Ratings and Reviews by Rollersnake
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It doesn't really work, May 2, 2016Interesting ideas, poorly executed. The main strength of Chicks Dig Jerks is in the long passages of dialogue rather than anything that involves the player, so this might have been better off as a short story, or part of a novel, than interactive fiction at all.
The characters are such broad caricatures that I just can't buy it when they have moments of profundity. Also, there are too many lines that only seem to be there because the author thought they were funny, rather than because they were something that the characters might actually SAY; since when do obnoxious jockish bros casually drop D&D references? I found the idea of a group of obnoxious bros being graverobbers much easier to swallow than that.
The puzzle you need to solve to get into the graveyard works on pure cartoon logic, and even in a game with a tone as inconsistent as Chicks Dig Jerks', it manages to clash badly.
The language is just unpolished enough that I'm not sure if "mediocracy" was a deliberate malapropism, but that gave me the biggest laugh of the game regardless.
Eerie and Powerful, May 2, 2016"It's like an interactive episode of The Twilight Zone" is a line that probably doesn't do Shade justice, but it's something I always say when I'm recommending it to anyone—it's about TV episode-length, really grippingly weird as you're playing it, and something you'll still be thinking about years later. Shade is always the first game I bring up whenever I'm introducing someone to IF, and it's one of my favorite pieces of weird fiction—in any medium.
Interesting gameplay idea that could have carried a larger game, May 1, 2016For once I wish the author HAD made a longwinded classic-style quest. Castle of the Red Prince provides a good setup for one, a GREAT navigation gimmick, and then barely enough content to illustrate the potential of the gimmick.
As for what's there, my only problem is the same syntax issue with the foundation puzzle that another reviewer commented on. I just really wanted to spend more time playing around with the cool idea the author had.
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