Ratings and Reviews by TDS
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Technical Difficulties, August 23, 2010This game suffers from serious guess-the-verb. The game mechanics are also a bit problematic. In some games, you can easily get locked out of a good ending. This is the case in this game. The problem, however, is that sometimes you are locked out and the game immediately ends, while other times you are left thinking that you could succeed…only to realize that you cannot. If you are going to allow the possibility of a player getting locked out of the game, at least be consistent (either end the game there or not, please).
The puzzles, though very interesting, are poorly implemented. This is mostly due to the overwhelming presence of guess-the-verb. For example, you might have to type, say, ‘kill john with knife’ instead of ‘kill john’ or ‘stab john’ even if a knife is your only weapon. In other parts, you get to play guess-the-noun. There are clear cases of a room description telling me ‘X is here,’ but when I examine X, I get the response ‘You see no such thing.’ That is maddening. In addition, disambiguation problems increase one’s frustration.
Like the puzzles, the storyline is also interesting but ill-implemented. The problem is pacing; the author must ensure that the player doesn’t receive information at the wrong time. I stumbled upon a text dump which was probably intended to be seen after some preliminary dumps. I could not understand what was going on because it was like I had walked in during the second half of a movie. In text adventures, the author has to make sure the player doesn’t get to the second half before trudging through the first (unless unconventional temporal order is intended).
I couldn’t finish this game. The difficulty did not bother me. The story was not unbearable. I’m afraid it was poor game mechanics that did me in. One puzzle requires the use of an item that is never mentioned, alluded to, or examined. I’m sorry, but this just will not do.
Sweet and Sour, August 23, 2010At the end of Aegis, I felt like applauding. Why? Because I felt like I had completed an actual adventure. This is one of those games where it feels like things actually happen over the course of the game. The landscape, characters, setting, and goals all change as the game progresses, giving you the impression of a coherent experience (in a good sense). The puzzles are sensible. They are not difficult by any means. It is always clear what one should do next. And I never felt restricted because the environment is big enough to feel free but small enough to have a clue what to do next.
But at the same time, I was also deeply disappointed. I want to rate this game more highly, but the number of glitches and bugs prevent me. Too many obvious glitches that should have been spotted in the beta testing process (such as characters being in two places at once, descriptions being available when they shouldn’t, and bad cases of guess-the-verb) are present. This ruins the otherwise excellent atmosphere of the game. Bugs distract me from the adventure, and I eventually stop thinking like a player and start thinking like a programmer. That’s not good.
Other observations: Sometimes the player is told how he or she feels (which, trust me, does not feel good) and at other times the dialogue gets a little cheesy. The story comes in thick gobs, screens full of text. The puzzles are like foodstuffs designed to keep the player at the table.
If you can overlook the bugs, then you will enjoy the entertaining adventure. Unfortunately, I couldn't overlook the bugs.
Quick, Fun, and Entertaining, August 23, 2010Pirate’s Plunder! is your definitive perfectly-executed, well-written, well-coded, light-hearted adventure.
This game has a lot of things to offer.
It has personality—the characteristic tone of the game is unlike any other; the proliferation of ‘ye’ and ‘yon’ and other such locutions are only tolerable because the game creates its own distinct atmosphere. The story—thin as it is—serves as a backdrop to the exploits of the main character as he tries to find the treasure and get off of the island. Sorry folks, not blockbuster plot here; clichés are wholly embraced here, and to good measure. And it doesn’t overstay its welcome either; this game is over soon enough.
It has puzzles—interesting ones that make sense. There are no out of place puzzles, and it does not seem as if he’s padding the game. The puzzles are easy to solve. They would be a bit harder were it not for the gentle push of the author’s hand. There is a lot of hand-holding going on in the game. Direction certainly isn’t a bad thing, but if you are the type of player who gets a special kind of enjoyment from solving a puzzle relatively unassisted, you will probably be dissatisfied. The game seems tailor-made for beginning IF players and/or veterans who want a quick, entertaining romp.
Depends on what you're looking for..., August 23, 2010Motion is an experimental game. How experimental? Try, figuring out how to launch and land a rocket safely, experimental. The game makes extensive use of ASCII graphics, representing the rocket by dashes, slashes, underscores, and other symbols.
The game is divided into three parts, or tasks: (i) launch the rocket, (ii) land the rocket, (iii) return the rocket. It is a quick game, but it’s fun while it lasts. There’s not a lot to say about replayability though. Once I beat it…I didn’t feel like there was anything else left to do. It is true that the replayability factor doesn’t matter so much for modern IF (most people put games away the instant they beat them), but considering how short the game is, and it’s arcade-like action, you would think there would be some kind of replay value to it.
Also, it is an experimental game but it is not really experimental IF. I thought it was fun, but it was more of a showcase of what can be done through a text adventure’s parser than a substantive adventure. I suspect it was intended to be the former rather than the latter. With that in mind, I say “pretty good,” but I also say, “I don’t see how I can judge this alongside other adventures.” So, if you want a quick, fun game to play: you got it. But if you want an actual adventure, look elsewhere. (For what it’s worth, I’m impressed by how the thing works; it’s surprising something like this could be made, or that anyone would have the patience to make it.)
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