| 5 star: | | (90) | | 4 star: | | (140) | | 3 star: | | (65) | | 2 star: | | (24) | | 1 star: | | (2) |
| Average Rating: 
Number of Ratings: 321
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Previous | << 8 9 10 11 12 13 >> | Next | Show All - meatwhore, December 9, 2008
- Shigosei, December 8, 2008
- VK, December 7, 2008
- Martin Braun (Berlin, Germany), November 25, 2008
- ensoul, November 15, 2008
- DancesInPuddles (Wales), November 13, 2008
- Linnau (Tel-Aviv, Israel), October 31, 2008
- drh (New York), October 13, 2008
- beatdevil (Toronto. Canada), September 21, 2008
- Wesley (Iowa City, Iowa), September 1, 2008
- Genjar (Finland), August 31, 2008
- declain, August 28, 2008
4 of
6 people found the following review helpful:
Great / not so great / moving, August 22, 2008Gotta give it a try, absolutely. It will take you just a few seconds. And then maybe some more seconds. And then more...
The simple idea of this game is quite intriguing and fascinating. And very creative. The outcome instead...
...well, initially i thought: "Wow, this is great. I didn't think it might be this interesting. Some ending - if ending is the right word - has great writing."
...after some time: "Mhmmm, the writing is not that good after all. It's somehow too rhetoric and over-sentimental and simplistic. And i don't like the protagonist."
...then i "did" something and: i was touched. Touched like in "moved". Moved like in "i got shivers". And suddenly I loved the writing again.
You have only one turn in Aisle. And you have no goal. For once, YOU are the goal. And whatever this game might be, it fully reaches it's ambitious goal.
- divbyzero (Boston, Massachusetts), August 19, 2008
4 of
7 people found the following review helpful:
Good for newcomers, July 31, 2008Having only just returned to IF after a brief and fruitless attempt at Zork a couple of years ago, Aisle is an excellent welcome. It's not as involved as many other games, but the writing and concept are great, and for a beginner like me it's an excellent counterpoint to the misperception that IF is all about "take sword" and "kill orc". The range of possible actions is also quite a surprise, and kudos to the author for that.
- Steve Blanding (Redmond, WA), July 31, 2008
28 of
29 people found the following review helpful:
Romantic Isolation, July 30, 2008Most discussion of this work begins and ends with its central gimmick: that it plays out over a single turn, in which you are allowed to choose just one action that will determine how this little vignette concludes. For me, though, that's not the most important thing.
If Aisle was just an exercise in trying random actions to see what results, it might be fun and intriguing, but hardly heartbreaking. And make no mistake: for me, Aisle is heartbreaking, oozing the same sort of neon-drenched romantic loneliness as a Wong Kar Wai film. You'll find some of the finest writing in IF here:
>x trolley
(your trolley)
The trolley is a small cage of steel with bent rubber wheels. Full of your shopping: meals for one, drinks for one (well, drinks for several, but hey, who's counting?).
Gnocchi for one wouldn't really work. You settle for spaghetti and continue on to the next aisle.
As you play again and again, the backstory -- or rather, several possible backstories, but each drenched in the same melancholic longing -- gradually reveal themselves. One or two endings even hold out the promise of an end to the PC's isolation...
Truly, a great piece of work.
1 of
5 people found the following review helpful:
Freedom and intensity, July 28, 2008By turns funny, affecting, and disturbing, this one-move game hits hard with the help of great writing, intense themes and unparalleled freedom.
This is head and shoulders above anything I have played in terms of the number of ways in which the player can logically and significantly affect the world. The necessary tradeoff is that there is only one decision to make, after which the game ends.
Aisle is outstanding on its own terms; if I had to name a flaw, I would say only that it can be hard to put the pieces that the game gives you together into a clear picture.
- genericzombie (Louisville, Kentucky), July 17, 2008
- Troy (Australia), July 11, 2008
- Rose (New Zealand), July 6, 2008
- Nathaniel Kirby (Pennsylvania), June 30, 2008
- Otto (France), June 7, 2008
- Kariadne, June 4, 2008
- Clare Parker (Portland, OR), April 22, 2008
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