Ratings and Reviews by C.E.J. Pacian

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

Requires Testing, January 3, 2010

Although the goal of the game - presumably the author's first - is interesting enough, the storyline and environment on offer are extremely bare, and the objects and locations completely without description. Allowing players to visualise their surroundings would go a long way to making this game more enjoyable to play. The next key ingredient missing is testing.

Getting other people to play your game before you release it is important. They'll be able to tell you that they left that important object behind because when they tried to take it, the game refused on the grounds it was 'fixed in place'. They'll wonder why the switch they're supposed to use doesn't actually exist. They'll miss locations entirely because no exits are listed. They'll wonder why they don't win the game when they (Spoiler - click to show)leave the supermarket by the entrance instead of the exit, and why they're still accused of stealing even when they don't take anything. In the penultimate room, they won't notice (Spoiler - click to show)a key has silently appeared and they'll be confused by the final, unexplained (Spoiler - click to show)instant-death puzzle. They'll tell you that all the objects are incorrectly capitalised and missing their articles.

These issues are not too difficult to fix, and testers will find them.

Overall, the idea behind this game is very solid, and aside from mixing up 'aisle' and 'isle' the writing on display is generally free of errors. I can easily imagine this author writing a good game in the future - if they take more care to flesh out the environment and test the implementation.

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating:

C.E.J. Pacian's Rating: