to try to describe the experience. Hence, he turns it into a joke at the crucial moment.

However, it should be stressed that I-0 is not just about sex; indeed, one can perfectly well play through the entire game without engaging in it. In fact, the game's main interest is probably the plot structure, which is widely branching. There are several ways to get home, and they sometimes involve completely different locations and NPCs; and there are even more ways to die, get arrested, or end up in the hospital.

In this respect I-0 is also an immature game; though not in the sense of "adolescent", but in the sense that the form of puzzle-light games with branching narratives was still in its infancy. With the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that some of the design decisions in I-0 are not particularly successful. For instance, the use of completely disjunct and unrelated narrative strands only means that we can play two more or less separate games if we have the patience to search for them; here is no meaningful connection between these playthroughs. Playing one of the strands does not throw new light on the other. This means that the branching narrative is little more than a gimmick.

Another defect of the design is that most of the branches are hidden quite well. It is entirely possible to play through the game, finding the way forward only with some difficulty, and never getting an inkling that there were other possibilities as well. This lack of the obviousness of choice undermines the power of having a branching narrative. (Not all choice needs to be obvious, but by making some choices obvious a game can indicate that it has branching plot lines and will reward further exploration.)

Be that as it may, I-0 is still an easy game to like. For an IF game, the setting, plot and characters that Cadre give us are fresh; the writing is often good; and fooling around with Tracy is fun. On top of that, it was an innovative game in its time, and deserves some historical recognition. One of the essential IF pieces? Perhaps not, but it is not too far removed from that category.

(Prospective players may wish to know that on some playthroughs, the game contains sexual abuse, though this is not described in any detail.)

More interactive than most IF, May 20, 2010

So there you are, the hot girl with the car out of gas. And you need to find your way home.

There are apparently several different ways to get home, and deal with certain NPCs, which range from the tame to the raunchy. To be fair, the game doesn't start getting R rated until you make it that way.

The game is well written, and though you might get frustrated with how easy it is to die, that just goes to show why it's dangerous to be alone in the desert all day.

I was really surprised with the level of detail everything got, while still maintaning the very simple task of getting home. Definately NOT like photopia, by the same author, which I had played first.

Worth a playthruogh, and another, and another, as you try to find the multiple ways to get home, and there are plenty of little "easter eggs" to find. Things are well implemented- I don't run into too many situations where the parser had trouble, though carrying capacity is kind of low, it's realistic (you aren't AFGNCAAP, after all!).

PS. I wouldn't reccomend the game to children.

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