| 5 star: | | (47) | | 4 star: | | (23) | | 3 star: | | (11) | | 2 star: | | (0) | | 1 star: | | (1) |
| Average Rating: 
Number of Ratings: 83
Write a review |
Previous | << 1 2 3 4 >> | Next | Show All - Ghalev (Northern Appalachia, United States), October 20, 2012
- Inarcadia Jones, August 2, 2012
- kala (Finland), May 26, 2012
- Pinstripe (Chicago, Illinois), April 10, 2012
- BladeL, March 21, 2012
- Damien Poussier, March 11, 2012
- Bran Rainey (Windsor, Ontario), February 25, 2012
2 of
2 people found the following review helpful:
A remarkable tour de force, February 21, 2012When I discovered Make It Good, it was the first IF game I'd seen since I played them avidly as a kid in the late 80s / early 90s. I had thought the genre was extinct, and so was quite excited to discover Make It Good and realise that actually there was still a very active community around.
However, the fact that it was Make It Good that re-introduced me to the genre has been a double-edged sword; it's simultaneously re-ignited my interest, and spoilt IF forever. Why? Because now I've played Make It Good, I worry I'll never find any other game to compare.
Make It Good is an incredible achievement. It draws you in and keeps you gripped from an early stage. The writing is strong, the style evocative. There are numerous well developed characters - not least the PC himself. The plot twists and turns and there are some amazing developments, but you are drawn into this slowly and piece-by-piece, such that you always feel like you know what you're trying to achieve and have ideas as to how to do it - you may feel confused, but rarely lost.
As you progress further in the game, your path will become clearer, but the steps to achieve it are numerous and complex. It requires many playthroughs, many restarts, many save & loads. But by then it will have you hooked - you will be compelled to try over and over, tweaking your strategy, researching new avenues, trying new things, in the search for the missing links. And when you do figure out a vital missing piece, the satisfaction you will get is huge.
It's also great fun to play with a friend. I played it a lot with my girlfriend (using Skype screensharing), and our eventual completion of it came down to important contributions from both of us. There's so much to solve and piece together, that you may well find it most satisfying teaming up with someone to battle it together (though no doubt you'll still find yourself working on it on your own, unable to resist the urge to continue without waiting for your partner!)
Technically the game handles very well - I experienced no bugs of note, there's a comprehensive vocabulary, and there's a good range of convenience functions (like go to <room>) to make playing fun and not tedious, even on the 20th replay.
It's a masterpiece of a game and any IF player should try it.
I just don't know when, or if, I'm going to find another as good!
- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), January 22, 2012
- EJ, November 2, 2011
- cmdrfalafel, September 17, 2011
- Sam Kabo Ashwell (Seattle), August 2, 2011
- RandomExile, May 19, 2011
- Ben Cressey (Seattle, WA), January 25, 2011
- Cup of Joe, December 7, 2010
3 of
3 people found the following review helpful:
A bit sketchy? Nah!, December 5, 2010If you've ever read the comic books Calvin and Hobbes, then you may agree with me that the protagonist reminds me enormously of "Tracer Bullet". A shady, (Spoiler - click to show) corrupt alcoholic private eye who spends his time solving cases and then deciding not to reveal the guilty because he was 'a close friend'. Yes, the characters are so alike in character and thought, I could have sworn Bill Watterson wrote this.
Really, all the characters were like this in the story; each with something to hide (except Joe who would rather do crossword puzzles) which made this mystery a classic. What was even more interesting was trying to find more information about yourself to see what was happening in the house. No other detective stories (encountered to date) has this, instead completely focusing on the other characters. In short, the characters were beautifully crafted.
The story was so original. It took me 4 tries to finally see what I had to do to win the game, because before, I was chasing a million red herrings. That's the beauty of the game though, I think. You will run through the game with no result several times before you get the feel of the characters, setting and plot, and the solution just slams into your head. Really, the whole game is a massive puzzle, designed to keep you on your toes and to anticipate every future move, as well as adapting quickly when you find yourself stuck. to those who did it on their first try.
I could talk almost all day of how good and entertaining and puzzling the story was, but I'll leave with one more point. The story was not just a good piece of work on all four cylinders but also the people (not referring to their personalities at the moment). Like many mystery adventures, you had to be at the right place at the right time to win in some parts, but the characters were really sophisticated in the programming side of things. A lot of effort was put into them to make them know a variety of topics to ask or tell them about, and I found discussions were easily carried out.
I'll just say this: If you are interested even a little in mystery, play this.
- Leland Paul (Swarthmore, PA), April 27, 2010
- Azazel, April 2, 2010
- yandexx (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), March 19, 2010
- Ken Hubbard (Ohio), January 18, 2010
- Genjar (Finland), January 12, 2010
- Kurper, December 27, 2009
- Meredith (California), December 15, 2009
4 of
4 people found the following review helpful:
The best IF detective yet, November 23, 2009Make It Good is an excellent detective game. It is both a lot of fun and an absolute must-play for anyone interested in puzzle design.
The player is cast as an alcoholic down-on-his-luck police inspector who has one last chance to show that he can still solve a case. A man has been murdered in his house, and the protagonist must search the house and the garden for physical clues, must talk to a number of NPCs, must call on his reluctant assistant to analyse clues, and must, finally, make a successful accusation.
Now most of that may sound rather standard for a detective game, but this game is far from standard. First, the puzzles are simply excellent. Discovering clues is only the beginning--you'll have to think creatively and psychologically manipulate the NPCs if you want to get anywere with them. Second, there are some interesting plot twists, and your ideas of how to find the murderer will change during the game, which will in turn impact what you want to do with the clues and the NPCs.
Make It Good is a hard game. You will not solve it on your first attempt, and probably not on your fifth either. It is true compliment to the depth of implementation and the amount of possibilities that the game remains fun to play for almost the entire time span needed to solve it--and I heartily do recommend you to show some perseverance. I myself took a look at a walkthrough after I had solved all the major puzzles and the only thing that remained was the somewhat tedious process of putting all the details right. This seems to me the right strategy: you are depriving yourself of a great gaming experience if you look at the walkthrough any earlier.
The final stages of playing the game are a bit tedious, though: you'll still be doing small things wrong, and each time you'll have to restart and go through all the steps again. Given the overall excellence of the game, this is a relatively small complaint, though.
My other complaint is that the story does not make perfect sense at the end, even though it presumably has to if I have to be formulating and carrying out the plan that takes me to the ending. That, however, is a major spoiler, and should only be read by those who have finished the game.
(Spoiler - click to show)Surely the maid will retract her confession when she sees during her trial that there is no evidence pointing to Anthony? It seems to me that unless there is also some hard evidence pointing to Anthony, the whole scheme will not work; and in those endings where the maid confesses, there is no hard evidence pointing to Anthony. Certainly not the kind of evidence Joe wants before he arrests him.
The epilogue hints that the vicar has seen you, and that you are going to be arrested because he has told the police about it, right? But he has been telling lies himself in order to cover up for Angela, lies which are inconsistent with him seeing you. Would he really endanger Angela by accusing you, thus reopening the case while at the same time taking away Angela's alibi?
- Dan Schmidt (Boston), September 17, 2009
Previous | << 1 2 3 4 >> | Next | Show All | Return to game's main page